A research conference in Beirut faced the populist discourse against the Syrian refugees with numbers
Beirut– North-Press Agency – Layal Kharnoubi
Under the title of “Economic Integration to Ease the Refugee Crisis”, the Refugee Project in Beirut held a conference in which options for addressing the refugee crisis in Lebanon were presented through recognizing the structural imbalances in the Lebanese economic system and highlighting the economic contributions of the refugees.
The axes of the conference focused on the importance of academic research in confronting discriminatory and polarizing discourse and influencing the making of comprehensive intervention policies in light of polarization in Lebanon between an inciting populist discourse against the refugees led by some political forces and media, and another discourse rejects hate speech represented by the voices of civil society and human rights organizations.
The researchers presented in four parallel working sessions the results of their research and views about the impact of the refugee crisis on the Lebanese economy and the possibility of developing practical policies to address the refugee crisis and turn it into development opportunities that benefit both the host Lebanese communities and the refugees at the same time.
They also presented the most important opportunities and challenges regarding discriminatory laws and policies within the legal framework that governing institutional relations with refugees and the economic performance such as growth, demand, the economics of humanitarian assistance, the labor market, local economic dynamics, public services and refugees.
Numbers
In their interventions, the participants presented a number of figures that showed the actual reality of the refugees’ contributions to the Lebanese economy. On the level of job opportunities, before the Syrian asylum the Lebanese economy was creating about 3.400 job opportunities per year.
In 2016, the Syrian Refugee Response Plan created 22.500 job opportunities, half of them were full-time jobs, and by 2018, the number of jobs supported by the Response Plan in public sector was 10.819.
Furthermore, the studies presented at the conference also showed that the percentage of government revenues increased up to 800 million dollars between 2011-2016, where a large part of which is derived from indirect revenues for goods and services due to the increasing demand for consumer goods and purchasing them.
As for the humanitarian assistance that Lebanon received from international donors between 2013 – 2018, it reached 5.8 billion dollars, which effectively pumped 9.33 billion dollars into the Lebanese economy.
Absence of clear vision
During the closing session, the Executive Director of the Network of Arab NGOs for Development, Ziyad Abdulsamad confirmed that “Since the beginning of the refugee crisis, the Lebanese government has not acted on the basis of a clear strategic and political vision, where it ignored the crisis on the basis of self-distancing, as when the crisis escalated, it did not do enough to organize this file.”
“Lebanon called on the UNHCR to register all Syrian entrants since 2015 so that the international community will take responsibility for them. However, it withdrew its decision in 2015 and prevented their registration, confirming that there is a political confusion that affects negatively on both the refugees and the host communities.” Abdulsamad noted.
In turn, Jad Sha’aban, the professor of economics at the Lebanese University, stressed that “The nature of the Lebanese economy that is unproductive, poor and based on the control of the banks, makes the problem structural,” stressing that “the official Lebanese discourse uses the refugees as a proxy for its economic failure.”
Moreover, Sha’aban also pointed to the “permanent confusion between the consequences of the Syrian crisis and the consequences of the Syrian asylum, which is a mistake adopted by international bodies. The Syrian crisis affected the Lebanese economy directly through the closure of the border and the decline of tourism sector.
While the refugee crisis carried positive and negative aspects, but the problem was in the absence of scientific studies based on transparency that show the actual reality.”
With regard to the conclusions and recommendations of the conference, it stressed on the importance of research contributions in developing a methodology that drives towards effective policy and decision-making changes in the face of prevailed populist hate speech, which is not based on independent research and evidence.
The conference also called for the benefits of the given opportunities to strengthen and empower communication networks between active experts, access to refugee’s data and their information in the country.