LAUSR

ABSTRACT Seven years on, Syria’s Arab Spring has mutated into a civil war marked by attacks by President Assad against civilian communities, interventions by foreign powers and the rise of the so-called Islamic State, Nusra Front and numerous other terrorist organisations. This research report focusses on Mar Elias camp, the smallest Palestinian refugee camp in the heart of Beirut, now inhabited by a large number of refugees from Syria. The aim is to record the voices and concerns of refugees from Syria. Through doing so, it looks beyond a narrow focus on radicalisation and terrorism recruitment within the camp. Instead, the refugee’s needs, and the human security and protection challenges they are faced with are outlined. This study adopts a participatory approach involving direct interviews with Syrian refugees in every stage of the research process. The research focuses on the perceptions, lived experiences and expectations of Syrian refugees, and the Palestinian refugees from Syria (PRS) population. The aim is to grant a voice to the voiceless, record their own narratives, and to offer them the opportunity to report on the security challenges that confront them. The research is an outcome of nine months of humanitarian fieldwork in the Mar Elias camp as a community development project officer on the project ‘Urban Neighbourhoods Mobilised to Respond to WASH (water, hygiene and sanitation), Shelter and Protection Needs.’ Information was gathered during focus group discussions, needs assessments and one-on-one interviews. The participatory research is significant since it allows people to be actively involved in defining their priorities and seeking solutions and facilitates the study of perceptions, and caters for marginalised and vulnerable groups. It is hoped to show how through participatory research, marginalised people can raise their concerns and have their voices heard in order to allow for more accurate information about the communities involved, and to question assumptions such as those that prioritise framing security within the camps in the narrow context of counter terrorism.