Lebanon is in an extremely urgent and dangerous humanitarian crisis. Its government is failing its people. Besides the direct damages from the deadly August 4th explosion that displaced 300k people, and the COVID-19 pandemic, the country is plunging into an internal economic and humanitarian downfall.

People have no access to electricity for most hours of the day. Which means businesses cannot operate, and neither can hospitals. The food people buy at prices they can no longer afford has to be thrown out, because they can't store it in their fridges.

There is no more fuel to power cars for people to get around, or to operate generators.

There is an extreme shortage of basic medicine in pharmacies and hospitals because of the inability to import anything from abroad.

People cannot access the money they have in banks because banks have illegally seized people's savings. The value of the Lebanese pound has deteriorated and has lost 90% from its price 2 years ago, while prices are rising. More and more Lebanese people are not able to feed themselves.

Politicians have failed to take any accountability for the situation the country is in today, and for the explosion that could have been avoided. They have failed to form a government or make any reform that can relieve people’s living conditions. Where the country is today is the fruit of +40 years of political incompetence and corruption. Today, this leads us to declare that Lebanon is a failed state.

According to the World Bank, Lebanon’s economic crisis could be among the top 3 most severe crises globally since the 1850s. And it’s getting worse by the day. 

We demand that Lebanon be urgently placed under the guardianship of an international humanitarian task force under the aegis of the United Nations and the World Bank to respond to the current emergencies of the population in the face of drug shortages and allow development and access to water, electricity, sanitation and basic human needs. This task force should work hand in hand with the initiatives taken by civil society and local/international NGOs. It will therefore be up to to this task force and its partners to guarantee the holding of legislative, municipal and presidential elections on time.

Photo credit: Rami Rizk.