Middle East Council of Churches

2008 Nansen Refugee Award

The UN refugee agency has named the British coordinator of a UN-run mine clearance programme in southern Lebanon and his civilian staff, including almost 1,000 Lebanese mine clearers, as the winners of the 2008 Nansen Refugee Award.

Christopher Clark, a former officer with the British armed forces, became manager of the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre-South Lebanon (UNMACC-SL) n 2003. His teams have detected and destroyed tons of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and tens of thousands of mines. This includes almost 145,000 submunitions (bomblets from cluster-bombs) found in southern Lebanon since the five-week war of mid-2006.

Their work helped enable the return home of almost 1 million Lebanese uprooted by the conflict. But there has been a cost – 13 mine clearers have been killed, while a further 38 have suffered cluster-bomb injuries since 2006. Southern Lebanon is once more thriving with life and industry, while the process of reconstruction continues apace thanks, in large part, to the work of the 2008 Nansen Award winners.

Lebanese Returnees Receive Aid

UNHCR started distributing emergency relief aid in devastated southern Lebanese villages in the second half of August. Items such as tents, plastic sheeting and blankets are being distributed to the most vulnerable. UNHCR supplies are being taken from stockpiles in Beirut, Sidon and Tyre and continue to arrive in Lebanon by air, sea and road.

Although 90 percent of the displaced returned within days of the August 14 ceasefire, many Lebanese have been unable to move back into their homes and have been staying with family or in shelters, while a few thousand have remained in Syria.

Since the crisis began in mid-July, UNHCR has moved 1,553 tons of supplies into Syria and Lebanon for the victims of the fighting. That has included nearly 15,000 tents, 154,510 blankets, 53,633 mattresses and 13,474 kitchen sets. The refugee agency has imported five trucks and 15 more are en route.

Posted on 29 August 2006

Lebanese Stream Home After Ceasefire

Tens of thousands of displaced Lebanese have been streaming back to their homes from locations inside Lebanon and Syria since a ceasefire started on Monday. UNHCR teams monitoring the roads leading to the worst affected areas of Lebanon expect the huge numbers of returnees to continue in the coming days.

UNHCR teams have been monitoring the borders around the clock at the four border points from Syria and assisting returnees. They are distributing return packs of water, high-energy biscuits, wet towels and rehydration salts. They are also identifying vulnerable cases who require additional help. Convoys for refugees who are without transportation or who cannot afford transport home are being organized by the refugee agency.

Inside Lebanon, UNHCR teams have set up distribution points alongside roads to distribute assistance such as plastic sheeting, mattresses, water and other supplies to returnees. The full extent of the aid that will be needed will not be clear until a thorough assessment is carried out in the worst-affected areas.

Posted on 16 August 2006