The Syrian conflict has created one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time. Over half of the country’s pre-war population — more than 12 million people — have been killed or forced to flee their homes. Families are struggling to survive inside Syria, or make a new home in neighboring countries. Others risked their lives on the way to Europe, hoping to find acceptance and opportunity. Lebanon has suffered from poverty, war and political instability. It is not well equipped to host the largest per capita population of refugees in the world. As of 2018, the total number of registered Syrian refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt was more than 5.6 million. However, unofficial numbers are much higher and include more than six million internally displaced people within the country.
There are currently some 488,000 school-aged Syrian refugee children in Lebanon (3-18 years). Syrian parents are worried that their children will spend years without education. But unfortunately, families with children – especially girls – who do not continue their education, resort to negative coping mechanisms such as early marriages or child labor.
Lebanon has been home to Palestinian refugees since 1948. Ever since Palestinians arrived in Lebanon as refugees decades ago, they haven’t received the same rights and resources as Lebanese natives. Without formal citizenship, they have no social, political, or economic liberties. Refugees in Lebanon also have limited job and educational opportunities and endure poor living conditions.
The Government of Lebanon is not a signatory to the 1951 Geneva Convention related to the status of refugees or its 1967 Protocol. Lebanon implements some provisions of the Convention on a voluntary basis and considers that granting the refugee status to individuals lies within its margin of discretion. Yet the government of Lebanon stresses that Lebanon is not a country of Asylum, a final destination of refugees, or a country of resettlement. Accordingly, it generally refers to individuals that fled from Syria since 2011 as ‘displaced’, or as ‘de facto refugees’. Under these circumstances, refugees in Lebanon will not receive the same rights and opportunities as Lebanese people do, conditioning their life.
This work has been done for Anera. American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera) is an American non-governmental organization that provides humanitarian and development aid to the Middle East, specifically, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Jordan. Founded in 1968 in the aftermath of the Six-Day War, Anera initially sought to help the hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians by providing emergency relief. While still providing crisis response, Anera now also addresses the long-term economic and social needs of Palestinians, Lebanese and Jordanians through its health care, education and job creation programs.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. View of an informal settlement of Syrian refugees close to the border of Syria. Nine years into the Syrian crisis, neighboring Lebanon remains the country with the largest number of refugees per capita. The Lebanese government estimates that they host 1.5 million Syrian refugees living in small settlements or unofficial camps.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Two Syrian children living in the camp. There are currently some 488,000 school-aged Syrian refugee children in Lebanon (3-18 years).
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. A Syrian women, that prefer not to show her identity, is working inside their temporary shelter to keep it as clean as possible. There are about 1.5 million refugees in Lebanon. Most are struggling for survival.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. A few children and a mother walking inside the camp. Syria accounts for the world’s largest number of forcibly displaced people with over half of its population forced to flee. Syrian families everywhere continue to demonstrate their courage and resilience, making huge sacrifices to put their children’s needs first, turning their temporary shelters into homes, showing their entrepreneurial spirit and their deep desire to rebuild their lives with hope and dignity.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. A young boy is standing in front of his house. By his expression difficulties appear as being a Syrian refugee in Lebanon is very hard, specially challenging for children.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Group of young boys having a good time at the camp. More than 221,000 Syrian refugee children aged 3-18 years enrolled during the 2017/2018 school year. More than half of these refugee children are still out of school, mainly adolescents and youth. Syrian refugee parents are fighting for their children’s right to education and to prevent their children from becoming a lost generation.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Mother and daughter outside their temporary shelter taking care of their plants. Families and adolescents have been dramatically affected by the conflict in Syria, and the resulting forced displacement. The loss of educational opportunities is perhaps the most significant effect, with long-term devastating outcomes. As part of the solution, more effort is needed to encourage positive interaction between adolescent Lebanese and adolescent Syrian refugees.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Informal meeting of people living in the camp.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Two women from the camp washing and hanging their clothes and rags. The status of Syrian refugee women in Lebanon shows how gender-based discrimination constrains Syrian female refugees’ options, access, and opportunities and increase their vulnerability to food insecurity, poverty, violence and isolation in Lebanon.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. A young child sitting on a rock at the entrance of his shelter. In 2018, thousands of Syrian refugee children were not able to enroll in formal education and receive homework support because of a funding gap. As a result, public schools stopped accepting new students to the second shift schools, the measure which was taken in order to accommodate Syrian students within Lebanese public schools.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Female adolescent at the entrance of her shelter.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Children are meeting informally inside the camp. In the image, the landscape brings an idea of how the weather could be in the camps. Extremely hot during the summer and extremely cold during. Severe winter storms brought heavy snowfall and flooding to Lebanon and Syria recently, devastating Syrian refugee settlements, and highlighting the difficult future facing the refugees.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Two Syrian girls being together. The Arab-Israeli War of 1967 left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians homeless and impoverished. As a result Anera (American Near East Refugee Aid) was created. Anera began decades of committed work responding to the critical needs of the Palestinian people and others caught in regional conflicts.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Kids playing in the informal settlement. In the background in the mountain slope well-constructed house can be seen. Anera, which has no political or religious affiliation, works on the ground with partners in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon and Jordan. Anera provides humanitarian assistance and sustainable development to advance the well-being of refugees and other vulnerable communities in the Middle East.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Group of children gather inside the informal settlement premises. Anera works closely with local institutions, such as schools, universities, health facilities, cooperatives, municipalities, grassroots communities, and charitable associations to improve the community services they provide.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Mother and daughter outside their shelter taking care of their plants.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Portrait of a young boy living in the camp. Those children who can access to go to school are often subject to discrimination, abuse, language barriers and unsafe journeys to and from school. All of these factors, faced by refugee children who are also coming to terms with their own trauma and distress, are continuing to create barriers to education. Consequently there is a need for provision of informal education for children living within the camps.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Group of children gather inside the informal settlement premises.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Group of children gather inside the informal settlement premises. Syrian refugee children in Lebanon at risk of child labor, missing out on education. Economic pressures are forcing refugee children to forgo schooling and enter the labor market. Child labor is extremely difficult to tackle. Since it is often the only income of a Syrian family, the children’s’ salary can make a crucial difference to their survival.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Children gather at a distance, while where the houses infrastructure can be seen as well as the surroundings. Children, as young as 4, are forced to work, and many are compelled to forgo educational opportunities in favor of harsh and harmful labor due to difficult economic conditions. State policies facilitating access to work for adult refugees will help families meet basic needs and decrease their dependence on child labor as a coping strategy.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Group of children gather inside the informal settlement premises.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Portrait of a young girl in the premises of the camp. Before the devastating conflict erupted in Syria, child marriage was significantly less common among Syrians. Estimates vary, but some show child marriage rates to be four times higher among Syrian refugees today than among Syrians before the crisis. This indicates that displacement, instability and poverty are driving the underage marriages.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Group of young adolescent walking together inside the informal settlement premises. Programming is needed to ensure sustained education access for all adolescents, and to educate very young adolescents and their parents on managing their own health and well-being, given the multiple strains.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Portrait of a young happy girl in the premises of the camp.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. Group of women, part of the same family, are outside their shelter cleaning rugs. Parents are worried that their children will be part of a lost generation. Some parents try their best to teach their children the basics of how to read and write at home. But unfortunately, families with children – especially girls – who do not continue their education, resort to negative coping mechanisms such as early marriages or child labor.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. A young girl with a small baby in arms. There are no official refugee camps for Syrian refugees in Lebanon; while some live in informal tented settlements, most live in and among the local population in small settlements and often in substandard housing in urban neighborhoods, aided by a common language and culture with the host population.
Lebanon, close to Arsal town. Informal settlement close to Syrian border. July 29th, 2019. A mother and child at the entrance of their house. The flow of Syrian refugees to Lebanon represents a humanitarian crisis that the country is ill-prepared to address and comes after successive waves of refugees historically following conflicts in the region, including Palestinian and Iraqi refugees.
Lebanon, Beirut. Burj Brajneh Palestinian Refugee Camp. July 29th, 2019 A woman is preparing tea for the father of her husband. The family have left Syria 7 years ago due to the war. The husband has no job, and the mother works taking care of their houses and her children. There is no stable source of income.
Lebanon, Beirut. Burj Brajneh Palestinian Refugee Camp. July 29th, 2019 The father of the husband, and grandfather of Mohammad, 10 years old and Ahmad 3 years, is drinking his tea. The camp population is mainly consists of Palestinians, and they have been living for more than 30 years.
Lebanon, Beirut. Burj Brajneh Palestinian Refugee Camp. July 29th, 2019 Mohammad is sick and needs a surgery or in few months his kidney might stop working. Ahmad as well needs a surgery.
Lebanon, Beirut. Burj Brajneh Palestinian Refugee Camp. July 29th, 2019 The woman of the house is explaining how difficult their life is. The family gets no funds from anyone and they cannot go back to Syria for now, though they would be very happy to do so.
Lebanon, Beirut. Burj Brajneh Palestinian Refugee Camp. July 29th, 2019 The mother is sitting with Ahmad. Anera works with different NGO's inside the camp to ease the people's life, with many different involvement in the education of children.
Lebanon, Beirut. Burj Brajneh Palestinian Refugee Camp. July 29th, 2019 The woman of the family worried about the difficulties and uncertainties they constantly has to go through. Difficult to remain positive under these circumstances, having a child that needs surgery without the means to pay for that surgery, and not being covered by the Lebanese government. Being a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon is not easy, and going back to Syria, though they want to, is still not an option.
Lebanon, Beirut. Burj Brajneh Palestinian Refugee Camp. July 29th, 2019 The grandfather is sick with cancer but his family decided not to tell him. As they can‘t afford to cover his treatment the family decided to let him live his final days in dignity.
Lebanon, Beirut. Burj Brajneh Palestinian Refugee Camp. July 29th, 2019 Street of the refugee camp. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Palestinians fled to Syria and integrated into Syrian society. After half a century of living as Syrians, these Palestinians found themselves fleeing again in 2011 from the Syrian War. Unlike the original Palestinian refugees, Palestinian refugees from Syria have no formal camps to live in. They reside in abandoned buildings, informal tent communities or small rented spaces in the 12 camps.
Gonzalo Bell
