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Syrians alone. But today, we feel like we effectiveness of current programmes by have integrated into the camp and the work taking into consideration the refugees’ life. Nowadays, if you walk on the streets, own perspectives and empowering them you will not notice a difference between a as stakeholders in their own futures. Syrian and a Palestinian in the camp.” Hind Sharif [email protected] Considering the lack of resources, Sakharov Trainee, Human Rights Action Unit, physical space and rights that the refugees Directorate-General for External Policies of the endure in Shatila, the shift from hospitality Union, European Parliament to hostility may be perceived as inevitable. www.europarl.europa.eu This generalisation does not, however, do 1. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh E (2016) ‘Repressentations of Displacement in justice to the key hindrances to refugee- the Middle East,’ Public Culture 28(3) refugee solidarity, which are largely driven http://bit.ly/F-Qasmiyeh-Public-Culture-2016 by unjust government policies and an See also Fiddian-Qasmiyeh E (2016) ‘Refugees hosting refugees’, Forced Migration Review 53 imbalanced humanitarian programme that www.fmreview.org/community-protection/fiddianqasmiyeh offers differentiated treatment based on 2. www.unrwa.org/who-we-are/frequently-asked-questions nationality. In order to build development- 3. This article is based on interviews conducted with Palestinian based approaches that could sustain refugee- and Syrian refugees in Shatila camp in and with UNRWA refugee humanitarianism and limit the staff members, carried out between April and May 2017. A longer version of this article is available as part of the 2017 report Syrian marginalisation of the established Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon: Between Resilience and Vulnerability, published refugees, it is important to re-evaluate the by the University of Saint Joseph in http://bit.ly/ISP-Syrians-resilience-2017

The role of municipalities in ensuring stability Josep Zapater Responses to crises in Lebanon’s Beka’a region in 2017 show that refugee-hosting municipalities can be a pillar of peaceful coexistence and must be supported.

The eastern Lebanese region of Beka’a, destroyed two refugee settlements in the which shares a long border with , hosts Central Beka’a municipalities of Bar Elias around 360,000 registered Syrian refugees. and Qab Elias, killing two refugee girls. And This is both the highest absolute number in July and August military operations by among regions in Lebanon and also the and the highest proportion of refugees to local (LAF) effectively cleared the outskirts of population. In 2017 the region experienced a (which hosted around 11,000 Syrian civilians) series of upheavals which posed significant of militant presence, ending a three-year challenges to peaceful coexistence between stalemate. These events have left the refugee host communities and refugees. community exhausted, more in debt, more vulnerable and filled with uncertainty and Crises in the Beka’a region fear that these successive crises have been In February and March 2017, thousands staged to force them to return to Syria. They of Syrian refugees were evicted from the have also contributed to raising tensions municipality of Zahle and around the between refugees and host communities. strategic Riyak airbase. While security UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) and concerns were cited, authorities did not its partners have made significant efforts establish contingency plans for alternative in response to these crises. After hostilities settlements. In April, Lebanese host ended in Arsal, the municipality, together communities demonstrated in several with humanitarian and development partners, municipalities demanding the closure of developed an Arsal Action Plan which for the shops held by Syrian refugees. In June, fires first time includes integrated humanitarian Syrians in displacement 13 FMR 57 February 2018 www.fmreview.org/syria2018

and development planning and participation economic competition and fears of collusion of Syrian refugees in planning. Mediation between Syrian refugees and armed actors. and advocacy have also been extensively used In Zahle, UNHCR and the municipality during the Riyak and Zahle eviction crises. have started a dialogue in which the difficulties of hosting a large refugee Municipalities: key players in peaceful population have been expressed. This coexistence includes a feeling of abandonment by Beirut Against this difficult background, local elites, who are unable or unwilling (due, authorities have generally played a positive in part, to political sensitivities) to reach stabilising role in the Beka’a region, which agreements on concrete policy guidelines is not always sufficiently recognised and on hosting refugees at the local level. understood. This was made apparent by the Economic considerations also play a role. The diverging reactions in Beirut and locally agriculture and food industries in the Beka’a to the fires that destroyed two refugee region could not survive without Syrian settlements. Fires in refugee settlements are a refugees. At the same time, agricultural and recurrent problem, with casualties and deaths urban landlords refuse to pay municipal tax (in particular of children) not uncommon. For on the rent paid by refugees. Thus, those years, UNHCR and humanitarian partners who gain the most from the Syrian refugees’ have been working both on fire mitigation, presence are not assisting municipalities with including the placing of fire extinguishers the substantial extra costs incurred as a result in virtually all settlements and training in of their presence, such as those associated their use, and on contingency response. with water and solid waste management. The municipalities of Bar Elias and Qab Elias responded quickly to the fires, with Increasing support to municipalities firefighters and Lebanese Red Cross personnel In Lebanon, as in many other countries, putting themselves at risk to limit casualties. municipalities are the administrative body Local civil society and humanitarian most directly affected by the presence of workers gave emergency assistance to refugees. They also have a responsibility Syrian victims and rebuilt the sites in a and an interest in keeping the peace in matter of days. The perception among the their territory – often resisting direct donor and diplomatic community in Beirut, pressure from a part of their Lebanese however, was initially very different; the constituency who may be advocating rumour that arson had been committed by for tougher measures against refugees. disgruntled Lebanese host communities It is questionable, however, whether the reached Beirut much more quickly than humanitarian and development community did news of the overwhelming solidarity has done enough to help them in this effort. with Syrians that local municipalities and Some valuable efforts are in place and Lebanese civil society actors showed. the repeated crises in 2017 have actively been In Arsal, humanitarians and development used to increase support to municipalities. actors and the municipality have built very The United Nations Development Programme positive working relationships. A dedicated (UNDP) and UNHCR co-chair a social monthly coordination mechanism has been stability working group which analyses established. Perhaps more importantly, tensions in the Beka’a region. The Ministry UNHCR and other humanitarian actors of Social Affairs and UNDP produce have fulfilled commitments to respond maps of risks and resources, designed to to the needs of poor Lebanese as well. channel donor resources to needs identified The municipality has consistently played at municipal level. UNHCR maintains a moderating role between Syrian and diplomatic ties with mayors, governors and Lebanese communities, taking into account the LAF to keep tensions manageable and to how initial solidarity in 2013 and 2014 has transparently communicate that return is the given way to weariness, complaints over only sustainable solution for Syrian refugees, 14 Syrians in displacement FMR 57 www.fmreview.org/syria2018 February 2018 UNHCR/David Azia UNHCR/David

An informal settlement hosting 120 families near Barelias, Beka’a Valley, Lebanon. once conditions allow it – thereby assuaging In particular, this needs to take into widespread fears that the international account key aspects such as assistance community is aiming for local integration. to vulnerable Lebanese households, An increasing percentage of UNHCR’s management of informal settlements, meagre resources goes to assisting vulnerable dialogue with refugee communities, water Lebanese, either through small community and sanitation provision, improvements projects such as provision of refuse trucks to local infrastructure and enhancing and solid waste management plants, or access to livelihoods. For this to happen through delivery of household assistance to several important steps need to be taken. poor Lebanese families including fuel cards The Government of Lebanon and the and rehabilitation of housing. Municipal United Nations’ Lebanon Crisis Response coordination bodies are in place in three key Plan 2017-20201 is, overall, well-prepared municipalities (Arsal, al and Zahle). and evidence-based. At the same time, All these efforts are, however, partial its capacity to address local needs and and relatively fragmented and there is a channel resources to municipalities needs danger that, without a more structured to be reinforced, and there is a need to approach to supporting municipalities, their recognise that after seven years local role in securing peaceful coexistence will authorities do not need to be endlessly be progressively weakened and crises will consulted – they need to be supported. become less manageable. Similarly, while current discussions around the coordination model in The importance of area-based coordination Lebanon have introduced some elements and planning of area-based coordination, overall they In order to support peaceful coexistence, remain focused on sector and agency the international community must take responsibilities. What is needed is a bold steps to consider the municipality as a clear commitment from the international natural unit for planning and coordination, community, including from donors, to transitioning from a traditional sector- prioritise municipalities on the basis of based humanitarian coordination structure. jointly identified, evidence-based need. Syrians in displacement 15 FMR 57 February 2018 www.fmreview.org/syria2018

The local plans that have been developed remains insufficient and fragmented, through the Mapping of Risks and Resources reinforcing a sense of injustice among framework, led by the Ministry of Social host communities. Agencies need to Affairs Lebanon and UNDP, represent a undertake more integrated planning and valid model. Their capacity to channel to take into greater account the role of local donor funding into local development, communities, including mayors and civil and their synergies with humanitarian society, in identifying persons in need. planning, need to be reinforced. As a In the eighth year of the Syrian conflict pilot initiative, UNDP and UNHCR are and with increased pressure on Syrian endeavouring to integrate development refugees to return to an unstable and and humanitarian planning in the Arsal dangerous situation, the international Action Plan. These efforts will need to be community needs to provide bolder, more properly evaluated, corrected and scaled up. purposeful support to Lebanese authorities. Technical staff of humanitarian In a difficult environment in 2017 in and development agencies involved in the sensitive Beka’a region, municipal coordination, planning and information authorities have demonstrated they have management remains overwhelmingly more than earned the right to be a key concentrated in the capital. Recognition recipient of and partner in this support. of the importance of area-based, Josep Zapater [email protected] localised coordination and planning Head of Sub-Office Zahle, UNHCRwww.unhcr.org will need to be accompanied by a decentralisation of resources. This article was written in a personal capacity. Direct assistance by humanitarian 1. UNHCR’s Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan in Response to agencies to poor Lebanese households the Syria Crisis http://bit.ly/UNHCR-3RP-2017-2018

Competing security and humanitarian imperatives in the Berm Charles Simpson Approximately 60,000 Syrians are trapped in ‘the Berm’, a desolate area on the Syria-Jordan border. When security concerns are prioritised over humanitarian needs, and aid agencies turn to militant groups to deliver aid, the consequences can be deplorable.

When the Government of Jordan severely problems, and regular attacks by both the restricted entry through its border with (FSA) and Syrian Arab Syria at Rabaa’ al-Sarhan in October 2014, Armed Forces (SAAF). The vulnerability 5,000 internally displaced Syrians were of the inhabitants of what is now known turned away. They established temporary as the Berm has been perpetuated by shelters within 200 metres of Jordan, and Jordan’s continuing border closure and in doing so they planted a seed in the restrictions on humanitarian access citing desert that has grown into two informal security concerns. Several aid agencies tented settlements: Rukban, with 60,000 have cooperated with Jordan’s restrictions inhabitants, and Hadalat, with 1,000. (including on public communications in Separated from Jordan by a rocky relation to the Berm) in order to secure barrier of sand – known as a ‘berm’ – these limited access to the settlements but this settlements have suffered from internal has only served to prolong conditions of instability, insufficient access to food, vulnerability and create a norm of secrecy water and non-food aid, pervasive health that has in turn prevented a candid analysis