ELECTRONIC LEBANON
Human Rights/Development
Displaced Allawis find little relief in impoverished north
Report, Electronic Lebanon, 6 August 2008
HISA, AKKAR (IRIN) - They may have been uprooted "more than 40 times" over the years since Lebanon's Civil War began in 1975, but Hussein Mohammed and his family say they have rarely felt as threatened as they do today. "When Israel did air strikes [in 2006] they dropped leaflets warning us to leave the village. These Salafis are trying to drive us out of the country," said Mohammed, a member of the Allawi sect.
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Human Rights/Development
Months after Qatar talks, fighting continues in northern Lebanon
Report, Electronic Lebanon, 30 July 2008
TRIPOLI, LEBANON (IRIN) - A few hours after evacuating their bullet-riddled three bedroom flat on the street which divides Sunnis from Shia Allawis in Tripoli's poorest neighborhood, Khaled Mansour and his new wife were woken by the sound of their front room exploding. "The rocket came through the window at dawn," said the 23-year-old accountant with scraggly black beard and traditional white tunic, who had moved his veiled wife and mother into his uncle's flat next door.
[MORE]
Human Rights/Development
Women, non-Lebanese children get raw deal
Report, Electronic Lebanon, 24 July 2008
BEIRUT (IRIN) - Thousands of children in Lebanon are denied full access to education, healthcare and residency because they do not have Lebanese citizenship. Lebanese women cannot pass on their nationality to their children and in the event of separation, it is the father who gains automatic custody, according to Lebanese nationality law. [MORE]
Human Rights/Development
UNRWA's Nahr al-Bared appeal leaves out Palestinian participation
Report, Electronic Lebanon, 25 June 2008
BEIRUT (IRIN) - As the UN's agency for Palestine refugees UNRWA appeals for US$445 million for three years of reconstruction and recovery in and around Lebanon's Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, a mixed picture of aid agency coordination has emerged from interviews with key players. [MORE]
Human Rights/Development
Few rights, low pay for 200,000 migrant domestic workers
Report, Electronic Lebanon, 24 June 2008
BEIRUT (IRIN) - Loud screams break the quiet of a Beirut neighborhood in the early hours of Sunday 15 June: It's Angelique, a 26-year-old domestic worker from Congo, crying for the police as she runs to the balcony. From inside the apartment, a man's voice yells her name, swearing in Arabic and French. There are the sounds of fists and slaps and more screams, before all falls silent. [MORE]
Human Rights/Development
"Lost generation" of Iraqi refugee children in Lebanon
Report, Electronic Lebanon, 23 June 2008
BEIRUT (IRIN) - Of the 10 million refugees worldwide, half are children, estimates UK-based World Vision -- children who will grow up as a "lost generation" unless more is done to address their needs. "To preserve the young generation growing up today, we need to shield children from violence, enhance humanitarian access and provide more resources targeted to children's specific needs," World Vision said in a report highlighting the plight of Iraqi refugee children in Jordan, released to coincide with 20 June, World Refugee Day. [MORE]
Human Rights/Development
UNRWA "not satisfied" with pace of reconstruction in Palestinian refugee camp
Interview, Electronic Lebanon, 23 June 2008
BEIRUT (IRIN) - One year on since the fighting between Islamist militant group Fatah al-Islam and the Lebanese army destroyed most of the northern Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp and displaced up to 40,000 of its residents, the pace of reconstruction remains grindingly slow. The "old camp," inside the official boundary, is mostly rubble and is the responsibility of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) to rebuild. [MORE]
Human Rights/Development
Refugee children chronicle life in camp
Report, Electronic Lebanon, 16 June 2008
BEIRUT (IRIN) - A photograph of the sea, perfectly framed by the ragged window of a gutted building, illustrates the contrasts of Lebanon. Hanging in Medina Theatre as part of an exhibition in Beirut's fashionable Hamra district, it could easily be the work of a professional. But the photographer is seven-year-old Manah Moustafa Diab from Rashidieh refugee camp, one of the 12 camps for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. [MORE]
Human Rights/Development
Nahr al-Bared: more questions than answers
Ray Smith, Electronic Lebanon, 22 May 2008
One year ago, on 20 May 2007, the fighting began between the Lebanese army and the militant group Fatah al-Islam in Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon. During more than three months of fighting between the army and the extremist group, more than 47 Palestinian civilians, 178 soldiers and at least 220 militants were killed. More than half a year after the battle came to an end, only a fraction of its residents have been allowed to return. [MORE]
Human Rights/Development
Rights group calls for law banning sectarian incitement
Report, Electronic Lebanon, 20 May 2008
BEIRUT, 20 May (IRIN) - Lebanon needs a new law banning sectarian prejudice and incitement, to help heal rifts that widened after last week's fighting between opposition and pro-government forces, the Beirut-based Khiam Rehabilitation Centre said. The Khiam Centre's call for such a law was made against a backdrop of fears among citizens that, unless checked, sectarian incitement might unleash another wave of killings as in the 1975-1990 civil war which had serious humanitarian consequences. [MORE]
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