Lebanon - Many Lebanese families returning home from Syria to flee the war are living in conditions at least as dire as those experienced by Syrian refugees, according to a new IOM report.

The report confirms that Lebanese returnees face the same difficulties as Syrian refugees in finding housing, food and jobs. Most are living in rented accommodations, apartments or single-room structures, warehouses or unfinished buildings. They face the added problem of not being able to get aid earmarked for refugees.

Four years into the Syrian crisis, many returnees lack basics such as winter clothes and stoves. In a quarter of households surveyed, nobody had worked for the past month, while half of respondents had experienced a lack of food or money to buy food during the same period.

Over half those surveyed said they intend, eventually, to move back to Syria rather than reintegrate in Lebanon. Many returnees have been living in Syria for most of their lives and are particularly vulnerable.

“Although they have legal status in Lebanon, returnees are at a major disadvantage,” said Angela Santucci, IOM’s emergency response and recovery officer in Beirut. “They are often seen as Syrians, whether by employers or local service providers, and are largely unfamiliar with the system here in Lebanon. At the same time they haven’t been targeted by humanitarian actors in as consistent a way as Syrian refugees.”

The socio-economic impact of the crisis has affected Lebanon as whole, and particularly the deprived communities that host the majority of those displaced. Prices have risen, labour markets are saturated and public service providers overstretched.

Almost four years after it began, the Syria crisis continues to weigh extremely heavily upon Lebanon. A quarter of the country’s population is now made up of refugees, whose needs remain dire as the resources available to address them appear to be shrinking.

 “The survey showed the great need of Lebanese returnees for livelihoods support,” said Martina Iannizzotto, IOM Lebanon’s livelihoods officer. “It is also clear that there is an urgent need for more coherent and harmonized identification, targeting and delivery of assistance for returnees.”

You can download Refugees at Home: A Livelihoods Assessment of Lebanese Returnees from Syria from:http://www.iom.int/files/live/sites/iom/files/Country/docs/IOM-Lebanon-LH-Assessment-November-2014.pdf

For more information, please contact

Angela Santucci

IOM Lebanon

Tel:  +961 70640 250

Email: asantucci@iom.int