Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon

talks & discussions

Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon

18th October

online

10.00am – 11.00am

This event will share research carried out by the Centre for Global Education on the impact of Lebanon’s four year economic crisis on Palestinian refugees. The report focuses on the health, education and situational poverty of Palestinians in Lebanon and is based on field visits carried out in 2022 to nine refugee camps.

This event will share a new research report from the Centre for Global Education which assesses the impact of Lebanon’s four-year economic crisis on the socio-economic status of Palestinians. The report is based on field visits carried out in May, September and November 2022 to nine Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, which included consultations with UN staff and visits to camp installations, notably schools and health clinics.

The report focuses specifically on the health, education and situational poverty of Palestinians in Lebanon since the precipitous collapse of Lebanon’s economy in 2019 which has seen a ninety percent depreciation of the country’s currency. The World Bank ranks the financial crisis in Lebanon among the worst economic crises globally since the mid-nineteenth century and the economic contraction experienced by the country as one ‘usually associated with conflicts or wars’.

Palestinians are very much on the frontline of Lebanon’s crisis. They were already excluded from 39 syndicated occupations in Lebanon and mostly consigned to employment in low paying jobs in the informal, unregulated economy. They have never been naturalised and are forced to live with a permanent foreigner status in Lebanon without the citizenship rights that could allow them to improve their lives. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) estimates that 45 per cent of Lebanon’s 479,000 registered Palestinian refugees live in the country’s twelve refugee camps, which are densely populated and characterized by poor housing conditions, high unemployment, extreme poverty and a lack of dignity. The living conditions in the camps are contributing to chronic health problems including diabetes, hypertension and pulmonary diseases. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session with Stephen McCloskey, the report’s author.