Press Release

Statement of Correction from UN-Habitat Lebanon

27 February 2023

Beirut, 27 February 2023 -- Factually inaccurate and false news has recently spread on Lebanese news platforms and social media implicating UN-Habitat in Lebanon about a form allegedly affirming the right of refugees and displaced persons in Lebanon to secure access to housing, land and property. Additional incorrect information insinuates that this is part of resettling refugees and displaced persons in Lebanon. What has been circulated is instigating and spreading panic.

Therefore, UN-Habitat would like to clarify the following:

The news that is being circulated online regarding the project implemented by UN-Habitat in partnership with the People's Aid Association for Relief and Development (PARD), and other partners, and funded by Germany, is categorically untrue and misleading.
This is a project led by UN-Habitat’s Regional Office for Arab States in Cairo, implemented in both Lebanon and Iraq. The project has been developed in the framework of the Arab Land Initiative, which Germany supports. More about the Arab Land Initiative can be read here.
The project aims to help Syrian refugees and displaced persons currently living in Lebanon to document their rights to housing, land and property in their towns and villages in Syria (not Lebanon) from which they were displaced during the conflict in Syria – thus contributing to ensuring that future return to Syria is possible once the conditions for a voluntary and safe return in dignity are met.
In Lebanon, the concerned municipalities (where data collection took place), their leadership, and security forces are aware of the objectives and measures of the project; all field activities were completed in 2022.
Part of the field activities included a questionnaire used to register the claims of Syrian refugees to their housing, land and property in Syria; these activities did not collect any data related to refugees’ current living conditions in Lebanon. The Social Tenure Domain Model form used in the project is a participatory tool used to document Syrian refugees' claims to housing, land and property in Syria (not Lebanon) and to safeguard their documentary evidence.

For further accurate information about the project, please visit this page. UN-Habitat encourages all media partners to contact its office to validate any information about UN-Habitat and its programming and partners prior to publishing it.

UN-Habitat works in over 90 countries supporting people in cities for a better urban future. Working with governments and local partners, its high-impact projects combine world-class expertise and local knowledge to deliver timely and targeted solutions.

For more information:

Layal Abou Antoun, UN-Habitat Lebanon Country Programme

+961 1 978398

layal.abouantoun@un.org