“Stop killing us” plead Lebanese aid workers

Social justice news
August 2006

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“Stop killing us” plead Lebanese aid workers
Thousands of refugees and migrants have fled their homes and work in search of safety, asking for help from either humanitarian organisations or their embassies

International community urged by partners on the ground to stop the attacks in the Middle East as thousands of refugees flee their homes in terror

Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) partner Caritas Lebanon Migrant Centre (CLMC) has put out an urgent plea to end the conflict in the Middle East that is costing innocent lives.

The center has been protecting and caring for the many migrant workers and refugees in need of help in Lebanon.

Najla Chahda, director of the Caritas Lebanon Migrant Centre, says: “Within this dramatic and unbearable disaster, we await either peace or death.

"Analysing the course of events of whether military and political efforts can stop this war before it bursts into a regional one—we are closer to a destiny with death than with peace.

“There are many who wish to leave but cannot. We have started to envy those who were able to travel. Still we say this is our Lebanon, we cannot leave it.

"And we hope that we will rise with Lebanon again. We call upon the whole world, governments, organizations, institutions, United Nations, please stop this war. Stop killing us.”

The majority of Iraqi and Sudanese refugees live in the southern suburbs of Beirut which are targeted daily by the bombing.

Along with the Lebanese people, the refugees and migrants have fled their homes and work in search of safety, asking for help from either humanitarian organisations or their embassies.

Even Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon have been affected by the war, receiving many displaced Lebanese or Palestinians.

“The situation of refugees and migrants in Lebanon was difficult before and it has worsened since the beginning of the war,” Najla Chahda.

“With the blockade on land, in air and sea inflicted on Lebanon, supplies are decreasing and in some places non-existent.

"The migrants are left with no work, no money, and no safe place to stay in. Some have been left behind by their employers.

"They are alone and fearing for their lives and their families. They are terrified and traumatised. They want to go home.”

The Caritas Migrant Centre has provided more than 4,000 migrants and refugees with shelters, basic needs, hygienic supplies, psychological and medical assistance and other relevant needs.

CLMC is co-ordinating closely with the Sri Lankan, Ethiopian and Philippines Embassies to evacuate some of their nationals.

So far more than 1,000 were repatriated through Syria to their country of origin. There are thousands who wish to travel. The Sri Lankan Embassy says that there are approximately 5,000 in need of safe transport home.

The Migrant Centre started coordinating buses for transportation and food parcels for the journey from Beirut to Damascus and is working with the Lebanese government to secure a safe evacuation.

Meanwhile, all those people to be evacuated are staying at eight Caritas shelters and there are more than 100 people waiting to be sent to a new shelter.

The Lebanese government also requested CLMC help to take care of foreign and migrant prisoners. Around 600 were released from different prisons in targeted areas and were sent to Caritas shelters.

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