Beddawi refugee camp

Established by UNRWA in 1955, Beddawi camp is located on a hill in north Lebanon, 5km north of Tripoli.

All shelters have indoor water supplies. The water system, sewerage and storm water drainage systems were recently rehabilitated.

Beddawi bore the brunt of the crisis at Nahr el-Bared, where fighting between the Lebanese armed forces and the radical militant group, Fatah Al-Islam, forced 27,000 refugees to flee. Beddawi’s population swelled from 15,000 to 30,000 almost overnight.

At mid-2009, around 10,000 displaced people were still living in Beddawi and surrounding areas. This put a huge strain on UNRWA’s services in Beddawi and placed further burdens on Beddawi’s residents themselves.

UNRWA has built prefabricated school buildings for displaced children and expanded Beddawi’s primary healthcare services to cope with the increased population.

Statistics

• More than 16,500 registered refugees
• Seven schools, including one secondary school
• One kindergarten
• One health centre
• Demographic profile:
  

Programmes in the camp

• Health
• Education
• Social safety-net
• Relief and social services
• Disability
• Women’s centre
• Community-based rehabilitation

Major problems

• Poverty
• Unemployment
• Huge population influx from Nahr el-Bared
• Huge demand for UNRWA services from increased population