Refugees International: Articles: Arab American News: Lebanese Politics Impacts Humanitarian Aid

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Arab American News: Lebanese Politics Impacts Humanitarian Aid

By Ghassan Rubeiz
09/28/2006

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Below is an excerpt of an article from Arab American News:

In Lebanon, the ceasefire is holding, the majority of the displaced population has returned and the emergency needs are being met efficiently. Lebanon has not turned into the humanitarian disaster some feared it would become.

But the recovery will take months or years. The U.N. estimates Lebanon's economic war loss at 15 billion dollars. Refugees International estimates that 70 percent of the displaced are out of jobs. Of the million displaced, 250,000 remain away from their homes due to destruction or fear of the future. Unexploded mines are now major causes of death and impediments to farming. The oil spill on the sea shore will be a long lasting environmental disaster. Lebanon's projected economic growth will rapidly decline from six percent in 2006 to zero percent in 2007.

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In Europe foreign aid is less tied to politics than it is in the U.S. Sixty international agencies will attend the Stockholm donor agency meeting on August 31, where 500 million dollars in pledges are expected. A second meeting will take place in Beirut for further funding at a later stage.

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With money available for large scale reconstruction, the urge to replace poor neighborhoods with cheap reconstruction is great. Ponder that the people of South Beirut have been displaced from South Lebanon as a result of repeated cycles of Israeli incursions and invasions over the last thirty years. It is reasonable to raise the question of reintegrating the many times displaced South Beirut residents to their communities of origin in South Lebanon.

There are many sick and injured, many orphans and out-of-school children, people with disabilities, broken families, angry youth and unemployed adults. [...] It is not uncommon in Lebanon to place poor children (euphemistically called social orphans) in crowded sectarian residential institutions that have minimum sensitivity to the rights of children. These dependent children should be helped to live in their own families, with relatives or in other family substitute environments. Lebanon, regrettably, has one of the highest numbers of orphanages in the world, largely due to a misguided public welfare policy.

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What goals foreign policy makers could not accomplish through war they should not pursue in foreign aid. Winning the hearts and minds of the Lebanese can only occur through creative engagement of aid agencies with local Lebanese partners.

Sound foreign aid offers opportunity for learning about the adversary, for healing wounds, correcting misunderstanding, building cultural bridges and dispensing with unworkable preconceived ideas. The growing enrollments at foreign universities in Lebanon, of which the American University of Beirut, the Lebanese American University and the Ste. Joseph University are a few examples, illustrate the positive multiplier effect of sound foreign aid.

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[...] While the management of the humanitarian crisis provides an opportunity to enhance the sovereignty of the Lebanese state, corruption in public service poses a real challenge. Nevertheless, the Lebanese state should lead recovery, set up policies and decide priorities. The state should also define objectives, describe the program, support partnerships and encourage agencies who intend to build long term relations with the people of Lebanon. [...]Allowing private local and international agencies to participate collectively in planning, implementing and evaluation of the recovery program should enhance and validate the government leadership.

[...] Effective agents of social change are expected to work with local leaders. Lebanon is rich with indigenous experience and human resources for reconstruction. [...] Regional consultants with minimum on-the-ground experience in the Middle East or with little cultural understanding should not be in leadership roles in Lebanon. International agencies with religious affiliations must be extremely cautious that their administration of aid is free of evangelism, politics or cultural indoctrination.

International peace keeping forces could also be used in rebuilding. As the French president observed, the anticipated 15,000 international peace keeping force may be too large of a military force. There will also be 15,000 Lebanese soldiers in the same area to establish border security. [...] The ethics of selective use of the military in social work has been debated internationally, and as a result, there are helpful guides for civilian practice that can be followed.

[...] While the world's compassion index for Lebanon is high, the country's future remains in critical condition. Sound application of humanitarian work will not only help the Lebanese. This small and fragile country has always been a regional and international laboratory of social change. Lebanon's recovery process is an international experiment harmonizing politics and human development.