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. Read more about Women, non-Lebanese children get raw deal 

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. Read more about Few rights, low pay for 200,000 migrant domestic workers 

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. Read more about "Lost generation" of Iraqi refugee children in Lebanon 

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. Read more about UNRWA "not satisfied" with pace of reconstruction in Palestinian refugee camp 

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. Read more about Refugee children chronicle life in camp 

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. Read more about Nahr al-Bared: more questions than answers 

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. Read more about Rights group calls for law banning sectarian incitement 

BEIRUT, 13 May (IRIN) - The army’s pledge to use force if necessary to impose law and order puts the only fully functioning national institution into the centre of Lebanon’s violent crisis. But although strained, analysts say the military remains united. “There is no civil authority in the country now, so the army is under tremendous pressure,” said Timor Goksell, a security expert and former spokesman of UN peacekeeping forces who coordinate with the military in south Lebanon. Read more about Army "under tremendous pressure" but still united