{"id":125791,"date":"2019-01-14T12:00:24","date_gmt":"2019-01-14T12:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=125791"},"modified":"2019-01-21T11:18:02","modified_gmt":"2019-01-21T11:18:02","slug":"storms-and-snow-in-lebanon-worsen-plight-for-syrian-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/01\/storms-and-snow-in-lebanon-worsen-plight-for-syrian-refugees\/","title":{"rendered":"Storms and Snow in Lebanon Worsen Plight for Syrian Refugees"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Storm-force winds and snow across Lebanon have worsened the plight for tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who\u2019ve been forced from their homes by nearly eight years of conflict, a top UN humanitarian official said.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

10 Jan 2019 – <\/em>Speaking to journalists in Geneva, Philippe Lazzarini, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, said that refugees had been moved from shelters – including in the exposed Bekaa valley where wintery conditions are especially acute – to safer facilities, after Storm Norma hit at the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the settlements have been completely flooded, very cold, it\u2019s extremely inclement conditions, and to describe daily life, it\u2019s just miserable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s important is, if returns are taking place, it takes place in an environment where people feel confident enough to go back and where you have the necessary trust\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n— UN Coordinator\u00a0Philippe Lazzarini <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although the number of Syrian refugees officially hosted by Lebanon is more than 900,000, registration ended in 2014, and it is estimated that the real figure is between 1.2 and 1.3 million.<\/p>\n

Around 70 per cent live under the poverty line, Mr. Lazzarini said, noting that this was in fact an improvement on 2017, when the number was even higher.<\/p>\n

This high ratio of refugees to nationals \u2013 around one in four \u2013 would be \u201cunthinkable and unacceptable\u201d anywhere else, the UN official said, before playing down \u201ctensions\u201d between host Lebanese communities, 10 to 20 per cent of whom live below the poverty line.<\/p>\n

Rejecting suggestions that the refugee situation alone was responsible for discontent within the country, the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator noted that its leaders have been in \u201cdeadlock\u201d and unable to agree on a power-sharing arrangement for effective central governance, despite elections last year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Syrian refugees gather outside their shelters following a winter storm which brought rain and snow, at an informal settlement in Haoush Harime, in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. UNICEF\/UN0158355\/Halldorsson<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cToday I would say there is an atmosphere of anxiety in the country which is very much related to the political deadlock,\u201d he said. \u201cThe inability to put in place a cabinet, the inability to decide and put in place the long-overdue reform, combined with the economic situation, combined with the geo-politics in the region and the refugees.\u201d<\/p>\n

International support and solidarity for the Lebanon situation remains strong, Mr. Lazzarini insisted, amounting to up to $1.5 billion per year since 2015.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, he cautioned that eight years into the crisis, humanitarian funding \u201cmight have reached a ceiling\u201d and that other longer-term development funding may need to be found, notably for education projects requiring a minimum four-year investment.<\/p>\n

For returnees, \u2018trust\u2019 paramount<\/strong><\/p>\n

Asked about how many Syrian refugees have chosen to return to their war-scarred country, the UN official explained that only 16,000 to 17,000 registered with authorities in Damascus during 2018 \u2013 a slight increase on the previous year, when no more than 13,000 went home.<\/p>\n

Suggestions that the UN had prevented people from doing so were incorrect, he insisted, noting that the organization ensured that returnees had all the \u201cnecessary documentation\u201d they needed, such as birth and marriage certificates, to avoid difficulties reintegrating back into Syrian life.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately people will decide if yes or not, if they are confident enough to return,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat\u2019s important is, if returns are taking place, it takes place in an environment where people feel confident enough to go back and where you have the necessary trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Latest UN figures indicate that there are more than 5.6 million Syrian refugees outside the war-torn country; Turkey hosts most, at 3.6 million.<\/p>\n

Next is Lebanon, at more than 900,000, followed by Jordan (670,000), Iraq (250,000) and Egypt (130,000), while North Africa shelters 35,000.<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 news.un.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

10 Jan 2019 – Storm-force winds and snow across Lebanon have worsened the plight for tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who\u2019ve been forced from their homes by nearly eight years of conflict, a top UN humanitarian official said today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":125792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[224,66,204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights","category-middle-east-north-africa","category-syria-in-context"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}