Charity No: 1187737
Burj Barajneh and Shatila refugee camps Beirut, Lebanon
In 1948 the Red Cross established 12 refugee camps in Lebanon to provide temporary housing for refugees from Palestine. 75 years later, thousands of stateless Palestinians still live in the crumbling camps alongside an overwhelming number of Syrian refugees.
Conditions in the camps are dire, characterised by overcrowding, poor quality housing, unemployment, poverty and a lack of access to education, health services and justice.
90% of our students are either Palestinian or Syrian.
The remaining 10% being refugees of other nationalities or from Lebanese families who cannot afford to live anywhere other than on the fringes of the refugee camps.
Most of our students are effectively stateless and their displacement is protracted.
All of our Palestinian students were born in the camp and most will always live there, since Lebanese law denies citizenship to most Palestinians. Many of our Syrian students arrived in Lebanon as young children, as their families fled the civil war in their homeland; the remainder were born enroute or in the refugee camp.
The registration of Syrian refugees by UNHCR was suspended in 2015 by the Lebanese government, so many of our Syrian students are also classified as stateless.
