The depressing survey results are not encouraging. Â As bad, if not
worse than in Gaza, the data reveals a ticking social, moral, political and
perhaps literal time bomb.
The data graphically illustrate the urgent need for
immediate Lebanese and global governmental and civil society support, advocacy,
and political pressure to encourage Lebanon's parliament to enact
internationally mandated elementary human rights for Palestinian
refugees.Â
Both the international community and Lebanon have
created and perpetuated the quicksand death pit tragedy unfolding in
Lebanon's camps. The good news is that either can fairly quickly end the
nightmare if they can be motivated to develop the political will.
DEMOGRAPHICS: SWELLING
Half
of the population is under 25 years old. Two-thirds of the Palestinians live
shoehorned inside camps the square footage of which has not appreciably
increased over the past six decades but whose population has more than
quadrupled.
One-third live in gatherings mainly near one of the
12 camps' vicinity. Nearly 7 % are extremely poor, meaning they cannot meet
their essential daily food needs, five times the percentage for the poorest
Lebanese.
Nearly 67 per cent of Palestine's refugees in
Lebanon are poor and cannot meet their basic food and non-food needs. This is
double the number for the Lebanese poor and one of the highest in the
World.Â
UNEMPLOYMENT: RISING
Nearly 56 per cent of Palestinians are jobless.
Two-thirds of Palestinians employed in elementary occupations (i.e. street vendors,
construction or agriculture workers) are poor.
A major part of Palestinians refugee problems in
Lebanon are caused by the fact that Lebanon's government refuses to grant them
the internationally mandated rights required and enjoyed by all the world's
refugees. These include the right to work and to own a home, the two
deprivations, among those most severely impacting Palestinians in Lebanon.
EDUCATION:
SHRINKING
Less than half of young people of secondary school
age (16-18 years old) are even enrolled in schools or vocational training
centers. Eight per cent of the Palestine refugee population of school age (7-15
years old) are not enrolled in any school as 2011 begins. Only 6 per cent of
Palestinians refugees in Lebanon are university degree holders whereas in the
Diaspora the figure is often in the 80-90 percentile for Palestinians.
Formerly one of the Palestinian refugees'
characteristics was a strong educational background. This proud attribute has
now vanished in Lebanon's camps. High dropout rates and insufficient skills
combined with multi-barriers established by the Lebanese government severely
limit the refugees' ability to find even menial "informal economy' or "black
market' jobs.
FOOD INSECURITY: INCREASING
Sixty
three per cent of Lebanon's Palestinians experience food insecurity, and 15 per
cent of Palestinians are severely food insecure and are in acute need of food
assistance.
Approximately 25% of refugee households consume
inadequate amounts of fruit, vegetables, dairy and meat, and one-third of the
population is not meeting their micronutrient requirements.Â
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