Back to Contents […] “ANALYSIS OF HUMANITARIAN NEEDS Around a quarter of Lebanese households reported having safety and security concerns for women in their community (including as being exposed to sexual violence and harassment, kidnapping, and sexual exploitation), and the percentage is even higher, if girls are considered (34 per cent). Moreover, nearly half (45 per cent) of Lebanese households have reported psychological distress of at least one adult member negatively impacted by the crisis.” (Source: OCHA, “Increasing Humanitarian Needs in Lebanon, April 2022”, 14 April 2022, p. 33) CEDAW calls upon the State party to ensure the rights of women by adopting, as a matter of priority, legal provisions protecting women’s rights: “47. The Committee commends the State party for maintaining its long-standing open border and reception policy for Palestinian refugees and those from the Syrian Arab Republic, and for hosting more than 2 million refugees. The Committee remains concerned, however, that the 1962 law regulating the entry into, stay in and exit from Lebanon does not distinguish between asylum seekers, refugees and migrants. The Committee is also concerned about the high number of reported cases of child and/or forced marriage among Palestinian and Syrian refugee girls and women. 48. In line with its general recommendation No. 32 (2014) on the gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women, the Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Strengthen its procedures for identifying asylum seekers and determining asylum status, which should be gendersensitive, age-sensitive and culturally sensitive, in order to ensure the systematic and early identification of women and girls who are victims or at risk of gender-based violence, and provide appropriate assistance to such women and girls; (b) Review the 1962 law regulating the entry into, stay in and exit from Lebanon, to distinguish between the protection needs of asylum-seeking and refugee women on the one hand and those of migrant women on the other; (c) Prevent and eradicate child and/or forced marriage through coordinated action, in collaboration with nongovernmental organizations and community leaders, in particular by raising awareness of the criminal nature and harmful impact of child and/or forced marriages on girls and women and by ensuring that all such cases are investigated and that those responsible are prosecuted and adequately punished, and systematically collecting data on the number of cases reported, investigations, prosecutions and convictions, as well as on the penalties imposed in cases of forced marriage. (Source: Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, “Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of Lebanon”, 01 March 2022, p. 13) Based on UNRWA reports from 2015 and 2016, UN Women reported in July 2021 that: “Recent data suggests that 65% of Palestinians live in poverty, and that Palestinian women experience high rates of GBV, likely closely associated with economic vulnerability (Chaaban et al. 2016; UNRWA 2015).” (p.18) (Source: UN Women “European Union Sector Specific Gender Analysis: An in-depth sectoral examination of feminist and women’s rights issues in Lebanon”, July 2021, pp 18) As part of the 2020 annual implementation report on its Gender Equality Strategy, UNRWA wrote about the suspension of microcredits for Palestine refugees: “During 2020, an assessment for GBV [Gender-based violence] services was conducted at UNRWA health centres to explore the perceptions of 805 health staff members and 1,326 community members towards GBV during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicated a perceived increase in the number of domestic violence cases, specifically 15. Particular hardships faced by specific profiles of stateless Palestinians 133