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Lebanon: Palestinian refugees call on UNRWA to have emergency relief plan

January 19, 2023 at 1:51 pm

A Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon on 24 September 2021 [NICOLAS MAETERLINCK/BELGA MAG/AFP/Getty Images]

Palestinian refugees in Ein Al-Hilwa refugee camp in Lebanon have organised a protest in front of a clinic run by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), urging it to have an emergency relief plan in place, Quds Press has reported. The protest was organised by the Palestinian Unified Independent Movement; dozens of refugees took part.

“The protest is part of ongoing action by Palestinian refugees in Lebanon seeking to announce a state of emergency and the need to have an emergency relief, social, health and educational plan in place,” explained Ibrahim Mi’ari, a member of the Unified Independent Movement.

He added that the cuts in UNRWA’s services had a negative impact on the living conditions and healthcare of all Palestinian refugees. “The difficult economic situation in Lebanon has magnified the tragic and difficult conditions of the refugees with an astronomical increase in poverty, unemployment and despair rates.”

Mi’ari called for everyone with an interest in UNRWA and working for the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to declare them to be a disaster-stricken population due to the harsh living and health conditions they endure in the refugee camps.

The Unified Independent Movement was formed by younger refugees following a decision taken in Lebanon in 2019 to activate laws preventing Palestinian refugees from practicing certain important professions.

READ: UN calls for more support for refugees ‘dying a slow death’ in Lebanon