2007 Lebanon Emergency

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), in the presence of the German Chargé d’Affaires, Ms Irene Plank,  inaugurated on 29 October,  a new Vocational Training Centre in the North, fully funded by the German Government providing additional training places for North Lebanon Area students.

The Centre located near Nahr el-Bared camp offers nine courses focused in an initial period, on construction trades. It will run in a rented building for two intakes (2008-2010 and 2009-2011) providing marketable skills to around 250 trainees per intake.  

The opening of the new centre will help Palestinian youth living in the North to improve their skills and find jobs, contributing thus to the improvement of their families.   

Some 4.6 million Palestine refugees in UNRWA’s five fields of operations – Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem – are eligible for Agency services, including education, healthcare, social services, shelter, micro-credit loans and emergency aid.

UNRWA employs nearly 30,000 staff, the vast majority of whom are Palestine refugees. UNRWA’s operations are financed almost entirely by voluntary contributions from donors. The Agency’s regular budget for 2008-2009 is $1.1 billion, which covers the recurrent costs of the Agency’s education, health and relief and social services activities.

On this occasion, beneficiaries who took the food parcels were very impressed by the assistance provided by the people of  Huelva, “it shows that we are all brothers and sisters in humanity. Although we are from different parts of the world, we still sympathize with each other”, said Abu Khaled, head of a family displaced to Baddawi camp.

Beirut – 5 February 2008: A high level delegation representing UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) donor countries visited Nahr el Bared and Bedawwi Camps today, and were briefed by senior officials from the UNRWA about the progress made at Nahr El Bared and the Agency’s projects in neighbouring Bedawwi Camp.
“Rebuilding Nahr el Bared will be the single largest project in UNRWA’s history,” said Richard Cook, Director of the UNRWA office in Lebanon, “and the relationship between UNRWA and our donors will be increasingly important as we move forward towards reconstruction of the camp.”
The donor delegation began the day with a tour of Beddawi Camp, where they visited the office of the Palestinian Reconstruction Committee which, together with UNRWA, is working on the master plan for the reconstruction of Nahr El Bared. The donors then toured the Agency’s installations in Bedawwi and met displaced families.
The delegation moved to the area adjacent to Nahr EL Bared Camp where they visited returnees, UNRWA’s clinic and other installations.
“We are delighted with the co-operation and support we are receiving from the Lebanese government,” said Richard Cook. “The army has informed us that UNRWA will be given access to the official camp as soon as the displaced people have visited the various areas of the camp to look for their belongings. We hope this is going to be done in a systematic manner. ”
Tomorrow, the donor representatives will be briefed by UNRWA’s senior officials about the progress of the work in the new camp and the preparations for the reconstruction of the old camp. They will also meet with representatives of the Lebanese Government and the World Bank.
They will end their visit with a tour in Shatilla camp in southern Beirut, where they will be updated on UNRWA’s current activities and its future projects and challenges.

Beirut - 31 December 2007 - Nine thousand children from the Nahr El Bared camp in Lebanon destroyed in fighting are now able in the New Year to return to school in temporary schools located in the Beddawi and Nahr El Bared areas thanks to a donation of US$ 1.277 million made by Dubai Cares.  

UNRWA’s Commissioner-General Mrs. Karen Abu-Zayd warmly welcomed the US$ 1.277 million donation from Dubai Cares, “an organization which has risen from the society of Dubai, whose leader has inspired his people to donate enthusiastically to a good cause: the education of poor children”, she said.  

Dubai Cares was launched with spectacular success earlier this year by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, with an original aim of raising money to help educate 1 million children in poor countries. The campaign to raise funds having already exceeded expectations by raising $465 million, this amount was doubled by a generous contribution from Shaikh Mohammed himself, making Dubai Cares one of the best endowed humanitarian establishments in the region. 

With Dubai Cares’ contribution, UNRWA has rented, furnished and equipped schools in the Beddawi camp area and the area adjacent to Nahr El Bared, to allow displaced children to continue their education as normally as possible, pending reconstruction of the camp and the schools it contained. Traumatised children will be receiving psychological support, and recreational activities will be organised for them.  The Commissioner-General said that, “one cannot imagine the distress of all these displaced children who have had to live in miserable conditions because of the conflict in North Lebanon. Schooling will bring them stability and extra-curricular activities will create a favourable environment for their psychological development.”  

UNRWA provides basic education to 500,000 Palestine refugee children in Gaza, West Bank, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. In addition, the Agency has developed programmes for children, according to their needs, such as remedial education, support for those with learning disabilities and other special needs.

UNRWA received a generous donation of US $15,000 from Al Jaffali Foundation in October 2007, that was distributed as food parcels to Palestine Refugees in the Beqa’a area on the occasion of Eid El Fitr.

The poorest of the , 713 Special Hardship Case families as well as 37 families of displaced from Nahr el-Bared camp benefited from the donation.

UNRWA would like to thank the foundation for their donation that benefited 750 poor families and is a sign of human solidarity at this difficult time.