Abstract
The arrival of more than 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon since 2011 has created dramatic demographic pressure on a country that was already home to about half a million of Palestinian and Iraqi refugees. The population growth highlighted several structural weaknesses that stem from the internal policies implemented after the creation of the modern state of Lebanon and after the civil war (1975–1990). This chapter offers an overview of Lebanon’s refugee population. It then shortly reviews the main socio-economic impact of the demographic pressure on the country. It concludes that the demographic pressure, the strain on municipalities, and the degrading livelihoods of vulnerable groups contribute to a situation that could lead to deepened social divisions and strongest social unrest.
This chapter is based on a paper titled “Syrian Conflict, Syrian Refugees. The Case of Lebanon”, published by the al-Sabah Publication Series, Durham University, 2018.
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Notes
- 1.
Amnesty International. Lebanon Exiled and suffering: Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, 2007, p. 6, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/7F3A90202D09FC3C49257379000874EE-Full_Report.pdf.
- 2.
A census completed in January 2018 found that only 175,000 were still living in Lebanon, while another study placed the number between 260,000 and 280,000 and the UNRWA estimates varies between 400,000 and 500,000. See Amena El-Achkar, “The ‘forbidden’ tastes of Palestine,” Beirut Today, March 14, 2018, http://beirut-today.com/2018/03/13/forbidden-taste-palestine/; Jad Chaaban, Hala Ghattas, Rima Habib, Sari Hanafi, Nadine Sahyoun, Nisreen Salti, Karin Seyfert and Nadia Naamani, “Socio-Economic Survey of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon,” Report published by the American University of Beirut (AUB) and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), December 2010; UNRWA, Where We Work, Figures as of July 1, 2014, https://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/lebanon.
- 3.
Jason Sassoon. The Iraqi Refugees: The New Crisis in the Middle East (New York: I.B. Tauris, 2011).
- 4.
Ibid.
- 5.
Françoise De Bel-Air. “Migration Profile: Lebanon,” Policy Brief. European University Institute, Migration Policy Centre, 2017, p. 8, http://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/46504/RSCAS_PB_2017_12_MPC.pdf?sequence=1.
- 6.
UNHCR, Syria Regional Refugee Response 2018, 2018, https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/syria.
- 7.
UNHCR, Lebanon: Place of origin of Syrian Refugees Registered in Lebanon, 2014, https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/59928.
- 8.
Saghieh Nizar, “Manufacturing Vulnerability in Lebanon: Legal Policies as Efficient Tools of Discrimination,” Legal Agenda, 2015, http://legal-agenda.com/en/article.php?id=690&lang=en; Nora Stel and Anke van der Meijden, “Lebanon’s Eviction of Syrian Refugees and the Threat of de facto Refoulement,” LCPS Featured Analysis, October 2018, http://www.lcps-lebanon.org/featuredArticle.php?id=188.
- 9.
Inter-agency Coordination Lebanon, Protection Monthly Dashboard April 2015; The Daily Star, UNHCR to cross off 5500 Syrian refugees: Derbas, April 29, 2015, http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Apr-29/296164-unhcr-to-cross-off-5500-syrian-refugees-derbas.ashx.
- 10.
Amnesty International, Pushed to the Edge: Syrian refugees face increased restrictions in Lebanon, 2015, p. 5, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/MDE2417852015ENGLISH.PDF.
- 11.
Laura Mackenzie, “Shatila’s population unknown as Palestinian refugee camp bursts at seams,” The National, January 14, 2016, https://www.thenational.ae/world/shatila-s-population-unknown-as-palestinian-refugee-camp-bursts-at-seams-1.178993.
- 12.
Government of Lebanon and UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon. Lebanon Crisis Response Plan 2017–2020, 2019, p. 170.
- 13.
UNHCR, Registered Syrian Refugees in Lebanon (District Level), 2018, https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/66530.
- 14.
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Project Paper on a Proposed Additional Financing Grant in the Amount of US$10 Million to the Lebanese Republic for an Emergency National Poverty Targeting Program Project, June 2016 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/984391472013062965/pdf/PAD1850-PJPR-P158980-P149242-Project-Paper-Box396302B-PUBLIC.pdf, p. 10.
- 15.
Government of Lebanon and UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, Lebanon Crisis, p. 115; UNHCR, Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon, 2016, p. 60, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/VASyR%202017.compressed.pdf.
- 16.
Ibid., p. 11.
- 17.
Government of Lebanon and UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, Lebanon Crisis Response Plan 2017–2020, 2018, p. 81.
- 18.
The World Bank, Lebanon Economic Monitor. The Big Swap: Dollars for Trust, 2015, p. 12, http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/560211478178124830/pdf/109738-WP-PUBLIC-on-November-8-9-AM-The-World-Bank-LEM-Fall-2016.pdf.
- 19.
UNHCR, Survey finds Syrian refugees in Lebanon became poorer, more vulnerable in 2017, 2018, http://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/briefing/2018/1/5a548d174/survey-finds-syrian-refugees-lebanon-poorer-vulnerable-2017.html.
- 20.
Republic of Lebanon, Ministry of Finance, Public Finance Monitor, 2016, p. 2, http://www.finance.gov.lb/en-us/Finance/Rep-Pub/DRI-MOF/PFR/Public%20Finance%20Monitor/Monthly%20PFM%20-%20November%202016%20-%20Final%20version.pdf.
- 21.
World Food Programme, UN Children’s Fund and UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon 2016, p. 1, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/VASyR2016.pdf.
- 22.
Republic of Lebanon. Ministry of Finance, Public Finance Annual Review 2015, p. 14, http://www.finance.gov.lb/en-us/Finance/Rep-Pub/DRI-MOF/Public%20Finance%20Reports/YR_2015.pdf.
- 23.
Jac Chaaban, “Should Lebanon het more funds for hosting refugees,” BBC News, April 5, 2017, https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/04/lebanon-funds-hosting-refugees-170405082414586.html.
- 24.
Republic of Lebanon. Ministry of Education and Higher Education, RACE 2 Quarterly Fact Sheet—September 2017, 2017, http://www.racepmulebanon.com/images/MEHE-REC-21-11-2017FINAL_2.pdf.
- 25.
Government of Lebanon and UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, Lebanon Crisis, p. 50.
- 26.
Ibid., pp. 95 and 99.
- 27.
Adam P. Coutt, Fouad M. Fouad and Batniji, “Assessing the Syrian health crisis: the case of Lebanon,” The Lancet 381, No. 9875 (2013), p. 9, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/issue/vol381no9875/PIIS0140-6736(13)X6021-0.
- 28.
David Holmes, “Chronic disease care crisis for Lebanon’s Syrian refugees,” The Lancet 3, no. 2 (2014): 102, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(14)70196-2/abstract?code=lancet-site.
- 29.
Fadi El-Jardali et al., K2P Dialogue Summary: Promoting Access to Essential Health Care Services for Syrian Refugees in Lebanon (Beirut, Lebanon: Knowledge to Policy (K2P) Center, 2014), https://www.aub.edu.lb/k2p/Pages/K2P-Publications.aspx.
- 30.
Government of Lebanon and UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, Lebanon Crisis, p. 81.
- 31.
Roger Zetter, Héloïse Ruaudel, Sarah Deardorff-Miller, Eveliina Lyytinen, Cameron Thibos and Finn Skadkaer Pedersen, The Syrian Displacement Crisis and a Regional Development and Protection Programme: Mapping and Meta-Analysis of Existing Studies of Costs, Impacts and Protection (Denmark: Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford Department of International Development, University of Oxford, 2014), p. 19.
- 32.
Lorraine Charles, Lebanon livelihoods. Economic Opportunities and Challenges for Palestinians and Lebanese in the Shadow of the Syrian Crisis, 2017, p. 13, https://insight.jbs.cam.ac.uk/assets/cbr-sharq-lebanon-livlihoods-report.pdf.
- 33.
Government of Lebanon and UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, Lebanon Crisis, p. 155.
- 34.
Ibid., p. 180.
- 35.
Oxfam, Feasibility Assessment for Water Services Provision to Informal Tented Settlements (ITS) in Lebanon. A Case Study of North Bekaa, 2018, p. 8, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Ox_FeasibilityofWaterServiceProvisiontoITSs_FINAL.pdf.
- 36.
The Daily Star, Jobless rate at 46 pct, president warns, March 30, 2018, http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Local/2018/Mar-30/443613-jobless-rate-at-46-pct-president-warns.ashx.
- 37.
ILO, Regional Office for the Arab States, Assessment of the Impact of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon and their Employment Profile, 2013, p. 8, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/wcms_240134.pdf.
- 38.
Bachir El-Khoury, “The Economic Benefits of the Massive Presence of Syrian Refugees,” The Peace Building in Lebanon, no. 16 (2017).
- 39.
ILO, Syrian refugees in Lebanon face harsh working conditions, 2014, http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_240126/lang%2D%2Den/index.htm.
- 40.
Murat Tinas, “Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Economic, Political and Sectarian Challenges in the Absence of a Governmental Strategy,” ORSAM Review of Regional Affairs 62 (May 2017): 9.
- 41.
Mona Christophersen, Jing Liu, Cathrine Moe Thorleifsson and Age A. Tiltnes, Lebanese Attitudes Towards Syrian Refugees and the Syrian Crisis: Results from a National Opinion Poll. Lebanon: ALNAP, 2013, https://www.alnap.org/system/files/content/resource/files/main/10179.pdf.
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Beaujouan, J., Rasheed, A. (2020). An Overview of the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Lebanon and Its Socio-Economic Impact. In: Beaujouan, J., Rasheed, A. (eds) Syrian Crisis, Syrian Refugees. Mobility & Politics. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35016-1_4
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