The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) on Friday appealed to donors for USD 13 million in funding to continue its support for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philip Lazzarini said in a statement, “UNRWA is urgently appealing for $13 million for Palestine refugees in Lebanon,” noting that “this funding will enable the Agency to provide much-needed cash assistance and continue to provide services Primary health care, and keeping our schools open until the end of the year.”
Lazzarini explained that unprecedented levels of poverty and extremely high unemployment rates have negatively affected Palestinian refugees.
According to UNRWA, about 210,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon (180,000 Palestinian refugees from Lebanon in addition to 30,000 Palestinian refugees from Syria) live in 12 official refugee camps, or outside the camps in overcrowded living conditions.
The prolonged economic collapse three years ago in Lebanon exacerbated their poor living conditions, with their purchasing power declining and their inability to provide the most basic services, including food and health care.
The latest UNRWA survey shows 93 percent of all Palestine refugees in Lebanon are poor, with Palestine refugees in Lebanon prohibited from practising 39 professions, including general medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, occupational therapy, law and other professions.
