Refugees at home

Lebanese families who had been living in Syria but fled as a result of the conflict are often particularly vulnerable. Most of these Lebanese returnees had been residing in Syria for decades and face challenges similar to those of refugees – finding shelter, food and the means to survive. From July to October 2013, IOM supported the Lebanese government’s High Relief Commission (HRC) in a country-wide project to register and profile Lebanese returnees from Syria. The findings were published in a report, and have formed the basis of efforts to expand assistance to Lebanese returnees in coordination with other partners.

In May 2014, IOM decided to undertake a further survey focused on the economic situation of Lebanese returnee households to better inform long term programming that seeks to improve their livelihoods. The profiling and registration exercise had not captured detailed information on the socio-economic status of returnees and, in early 2014, this was highlighted as an important information gap by the Inter-Agency Multi-Sector Needs Assessment. The survey also aimed to provide an update on more general, multi-sectoral information on Lebanese returnees. IOM commissioned the Consultation and Research Institute (CRI) to conduct the survey, which used a sample of 313 households and began in June 2014. The findings of the survey are presented in this report.