Lebanon: Palestinians protest exclusion as government moots minimum wage

Several hundred Palestinians protested at the edge of Shatila camp in south Beirut on 30 April ahead of the 1 May labour day holiday, traditionally a time for workers' to air their grievances.

"We are humans, we have the right to live," shouted the protesters. "We are half humans in Lebanon."

Palestinians in Lebanon are barred from working in 70 professional vocations. They cannot work as lawyers and doctors, and cannot own or inherit property. Unemployment is rife, particularly inside the dozen refugee camps which are home to just over half the country's 400,000 Palestinian refugees. In Ein al-Hilwe, the largest and most dangerous camp, leaders of factions estimate unemployment at 70 percent.

The rise in the minimum monthly wage from US $200 to $300 is the first increase in a decade, but local researchers InfoPro estimate that only 10 percent of Lebanon's 650,000 wage earners take home the minimum wage or less.

Half a million Lebanese are self-employed and would not benefit from the wage increase, while Palestinians do not qualify as they are considered refugees, not citizens in Lebanon.

Lebanese salaries average $500, while the actual minimum wage is around $320, according to figures from InfoPro. Citizens' wages are further supplemented by a de facto government set of subsidies estimated at $150 a month, through price controls on electricity, gas, fuel and wheat.

Read More