The Palestinian Foundation for Human
Rights (Shahed) is following with great concern the current events in the
Shatila Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, following a number of crimes that
have shaken Lebanese and Palestinian society, involving illegal elements who
deal drugs, and the murder of a young Lebanese man, Elio Abu Hanna, which
revealed the depth of the crisis inside the Palestinian camps in Lebanon.
Established in 1949, Shatila
Palestine refugee camp in Beirut is one of the most densely populated camps,
with residents living in difficult economic and social conditions,
characterized by high rates of poverty and unemployment, and poor
infrastructure and basic services. The environmental health conditions in the
camp are severely poor, with damp and overcrowded housing and many with open
drainage channels.
The prevalence of the drug phenomenon
in Shatila was not born of the moment, but rather the result of years of
neglect and negligence and the absence of radical treatment by the concerned
Palestinian authorities.
The recent popular movements in the
camp and the security forces have proven that Palestinian society is still
alive and refuses to turn the camps into outlaw hotbeds based on the promotion
of drugs, and that the popular will is stronger than the networks of interests
that benefit from the survival of this deviant reality.
In this context, the Palestinian Foundation
for Human Rights (Shahed) stresses that the continuation of this reality poses
a direct threat to the security of the Palestinian refugees and the stability
of Lebanese society, and increases the misery of its residents even more than
it already exists. In the face of this reality, Shahid demands the following:
1️⃣ Opening an
investigation to identify the entities or individuals who have condoned or
benefited from the spread of the drug trade in the camp over the past years.
2️⃣ Forming a joint
Palestinian-Lebanese committee to follow up on the counter-narcotics file
inside the camps and ensure coordination with the Lebanese security forces
within a framework that preserves sovereignty and protects the rights of
refugees.
3️⃣ Launching a
community and human rights awareness campaign in schools and social centers
within the camps to confront the scourge of drugs, with the participation of
civil society institutions and human rights organizations.
4️⃣ Hold all
Palestinian factions moral and national responsibility in support of any action
aimed at protecting the social fabric and preventing security chaos.
5️⃣ Calling on the
Lebanese media to cover events responsibly without demonizing the camps or
refugees, focusing on the structural causes associated with deprivation and
marginalization.
Palestinian Foundation for Human
Rights (WATCH)