UNHCR gears up for operation in Middle East around Lebanon crisis

News Stories, 19 July 2006

© UNHCR

GENEVA, July 19 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency is gearing up for a multi-million-dollar operation in the Middle East aimed at assisting tens of thousands of people displaced by the current crisis in Lebanon.

"This will be a phased operation, starting immediately with the deployment of the emergency mobile teams, and then building up as the situation requires," said Ekber Menemencioglu, UNHCR's director for the region.

The initial stage of the operation will include border monitoring in countries surrounding Lebanon for outflows of refugees. It will also include the deployment of mobile monitoring and assistance teams in Lebanon to help the thousands of displaced people living in communal shelters in the mountains where they had fled for safety.

With stockpiles of emergency relief supplies in Jordan and Syria, UNHCR is poised to provide immediate assistance – particularly shelter items such as plastic sheeting, tents and blankets.

The Lebanese government has asked the United Nations for assistance, and the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Jan Egeland, requested UNHCR to help respond to the crisis.

An appeal for funding for UNHCR's operation will be made in the joint UN appeal still to be finalised. No further financial details are immediately available.

UNHCR is currently monitoring the outflow of refugees from Lebanon into neighbouring Syria and to Cyprus. "The outflow of Lebanese into Syria can be described as a 'hidden influx' – with most Lebanese leaving Lebanon, finding shelter with friends and families," said Menemencioglu. "Some 640 families are living in schools helped by the Syrian Red Crescent, and we are discussing with them how we can assist."

In Cyprus, UNHCR's office reports some 200 Lebanese have arrived, but most have independent means and are in transit to third countries. The Cypriot government has suspended deportations of illegal Lebanese workers to Lebanon.

In Beirut, the plight of the 20,000 or so refugees and asylum seekers in Lebanon – mainly from Iraq – is of concern to UNHCR.

"There has been a demonstration outside our office in Beirut by some of these frightened people, including stranded migrant workers, asking us to put them on a boat to Cyprus to safety," said Menemencioglu. "We are helping with their immediate needs by directing and taking them to shelters, where they can get a roof over their heads and food packages."

The first members of UNHCR's initial 11-strong emergency team are scheduled to start deploying Thursday and for the next few days will fly in from around the world to Damascus, before heading to Lebanon to begin their assessment of the situation of the displaced.

• DONATE NOW • • GET INVOLVED • • STAY INFORMED •

 

Share this story on Facebook

Related Stories

UNHCR country pages

Emergency Response

UNHCR is committed to increasing its ability to respond to complex emergency situations.

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 Returnees Receive Aid

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

Lebanese Stream Home After Ceasefire

Post-Tsunami Recovery in Puntland

Away from the glare of the international spotlight, Somalia in the Horn of Africa was also hit by last December's Asian tsunami which rolled across the Indian Ocean. UNHCR, as part of an integrated UN emergency response, distributed life-saving supplies, including plastic sheets, blankets, and kitchen sets, to some 45,000 Somalis living along a severely damaged 650km strip of coast in the northeast.

A year on, the area is getting back to its pre-tsunami state with UNHCR and its partners now making the leap from providing emergency aid to investing in development projects. In an effort to improve the lives of the inhabitants of one of the poorest places on Earth, UNHCR has begun rehabilitating schools, building markets and women's centres, as well as constructing roads to help economic development.

The UN's relief efforts are concentrated in a 650km stretch of coastline between Hafun and Garaad in northeast Somalia, an area also known as Puntland. In war-ravaged Somalia, Puntland is a relatively peaceful self-declared autonomous enclave.

Post-Tsunami Recovery in Puntland

Nansen Award Announcement 2008

The UN refugee agency has announced the winner of the 2008 Nansen Refugee Award. The prestigious award goes to Chris Clark, the head of the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre in southern Lebanon, and his team of international and Lebanese mine clearers.

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie has seen UNHCRs Emergency Response Team in action, providing life-saving shelter and relief items to refugees within 72 hours of a crisis hitting.

Nansen Refugee Award: Deminers Clear The Way Home In Lebanon

The 2008 Nansen Refugee Award recognizes the heroic work of Lebanese and international deminers in clearing southern Lebanon of tens of thousands of cluster munitions and allowing uprooted civilians to return home.