An agreement to implement a survey on the Labor Force and Households Living Conditions inside the Palestinian camps

 

An agreement was signed today between the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Norwegian Embassy in Lebanon to implement the “Survey of the Labor Force and Households’ living conditions in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon” by the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS) who is currently carrying out this survey on all Lebanese regions.

 

The importance of this study is that it provides accurate data on the living conditions of the Palestinian refugees in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon, especially the reality of the labor force, which is one of the most important issues for improving these conditions.

 

The agreement was signed in the office of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee (LPDC) at the Grand Serail in the presence of the Chairman of the Committee. Hassan Mneymneh, Ambassador of Norway to Lebanon Ms Lene Natasha Lind with a delegation from the Embassy , the Director of United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Lebanon Ms. Celine Moyroud, the Director-General of the Central Administration of Statistics Dr. Maral Tutelian and experts from UNDP, CAS and LPDC.

 

 Mneymneh thanked the Norwegian Embassy and the United Nations Program for their continued and consistent support for this project as well as all projects carried out by the Dialogue Committee. He added that the launch of the survey comes within the mission of the Committee and its efforts to reopen the issues of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and to address their hard living conditions- especially now due to UNRWA financial crisis – and to help the government to formulate appropriate policies to improve these conditions. He said that the committee will issue on the first of October a special quarterly supplement “JOUSOUR”(Bridges) as a platform for dialogue between the Lebanese and the Palestinians and to open debate on the issues that are disputed between them.

 

Moyroud said the survey project is an important value to add to all LPDC activities aimed to the Improvement of the Palestinian Refugee Situation. She thanked The Norwegian Embassy for its commitment to support the Palestinian refugees, which was represented in particular last year in supporting the implementation of the Population and Housing Census in the Camps and Palestinian Gatherings in Lebanon. She pointed out that Lebanon, through conducting this census is boosting for change and the UN program is committed to supporting it.

 

Dr. Tutelian stated that this agreement comes within the framework of the new administration’s direction towards the inclusion of the Palestinian camps in surveys carried out at the national level, in close cooperation with LPDC, based on the successful experience of the two institutions during the implementation of “the Population and Housing Census in the Palestinian camps and gatherings in 2017.

 

The Ambassador Lind insisted on the importance of supporting every project that means human rights in Lebanon, especially Palestinian refugees, who are waiting for more difficult situations, not only in Lebanon, but in all their places of residence due to UNRWA financial crisis. She said: Our partnership with LPDC and UNDP is stable and we will continue to support them in all possible ways.