Lors d’une discussion avec la vice-secrétaire générale des Nations Unies, Amina Mohammed, qui s’est déroulée au Grand Sérail, le Premier Ministre Najib Mikati a formellement demandé à l’ONU de soutenir le Liban face aux conséquences du conflit de la guerre en Ukraine sur le plan de la sécurité alimentaire. Ce conflit impacte ainsi les pays de la région, note Najib Mikati.
Pour rappel, 55% du blé consommé au Liban provient du Liban. La hausse des prix sur le plan mondial du blé mais aussi des autres matières premières draine plus rapidement que prévu les réserves monétaires de la Banque du Liban qui finançaient jusqu’à présent ces achats alors que la détérioration de la livre libanaise face au dollar a atteint plus de 92% en moins de 3 ans. Ainsi, 82% de la population vit désormais sous le seuil de pauvreté et 36% dans un état de pauvreté extrême
Il a également demandé aux Nations unies de “soutenir le Liban pour faire face aux multiples défis résultant de la présence de déplacés syriens au Liban”.
Le Liban compte en effet 1.5 millions de réfugiés syriens et 500 000 réfugiés palestiniens.
Enfin, le premier ministre a également souhaité obtenir le soutien de l’ONU concernant la lutte contre la corruption et le recouvrement des fonds publics.
Focus
Lebanon ranks 2nd among the countries that host the most Syrian refugees in proportion to the local population, (High Commissioner for Refugees entitled Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2019). The country of cedars also has a large community of Palestinian refugees whose presence was at the origin of the civil war from 1975 to 1990.
According to the High Commissioner for Refugees, Lebanon had 916,156 Syrian refugees on its soil at the end of 2019, compared to 949,666 a year earlier. 910,600 refugees are believed to be of Syrian origin.
As a reminder, a report prepared by the Ministry of Finance and the United Nations Development Program in 2020 on the impact of the Syrian refugee crisis on the Lebanese economy between 2011 and 2018 estimated the cost of the presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, impacting all sectors, including education and electricity, but also causing a fall in the Gross Domestic Product while Lebanon was impacted by a serious economic crisis that emerged in broad daylight in 2019 and characterized by a rapid deterioration of the parity between the Lebanese pound and the dollar. Thus, the national currency lost more than 90% of its value against the greenback. 82% of the Lebanese population would now live below the poverty line and 36% in a state of extreme poverty, leading to tensions with Syrian refugees.
However, some political parties have so far refused to discuss the return of Syrian refugees by refusing to discuss the necessary procedures with Damascus, even if the Lebanese authorities have endorsed a plan to promote this return in 2020.
Faced with the deterioration of social and economic conditions, some Syrian but also Palestinian refugees and even Lebanese nationals are trying to exodus to Europe, in particular via boat people bound for Cyprus. Several boats have been intercepted in recent months.