Editing by Yusra Ahmed
(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian women refugees in Lebanon face unbearably difficult living conditions, which make them subject to exploitation and abuse, resulted mainly from the shortfalls in international assistance and discriminatory policies imposed by the Lebanese authorities which create suitable conditions, latest amnesty report confirmed.
Many Syrian refugee women had run away from war and killing, to face more difficult and painful life in refuge, as they struggle to meet the high cost of living in Lebanon and difficulties in finding a job for the husband or the male relative as a result of difficulty in renewing residency and finding a sponsor, activist Mohamed al-Kassab reported to Zaman Al Wasl.
The activist mentioned that exploitation and pressure the Syrian women face in Lebanon is unbearable, even they have been fought and pressurised by workers in some organisation claim charitable work, but they give support according to their will, not the need of refugees.
Al-Kassab refused to give names of users and exploiters because they form lobbies of corrupted people, either Syrian or Lebanese and protect each others.
The activist mentioned that most associations claim to support the Syrian women, do not give any support apart from lectures to fill in the employees time, and using those activities to draw support and fund for fake projects, in other words, the Syrian women have become a source for income to those corrupted associations.
Amnesty International in a new report “‘I want a safe place’: Refugee women from Syria uprooted and unprotected in Lebanon” , published before the “Syria Donors Conference” in London on 4 February presented sufferings of the Syrian women refugees in Lebanon and the difficult conditions they live under, which make them subject to exploitation and abuse, the report presented possible solutions to the crisis of Syrian refugees.
“Shortfalls in international assistance and discriminatory policies imposed by the Lebanese authorities are creating conditions that facilitate the exploitation and abuse of women refugees in Lebanon” the report said.
The report explained that the combination of a significant shortage in international funding for the refugee crisis and strict restrictions imposed on refugees by the Lebanese authorities, is fuelling a climate in which refugee women from Syria are at risk of harassment and exploitation by people in positions of power including landlords, employers and even the police, and are unable to seek protection from the authorities.
The report detailed that 20% of Syrian refugee households in Lebanon are headed by women, and in many cases the women became the main income providers supporting the family after their husbands were killed, detained, forcibly disappeared or abducted in Syria. The majority of refugees from Syria in Lebanon struggle to survive in often desperate conditions like discrimination and major obstacles in obtaining food, housing or a job. For women refugees surviving in such circumstances can often be even more difficult, which makes them at increased risk of harassment, exploitation and abuse at work and in the streets.
Many refugee women said they struggle to meet the high cost of living in Lebanon and to afford food or rent which has exposed them to greater risk of exploitation. Some said that they received inappropriate sexual advances from men or offers of financial or other assistance in exchange for sex, according to the Amnesty report.
Several women also said they had left a job or not taken a job because they felt the employers’ behaviour had been inappropriate.
What exaggerates the hardness of Syrian refugees life in Lebanon is the bureaucratic procedures and high costs for refugees to renew their residence permits, introduced by the Lebanese government in January 2015, which prevented many refugees from being able to renew their residency permits. Therefore, without a valid residence permit, refugees from Syria often fear arrest and fail to report abuse to the police.
In regard to shortfall in international fund for refugees, the report pointed out that the lack of international funding and support for refugees in Lebanon is a direct factor contributing to the poverty and precarious circumstances of refugee women which has exposed them to greater risks. Around 70% of Syrian refugee families live significantly below the Lebanese poverty line. In the same time, the UN humanitarian response to the Syria refugee crisis has consistently been underfunded. Last year the UN only received 57% of the funds it requested for its work in Lebanon.
The report added that the severe shortage of funds forced the World Food Programme to reduce the monthly food allowance provided to the most vulnerable refugees from US$30 to US$13.50 in mid-2015. After an injection of funding in late 2015, it was increased to $21.60- just $0.72 a day. A quarter of the women Amnesty International spoke to had stopped receiving payments for food over the last year.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees “UNHCR” has identified at least 10% of the Syria refugee population in host countries, the equivalent of 450,000, as vulnerable and in urgent need of resettlement in another country outside the region. UNHCR considers women and girls at risk as among those who meet the criteria of “most vulnerable” refugees, according to the report.
Amnesty International is calling on the international community to increase the number of resettlement places and other safe routes out of the region offered to refugees from Syria.
Part of the solution of the crisis according to the Amnesty report that the world’s wealthiest countries, from the EU including the UK, Gulf states and the USA, among others all need to do much more to alleviate this crisis. As well as boosting humanitarian support to those in Syria and refugees in the region they must also offer to share responsibility for the crisis by resettling more refugees.
“They must also work with host countries such as Lebanon to remove barriers to legal registration for refugees and access to vital services and help ensure all refugees, including women at risk do not face abuse.” The report specified in regard to women.
(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian women refugees in Lebanon face unbearably difficult living conditions, which make them subject to exploitation and abuse, resulted mainly from the shortfalls in international assistance and discriminatory policies imposed by the Lebanese authorities which create suitable conditions, latest amnesty report confirmed.
Many Syrian refugee women had run away from war and killing, to face more difficult and painful life in refuge, as they struggle to meet the high cost of living in Lebanon and difficulties in finding a job for the husband or the male relative as a result of difficulty in renewing residency and finding a sponsor, activist Mohamed al-Kassab reported to Zaman Al Wasl.
The activist mentioned that exploitation and pressure the Syrian women face in Lebanon is unbearable, even they have been fought and pressurised by workers in some organisation claim charitable work, but they give support according to their will, not the need of refugees.
Al-Kassab refused to give names of users and exploiters because they form lobbies of corrupted people, either Syrian or Lebanese and protect each others.
The activist mentioned that most associations claim to support the Syrian women, do not give any support apart from lectures to fill in the employees time, and using those activities to draw support and fund for fake projects, in other words, the Syrian women have become a source for income to those corrupted associations.
Amnesty International in a new report “‘I want a safe place’: Refugee women from Syria uprooted and unprotected in Lebanon” , published before the “Syria Donors Conference” in London on 4 February presented sufferings of the Syrian women refugees in Lebanon and the difficult conditions they live under, which make them subject to exploitation and abuse, the report presented possible solutions to the crisis of Syrian refugees.
“Shortfalls in international assistance and discriminatory policies imposed by the Lebanese authorities are creating conditions that facilitate the exploitation and abuse of women refugees in Lebanon” the report said.
The report explained that the combination of a significant shortage in international funding for the refugee crisis and strict restrictions imposed on refugees by the Lebanese authorities, is fuelling a climate in which refugee women from Syria are at risk of harassment and exploitation by people in positions of power including landlords, employers and even the police, and are unable to seek protection from the authorities.
The report detailed that 20% of Syrian refugee households in Lebanon are headed by women, and in many cases the women became the main income providers supporting the family after their husbands were killed, detained, forcibly disappeared or abducted in Syria. The majority of refugees from Syria in Lebanon struggle to survive in often desperate conditions like discrimination and major obstacles in obtaining food, housing or a job. For women refugees surviving in such circumstances can often be even more difficult, which makes them at increased risk of harassment, exploitation and abuse at work and in the streets.
Many refugee women said they struggle to meet the high cost of living in Lebanon and to afford food or rent which has exposed them to greater risk of exploitation. Some said that they received inappropriate sexual advances from men or offers of financial or other assistance in exchange for sex, according to the Amnesty report.
Several women also said they had left a job or not taken a job because they felt the employers’ behaviour had been inappropriate.
What exaggerates the hardness of Syrian refugees life in Lebanon is the bureaucratic procedures and high costs for refugees to renew their residence permits, introduced by the Lebanese government in January 2015, which prevented many refugees from being able to renew their residency permits. Therefore, without a valid residence permit, refugees from Syria often fear arrest and fail to report abuse to the police.
In regard to shortfall in international fund for refugees, the report pointed out that the lack of international funding and support for refugees in Lebanon is a direct factor contributing to the poverty and precarious circumstances of refugee women which has exposed them to greater risks. Around 70% of Syrian refugee families live significantly below the Lebanese poverty line. In the same time, the UN humanitarian response to the Syria refugee crisis has consistently been underfunded. Last year the UN only received 57% of the funds it requested for its work in Lebanon.
The report added that the severe shortage of funds forced the World Food Programme to reduce the monthly food allowance provided to the most vulnerable refugees from US$30 to US$13.50 in mid-2015. After an injection of funding in late 2015, it was increased to $21.60- just $0.72 a day. A quarter of the women Amnesty International spoke to had stopped receiving payments for food over the last year.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees “UNHCR” has identified at least 10% of the Syria refugee population in host countries, the equivalent of 450,000, as vulnerable and in urgent need of resettlement in another country outside the region. UNHCR considers women and girls at risk as among those who meet the criteria of “most vulnerable” refugees, according to the report.
Amnesty International is calling on the international community to increase the number of resettlement places and other safe routes out of the region offered to refugees from Syria.
Part of the solution of the crisis according to the Amnesty report that the world’s wealthiest countries, from the EU including the UK, Gulf states and the USA, among others all need to do much more to alleviate this crisis. As well as boosting humanitarian support to those in Syria and refugees in the region they must also offer to share responsibility for the crisis by resettling more refugees.
“They must also work with host countries such as Lebanon to remove barriers to legal registration for refugees and access to vital services and help ensure all refugees, including women at risk do not face abuse.” The report specified in regard to women.
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