How Do Austerity Policies Threaten Refugee Resilience in South Lebanon?
Mohammad Al Maqdah was not searching for additional treatment or postponed comfort. He was searching for a device that would keep his body within the circle of life. Acute kidney failure placed him before a harsh figure: three thousand dollars for a dialysis machine. A number that may appear ordinary in institutional budgets becomes, inside the camp, a solid wall separating life from its continuation.
Mohammad, a Palestinian refugee in Ain Al Hilweh camp in South Lebanon, did not knock on UNRWA’s door seeking charity, but claiming a right that had long been guaranteed. This time, however, the door did not open. The agency did not cover the cost of the machine, neither fully nor partially. His body was left outside coverage tables, as if it were an expendable detail in a compressed budget.
His family had no option but to rely on grassroots initiatives: donation campaigns, appeals through social media, and a fragile solidarity network. The amount was eventually collected, but the heavier question remained suspended. What about tomorrow? What about the thousands of other bodies that cannot afford to wait and lack networks to rescue them at the last moment?
From an Individual Case to a Drained Cycle
Hassan Al Sayyed, former principal of Al Quds Intermediate School for Boys and Deputy Head of the Teachers’ Union, explains that refugee employees were the backbone of service provision within the camps. Today, however, they find themselves trapped between reduced salaries and rising living costs. “Employees can no longer meet family obligations, from university tuition to medical needs. The reductions have exceeded twenty percent and in some cases reached fifty percent of essential services.”
Al Sayyed, who was dismissed after twenty years of service at UNRWA with the statement, “We could not prove your guilt but decided to dismiss you,” is a social and union activist committed to defending the rights of employees and Palestinian refugees in Lebanon’s camps.
He adds that any salary deduction, however small, translates into an immediate crisis due to the severe inflation affecting camp residents. An employee already struggling to cover family needs now faces compounded pressure. Salary reductions not only decrease income but create deep feelings of injustice and job insecurity. Financial stress intensifies psychological and social crises, exposing employees to constant exhaustion and anxiety, negatively affecting professional performance and family life.
Any salary deduction, however small,
translates into an immediate crisis due to the severe inflation within the camp.
The consequences of these policies are even more evident in the medical sector. An UNRWA employee who requested anonymity told Silat Wassel Platform:
“Reducing working hours and cutting the workweek from five days to four places severe pressure on both patients and staff. Patients do not receive sufficient time for treatment and follow up, and medication supplies may run out faster than expected, increasing fears of losing services entirely.”
Another health sector employee at UNRWA, also speaking anonymously, adds:
“The cuts will significantly affect staff performance in delivering healthcare. They will create constant stress and anxiety, along with job insecurity, weakening productivity and reducing quality of work.”
According to this testimony, reduced working hours and salary deductions affect not only employees but the broader community. Declining healthcare services contribute to the spread of illness and malnutrition, increased school dropout rates, and deteriorating water and electricity services. All of this impacts families’ psychological stability and fuels frustration and neglect.
Austerity as a Social Threat
Social activist Ibrahim Al Hajj, who focuses on Palestinian refugee issues, describes the camps as “embers beneath ashes. A small spark can ignite a major event.”
Every reduction in services and every salary deduction becomes a fragment striking a fragile wall that preserves social balance. Poverty here is not merely an economic condition but an environment that generates tension. Constriction can escalate into unrest that threatens internal and external security. Al Hajj adds that continuing current policies keeps employees in constant fear of further reductions or dismissal, increasing overall community fragility.
Testimonies indicate that UNRWA’s declining ability to cover essential services has weakened traditional solidarity networks. Local campaigns have become the last resort, while the community grows increasingly vulnerable to sudden crises. Meanwhile, the agency’s official administration continues to frame these measures as financial austerity, overlooking the humanitarian and political dimensions surrounding refugees.
The decline in UNRWA’s ability to provide essential services has weakened traditional solidarity networks.
Although UNRWA’s administration officially cites financial deficit and funding shortages threatening service continuity, Al Hajj views the issue as fundamentally political. “This is not merely economic. UNRWA received funding from 150 to 160 countries to cover three years, but there is an agenda to end UNRWA’s services as a symbol of Palestinian resilience.”
Political pressure translates on the ground into service reductions and financial restrictions on employees who are themselves part of the beneficiary community. This deepens the erosion of the safety net and transforms the institution from a protective resource into a direct source of pressure on refugee lives.
The Budget as a Constraint on Life
What connects Mohammad, the refugee employee, and the entire camp is a network of economic, social, and political pressures converging on both individual bodies and the community as a whole. The budget becomes a determinant of daily life. Financial decisions transform into existential experiences measured by survival itself rather than by the amount of money UNRWA saves.
UNRWA budget cuts are not merely administrative measures. They test refugees’ capacity to endure and weaken social stability within the camps. The challenge facing the international community and UNRWA itself is to reconsider financial and political policies to ensure the continuity of essential services and protection of refugee rights, free from decisions that undermine resilience and deepen daily suffering.
