Caritas Lebanon: desperate appeal for help for Syrian refugees
(Vatican Radio) Caritas Lebanon is launching a desperate appeal for international
assistance to meet the needs of an overwhelming number of Syrian refugees coming over
the border. President of Caritas Lebanon, Fr. Simon Faddoul tells Tracey McClure “the
situation is getting worse. It’s getting disastrous.” Listen:
Humanitarian
agencies and the Lebanese government itself, he says are increasingly unable, without
international help, to house the refugees, feed and clothe them. Medical teams are
also concerned about a rise in disease under the precarious sanitary conditions.
“What
we have been seeing is unbelievable, reports Fr. Simon. “The numbers are growing
in an incredible way. The Lebanese government today in the news is estimating the
numbers to be 1.2 million people coming from Syria to Lebanon which means actually
more needs, more potential problems of all sorts… and especially, especially the lodging
(is a problem). You cannot find a place to house these people. The housing is a
very problematic thing; resources are getting all the more scarce. The United Nations
has launched an appeal and has really made a warning in that respect. We as NGO’s,
we are doing the same because we haven’t had any practical, tangible help so far.
The Lebanese government has launched an appeal to fund its activities. Nobody has
given the Lebanese government any penny yet. So it’s very problematic. We don’t know
where we are heading.”
Fr. Simon says the sudden, chaotic influx of Syrians
over recent weeks has been accompanied by a rise in crime and fear.
“The Lebanese
people are so afraid of this presence, this massive presence throughout Lebanon –
in a chaotic manner, without any organization – while the security in Lebanon is not
so tight, and so maintained.. so people have their fears of all kinds: socially and
security wise and economically.
He describes the impact of the refugee presence
as increasingly “strangling” to the Lebanese and their livelihoods.
And people
are suffering. We are witnessing epidemics, tuberculosis, leishmaniasis (an untreatable
sand fly-born skin infection that leaves disfiguring scarring)… things, diseases that
I have never heard of personally.”
Asked if he fears a renewal of the kind
of violence that has periodically erupted between Sunnis, supporters of the Syrian
opposition, and pro-Syrian regime Alawites, in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli,
Fr. Simon says “Most certainly, most certainly! Already, the Ministry of the Interior
has issued a report which (states that the crime rate has gone up), robberies and
whatever else, (by) 120%. And almost, I would say 95% of those (crimes) committed
are by Syrians. So the fear is real. And then, the manifestation of kidnapping,
every now and then, it’s also scaring people…”
Has the fighting spread from
Tripoli to elsewhere in the country?
“No, this is limited to Tripoli, between
the Sunnite and the Alawites. They are two (local) neighborhoods (which have been
fighting against each other)… Things are…like a fire under the ashes as we say in
Lebanese. You remove the ash bit and you’d be surprised (at what lies underneath).
Things are not stable…And people say, ok, we live in a very secure zone now – stability,
nobody wants war, whatever, all this stuff. But you know better than me that when
(violence) breaks out, it breaks out.”
Fr. Simon launches an appeal to the
international community and to those listening to Vatican Radio “to all those good
hearted people, please, please listen to the suffering of the Syrian people inside
Syria and around in the neighboring countries, especially in Lebanon. Lebanon (has)
four million inhabitants – we are hosting 1.2 million Syrian people which means more
than 25% of the (Lebanese) population has become Syrian. And it’s really crazy,
from the humanitarian side, it’s getting uncontrollable. We need every bit of help
we can get to reach out to these people and try to find some durable solutions at
least for the coming couple of years until the problems are solved and the people
can return to their homes.”