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The ICRC in Lebanon
01-06-2011 Overview
Present in Lebanon since 1967, the ICRC continues to address the humanitarian problems arising from internal and international conflicts of the past 40 years. It visits detainees, helps restore contact between separated family members, makes improvements to the water supply and helps local partners prepare for emergencies.
One of the priorities of the ICRC in Lebanon is to visit detainees, in order to monitor their treatment and living conditions. It puts special emphasis on people arrested in connection with armed conflict or state security issues. ICRC delegates enable detainees to maintain contact with their families, through the exchange of Red Cross Messages and by passing on greetings by phone.
Findings, observations and recommendations are given to the authorities concerned, with a view to securing improvements where necessary.
The ICRC has carried out a comprehensive survey of health care in prisons and is renovating the water system in the country’s largest prison, at Roumieh. Other jails also receive practical assistance to improve material conditions, such as installing bunk beds or solar panels for water heating.
In its role as a neutral intermediary, the ICRC repatriates Lebanese nationals living in Israel who wish to return home but would otherwise be unable to do so. It helps families in Lebanon keep in touch with their relatives in Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territory through the exchange of Red Cross messages.
Hundreds of families remain without news of their relatives missing in armed conflicts that swept Lebanon since 1975. To support efforts to establish what happened to them, the ICRC has provided training to the forensic department of the Internal Security Forces, and has trained family associations in the use of software designed to manage post- and ante-mortem data.
The water supply in many towns and remote villages in Lebanon has suffered neglect during years of warfare and tension, and the ICRC is carrying out a programme throughout the country to restore the delivery of clean water, for the benefit of more than a quarter of a million people.
The ICRC continues its financial, technical and training support for the emergency services of the Lebanese Red Cross, as well as for the Lebanese branch of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, which plays a major role in providing health care for some 300,000 Palestinian refugees living in camps.
In its efforts to promote respect for international humanitarian law, the ICRC maintains a constant dialogue with Lebanon’s civil and military authorities, Palestinian factions, prominent figures in civil society and the United Nations forces. This is done through briefings and presentations as well through informal networking with leaders around the country.
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