UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban’s remarks at UN media briefing on joint UNICEF/WFP mission to Lebanon

NEW YORK (October 16, 2024) - "I join you here today not just as a representative of UNICEF, but as a witness to the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Lebanon. Earlier this week, Carl Skau and I met families who have lost everything except hope. In shelters overflowing with displaced families and in tented settlements hosting families with nowhere else to go, we listened to women and mothers in tears and fathers who spoke of nights filled with fear. Each story a testament to the impossible decisions parents are being forced to make, and their resilience amid relentless fear and uncertainty.

"We saw this fear at the Masnaa Checkpoint, where hundreds of thousands of people have crossed into Syria since September 23 — a movement that, in its sheer scale, complicates an already fraught humanitarian response in Syria. These are people fleeing one devastation only to step into an uncertain future.

"Approximately 1.2 million people – men, women and children - have been displaced by this escalating conflict – including approximately 400,000 children. Nearly 190,000 of those forced from their homes are now in more than makeshift shelters hoping for a semblance of safety - mostly public schools, while countless others seek refuge with anyone who can offer a roof and a place to rest. Some have no option but beachfront or the street. The psychological toll is immense, particularly on the young. Children now grapple with nightmares of bombardment, the loss of loved ones, and the erasure of their homes and schools.

"I met 11-year-old Zeinab at a shelter in Beirut. She told me with determination as she drew pictures of her now destroyed home, that her main wish is to go back there. She and her family escaped from the house as the bombs fell. Zeinab said she knows she is lucky to be alive.

"Yet, even in this darkness, I have witnessed profound acts of solidarity. Lebanon has had many faultlines. Lebanese communities, themselves strained by pre-existing vulnerabilities and pressures on social services, are opening their hearts and homes to those in need across communal, sectarian and religious lines. This generosity is the thread holding together a social fabric frayed by conflict, and it is imperative that our response supports both the displaced and the communities that host them but also to recognize that solidarity will become stretched as time goes on.

"UNICEF and the World Food Program are working tirelessly to meet immediate needs. Carl will speak about what WFP’ is doing. UNICEF teams are working around the clock to meet children’s needs from every angle. From ensuring the flow of safe water to supplying shelters with sanitation kits, soap and shampoo. From linking the displaced to primary health care services to responding to the mental health concerns of children through play and psychosocial support activities.  From tracing families to reunite lost children to delivering 167 tons of medical supplies to help pregnant women and injured children get the care they need and WFP and UNICEF organizing aid convoys that run into the hardest-to-reach areas with essential supplies for every child. But the scale of this crisis demands more. 

"We are facing a number of inflexion points:

• So far the response has focused significantly on the displaced in the shelters.  We need to support displaced families living with families or friends or renting a small place.  We met a family—two brothers with 13 members in total, living in an apartment of a colleague of theirs from another community---she is in one room and they are in the other two. Both brothers worked before this escalation but they will run out of money by the end of the month. We are working with the government, WFP, UNHCR and the World Bank to look at cash solutions for the most vulnerable of these displaced.
• We urgently need to upgrade the WASH infrastructure in the more than 1,000 shelters that were not equipped to hold up to 1,000 people. UNICEF commits to do so in 300 of these shelters. 
• Winter is coming, it is getting cold here, it will get cold in Beirut soon enough and we need to be ready to support families as it gets cold. 
• The school year is starting with private schools having opened today. Virtually every public school is either being used as a shelter or has been destroyed or is inaccessible.  We need to find alternative learning solutions for the children affected to avoid losing a generation. 
• And critical: International humanitarian law cannot be seen as just an abstract concept — it is essential. All parties in this conflict must prioritize the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure.  Strikes on homes, health centers, schools or shelters, are resulting in massive civilian casualties (100 children killed and over 800 wounded in the past three weeks). It is imperative that all parties to the conflict adhere to IHL and comply with the principles of proportionality, distinction, and precaution in the conduct of hostilities.  They must ensure the respect and protection of all medical personnel. They must respect and protect civilian facilities providing essential services and critical infrastructure such as water, sanitation, roadways, bridges, or electrical facilities.

"We call upon the international community to act with urgency. Funding is critical, UNICEF's appeal is eight per cent funded right now. Funding must be free from conditionalities that hinder swift action. We must keep ports and supply routes open, ensuring that humanitarian assistance reaches those teetering on the brink of despair. And we implore all parties to safeguard these routes, allowing aid workers to perform their life-saving duties without threat.

"Above all, the children and families of Lebanon need peace. I last spoke to you all just a month ago following my most recent visit to Gaza. There are deeply concerning echoes in this situation with that for children and families affected by the war in Gaza. Children are the first affected in a conflict like this. The lives of children in Lebanon, children in Palestine, and indeed children in Israel and across the region have been devastated by conflict.  All these children desperately need an end to the violence that steals their safety, their education, and their very childhoods. A ceasefire – ceasefires, plural — are not just a pause in fighting — they are the first step toward rebuilding lives and restoring hope.

"Time is not on our side."

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Notes for editors:

Multimedia materials available here: https://weshare.unicef.org/Package/2AM4080FDL1J

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The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) works in more than 190 countries and territories to pursue a more equitable world for every child. UNICEF has helped save more children’s lives than any other humanitarian organization, by providing health care and immunizations, safe water and sanitation, nutrition, education, emergency relief and more.

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For more information please contact:
Jenna Buraczenski, UNICEF USA, (917) 720-1432, jburaczenski@unicefusa.org