The International Committee of the Red Cross in Lebanon
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been present in Lebanon since 1967 and has carried out its humanitarian work through different periods of conflict, including Lebanon’s 15-year-long civil war from 1975–1990.
We are currently responding to the rapidly growing needs of displaced people fleeing war and violence across the region into Lebanon as well as the needs of the local communities hosting them. There are, of course, other international organisations responding to the needs of refugees in Lebanon however, due to the intensity of the issue, the ICRC has stepped up to fill in the gaps and support all humanitarian actors in their response.
Our activities include:
Ensuring people affected by conflict can get access to basic health care that meets universally recognized standards
Building respect for International Humanitarian Law, the rules of war
Securing humane treatment and conditions for all detainees
Assisting communities who were affected by violence to achieve economic independence and cover their essential needs
Providing access to basic services such as water and electricity
Cooperating with the Lebanese Red Cross to assist all those in need, whether refugees or host communities
Reconnecting families who had been separated from their loved ones due to conflict
Supporting the families of the missing persons in Lebanon in search for their loved ones
We are based in Beirut and have offices in Tripoli, Tyre and Zahle. We also have a centre for the treatment of those wounded by weapons in Tripoli, north Lebanon called the Weapon Traumatology Training Centre (WTTC). The ICRC is also supporting the emergency room operations at the Rafik Hariri University Hospital (RHUH) in Beirut where our staff has set up a ward there to treat vulnerable patients with no access to healthcare.
Rebuilding Homes, Rebuilding Lives: The ICRC’s Shelter Rehabilitation Programme
In 2017 alone, 97,077 people across Lebanon benefited from improved water, electricity and shelter infrastructure programmes led by the ICRC. Sporadic violence has plagued the residents of the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Helweh for a while and civilians often find themselves caught in the crossfire. Aside from damaged homes, many residents were left without electricity for days on end. Through its electricity network rehabilitation project, the ICRC stabilized the electric supply in order to limit the continuous power cuts and reduce the risks of fire and electrocution.
The ICRC also set its sights on the damaged homes of Palestinian refugees. Amira, a 55-year-old Palestinian refugee in the camp, fled the violence one day only to discover upon her return that her house was completely burned down.
As double refugees, first to Syria and then to Lebanon, Palestinian refugees coming from Syria have a special situation. The Ahmed family was living in a dilapidated house in the Palestinian refugee camp of Beddawi in north Lebanon. In order to improve their living conditions, the ICRC provided them and many others with renovated homes to live in, free of charge. With the money they’re saving on rent, the Ahmed family hopes to improve their children’s future.
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Caring for the Most Vulnerable: Access to Healthcare
296,714 patients, whether Lebanese or Syrian and Palestinian refugees, received health care through theICRC-supported facilities across the country. Here are some of their stories:
8-year-old Mohammad from Syria wants to be a doctor so that he can help children like himself. He was admitted to the ICRC’s Weapon Traumatology and Training Centre (WTTC) and treated for second and third degree burns on his body. Mohammad is one out of 270 patients who benefited from the ICRC’s psycho-social support programme at the WTTC.
Being fitted with a prosthetic limb isn’t a one-step process, it’s a life-time journey. The head of the ICRC’s Physical Rehabilitation Programme describes the different stages more than 400 patients went through when being fitted with a limb through the ICRC’s programme since 2015.
Ziad, one of the physiotherapists at our WTTC in Tripoli, north Lebanon, told us why he chose to help those who lost their limbs:
We also spoke to some of our patients about life after receiving a prosthetic limb:
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Economic Security: Towards Autonomy and Self-Confidence
Lebanese citizens as well as Syrian and Palestinian refugees all suffer when it comes to Lebanon’s economic woes. Amid regulatory restrictions and a general lack of livelihood opportunities, most Syrian refugees are driven to the informal labor market, where exploitation and abuse are rife. Lebanese residents in poor municipalities — with proportionally larger numbers of refugees — are confronted with high unemployment. While low income and unemployment are the two main sets of problems highlighted by Palestinians in camps.
To help alleviate some of the burden 16,220 Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian refugees were assisted through the ICRC’s cash programs across Lebanon. While 24,265 Syrian and Palestinian refugees and Lebanese returnees from Syria received food or essential household items such as hygiene kits, blankets or mattresses.
Hiyam, a Lebanese who had been living in Syria but lost everything in the crisis, is one of the hundreds supported by the ICRC upon their return to Lebanon. Although they are Lebanese, Hiyam and others found themselves refugees in their own country. This is her story:
Like Hiyam, Lina was forced to flee back to Lebanon and start from scratch:
In the Palestinian refugee camp of Beddawi in north Lebanon, the influx of Palestinian refugees from Syria added to the plight of refugees living in poor infrastructure and poverty. Together with a local NGO, the ICRC implemented a cash for work programme where residents rehabilitated communal infrastructure in return for an income.
In Syria Street, separating Tripoli’s battered neighbourhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab el-Tebbaneh, women from both areas took part in a self-confidence building session with the Lebanese actress, Zeina Daccache.
Together with Souk el-Tayeb, the ICRC is supporting a cooking vocational training to help facilitate employment opportunities for these women.
In one of our more recent projects, we employed labourers from the rural area of Wadi Khaled on the northeastern Lebanese borders with Syria to help rehabilitate several schools in the area that take in both Lebanese and Syrian students.
This school in Lebanon’s Wadi Khaled, one kilometer away from Syria, is an example of solidarity beyond borders, as it brings together vulnerable Lebanese children and refugees. They might be from two different countries, but kids in this school have a common dream: a better future for them and their families. With a local NGO, and the participation of the community, we helped renovate the infrastructure of the school, so that children can study in a better environment and, hopefully, very soon, fulfill their dreams.
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Improving Conditions of Detention Across Lebanon
In Baalbek, east Lebanon, more than 120 detainees found themselves cramped in a detention facility meant for 50. Together with Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces, the ICRC rehabilitated the detention centre in Baalbek. This is part of the ICRC’s commitment and strategy to improve detention conditions in Lebanon through rehabilitating 7 detention facilities across Lebanon. Aside from Baalbek, other places of detention in Halba, Douma, Baabda and Joub Jennine were rehabilitated as well.
In 2017 alone, 7,566 detainees in 31 places of detention in Lebanon were visited by ICRC delegates, who follow up on their situation to ensure that they have adequate living conditions.
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Families of Missing Persons in Lebanon Continue to Seek an Answer
Since the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1990, the ICRC has been encouraging the Lebanese authorities at all levels to take concrete measures to clarify the fate of people who went missing and to provide answers for their families.
In 2012, the ICRC started collecting information, where available, on people prior to their disappearance. Every month, ICRC representatives conduct 30 such interviews.
In addition to interviews, the ICRC began collecting Biological Reference Samples (BRS) from the families of the missing. The samples will be used to extract DNA in order to identify human remains once a national mechanism is formed by the government with the mandate to uncover the fate of the disappeared. As of December 2017, 579 samples have been collected from families of the missing.
This video explains in detail the ICRC’s data-collection programme and how it works with the authorities in view of clarifying the fate of the missing in Lebanon.
Since 2015, the ICRC has helped the families of missing meet their needs resulting from the disappearance, such as psycho-social, through the accompaniment program. Together with the local community, a support network has been created and activities such as memorialization have been carried out with the families.
Moreover, in order to build skills needed for future exhumation and identification efforts, the ICRC has provided training opportunities within Lebanon and abroad for forensic specialists.
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For more information, contact:
bey_com@icrc.org
