One million Syrians in Lebanon: a milestone quickly passed

Lebanon received its one-millionth refugee from Syria on April 3rd, an event that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN’s refugee agency, called a “devastating milestone.” Unfortunately, markers such as these only show the distance travelled but not how far is left to go. This one was quickly passed and there is still no end in sight. In the eight weeks following that announcement another 90,538 Syrians made their way to Lebanon in order to escape the fighting that rages on in Syria. With 1,090,538 Syrian refugees now on its territory, undoubtedly even more given the time it took for this article to come to print, Lebanon is home to nearly 40% of the 2.84 million Syrians now living in neighbouring countries. It has accepted an average of 53,000 people each month for the past 12 months, resulting in an incredible 25% population increase since fighting began three years ago. Without greater sharing of the human as well as the financial burden by rich world countries, Lebanon is at risk of paying the price for its hospitality with severe political and economic destabilisation.