UN General Assembly
2015

If Europe, with its sizeable capacity and generous humanity, has been confused by the sight of thousands of displaced persons suddenly appearing in its cities, Lebanon, with its limited space and scarce capacity, has been hosting, over the past four years, 1.5 million displaced Syrians, amounting to one third of its population. Lebanon’s public infrastructure and host communities have been exhausted maximally at a time of steadily declining international assistance due to the so-called donor fatigue. While upholding its international obligations, Lebanon reiterates its appeal to donor countries to fulfil their commitments, and even to increase their financial contributions, in order to provide direct assistance to Lebanese public institutions and host communities, according to the response plan launched by Lebanon last December in collaboration with the United Nations. We firmly stress the principle of shared responsibility and burden-sharing among countries, while underlining the importance of establishing safe areas or buffer zones for refugees in Syria and setting up collection centres on the border.