Thread by @srpoverty

🇱🇧 Today I release my #Lebanon report. It finds that the economic crisis - which has plunged millions into poverty - is the responsibility of the country's elite & was entirely avoidable.
👉Read our press release : bit.ly/SREP-Leb

#ChangeCourseLebanon

1/10

My report shows how failed gov policies & massive conflicts of interest resulted in:

➡️Appalling levels of wealth concentrated at the top
➡️An unaccountable banking sector
➡️A chronic neglect of public services
➡️Inadequate social protection

2/10

Public money was squandered over decades of mismanagement and misplaced investments by the Government and Banque du Liban.

👉The result: collapse of the currency and Lebanese banking sector, wiping out people's savings and impoverishing millions

#ChangeCourseLebanon

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Today 90% of the country is living in poverty. In a country with once high living standards, families are skipping meals & children compelled into work

The majority of #Lebanon's population wants to leave. Those who have no choice but to stay are being pushed to the brink

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I visited #Lebanon in Nov 2021 & was shocked by the political leadership's blindness to the misery they've caused. Today their lives continue much as normal, with most of their money in accounts outside the country thanks to their own unscrupulous economic policies

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Meanwhile the rest of the population is left to pick up the pieces. #Lebanon's 1+million migrant workers & refugees - already struggling to survive - are facing unimaginable hardship, while women have seen increased violence since the crisis began

6/10

There is no real safety net in #Lebanon. Public services were gutted by self-serving Gov officials, with education, healthcare and even electricity out of reach for most. If the situation does not change an entire generation of children will be lost

7/10

Lebanon desperately needs change. With #lebanonelections2022 on 15 May, leadership must move away from fruitless bickering and offer a clear plan for ending corruption, massively decreasing poverty and inequality, and delivering functioning public services

8/10

Accountability and transparency must be sought. All public institutions must be opened up to scrutiny. The Lebanese Gov, wider political establishment, Banque du Liban, and the banking sector must held accountable for the devastation they have caused

#ChangeCourseLebanon

9/10

#Lebanon is already one of the most unequal countries in the world. Unless the government can offer a credible recovery plan guided by accountability, transparency and human rights, it risks becoming a failed state

#ChangeCourseLebanon

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