Lebanon Lawmakers Grant Palestinian Refugees the Right to Work, Benefits
Lebanese lawmakers approved today a bill that for the first time grants Palestinian refugees in the country the right to work and access to social security benefits.
“The reforms are a step in the right direction but they don’t go far enough,” said Nadim Houry, director of Human Rights Watch in Beirut, in an interview. “Palestinians remain barred from professions governed by syndicates and their work permits remain dependent on the goodwill of employers, who usually prefer to hire Palestinians in the black market.”
About 400,000 Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. Unlike Jordan and Syria, where refugees have either been given citizenship or the right to work, Palestinians were previously barred from most professions in Lebanon, a country that has been marred by sectarian strife.
The bill was passed after several weeks of debate by Lebanon’s 128-seat parliament, which is split equally between Muslims and Christians in line with the Taif accords that ended Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war. Many Christians and Shiite Muslims are concerned that giving the largely Sunni-Muslim Palestinians more rights will upset the sectarian balance of the country.
“Today was a remarkable session in which there was no opposition to the bill,” Ali Hamdan, adviser and spokesman to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, said today in an interview.
Political Balance
Some Lebanese have been reluctant to give Palestinian refugees rights, fearing it may lead to granting them permanent residency and alter the country’s political balance as a result. Under the current power-sharing system, which is supposed to represent Lebanon’s 18 main sects, the president has to be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the parliamentary speaker a Shiite Muslim.
Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps have been havens for armed groups. In 2007, the Lebanese army clashed with Islamic militants in the northern Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, in some of the heaviest internal fighting since the war.
There are about 4.7 million registered Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and occupied Palestinian territories, according to UNRWA. The agency, which is funded mostly by contributions from UN member states, provides education, health, relief and social services to registered Palestine refugees in the Middle East.
In an interview with the Lebanese channel MTV today, the Palestinian Authority’s ambassador to Lebanon, Abdullah Abdullah, said Palestinians don’t want Lebanese citizenship, only the same rights as other people living in the country.
To contact the reporter on this story: Massoud A. Derhally in Beirut, Lebanon at mderhally@bloomberg.net.
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