U.S. Committee for Refugees World Refugee Survey 1999 - Lebanon

Lebanon hosted more than 368,000 refugees in need of protection in 1998. These included 364,551 Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA and some other 3,684 refugees registered with UNHCR. In addition to UNRWA registered refugees, another 42,000 unregistered Palestinians live in Lebanon. Because about 22,000 of these trace their exile to the 1967 war, they fall outside the UNRWA definition. Another 20,000 are considered to be of Lebanese origin, but identify themselves as Palestinians.

Lebanon in 1998 continued to recover from 17 years of endemic violence and civil war that ended in 1991. Conditions for Palestinians, however, continued on a downward trajectory during the year.

The Lebanese government reported that the Israeli army and its surrogate, the South Lebanese Army (SLA), which operates in Israel's self-proclaimed "security zone" in southern Lebanon, continued to displace Lebanese civilians during 1998, although it did not give any actual figures on displacement. Lebanon made slow progress during 1998 in returning about 450,000 longterm internally displaced people to their homes.

Non-Palestinian Refugees

UNHCR reported 3,684 non-Palestinian refugees in Lebanon in 1998. The majority, 2,270, were Iraqis. UNHCR also registered as refugees 550 Afghans, 413 Sudanese, 154 Somalis, and 297 of other nationalities. During the year, 178 (mostly Iraqi) refugees were resettled in third countries. One Somali family of seven voluntarily repatriated from Lebanon during the year. There were no instances of refoulement (involuntary return) reported in 1998. Sometimes in the past, however, Syrian intelligence services operating in Lebanon reportedly arrested some Iraqi refugees and transferred them to Syria, where they were detained.

Lebanon is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention. Lebanon tolerates the temporary stay of UNHCR-registered refugees, but does not offer them permanent asylum. Thus, UNHCR pursues thirdcountry resettlement for the refugees it registers, although resettlement out of Lebanon has lagged behind resettlement from other Middle Eastern countries.

Although Lebanon does not allow UNHCRregistered refugees the right to work, many manage to work illegally. Some receive social assistance through the Middle East Council of Churches.

Long-term Internal Displacement

Lebanon's civil war caused the violent fragmentation of a pluralistic society into fairly distinct sectarian areas. At the height of the civil war, up to a million people were internally displaced, and many people were often displaced briefly during the course of the war.

When the civil war ended in 1991, some 90,000 families, or about 450,000 persons, were displaced. In 1996, the Lebanese government's Ministry of Displaced, charged with overseeing the return of displaced persons, reported that about 70,000 of the displaced families were actively seeking return. Of these, the ministry reported that the majority, 62 percent, of the displaced originated from Mount Lebanon governorate; a smaller majority, 52.7 percent, remained in the Mount Lebanon area after hostilities ended in 1991. Another 23.8 percent were displaced from southern Lebanon, of which only 15.8 percent remained there in 1991. Although only 7.7 percent of the displaced originated from Beirut, some 20.2 percent were living there in 1991, indicating migration into Beirut from other parts of the country, mostly from the south.

In other regions, displacement did not seem to take as great a toll. Only 4.2 percent of the displaced were from northern Lebanon, where, in 1991, 3.8 percent were living. The Beka'a Valley accounted for 2.3 percent of the displaced, and in 1991 represented 5.8 percent of the total.

Many of the displaced are among the poorest in Lebanese society. The poorest of the homeless, called Muhajjaran, mass along the banks of the Awwali and Zahrani rivers in makeshift shelters in unsanitary conditions. In most cases, however, internally displaced Lebanese have found shelter with friends and family, but often live in overcrowded conditions. The Ministry of Displaced reported that about 45,000 families were occupying other people's homes in 1991, and that another 12,000 families were living in makeshift accommodations unfit for habitation.

The Ministry of Displaced has worked to facilitate the return of the displaced to their former homes. To this end, the Ministry of Displaced reported that as of January 1998 it had paid financial compensation to some 51,600 individuals required to leave properties that they had illegally occupied; removed debris from some 108 of more than 900 war torn villages and towns; issued rebuilding assistance to some 27,500 beneficiaries; initiated infrastructure projects in 132 villages; and paved the way for reconciliation in 29 villages and areas.

While generally supportive of the work of the Ministry of Displaced, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) nevertheless questioned the central assumption underlying the ministry's work: that the solution to the problem of the displaced lies in reversing the process and returning the displaced to their former homes. In a 1997 report, UNDP said that the goal of returning the displaced disregards the many social and economic changes that Lebanon has undergone over the past 20 years. UNDP argued that these changes, many the result of rural-to-urban migration, would have taken place even in the absence of war.

UNDP therefore questioned the use of cash payments to assist individuals to rebuild their homes in the absence of a broader strategy to promote sustainable development in areas where much of the displacement took place.

In a November 1998 interview with USCR, Hisham Nasser Eddine, director of the Ministry of Displaced, seemed to acknowledge UNDP's position, saying that "the return of the displaced to their homes is not just about rebuilding their homes. We need a development plan for the whole area. Infrastructure, other facilities, jobs, and income are all important." Nasser Eddine argued that the vast majority of the displaced would return to their former homes under the right social and economic conditions.

UNDP also noted that the ministry's practice of issuing cash payments was vulnerable to fraud. While the Ministry of Displaced monitored grants paid for reconstruction of houses, it generally did not monitor its compensation to individuals required to evacuate properties not belonging to them, UNDP said. Moreover, UNDP pointed out that, as of March 1996, the ministry had issued twice as many grants to evacuees as it had to returnees, reflecting what UNDP called a "weak link" between the two processes.

Although there were no reliable figures in 1998 on the number of displaced who had returned to their former homes since 1991, indications are that the pace of return has been slow and that most have not returned. In 1997, UNDP reported that villages in the region east of Sidon registered the highest rate of return (about 80 percent). In contrast, only 24.5 percent of the displaced had returned to their former homes in the Mount Lebanon governorate, the area with the largest number of displaced Lebanese. Although UNDP reported that some displaced persons have spontaneously returned to their former homes in the Beka'a Valley and northern Lebanon, it did not provide any actual figures.