Employment
Despite the legal developments affecting the status of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon particularly their exemption from work permit fees and from the principle of reciprocity the number of work permits actually granted remains modest. In 2016, the total number of work permits issued to Palestinian refugees did not exceed 729.
In 2010, a significant legislative development occurred with the amendment of Social Security Law No. 128, which subjected Palestinian refugees to the provisions of the Social Security Law with respect to end-of-service indemnities and work-related accidents. The amendment exempted Palestinian refugees from the reciprocity requirement and affirmed their entitlement to end-of-service compensation. However, this entitlement did not extend to the sickness and maternity fund or to hospitalization coverage.
As these amendments were limited to the Labour Law and the Social Security Law, without extending to other legislative, regulatory, and administrative texts governing employment in Lebanon, their impact on the actual employment conditions of Palestinian workers remained limited. In practice, many professions continue to be prohibited to Palestinian refugees due to the application of laws and regulations governing liberal professions, which reserve the vast majority of such professions exclusively for Lebanese nationals such as law, medicine, engineering, and pharmacy or require non-Lebanese to satisfy the principle of reciprocity.
Despite the exceptions granted to Palestinian refugees, the number of work permits issued in 2016 remained limited to 729.
There is no unified and comprehensive law in Lebanon regulating the employment of Palestinian refugees. Rather, this matter is governed by a fragmented set of laws, decrees, and regulatory decisions that address each profession separately. The prevailing principle underlying these texts is the reservation of a large number of professions for Lebanese nationals, particularly liberal professions regulated by professional orders, such as medicine, pharmacy, law, engineering, and others.
With respect to professions that the legislature has permitted non-Lebanese to practice, such authorization has often been made conditional upon the principle of reciprocity or additional requirements, such as lawful residence, the obtaining of a work permit, and membership in the relevant professional syndicate. These conditions are particularly difficult for Palestinian refugees to fulfill, given their specific legal status as stateless persons.
The applicable legal texts further reveal clear differentiation between categories of professions: while certain technical or auxiliary professions have been permitted to Palestinians under limited conditions, core liberal, medical, legal, and regulated professions remain restricted to Lebanese nationals. This legal reality has resulted in the exclusion of a significant number of Palestinians from formal employment, pushing them either into informal labour or into sectors that do not correspond to their academic qualifications.
Despite certain positive amendments introduced to labour and social security legislation in subsequent stages, the prevailing legal framework continues to reflect a partial and fragmented approach, lacking a comprehensive vision capable of balancing the requirements of national sovereignty with Lebanon’s human rights and humanitarian obligations toward Palestinian refugees.
The Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee (LPDC), as the official reference body addressing the situation of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, has accorded particular priority to the right to work within its policies and action plans. This priority stems from the Committee’s conviction that improving the living conditions of refugees constitutes a fundamental entry point for social and economic stability, without prejudice to Lebanon’s constitutional constants or to the right of return.
In its reports and studies, the Committee has focused on monitoring the legal framework regulating Palestinian employment and has highlighted the extent of restrictions resulting from the multiplicity of laws and decrees governing professions, particularly those related to professional syndicates. The Committee has also sought to clarify the distinction between permitted and prohibited professions and to shed light on the discrepancy between legal texts, on the one hand, and practical realities and labour market needs, on the other.
The Committee’s priority lies in advocating for a gradual, rights-based approach grounded in the interpretation of legal texts in a manner consistent with international human rights standards, and in calling for amendments to certain laws and decrees to reduce their discriminatory character particularly with regard to nationality and reciprocity requirements while consistently affirming that such demands do not aim at permanent settlement, but rather at ensuring a minimum standard of human dignity and decent living conditions.
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have long been considered by some a burden on the Lebanese economy, turning a blind eye to the significant contributions that the Palestinian refugees are offering to the Lebanese economy.
Palestinians have been contributing to the Lebanese economy since 1948. In fact, many of them engaged in the sector of trade, hotels, industry, agriculture, and construction, especially since Lebanese citizens did not seek a job within these sectors.
Unlike other foreign workers in Lebanon, Palestinian refugees consume and save their earnings inside Lebanon, therefore directly contributing to the balance of payments and to the Lebanese Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The core issue revolves around the following question:
To what extent does the Lebanese legal framework governing the practice of professions succeed in reconciling the principle of state sovereignty and labour market regulation, on the one hand, with the protection of the Palestinian refugee’s right to work and to a dignified livelihood, on the other?
This issue gives rise to several subsidiary questions, most notably:
- Does the requirement of Lebanese nationality or the principle of reciprocity constitute a legitimate restriction, or does it amount to unjustified discrimination against Palestinian refugees?
- Has the proliferation of laws and regulatory decrees governing professions resulted in a coherent legal framework, or has it instead produced legislative fragmentation and unequal treatment across professions?
- To what extent have practical exceptions and labour market needs led to the circumvention of legal texts, and what impact has this had on the principle of legality?
