Caretaker Lebanese Minister of Social Affairs Hector Hajjar (right) is received by President Michel Aoun in Baabda on July 25, 2022. (Credit: Twitter/@LBpresidency)
BEIRUT — The ongoing civil servants’ strike will result in “a few days delay” in payments of the cash assistance to the poorest Lebanese at the beginning of August, the spokesperson for caretaker Social Affairs Minister Hector Hajjar told L’Orient Today on Monday.
Here’s what we know:
• Public sector employees have been on an open-ended strike for more than a month in protest of the deterioration of their working conditions. The League of Civil Servants said Tuesday that it will maintain its strike, which started on June 13, despite social aid announced two days prior by the caretaker government of Najib Mikati.
• Hajjar said Monday, during a meeting with the President Michel Aoun, that “the impact of the public sector strike must be taken into consideration,” reassuring that payments will not stop but that “a delay of a few days” is unavoidable. The assistance program referred to by Hajjar is the Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) program, known as “DAEM” — funded via a World Bank loan and targeting the country’s most needy families. Payments had begun since mid-March for some households, who registered on a platform created by the ministry.
• Hajjar added that he hopes a meeting, due to take place later Monday, of the Ministerial Committee charged with dealing with the repercussions of the financial crisis on the functioning of the public sector “will find solutions for this issue and that the strike will be lifted.”
• Some 584,266 households have registered for the “DAEM” program, with more than 2 million individuals seeking to benefit from the cash assistance, according to the government’s IMPACT Open Data website. A total of 61,555 households are receiving DAEM payments to date, while others are still pending review by social workers to make sure they meet the criteria. Most of those registered work in the public sector and belong to the 35-64 age group, according to the website’s data.
• The spokesperson for the Social Affairs Ministry told L’Orient Today that regardless of whether or not the public sector’s strike continues, social assistance payments will continue to be dispensed. The spokesperson added that some civil servant employees are volunteering to work and finalize the procedure needed to dispense payments to families.
• Hajjar also discussed with Aoun the plan to repatriate Syrian refugees, highlighting recent “security concerns.” Hajjar said that he discussed with Aoun the recent events “that occurred between displaced people and the Lebanese.” Residents of the village of Tal Hayat in Akkar (North Lebanon) burned tents in a Syrian refugee camp located in this locality on Sunday in retaliation for the death of one of their relatives, whose body had been found the day before in a coastal area near the Koleiat air base.
• Asserting that Aoun has “given directives and decided on certain points” on the subject of refugees, Hajjar said he will meet again with Aoun next week “to assess the security situation, as well as the measures to be adopted for the return” of Syrians to their country.
• On Friday, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon Najat Rochdi issued a statement calling for “everyone to refrain from fueling the media and social media with negative sentiments and hatred” against Syrian refugees amid increased “public discussions over the return of Syrian refugees to Syria.”