Back to Contents Prior to the economic crisis, foreign nationals in Lebanon held a larger percentage of jobs than Lebanese citizens, however, Palestinian and Syrian women were economically active at very low rates. The most recently reported labour force participation was 17% for Palestinian refugee women from Lebanon and 14% for Palestine refugee women from Syria (PRS) (UNRWA 2016). The unemployment rate for PRS was double that of Palestine refugees from Lebanon, with female PRS reporting a 68% unemployment rate (UNRWA 2016). Both employed Palestinian men (39%) and women (27%) most commonly work in elementary occupations (daily work), and women are far more commonly found in professional jobs (21% of women compared to 5% of men). For Syrian refugee women, the labour force participation rate stands at 12% (UN Women 2020d). As with the Lebanese population, there is geographic variation, since Palestinian and Syrian women in Beirut and Mount Lebanon had the highest labour force participation rates amongst the governorates. (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. 30-31) 9.7. Are steps taken to ensure that stateless Palestinians can enter the labour market? Are these successful? Researcher Walaa Kayyal, a Palestinian living in Lebanon herself, was not aware of amendments to the work permit rules and indicated that the access to qualified positions have not changed for Palestinians in Lebanon: “As far as I know, international NGOs or local NGOs (because this is where the educated Palestinians go for work since we cannot work in the public sector) have a quota. So they say that 20% of their employees can be foreigners. Foreigners include Palestinians. They can be Syrians, Iraqis, Americans, whatever... and within this quota, we can be employed. Usually, this quota for foreigners is quite low because they do not want to pay for too many work permits. We have tons of laws which are passed but not enforced in Lebanon. So even if the work permit is free, you still have some administrative fees.” (Source: Walaa Kayyal, interview record, 31 October 2022) On the contrary, Mr Ziad El Sayegh, Executive Director of the Civic Influence Hub in Beirut and former Policy and Communication Advisor to the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee [a Lebanese inter-ministerial government body formed in November 2005 to implement the policies of the Lebanese government towards Palestinian refugees in Lebanon] whom we interviewed for this report responded to our question about the 2010 amendment to the Lebanese Labor Law and Social Security Law of 2010 that: “They will receive a work permit without paying anything. The [...] problem was in the National Social Security Fund, and we were about solving this. I was that time the team leader of the Minister of Labor. They don’t have to pay anything. The only problem was that the law obliged them to pay for the end-of-service indemnity, and this was in their interest but obliging them to pay for medical fund without benefiting it was an issue. End of service indemnity program within the National Social Security Fund to protect the rights when they finished their work, this was key. The only problem was that there was a debate between the Lebanese government at that time and the Lebanese Parliament also if they are obliged to pay for the medication program of the National Social Security Fund. And after this, there was a discussion between 2011 and 2012 to make sure to put an end for this contribution because they are not benefiting from this contribution and the medication program because UNRWA is taking care of this. Yet this kind of modification was not adopted because of the lack of governance in the country and the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee. [...] Yes, [it was in] 2010. But between 2016 and 2018, when there was a Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue-- and we succeeded in 2018 to issue a unified vision towards the Palestinian refugees issue in Lebanon, and I’m sure you saw it. It was issued by LPDC, and I was one of the facilitator of these dialogues. It was coordinated with the UNDP. It was led by the Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee[...]. We succeeded within the Lebanese political stakeholders to approve a consensus that these Palestinian refugees should not pay for the medication program because they are not benefiting from it. [...] If you have other fields, they need a specific law adopted by the parliament like being a lawyer or an engineer, or. These are free orders, and they have bylaws approved by the parliament. We need another kind of modification here.[...] the Palestinian engineers and medicines, they are working. They are working on the black market. And this is bad, and they are accepting work in the black market.[...].” (Source: Ziad El Sayegh, interview record, 31 October 2022) 9. Access to labour market, means of basic subsistence 100