A worker prepares bread dough before baking at a bakery in Beirut on March 8. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
BEIRUT— Prime Minister Najib Mikati asked the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Amina Mohammed “to support Lebanon with the food security file, in accordance with the plan of the United Nations to combat the repercussions of the Ukrainian war on all countries, including Lebanon,” the state-run National News Agency quoted him as saying. The premier also asked the UN to help “Lebanon meet the multiple challenges resulting from the presence of displaced Syrians in Lebanon.”
Here’s what we know:
• Lebanon has been struggling with a socio-economic crisis affecting the country’s food security since late 2019. Food prices soared by 222 percent in the first half of 2021, and the poverty rate increased to 78 percent last year, according to a UN study.
• Fears over food security increased in Lebanon following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as the country imports the bulk of its wheat from the Black Sea region.
• Some 1.5 million Syrian refugees are currently living in Lebanon following the outbreak of civil war in their country in 2011. In December, President Michel Aoun called on the UN envoy for Syria to “facilitate the repatriation of Syrian refugees.”
• Mikati also received the director of the UNESCO regional office in Beirut, Costanza Farina on Tuesday. During the meeting, Farina briefed Mikati on UNESCO’s program of action in Lebanon to address the challenges facing the education sector.
• “I also briefed him on the details of the completion of the UNESCO project to restore and rehabilitate 150 schools damaged by the explosion of the port of Beirut,” the NNA quoted Farina as saying.
• The education sector in Lebanon is facing a number of challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented consistent in-person lessons for almost two years. In addition, teachers have experienced a decline in purchasing power due to the depreciation of the Lebanese lira against the US dollar on the parallel market. The economic collapse, furthermore, has put school fees beyond the means of many families.