Resolution tabled by the KATAEB Party, Lebanon

Since 2019 Lebanon has been suffering from one of the worst economic crises in the world and in its history, which has left most of the population under the poverty line, unable to withdraw their savings from the banks, a collapse of the most basic public services – in partic- ular education and healthcare, and huge waves of immigration of its educated youth and the middle class.

The Lebanese pound has lost more than 98% of its value on the black market which led the government to raise the official rate to 15,000 LBP to the dollar which amounts to a 90% de- valuation while the black market rate reached 97,000 LBP per one USD on May 2nd, 2023.

The World Bank recently evaluated the Lebanese crisis as one of the “top three most severe economic collapses worldwide since the 1850s”, calling it a “deliberate depression is orches- trated by the country’s elite that has long captured the state and lived off its economic rents”.

The Staff Concluding Statement of the 2023 Article IV Mission of the IMF to Lebanon noted the limited progress in implementing the comprehensive package of economic reforms, set out in the Staff Level Agreement between the IMF and Lebanon and stated that without rapid reforms Lebanon will find itself in a never-ending crisis.

The gradual collapse of the banking sector has allowed Hezbollah to expand its financial arm within a country that has now turned into a cash economy. Hezbollah’s financial arm Al Qard Al Hassan is not licensed by the Lebanese Central Bank and cannot be pursued or held ac- countable by the judiciary.

In addition to all these structural, political, and financial problems, Lebanon has hosted since 2013 huge waves of displaced Syrians who fled the atrocities and the terrible civil war in Syria – in particular from the Bashar Al-Assad Regime and ISIS alike. The number of displaced Syrians in Lebanon reached 1.5 million in 2023. Lebanon has hosted the highest rate of refugees per capita in the world and is struggling to maintain a less than average economy for its citizens and displaced people. Also, Lebanon has been hosting more than 600,000 Palestinian refugees since 1948 who are still living in several camps inside Lebanon.

With active combat stopping in most Syrian regions for many years now, the highest numbers of displaced Syrians are staying in Lebanon for the aid they receive from international organi- zations – especially the UNHCR – and refuse to return to Syria for fear of losing this financial aid, making them economic immigrants and no longer war refugees.

In addition to the above, Hezbollah and its allies are still blocking the democratic process of electing a new President of the Republic, which has been vacant for the past 7 months, pro- hibiting the proper functioning of the state institutions and denying the country much needed reforms.

The IDU calls on:

• The international community, namely the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and the Euro- pean Union, to work with their allies in the Arab Gulf countries, to push for the dem- ocratic elections of a new President of the Republic in Lebanon via open a Parliamen- tary session until one candidate is elected according to the constitution. Such a move will happen by pressuring the Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri – the closest Shia ally of Hezbollah – to open the parliament and refrain from blocking it from convening.
• The international community, namely the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and the Euro- pean Union, to work with their allies in the Arab Gulf countries, to maintain support for vital Lebanese institutions, especially the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), to prevent them from collapsing which will open the door for Hezbollah to benefit from the chaos, empower its grip over Lebanon, and keep the Lebanese people hostages of its Iranian- backed plan, using Lebanon as a platform to destabilize the Middle East and the rest of the World.
• The member-parties of the IDU to push for for a quick return of Syrian refugees from Lebanon to Syria – especially to several safe zones that have not witnessed any military activities in years inside regime-controlled and opposition-controlled regions in Syria. Such steps to be coordinated with Arab and International allies, in particular the allies with military presence in Syria.
• The international community, namely the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and the Euro- pean Union, to work with their allies in the Arab Gulf countries, to condition funding to UN agencies dealing with the refugees in Lebanon – in particular the UNHCR – on a proper plan for a return of these refugees to their home country, with financial incen- tives to their relocation to Syria.
• The international community, namely the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and the Euro- pean Union, to work with their allies in the Arab Gulf countries, to politically pressure the Syrian regime to allow these refugees to return without any challenges and with- out using them as a bargaining chip for the Regime’s acceptance on the Arab and the World stage.