LEBANON REFUGEE CAMP PROFILES

CAMP NUMBER OF
REGISTERED REFUGEES
Mar Elias 616
Burj el-Barajneh 15,718
Dbayeh 4,025
Shatila 8,370
Ein el-Hilweh 45,967
Mieh Mieh 4,569
El-Buss 9,508
Rashidieh 29,361
Burj el-Shemali 19,074
Nahr el-Bared 31,303
Beddawi 15,947
Wavel 7,668
Dikwaneh & Nabatieh (destroyed camps) 16,518
Total 215,890
+ 10,246 refugees distributed throughout the camps.

[click on each camp name on the map for a profile of the camp]
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LEBANON REFUGEE CAMP PROFILES

Of the original 16 official camps in Lebanon, three were destroyed during the years of conflict and were never rebuilt or replaced: Nabatieh camp in south Lebanon, and Dikwaneh and Jisr el-Basha camps in the Beirut area. Most of the displaced refugees in Lebanon, approximately 6,000 families, are originally from these three camps. A fourth camp, Gouraud in Baalbeck, was evacuated many years ago and its inhabitants were transferred to Rashidieh camp in the Tyre area.

Today, all 12 official refugee camps in the Lebanon Field suffer from serious problems - no proper infrastructure, overcrowding, poverty and unemployment. The Lebanon Field has the highest percentage of Palestine refugees who are living in abject poverty and who are registered with the Agency's "special hardship" programme.

The number of Palestine refugees registered with UNRWA in Lebanon is currently 409,714, or an estimated 10 per cent of the population of Lebanon, a small country which is now quite densely populated.

Palestine refugees in Lebanon face specific problems. They do not have social and civil rights, and have very limited access to the government's public health or educational facilities and no access to public social services. The majority rely entirely on UNRWA as the sole provider of education, health and relief and social services. Considered as foreigners, Palestine refugees are prohibited by law from working in more than 70 trades and professions. This has led to a very high rate of unemployment amongst the refugee population.

Popular committees in the camps representing the refugees regularly discuss these problems with the Lebanese Government or with UNRWA officials, and they call for better living conditions for the refugees.

FACTS AND FIGURES

  • Number of primary health care facilities: 25
  • Number of schools: 87
  • Student enrolment: 39,290
  • Annual medical and dental patient visits (1 July 2005 – 30 June 2006): 972,726
  • Refugees registered with UNRWA’s “special hardship” programme: 46,204
  • Number of community rehabilitation centres: 1
  • Number of vocational and technical training centres (VTTC): 1
  • Vocational and technical training places: 673
  • Number of women’s programme centres: 10
  • Number of microfinance and microenterprise loans awarded: N/A
  • Cumulative value of loans awarded: N/A
Figures as of 31 December 2006