The 2017 Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon (VASyR), an annual study by the UN agencies, revealed that 58 percent of the Syrian households in Lebanon are living in extreme poverty with a daily income of fewer than 2.87 US dollars per person.
The survey found 76 percent of refugees were living below the poverty line, defined as less than $3.84 per person a day, and that nearly 90 percent of refugees were in debt.
“Syrian refugees in Lebanon are barely keeping afloat,” said UNHCR’s Lebanon representative Mireille Girard said.
“Most families are extremely vulnerable and dependent on aid from the international community. Without continued support, their situation would be even more harrowing, especially in winter when their struggle is exacerbated by the harsh conditions,” Girard added.
Tanya Chapuisat, UNICEF’s representative in Lebanon, said: “What we find deeply worrying is the rising poverty, since it directly impacts children’s possibility of exercising their basic right to education.
On December 9, the Syrian opposition’s Negotiations Committee called on the United Nations and international organizations to intervene urgently to provide assistance to Syrian refugees in the refugee camps in and around the town of Arsal in Lebanon whose suffering has increased with the onset of winter. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)
