MÜSİAD and 21 civil society organizations have launched an improvement and development project for the camps housing Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon.

The representatives of 22 NGOs, who came together at the MÜSİAD Head Office building, launched an emergency aid campaign with the joint message they issued for the Palestinians who were torn from their lands because of the Israeli occupation and who have been struggling for life in the camps in Lebanon for 72 years.

475,075 Palestinians live in the camps

While information on the situation of the refugees in Lebanon was shared at the meeting, it was stated that, according to the figures of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), there are a total of 475,075 registered Palestinian refugees in the country.

In the statement made on the subject, it was expressed that 75 percent of the people in the region are struggling for life in 12 refugee camps that are extremely overcrowded, where the levels of unemployment and poverty are extremely high and where housing conditions are steadily worsening.

Because the Palestinian refugees driven from their lands cannot benefit from public health services, they are in need of the aid of international civil society organizations. For this reason, serious health problems are being encountered.

Some projects planned to be carried out in the camps

With the campaign it is planned to open health polyclinics in the region and to carry out education and distance education projects, income provision projects, landscaping, waste collection and recycling, an electrical lighting project for homes, a home renovation project, water supply, purification and the repair of water networks, the repair and reorganization of electricity networks, food distributions, distributions of coronavirus hygiene packages and health equipment, projects to combat drugs, a project to support religious officials, a project for the teaching of the Holy Qur'an and hafiz programs, and scholarships for Palestinian students and higher education projects abroad.

22 NGOs are supporting the campaign

The campaign is supported by MÜSİAD, the Confederation of Public Servants' Trade Unions (Memur-Sen), the Hak Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions (Hak-İş), the İHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, the Türkiye Diyanet Foundation, the Aziz Mahmut Hüdayi Foundation, the Sadakataşı Association, the Technical Staff Association (TEKDER), the Cihannüma Association, Deniz Feneri, the Hayrat Humanitarian Aid Association, Fetih Der, the Umut Ol Association, the International Doctors Association (AID), the Yetim Foundation, the International Refugee Rights Association, the Health and Civilization Association, the Darüleytam Association, the Verenel Association, the Hayat Yolu Association, the International Water Well Association and the Federation of International Student Associations (UDEF).