An independent UN envoy said that Lebanese government officials “have no sense of the urgency of action or the determination necessary to assume their responsibilities in the face of an economic crisis that has led to a brutal impoverishment of citizens.”
Olivier de Schutter, the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, and via an interview with Reuters, at the conclusion of a two-week mission to study poverty in Lebanon: “I am very surprised by the fact that Lebanon is on its way to failure, if it has not already failed, and the needs of the population are not yet met.”
He continued, “Lebanese officials live in a fantasy world, and this does not bode well for the country’s future.”