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Slovenia’s emergency humanitarian aid for Beirut

  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Slovenian Government has allocated, through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Caritas Internationalis, a contribution of EUR 200,000 for the people of Beirut. In addition, as part of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, Slovenia today deployed to Beirut a logistics expert, who is part of the EU Civil Protection Team.

The Lebanese Red Cross has received assistance through the IFRC, successfully filling the gap in the absence of national health care service. It is constantly present on the ground with rescue teams, as was the case during this disaster and the recent protests. The final recipient through Caritas Internationalis is the Lebanese Caritas, with which the Slovenian Caritas successfully cooperates on the project ‘Comprehensive care for Syrian women refugees, victims of gender-based violence in Lebanon’, financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of development cooperation and humanitarian aid in the period 2020–2022. Slovenia has been engaged in humanitarian projects to assist Syrian refugees in this country for many years and is also present with members of the Slovenian Armed Forces participating in the UNIFIL mission.

Lebanon is all the more in need of assistance by the international community, as its government does not have the means to remedy the damage due to a prolonged political crisis and economic collapse. The aid helps to stabilise the country's security situation, which is aggravated further by violent protests of indignant population due to harsh social conditions.

According to the latest data, the fire and explosion at the Port of Beirut claimed more than 100 lives, leaving more than 5,000 injured, many are missing, and a quarter of a million left homeless.  The blast destroyed several parts of the capital and damaged about half of the city. As a result, Lebanon declared a state of emergency in Beirut.