BEIRUT: Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas said Thursday that he is a preparing a comprehensive plan to organize the way Lebanon receives Syrian refugees and distributes aid to them.
“We should organize the aid coming on behalf of the Syrian refugees because they are being distributed randomly,” Derbas said in an interview to the Asharq radio station.“There must be a transitional period during which the refugees are received and then they should be sent to camps.”
“These are some of the features of a plan for refugees the ministry is working on; we will discuss the items of the plan with the president and finalize it completely before submitting it to Cabinet,” he said.
With the number of registered refugees nearing the 1 million mark, Lebanon has the highest per capita concentration of refugees of any country in recent history. The country has faced major problems addressing the refugee crisis, with camps officially banned and displaced Syrians settled in different areas throughout the country.
Derbas said that the international community was hesitant to support Lebanon due to the political deadlock resulting in a caretaker Cabinet, but that the formation of a new government “will help gain the trust of the international community.”
“If the Cabinet earns a vote of confidence, this means the international community will also have faith in the government and will consider us good enough to receive aid,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment