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H.E. RAFIC
HARIRI & "LEBANON REBUILT"
SELECTED FOR SPECIAL CITATION OF UN-HABITAT SCROLL OF HONOUR AWARD 2004
Nairobi/Beirut, 3 September 2004: H.E.
Rafic Hariri, The President of the Council of Ministers of Lebanon, has
been awarded the prestigious and rare, Special Citation of the
UN-HABITAT Scroll of Honour Award, 2004, for his outstanding and
visionary leadership in the post-conflict reconstruction of Lebanon.
This is the highest award given by the United Nations for achievements
in the field of human settlements. The award will be presented to H.E.
Rafic Hariri at the opening ceremony of the Second World Urban Forum on
13 September 2004 in Barcelona.
“At a time when millions of people and their communities are suffering
from natural and man-made disasters, the rebuilding and rehabilitation
of Lebanon provides a positive vision of how human, financial, technical
resources and expertise can be harnessed to create peace and to revive
economic development,” said Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of
UN-HABITAT.
The successful reconstruction of Lebanon, was officially submitted to
UN-HABITAT for consideration for a Scroll of Honour Award, in November
2003, by Ms. Mervat Tallawy, Executive Secretary of the Beirut based
United Nations Social and Economic Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).
Lebanon lived through one of the longest civil conflicts and regional
wars in the second half of the twentieth century. The civil war, which
encompassed the entire country, resulted in the killing and wounding of
tens of thousands of people and displacing tens of thousands more. The
economic toll on the country was also devastating in every measure. The
World Bank estimated the economic loss of Lebanon to be in the billions
of dollars.
After years of physical and human devastation, rebuilding and
rehabilitation need vision and leadership to bring any country back
together to restore its political, economic and social fabric. H.E.
Rafic Hariri, The President of the Council of Ministers of Lebanon,
provided this leadership and vision. Lebanon’s reconstruction and
rehabilitation included resource mobilization strategies that began with
using more costly domestic and regional financial resources, as a way to
attract long term multilateral funding, which was initially not
forthcoming. This helped stabilize the domestic financial market and
reduce the national debt servicing burden.
On the technical side, a comprehensive and integrated approach to
construction was instrumental in rebuilding much of the country's
war-torn physical infrastructure quickly and efficiently. It restored
electricity, telephone and water and rehabilitated the roads and rebuilt
most of the country's bridges. Public Schools, hospitals and healthcare
centers were also rebuilt. Special mention should be made of the
successful reconstruction of the heart of Beirut, which suffered the
most devastation during the war.
Background:
The history of reconstruction and rehabilitation of Lebanon has been
summarized in the publication “Lebanon Rebuilt: 10 years of achievment”.
This document, which was submitted to UN-HABITAT, provides a
comprehensive and detailed overview of the administrative, economic,
financial and physical aspects of a decade long effort to rebuild the
country’s social infrastructure.
The process of validation and selection of “Lebanon Rebuilt” was
undertaken in three phases that included background research, an on-site
visit to Lebanon, and a special committee comprising five international
experts that met in Dubai on 16 June 2004 which forwarded its
recommendations to the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, Mrs. Anna
Tibaijuka, for approval.
The Special Committee, working under the independent Technical Advisory
Committee for the Dubai International Awards for Best Practices, noted
that “Lebanon Rebuilt” not only complied with but also surpassed the
best practice’s criteria of tangible impact in improving people’s
livelihoods through sustainable partnerships between the public, private
and civil society sectors.
The experts noted, with particular interest, the speed at which “Lebanon
Rebuilt” was undertaken. They also cited the innovative use of domestic
and foreign resources for investment. Finally, they attributed the pace
and comprehensive scope of reconstruction to H.E. Rafic Hariri, The
President of the Council of Ministers of Lebanon.
In order to promote the lessons learned from “Lebanon Rebuilt”,
UN-HABITAT is proposing to showcase this outstanding best-practice at
the Second World Urban Forum in Barcelona (13-17 September, 2004) and
subsequently, it is hoped, to hold an international conference on
post-disaster reconstruction to take place in Beirut in 2005 in
collaboration with UN ESCWA.
For
further information, please contact:
Sharad Shankardass, Spokesperson, or Ms. Zahra A. Hassan,
Media Liaison,
Tel: (254 20) 623153, 623151, Fax: (254 20) 624060,
E-mail:
habitat.press@unhabitat.org, Website:
www.unhabitat.org
Nabil Abu-Dargham, Information Officer, Office of the Executive
Secretary / ESCWA,
Tel:00-961-1-978894, Fax: 00-961-1-981527,
E-mail: dargham@un.org , Website:
www.escwa.org.lb
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