According to UN figures, more than 25 million people are refugees, that is people who have fled their countries to escape conflict, persecution, or violence. Supporting these people is seen by many as a defining feature of a humane and just society, but, as the numbers grow so do the difficulties in maintaining the commitment. One of the longest, and seemingly most intractable refugee situations, is that of the Palestinians.
Claudio Cordone has been working in Lebanon for the past four years and in this webinar, he will give us his insight into the current predicament facing refugees from Palestine.
Palestine refugees in Lebanon regularly face restrictions on their right to work and own property. The majority of the over 200,000 Palestine refugees currently present in the country live below the poverty line, with their situation made worse by the deepening economic crisis and the restrictive measures triggered by the COVID19 pandemic.
UNRWA health, education, and social services are a lifeline for Palestine refugees and a key source of stability in Lebanon. These services often constitute a rare element of predictability for Palestine refugees, although the financial challenges that UNRWA has been facing in the last few years have weakened that sense of predictability and added to their distress.
The speaker
Claudio Cordone has been Director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon since 2017. Prior to this, he was Director of Human Rights at the UN Support Mission in Libya, for 4 years, and previously spent over 26 years at Amnesty International in multiple roles, including a six-month spell as interim Secretary-General. He also spent a year as Chief of the Human Rights Office at the UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the aftermath of the Bosnian war. He studied Law at La Sapienza (Universita di Roma) and has a Master's degree in Arab Studies from Georgetown University in the US. He is currently based in Lebanon.