Full implementation of reconstruction programme in Lebanon awaits effective security.

The international community should give concrete form to its pledges to support Lebanon's reconstruction and development "as soon as conditions permit the resumption of Lebanon's reconstruction programme", according to a report of the Secretary-General on assistance for the reconstruction and development of Lebanon (A/39/390).

The report, issued in September, says the United Nations has had a substantial and active presence in Lebanon. Many specialized agencies and other United Nations system organizations still maintain regional offices in Beirut, namely the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Health Organization, in addition to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Food Programme and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East offices concerned with Lebanon alone. A United Nations peace-keeping force (UNIFIL) has been stationed in South Lebanon since 1978, and its humanitarian activities have had an important economic and social impact in its area of operation.

Unfortunately, the report states, peace and stability continued to elude the country. The situation has had an adverse effect on the United Nations activities in Lebanon. UNESCO's offices were destroyed in the 1982 war, and all staff were reassigned to Headquarters. Plans were agreed upon the following year with the Government of Lebanon for rebuilding the premises and the return of the regional office to Beirut, but work was interrupted by renewed fighting. Closure of the airport and general insecurity had obliged first ILO and the UNICEF to move regional offices temporarily out of Lebanon to Geneva and Amman, respectively. UNDP, which had already suffered a 40 per cent across-the-board cut in its programme, had been obliged to reduce drastically its operations in Lebanon.

Emergency Relief

The principal focus of the activities of the United Nations system has become the provision of emergency relief assistance to the victims of the fighting and violence, the report continues. With brief interruptions, this has been the main preoccupation of the United Nations system in Lebanon throughout the period of war and civil strife that began nine years ago. During this period the United Nations system has contributed $145 million for emergency relief projects, against $74.5 million spent for development projects.

The report recalls that the Secretary-General, in his 1983 report to the General Assembly on assistance for the reconstruction and development of Lebanon (A/38/217), reflected some cautious optimism based on the progress made by the Lebanese Government in recovering its authority in the Greater Beirut area and in launching the initial phase of a medium-term (three-year) reconstruction programme prepared with the World Bank's help. The period since then, the report says, witnessed grave and critical developments in the security situation of Lebanon, which upset all expectations and calculations. Lebanon was trying again to emerge from its difficulties, but the task of undoing the consequences of the setback suffered in the last 12 months will not be an easy one.

The economy of the country, the report observes, is confronted with serious problems, some of them of a structural nature. Among the causes are the cumulative effects of 10 years of disturbances, the breakdown of the administration, the isolation of various regions from each other, and other such factors. A further serious breakdown of security could fatally jeopardize the prospect of Lebanon's recovery in the foreseeable future.

The consolidation of security on a stable and effective basis would be the most important single factor in facilitating economic recovery, the Secretary-General says. The new Government has been devoting most of its energies to questions of security as well as political reforms. It also gives high priority to the country's reconstruction and development, and is anxious to resume work on the programme without delay. Despite present difficulties, a number of projects are being implemented, some with United Nations assistance.