Protection

Lebanon also continued to suffer from the collapse of its banking sector, currency volatility, weakened public services, shrinking job market, and overall inflation—combined with an ongoing struggle to form a government until January 2025—which have coalesced to dramatically increase the vulnerability of refugees and Lebanese communities alike, as reduced humanitarian funding and consequent service reductions increase relative deprivation and elevate anxieties.

Many challenges faced by refugees have become increasingly rooted in systemic issues independent of, but compounded by, refugee status. Notably, growing economic stressors have been associated with rising mental health concerns and elevated gender-based violence (GBV), including intimate partner violence, violence against children in the home, and exploitation by landlords and employers. Additionally, restrictions on access to education for Syrian children and the requirement to present valid legal residency or UNHCR registration certificate placed an insurmountable barrier for many to enroll in school in 2024, though this decision was generally addressed in 2025. This, combined with a weak education system and limited financial resources for transport or supplies, has led to high rates of out-of-school, street-connected, and working children as well as low literacy.

To address these issues, UNHCR and partners implement six Core Program Actions to prevent and respond to abuse, neglect, violence, and the separation of children: (1) Strengthen inclusive child protection systems, (2) Support children, families and communities to protect children, (3) Provide child protection services for children at risk, (4) Strengthen child-friendly protection and solutions, (5) Promote children’s safety and prevent harm through sectoral responses, and (6) Strengthen child participation and child-friendly communication and accountability.

To address GBV, UNHCR works towards three core objectives aligned with the GBV Working Group under the Lebanon Response Plan: (1) REDUCE GBV risks for all forcibly displaced people through risk mitigation and prevention activities, (2) PROVIDE adequate and timely access to quality services to GBV survivors though response activities, including case management, specialized service provision, and information management, and (3) CREATE an enabling environment to operationalize comprehensive programming for GBV with proper assessment and monitoring; planning, prioritization, resource allocation; partnership, coordination; staffing; and knowledge and capacity building.

For persons with specific needs (PWSN), UNHCR implements PWSN programming through a twin-track approach: delivering services targeting PWSN and integrating PWSN in existing services

From 8 October 2023, the protection landscape dramatically shifted, with daily exchange of fire between Israel and armed groups in Lebanon intensifying, characterized by large-scale displacement and loss of civilian life and causalities, damage to infrastructure, destruction of agricultural land and livestock, and the disruption of basic services including healthcare centers, water facilities, and schools in Lebanon. While the scope of impact initially centered on south Lebanon, the rapid and sustained escalation of multi-faceted attacks by Israel across Lebanon from mid-September 2024 until a declared ceasefire in November 2024—including sustained airstrikes against densely populated urban areas in Beirut—displaced hundreds of thousands of Lebanese, Syrians, Palestinian refugees, refugees of other nationalities, and migrants in under one month.

At the height of the conflict, an estimated 1 million people were internally displaced, with 188,000 IDPs (largely Lebanese), residing in 1,175 emergency shelters. Following the ceasefire, nearly 903,000 IDPs returned to their pre-ceasefire area within one week, where many homes had sustained damage or destruction and basic services such as water and electricity were lacking. To date, roughly 64,000 IDPs remain displaced, citing ongoing presence of Israeli armed forces in their areas of origin, damage to homes and infrastructure, and other security concerns (including continued airstrikes in the southern regions on Lebanon that lead to temporary displacement).

Amid these dramatic events, the Assad government in Syria fell on 8 December 2024, ushering in enthusiasm for return and uncertainty among refugees in Lebanon. Since these events, UNHCR estimates that some 379,000 Syrians have returned to Syria from Lebanon as of end 2025. Concurrently, in late 2024 and early 2025, Lebanon experienced a surge of Syrian new arrivals from diverse religious and political backgrounds, including Alawite, Shia, and Christian minorities.

Concurrently, refugees face rising targeted social hostility, with mounting restrictions, raids, deportations, detentions, and checkpoint searches.

UNHCR engages refugees to identify, prevent and respond to protection issues as part of its Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) Policy and its commitment to Accountability to Affected People (AAP). In Lebanon, this is done through community-based protection (CBP) mechanisms including 26 Community Centers, 440 refugee Outreach Volunteers (OVs), 187 community groups, support to community-led initiatives, and structured dialogue.

Community centers apply a one-stop-shop model for delivering protection interventions, empowering refugees, and building synergies with development actors. Activities include information provision, skills building, psychosocial support (PSS), case management, and community networking. Centers also provide refugees access to remote assistance such as presence verification and card validation for cash support. Recently, centers have become spaces where UNHCR conducts voluntariness assessments and issues Repatriation Forms for those who express their intention to return to Syria.

In addition, OVs and Community Groups play a key role in identifying protection risks, sharing information, linking persons at heightened risk to services, and delivering solutions. Select OVs deliver structured evidence-based PSS, while refugee-led initiatives support thousands of community members.

Amidst large-scale displacement, movement restrictions and crises, these mechanisms quickly respond by adapting to emergency interventions and extending outreach activity to affected communities. Together, these efforts reduce vulnerability and offer protection.

Voluntary Repatriation, as the durable solution of choice for refugees, supports refugees who are fully informed, to voluntarily return to their country of origin in safety and dignity. UNHCR supports this process when conditions in their country of origin are conducive for refugees to return and for their effective and sustainable reintegration.

Since the fall of the Assad government in December 2024, UNHCR works in close partnership with the Government of Lebanon, the Government of Syria and the international community to support voluntary, safe and dignified return of Syrian refugees to Syria, when they are ready to do so.

UNHCR provides updated and accessible information on conditions inside Syria, to support refugees to take free and informed decisions about return. UNHCR is also currently implementing a facilitated return program for Syrian refugees who would like to return home, which includes counselling, voluntariness assessments, legal support to obtain documentation, provision of a Repatriation Form and a one-time return cash grant to support refugee families to return home, including organizing their return transport. UNHCR, together with IOM, also provides organized return transport for families who require this additional support.

For more information on UNHCR’s facilitated return program in Lebanon, visit the UNHCR Help-Lebanon site.

For more information on conditions and available services for refugee returnees, visit Syria is Home.