UN Authority Figures

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Executive Committee: Lebanon

In Lebanon, Palestinians have been kept in refugee camps and refused citizenship for 60 years. (Reuters photo, Handicap International, June 22, 2007)

Mission of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees: "UNHCR is mandated by the United Nations to lead and coordinate international action for the worldwide protection of refugees and the resolution of refugee problems. UNHCR's primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. In its efforts to achieve this objective, UNHCR strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, and to return home voluntarily." (UNHCR Website, "Mission Statement")

Lebanon's Term of office: 1963-

Lebanon's Record on Refugees:
"There were limitations on freedom of movement for unregistered refugees, and widespread, systematic discrimination against Palestinian refugees and minority groups continued...Palestinian refugees were subject to arrest, detention, and harassment by state security forces and rival Palestinian factions...[T]he government...placed limitations on the rights of Palestinian refugees...The law does not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol...[T]he government has not officially provided temporary protection to refugees...Palestinian refugees residing in the country were not able to obtain Lebanese citizenship and were not citizens of any other country...Palestinian refugees have limited social and civil rights, restricted access to governmental public health and education, and no access to public social services...Palestinian refugees faced severe restrictions in their access to work opportunities and diminished protection of their rights at work...Palestinian incomes continued to decline...Palestinians may not purchase property...The amount of land allocated to official refugee camps in the country has only marginally changed since 1948, despite a fourfold increase in the registered refugee population...[M]ost Palestinian refugees lived in overpopulated camps...The government generally prohibited the construction of permanent structures in the camps on the grounds that such construction encouraged refugee settlement in the country. Refugees frequently feared that the government might reduce the size of the camps or eliminate them completely...Children of Palestinian refugees faced discrimination in birth registration and access to adequate housing, social security, and education. The government did not provide health services or education to Palestinian refugees...[A]uthorities during the year arrested Iraqi refugees without valid visas and detained them indefinitely to coerce them to return to Iraq. (US State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2008, Lebanon)