Children in Lebanon are deprived of the basics, robbed of their dreams, losing trust in their parents: UNICEF report

BEIRUT — “My son does not trust me anymore and does not call me ‘baba’ [dad] — because I am not fulfilling my role as a father. I feel that there is no more respect from children towards their elders,” a Lebanese father is quoted as saying in a new report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The report, based on a UNICEF study on child poverty in Lebanon and a child-focused rapid assessment — a telephone survey of families with at least one child — shows that children are keenly aware of the effect the crisis is having on their lives and on the country. Many no longer dream of a better future in Lebanon and believe emigration is their only hope, the report found.

These assessments are carried out twice a year in Lebanon. The latest was conducted by telephone between June 13 and 27. The surveyed households included 700 Lebanese, 300 Syrian refugees and 400 Palestinian refugees.

Three years of debilitating crisis in Lebanon have plunged children into poverty, affecting their health, welfare and education, shattering their hopes and breaking down family relationships, the report released Thursday found, leading to the following demoralizing statistics: 84 percent of households surveyed did not have enough money to cover basic necessities, while 70 percent of households have to borrow money for food or buy food on credit. Additionally, 60 percent cut spending on health treatment, up from 42 percent in April 2021.

Aside from greatly impacting the ability for children to access education, the multidimensional crises that have Lebanon in an ironclad grip have also significantly affected the safety of children.

“Rising tensions – further fuelled by polarization within and between communities – have led to an increase in violence, including within homes and schools,” the report says. Many of the Syrian children who were interviewed said they had witnessed armed violence, and some reported acts of violence against themselves or their families. According to the report, girls are the most affected by this, as they are being increasingly restricted from leaving their homes for fear they will be subjected to harassment.

“Before, I used to go out to the streets and my mother didn’t worry about me. Now, she worries a lot when I go down because people fight a lot here and suddenly, they start shooting at each other. The other day, I was walking in the street and they started shooting in front of me, so I was very scared,” the report quoted a Syrian boy in the 12-14 age group as saying.

When asked what UNICEF’s role would be in ensuring that children who hadn’t been able to go to school in the past two years due to COVID-19-related school closures and teachers’ strikes would finally continue their education starting next semester, UNICEF Representative in Lebanon Edouard Beigbeder told L’Orient Today that “discussions with the government are still ongoing and no final decisions have been made regarding the funding of the teacher's salaries and the level of said salaries to maintain a minimum of motivation.”

In the last school year, some public school students had as few as 50 days of classes.

While the situation of the education sector is becoming increasingly dire, UNICEF officials said, a decrease in funding by international donors will force cuts to the aid they provide to students’ families.

In mid-2021 UNICEF launched a national child grant called “Haddi,” meaning “next to me,” which provided cash assistance to over 130,000 vulnerable children, or almost 85,000 households, for transportation and other expenses. (A separate report by the Center for Lebanese Studies, also published today, found that 92 percent of 2,700 parents surveyed across all eight governorates, struggle to cover their children’s commute costs to school.)

“All children receiving priority services through UNICEF were enrolled within Haddi to receive a cash grant — meaning children at risk of child labor or child marriage, children with disabilities, children in non-formal education and children needing nutrition support,” the description of the grant says on the UNICEF web site. The cash is paid monthly — at $40 for one child, $60 for two children, and $80 for three or more.

“If we don’t secure that funding, we’ll only be able to assist around 90,000 children instead of 130,000,” Beigbeider told L’Orient Today.

“ To be able to ensure that the program can serve the same number of families this year, $8 million more is needed,” he added, saying that the international donors had slashed a significant amount of the funding for the national child grant.

“One could say this is a case of donor fatigue, as there are a lot of other pressing conflicts in the world right now,” Beigbeider said. “The focus has mostly been on Ukraine.”

The UNICEF report also revealed disenchantment with NGOs’ and international organizations’ aid programs, which participants felt were often biased, too short and only distributed aid sporadically or in limited quantities.

“In particular, caregivers criticized the short duration of programs, the often limited or sporadically distributed aid, and held strong perceptions of aid bias,” the report said. “Participants said that INGO and NGO programs often do not address these needs directly or have not adapted their programs quickly enough to meet the changing needs. Multiple caregivers said that they were approached by INGOs or NGOs for data collection purposes, only to never receive any promised or requested support.”

“There are so many NGOs that asked for ways to help me, they took so much information and wasted so much of my time. But no one got back to me with any help,” the report quoted a Syrian boy in the 12-14 age group as saying.

“Once, an international organization came to the school and asked the parents to attend. They asked us about our problems and I told them about my son’s illness. They sent LL30,000 twice and that’s it,” a Syrian father said.