Summary points based on findings

• Create a sustainable funding strategy for the physical rehabilitation sector that relies on international funding and national donations.
• Ensure that all survivors in the Lebanon Mine Action Center (LMAC) database have received a healthcare card to facilitate their access to care.
• Introduce standards for prosthetic devices.

Victim assistance commitments

The Lebanese Republic is responsible for significant numbers of cluster munition victims and survivors of other explosive remnants of war (ERW), as well as landmine survivors, who are in need. Lebanon has victim assistance obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Lebanon signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 14 June 2007.

There were at least 3,747 mine/ERW survivors in Lebanon as of December 2016.[1]

Victim assistance since 2015

Lebanon has a national strategy for the period 2011–2020 that requires a regular needs assessment of the situation of, and services available to, cluster munition victims.[2] The victim assistance strategy established targets for comprehensive victim assistance by 2020. 

Due to the crisis in Syria, diversion of healthcare resources and other services to assist incoming refugees from that country increased.

Victim assistance in 2016

The funding situation improved since 2013, however, the existing level of support was still insufficient to serve the victims.[3] The recent influx of large numbers of refugees from Syria continued to exacerbate the situation.[4]

Assessing victim assistance needs

The victim assistance survey, launched in 2013 by LMAC, was finalized in 2014.[5] LMAC conducted a national needs assessment survey that reached out to a randomly selected sample of 690 victims (survivors and deceased) and their families. It assessed medical, economic, social, psychological, and educational/training needs, as well as opportunities and challenges.[6] Survey data provided the National Steering Committee on Victim Assistance (Steering Committee) with information, focusing mostly on medical and rehabilitation needs.[7] Upon analysis of the survey data, the Steering Committee determined that there was a need for a new national needs assessment survey, yet the necessary funds had not yet been allocated as of June 2017. In 2016, LMAC continued to update the mine victims’ database.[8]

In response to the influx of Syrian refugees, the ICRC conducted a physical rehabilitation needs assessment mission in 2014. After the assessment, the ICRC Physical Rehabilitation Project Manager began working to further assess the situation and build relationships with physical rehabilitation services in Lebanon.[9]

Victim assistance coordination[10]

LMAC manages and coordinates the implementation of victim assistance in Lebanon through the Steering Committee, which includes representatives of the following organizations:

• The Injured and Victims of War Association;
• The Islamic Al Rissala Scouts Association;
• The Islamic Health Council;
• The Landmines Resource Center;
• The Lebanese Association for Health and Social Care;
• The Lebanese Welfare Association for the Handicapped;
• The Ministry of Social Affairs;
• The National Rehabilitation and Development Center;
• Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA);
• The Philanthropic Association for the Handicapped in Nabatiyeh;
• The Vision Association for Development, Rehabilitation and Care; and
• The World Rehabilitation Fund.

The Steering Committee is responsible for implementing the victim assistance strategy in addition to ensuring coordination between the different stakeholders.[11] In 2015, it held eight meetings to discuss on-going and future projects as well as updates on the national situation. Additionally, two workshops on national standards for victim assistance were held in 2015.[12]

The Lebanon Mine Action Strategy 2011–2020includes a commitment to the “full realisation of the rights of mine victims guaranteed,” where “all victims are provided with medical, social, psychological, and economic support as part of the fulfillment of their full legal rights as stated in the law 220/2000.” The strategy contains a specific reference to victim assistance in the context of the Article 5 obligation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, the “spirit of compliance” with the Mine Ban Treaty, and implementation of the CRPD.[13]

The midterm review of the Lebanon Mine Action Strategy 2011–2020 was completed in 2014 and published in 2016.

Lebanon did not provide an update on its progress and challenges in implementing victim assistance at the Convention on Cluster Munitions Meeting of States Parties in September 2016. It did make a statement on victim assistance at the First Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Dubrovnik in September 2015.[14] Lebanon submitted its Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report for calendar year 2016, which includes information on victim assistance.

In 2015, an external evaluator from the European Union (EU) visited Lebanon to evaluate the implementation of EU-funded projects regarding victim assistance.[15]

Disability issues were coordinated by the Ministry of Social Affairs and the National Council of Disabled.[16] Local and international humanitarian agencies helped persons with disabilities among refugees from Syria, and Lebanese host communities were coordinating their efforts through the Disability and Older Age Working Group, formed in June 2013.[17]

Survivor inclusion and participation

A survivor was reported to have been included in the Steering Committee as a representative of NGO service providers. Disabled persons’ organizations (DPOs) were also included in the Steering Committee.[18]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities

In 2016, the ICRC continued to support Lebanon’s health system, which is overloaded due to internal violence and the arrival of war-wounded Syrians seeking medical assistance. In its ongoing response to this situation, the ICRC provided support to 15 medical facilities and paid for the treatment of 799 patients, a significant increase from 219 patients in 2015.[19] The ICRC maintained its support for its main operational partner, the Lebanese Red Cross, which carries out medical evacuations of Syrian war casualties crossing into Lebanon in 2016.[20]

In response to the strain on the Lebanese medical system, the ICRC established a weapon traumatology center in two Tripoli hospitals for all patients. The center, split between Dar al-Chifae hospital and Dar al-Zahra hospital, was opened to all patients in October. In 2016, the center performed more than 600 operations on 306 patients, while the Rafik Hariri University Hospital (RHUH) in Beirut performed over 240 surgical operations. More than 800 persons with disablities received physical rehabilitation services at the Dar al-Zahra hospital.[21] The ICRC held seminars on weapon-wound surgery, amputee care, first aid, and emergency room trauma care (for further information on ICRC services to Syrians in Lebanon, see the Syria country profile). It also helped the Lebanese Red Cross blood bank keep pace with the increased demand caused by the influx of Syrian war casualties.[22]

Rehabilitation, including prosthetics, economic inclusion, and psychosocial assistance

Approximately 100 relatively active but poorly funded private organizations provided most of the assistance received by persons with disabilities.[23] Physical rehabilitation was largely dependent on funding from external donors and national charities.[24] In 2016, the EU, the Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI), and ITF Enhancing Human Security (ITF) were among the major donors for victim assistance in Lebanon, providing rehabilitation services to 135 mine/ERW survivors.[25]

The Lebanese Welfare Association for the Handicapped (LWAH) reported fitting prostheses and assistive devices to almost 400 persons with disabilities and providing physiotherapy services to almost 600 persons with disabilities in 2016.[26]

In 2016, the ICRC fitted 108 new patients with prostheses. This represented a decrease of 36% from 170 prostheses provided in 2015. The ICRC provided physiotherapy services to 72 patients in 2016.[27]

LMAC, in coordination with the Steering Committee, the EU, and the MLI, implemented two economic inclusion projects that targeted 183 mine/ERW survivors. The survivors received training for income-generating projects, namely poultry production, beekeeping, and tree planting. After the trainings, 42 survivors won grants to start businesses.[28] LMAC, in coordination with the Steering Committee members, the Ministry of Social Affairs, and the Ministry of Health, provides social and medical assistance to widows and children of deceased mine/ERW victims, as well as income-generation trainings.[29] In 2016, the Landmine Resource Center at the University of Balamand continued to provide income-generation trainings to survivors and to the family members of those killed or injured.[30]

Psychological support was the least developed area of assistance in Lebanon. In 2015, it was reported that persons with psychosocial impairments had been recently granted the use of disability identification cards.[31] In 2016, the ICRC’s weapon traumatology center and the RHUH provided psychosocial care for over 160 patients.[32]

Handicap International provided psychosocial support services to 400 children living in refugee camps in 2016.[33]

National laws and policies

Law 220/2000 on the “Access and Rights of People with Disability” addresses the rights of persons with disabilities to have access to adequate education, rehabilitation services, employment, medical services sports, public transport, and other facilities. However, Lebanon also reported that the law had yet to be comprehensively put into practice, due in part to a lack of implementation mechanisms.[34] Lebanon reported that it is looking to integrate the implementation of Convention on Cluster Munitions victim assistance provisions into existing coordination mechanisms, such as the ones created for the CRPD and Law 220/2000.[35] However, little progress has been made since parliament passed the law on disabilities in 2000.[36] Inadequate assistance for persons with disabilities resulted in severe consequences, including challenges in gaining access to services, isolation, and stigma. It was reported that Lebanon lacked a national disability policy and coordination between relevant ministries, which wasted the opportunities for implementation of existing legislation, as well as an absence of a budget for its implementation.[37]

Discrimination against persons with disabilities is prohibited by law, but continued to exist. The National Disability Law stipulates a 3% quota for hiring persons with disabilities for all employers. However, there was no evidence the law was enforced and there was little or no impact. The law required that buildings be made accessible to persons with disabilities, but the building code still required amendments.[38] The National Council of Persons with Disability has held consultations, including persons with disabilities, on social protection programs. The Council, however, does not have any executive responsibility despite its responsibility for disability social policy.[39] Civil society organizations represented on the Steering Committee are also members of the National Council of Persons with Disability. This was reported to ensure the participation of persons with disabilities in consultations.[40]

Most public schools as well as transportation to and from schools were not yet accessible.[41]

There were a number of submissions to Lebanon’s 2015 Universal Period Review in the Human Rights Council that raised concerns about access to education for children with disabilities. The Ministry of Education and Higher Education developed a strategic plan for educational integration for the period 2017–2021.[42]

Persons with disabilities in Lebanon continue to face barriers to exercising their civil and political rights, particularly in regards to access to information.[43] Article 92 of Lebanon’s electoral law requires that the Ministry of the Interior eliminate barriers to voting for persons with disabilities; however, measures have not been implemented.[44]

The Steering Committee coordinated consultation sessions between the municipalities and its members to raise awareness of the rights of victims and other persons with disabilities.[45] In 2016, efforts to update national standards and pricing of prosthetic services were ongoing.[46]