Opening Remarks of UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator at the Lebanon Response Plan Steering Committee Meeting

 A Steering Committee for the Lebanon Response Plan (LRP) was formed today following the endorsement of the humanitarian and stabilization response plan for Lebanon for 2024. The meeting was co-chaired by the Prime Minister and the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator of the UN. It was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministers of Education and Higher Education, Public Health, Social Affairs, Energy and Water, Labor, Agriculture and Environment; alongside the Ambassadors to Lebanon of Canada, France, the EU, Germany and the charge d'affaires for the US; as well as Representatives of UN Agencies and national and international NGOs.

Below are the opening remarks as delivered by the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the LRP Steering Committee meeting:

Your Excellency, Prime Minister Mikati, esteemed ministers, honorable ambassadors, distinguished guests, dear colleagues, good morning.

We gather here today at a truly unprecedented time for Lebanon. This country has already faced many years of multi-layered crises. Over the past year, the escalation of hostilities has inflicted severe damage on communities in the South. In the last weeks, the violence has intensified, causing widespread civilian casualties, mass displacement, and extensive destruction across the country.

Healthcare and frontline workers have come under attack, as have civil defense centers and water supply systems, pushing essential services to the brink of collapse. This must stop. 

Working across the Government, UN, civil society and with the much-needed support of the donor community, we are all racing to respond to the rising needs of people across all governorates, and across all population groups. 

Our discussion today, on the Lebanon Response Plan, could not be more timely. As we all know, the LRP is an integrated humanitarian and stabilization response plan which builds on lessons learnt and interventions honed through waves of crises. It aims to assist and protect vulnerable people, while delivering inclusive public services through national systems, and contributing to stability, including through institutional support. 

Amid everything that Lebanon is facing, it is imperative that we maintain our focus on the medium-term as well as the immediate: ensure the delivery of essential services around the country, seek to reinforce critical infrastructure and stability at this time, while also seeking to provide immediate relief for those in need.

Among our priorities, we need to urgently scale up sufficient food, water, energy and protection services to people in collective shelters across the country – the majority of which are public schools. But we also need to ensure sustained support to the Ministry of Education and partners to get learning back on track, after many years of disruption for children and their families.

Under the leadership of the Ministry of Public Health, we need to support immediate trauma care for the devastating casualties inflicted on a daily basis; but also to sure-up the network of primary health care centres across the country that remain under extreme strain, and contribute to system strengthening at all levels.

The LRP recognizes that the needs of Lebanon’s institutions and people have substantially increased and changed in recent years amid the unprecedented financial, economic and public health crises, as well as the continued impact of the Syria crisis on Lebanon. Access to assistance and services had already become an essential life-line for many Lebanese before the escalation in conflict, alongside refugees and migrants also deeply affected by the multiple crises. Working to bolster vital national systems and ensure support to those who need it most is our common endeavor.

Since the LRP partner appeal was launched back in January, the context has now dramatically changed again. We gathered here in the Grand Serail on 1st October to launch a humanitarian Flash Appeal in response to needs arising from the conflict. This is fully complementary with the LRP and supporting efforts as part of the overall Government-led response. 

Proceeding with the meeting:

We come together for the inaugural meeting of what we hope will be a dynamic LRP Steering Committee, meeting on a quarterly basis to ensure strategic oversight of the response and make key collective decisions that require our leadership and guidance. It could not be more important, in these uncertain times, that we work together to ensure that we are consistently pursuing our goals, prioritizing and ensuring transparency and accountability within the response. 

The intended outcome from today’s meeting is to signal our common endorsement to deliver against the Lebanon Response Plan, and to agree to work together as a Steering Committee to ensure strategic oversight of the co-led plan. You have in front of you the draft Terms of Reference for the LRP Steering Committee for endorsement, as well as the Foreword to the plan. 

Given the extreme change in context that we have all experienced and are collectively running to respond to, our intention is not to go into detail in this meeting regarding the draft LRP Chapeau and Sector Strategy documents that have been previously discussed. Instead, we will soon need to begin a full revision of the plan – starting next month – to adjust all sector strategies, population targets, associated sector budgets and overall cross-sectoral prioritization, in light of the rapidly changing situation. It is essential that we do this through a structured, multi-stakeholder process, with full involvement and leadership of ministers.

I will shortly hand over to Excellency Minister Hajjar. As noted in the Terms of Reference, MoSA is identified to lead on the operational response on behalf of the Government. The Ministry does this with the support of co-leads on the UN side, including UNHCR and UNDP whose representatives we will also hear from. Lastly, before we open up the floor to interventions from Ministers, Ambassadors and other LRP Steering Committee members, we will have a very short presentation to outline the LRP process on behalf of the Inter-Sector Coordination Group. 

I would like to close by thanking the Prime Minister for his leadership, as well as the Deputy Prime Minister for his immense efforts in bringing together this plan for endorsement. 

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Note to editors:

The Lebanon Response Plan 2024-25 (LRP) is an integrated humanitarian and stabilization response plan co-led by the Government of Lebanon and the United Nations, supported by international and national partners. The plan sets out to respond to challenges arising from multiple crises facing Lebanon in a holistic manner through providing immediate assistance to and ensuring protection of vulnerable populations; supporting service provision through national systems; and supporting Lebanon’s economic, social and environmental stability. Based on the needs identified by affected communities, the Government and its partners, the LRP presents a prioritized and evidence-based appeal of $2.72 billion in 2024 to fund partners’ coordinated interventions across ten sectors. 

Since the Lebanon Response Plan for 2024 was drafted, Lebanon is now facing a catastrophic humanitarian situation as a result of the dramatic escalation of hostilities. In addition to the LRP funding appeal, a humanitarian Flash Appeal has also been issued (October 2024) by the UN for $425.7 million to support immediate life-saving assistance, as part of the overall response.

Participants in the LRP Steering Committee meeting deplored the repeated targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure. Many stressed that interventions to bolster Lebanese institutions and ensure public services are accessible to vulnerable people across the country must continue to be prioritized under the LRP, alongside life-saving assistance in the immediate term.