Key messages
Lebanon, a country of 4.4 million inhabitants, is hosting around 1.1 million Syrian refugees, 42 000 Palestinian refugees from Syria, 6 000 Iraqi refugees and nearly 450 000 refugees from Palestine. This makes it the highest per-capita concentration of refugees worldwide, where one person out of four is a refugee.
On January 13, 2015, the Government of Lebanon announced a new and amended policy regulating entry of Syrian refugees: all Syrian refugees wishing to enter Lebanon have to justify the purpose of their visit. As a result, access to territory has significantly decreased with the border ‘de-facto’ closed for people fleeing violence.
While exact numbers are not available, it is estimated that nearly half of Syrian refugee children do not have access to any form of education, exposing them to physical and/or psychological violence, child labour and exploitation, early marriage, and recruitment by armed groups.