EIN EL-HILWEH REFUGEE CAMP

Ein el-Hilweh is the largest Palestine refugee camp in Lebanon, both in area size and population. It is situated near the town of Saida 45 km south of Beirut. It was originally established by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1948/49 when tents were provided for the Palestine refugees arriving from northern Palestine. UNRWA began operations in the camp in 1952 and the Agency gradually replaced the tents with concrete shelters.

There are many displaced Palestine refugee families in this camp who were forced to flee from Tripoli and other areas of the country during the hostilities in the eighties. Ein el-Hilweh has endured much violence, particularly between 1982-1991, which resulted in a high number of casualties and near total destruction of the camp.

Shelters are small and very close to each other. Some still have zinc sheet roofing. UNRWA constructed a multi-storey housing complex in 1993-1994 to accommodate 118 displaced families mainly from Nabatieh camp, which was destroyed during the 1973 by Israeli military action. A number of displaced refugees continue to live on the edge of the camp in extremely poor conditions.

UNRWA with the support from ECHO rehabilitated 66 shelters for S.H. and non S.H. families in 2003.

Ein el-Hilweh's inhabitants mainly work as daily-paid labourers on construction sites and in orchards, in embroidery workshops and as cleaners. There is quite a high school drop-out rate as students are often forced to leave school in order to support their families.

The Agency is constructing a second secondary school in the camp with funds from the Government of Japan, and 60 per cent of the new Samouh school has been completed with funds from the Government of The Netherlands.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• There are 45,337 registered Palestine refugees;
• 1728 families of 6976 persons are registered as S.H.Cs.
• Two UNRWA health centres with an average of 589 patients per day;
• Nine UNRWA elementary/preparatory schools and one secondary school for 7,544 enrolled pupils in 2003/2004. The secondary school was constructed by UNRWA with funds from the Government of Japan and was opened in 1997;
• One community managed women's programme centre that runs skill-training courses, literacy for women and tutoring classes for students, organizes awareness raising sessions on health, social, legal, human rights and gender issues and coordinates with local NGOs to respond to community needs.
• Mainstreaming for visually impaired students programme.

A number of NGOs are active in Ein el-Hilweh, including Al-Najda, Beit Atfal Al-Soumoud, Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation, the Palestinian Women's Union, Terre des Hommes, Naba’, theYMCA, Al Karameh Association For Disabled Al-Hamshari Hospital, and Vocational and Technical Training Committee. The services they provide include literacy courses, vocational training and rehabilitation for refugees with disabilities, summer camps, medical services and kindergartens.

The inhabitants of the camp have access to the RSSD loan and soft loan schemes.