Palestinians still lacking rights - report

Source: Daily Star, 04-04-2008
BEIRUT: Palestinians in Lebanon lack the full recognition of their basic human rights, said the Palestinian Organization for Human Rights (SHAHED) in the 2007 edition of its annual report, which was released to the public at a news conference on Thursday. The report focuses its attention on what it describes as the failure of Lebanese and Palestinian authorities to ensure minimum standards in key areas such as education and health care, as well as the failure of these authorities to completely ensure certain freedoms, such as the freedom of mobility or the freedom of labor.
"Human rights principles are enshrined on paper in many countries, yet are rarely implemented or upheld in practice," said Union of Journalists representative Fouad Harake.
The head of the human rights group, Mahmoud Hanafi, provided an overview of the report itself, and set out to describe "the situation of [Palestinian] refugees at all levels."
The report views the main problem associated with the rights of Palestinians in Lebanon to be the absence of an overarching political authority "able to address the challenges facing Palestinians in Lebanon today."
Hanafi, perhaps addressing the controversial nature of the Palestinian presence in Lebanon, stressed that Palestinian refugees "cling to the right of return" and said that ensuring Palestinian rights would "facilitate this return, rather than impede it."
Noting that 32 Palestinian civilians were killed in the fighting at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp between the Lebanese Armed Forces and Islamist militants last year, the report finds fault with the fact "that no judicial or [military] tribunal action was taken."
Since the clashes, the report continues, security checks have curtailed Palestinian freedom of mobility at Nahr al-Bared, outside Tripoli, and in camps near Sidon and Tyre.
Another main obstacle facing the Palestinian community in Lebanon is what the report, citing the "spread of many diseases throughout Palestinian camps," labels as poor health care, though it lists the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East as the primary source of care.
Also troubling, in the report's view, is that the decision of resigned Labor Minister Trad Hamadeh to relax the bans on Palestinians in obtaining employment in a slew of professions remains a mere formality.
Finally, the report notes that the "level of education enjoyed by Palestinians in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1990s - marked by relatively high passing rates in formal exams - no longer exists."
The Palestinian refugee population in Lebanon has been subjected to renewed attention since clashes between Islamists and the Lebanese Army in Nahr al-Bared last year resulted in the death of some 170 soldiers and around 220 militants.
Several Palestinian refugee camps exist including the largest in Ain al-Hilweh on the outskirts of Sidon.