NAHR EL-BARED REFUGEE CAMP

Nahr el-Bared camp is situated 16 km north of Tripoli near the coastal road. The camp was originally established by the League of Red Cross Societies in 1949 to accommodate Palestine refugees from the Lake Huleh area of northern Palestine. UNRWA started providing services for the refugees in 1950.

Factional violence in the early 1980s inflicted a heavy toll on this camp.

The camp is very overcrowded and the infrastructure is poor. Although all shelters have indoor water mains, these are linked to a very inadequate water supply which is pumped from the ground source. All shelters are connected to a sewerage system which discharges untreated sewage into the sea.

UNRWA with support from ECHO rehabilitated 28 shelters in 2003.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• There are 31,023 registered refugees;
• 1598 families of 8627 persons are registered as S.H.Cs.
• One Agency health centre with an average of 494 patients per day;
• Ten UNRWA elementary/preparatory schools for 5,686 enrolled pupils in 2003/2004;
• One community managed women's programme centre that runs skill-training courses and apprenticeship, organizes awareness raising sessions on health, social, legal, human rights and gender issues and coordinates with local NGOs to respond to community needs. Income generation loans and group guaranteed lending are also provided to women.
• Mainstreaming programme run in partnership with CBR and Ghassan Kanafani KG.
• One Youth Center.
• One kindergarten teaching French for 22 enrolled pupils in 2003/2004;
• Two community run rehabilitation centres provide facilities for 64 refugees with disabilities.

A number of NGOs are active in Nahr el-Bared, including Al-Najda, Beit Atfal Al-Soumoud, Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation and the Khaldieh National Association, and Community-based Rehabilitation Programme (CBR) for disabled. The services they provide include sponsorship programmes for orphans, vocational training and kindergartens.

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