A Generation at Risk: The Impacts of Lebanon's Escalating Humanitarian Crisis on Children.

Marian Abouzeid,Rima R Habib,Dana A Halwani,Ali H Mokdad

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.704678

Abstract

Lebanon is in the midst of a rapidly escalating, unprecedented humanitarian crisis that is plunging the country deep into poverty and threatens population well-being, economic development, social welfare and national and regional stability. The dire situation is due to the compounding effects of the August 2020 Beirut blast, massive economic collapse and the COVID-19 pandemic, in a setting of longstanding entrenched political corruption and a dysfunctional, mismanaged crisis response by the state. This current emergency occurs on the background of a turbulent history and complex regional geopolitical context – including the Syrian refugee crisis, the ongoing influence of foreign actors and their local proxies, the United-States-imposed sanctions, endemic corruption, a culture of nepotism and entitlement among the political dynasties, dysfunctional power-sharing and deep-seated sectarian divides. With over half the population now living in poverty, a generation of children are among those at risk. This Perspective provides a brief overview of Lebanon's current complex humanitarian crisis, discusses the impacts of the evolving situation on youth and proposes a suite of recommendations to mitigate the effects.

Highlights

Lebanon is in the midst of an escalating humanitarian emergency arising from the compounding effects of three concurrent crises: massive economic collapse, the August 4 ammonium nitrate blast at the Port of Beirut and the COVID-19 pandemic
These crises come on the background of a complex local and regional geopolitical context, including a confessional political establishment characterised by endemic corruption and generating entrenched structural inequalities; a long history of foreign occupations and recurrent incursions that have had lasting impacts on critical infrastructures and stability; ongoing foreign influences that have rendered Lebanon a proxy battleground and continue to destabilise; the issue of over 540,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon [1], highly vulnerable and denied the most basic of rights, continuing to fuel social tensions; and the effects of a decade-long conflict in neighbouring Syria, which has seen the influx of over one million refugees into Lebanon, straining services and infrastructures and exacerbating an already tense social environment in the country
Drawing largely on currently available rapid response operational reports from humanitarian agencies, we examine the impacts of this evolving situation on youth and propose a suite of recommendations to mitigate the effects

Summary

A Generation at Risk

Reviewed by: Ronald Waldman, George Washington University, United States Amjed Rasheed, University of Tübingen, Germany. The dire situation is due to the compounding effects of the August 2020 Beirut blast, massive economic collapse and the COVID-19 pandemic, in a setting of longstanding entrenched political corruption and a dysfunctional, mismanaged crisis response by the state. This current emergency occurs on the background of a turbulent history and complex regional geopolitical context – including the Syrian refugee crisis, the ongoing influence of foreign actors and their local proxies, the United-States-imposed sanctions, endemic corruption, a culture of nepotism and entitlement among the political dynasties, dysfunctional power-sharing and deep-seated sectarian divides.

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND

DISCUSSION

Findings

CONCLUSION

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT