Palestinians and their right to work in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria

Elizabeth Hebert, in her research paper A protracted conflict: Palestinians and their right to work in Lebanon, analyses the integration of Palestinians refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. It focuses on access of Palestinian refugees on the labour market in Lebanon and analyses in depth obstacles to their access to the labour market. 

You can find a short summary of Elizabeth Hebert paper extracted from her abstract (source: The Human rights blog):

After analyzing the situation of Palestinians in Lebanon, Elizabeth HEBERT has found that they lack the necessary access to the Lebanese labor market. E. Hebert argues that the status of Palestinians in Lebanon and their lack of access to work opportunities have been formed by a complex web of the political and historical context, the state of the economy, and the lack of consensus among Lebanese politicians. E. Hebert argues that these reasons have led to a policy of deliberately ignoring Palestinians. E. HEBERT believes this could be mitigated by taking small steps on a local level.  More broadly, the situation of Palestinians in Lebanon is multi-layered, and requires action from the international community, the Lebanese government, and the Lebanese and Palestinian communities. 

After completing her field research, she also came to the conclusion that there is significant unwillingness to integrate Palestinians into the Lebanese society and grant them basic socio-economic rights. Elizabeth HEBERT believes that this is also related to the two types of discrimination—institutionalized and individual.  In  her research, she founds that discrimination is a major issue that needs to be addressed in considering ways to increase Palestinian access to the labor market. 

Institutionalized discrimination or essentially the discriminatory laws, contribute significantly to the difficulties Palestinians face in gaining access to the labor market. As it is now, even with new legislation in place, it is still difficult to get a work permit. Interviewees commented that the August 2010 labor law amendment to Article 59, which grants Palestinians access to the labor market without applying the principle of reciprocity of works permit fees to them was a step in the right direction, but did not eliminate all the issues Palestinians face. With inspiration and motivation from the international community and recent revolutions throughout the Arab world, Palestinians in Lebanon can hold onto their right to access to basic socio-economic and civil rights they have been denied.

To request access to Elizabeth Hebert’s entire graduate thesis, please contact her through her website, On the Olive Tree. To learn more on the legislative changes in Lebanon and right to work campaigns allowing Palestinian refugees to work in Lebanon, see Elizabeth HEBERT blog.