Today, December 3, as we mark the International Day for Persons with Disabilities, the United Nations in Lebanon celebrates the extraordinary stories of resilience, leadership, and empowerment in times of crisis, exemplified by the ‘Access Kitchen’ initiative in Lebanon.

We, the members of the Women’s Peacebuilding Network in Lebanon,​​​​​​​ strongly condemn the ongoing war that jeopardizes every facet of life in our country. We emphasize the urgent necessity for immediate action.

Lebanon is in crisis. The ongoing conflict has left over one million people internally displaced with devastating consequences for women and girls. 2,792 people killed (75% male, 19% female and 6% children) and 12,772 injured (74% male, 18% female and 8% children) . With shelters at full capacity, safety and dignity are on the line.

Amid the intensifying conflict and growing number of internally displaced people in Lebanon, women social activists and politicians are leading various efforts to ensure that the humanitarian response is not blind to women’s needs. Three of these women share their experiences as ‘women focal points’ for the Fiftyfifty civil society organization under a UN Women political participation project.

Reem Haj Ali, living in Tripoli, is a founding member and Project and Programme Manager of the Ruwwad Al Tanmeya NGO. She serves as their focal point with UN Women under a project to increase women’s political participation. She is also engaged in combating gender norms in Tripoli through involving 120 university students in training and workshop sessions, who themselves will be conducting community initiatives in the North. She shares what she is doing to help and empower displaced women in the current context.

Josephine Zgheib is a long-time social and political activist from Lebanon. She is President of the Beity Association NGO and Vice-President of the Arab Network for Social Accountability. Zgheib was elected to the Kfardebian Municipal Council in 2010 and re-elected in 2016. Zgheib has helped develop strategic development plans for several Lebanese and Arab cities, launched myriad social justice campaigns, and helped many associations institutionalize themselves. She is also now running for Parliament.

Pregnancy is hard enough without adding the fear and risk of bombardment. So, when the hostilities intensified in Kfarsir–Nabatieh, South Lebanon last month, 29-year-old pregnant mother Lama Chami made the courageous decision to flee. Likewise, Afaf Shoaib, a 29-year-old mother of two, was forced to flee her home in Baalbek, northeastern Lebanon, and arrived with her husband and children at Auberge Beity a month ago, in the dead of night.

Amid the intensified armed conflict in Lebanon, women and girls are enduring unimaginable suffering. They need urgent shelter, winterization items, nutritious food, as well as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, to be protected from gender-based violence, and have their rights and dignity guaranteed.

As the conflict in South Lebanon continues to escalate, Israeli air strikes on the capital, South and other parts of the country are displacing increasing numbers of people and shifting migratory flows from cities and shelters in the country’s south, towards the more ill-prepared north.

Nouhad Chebaro is among the 35 founding members of the Women’s Peacebuilding Network in Lebanon launched by UN Women. The network seeks to amplify its members’ contributions to inclusive and sustainable peacebuilding, and strengthen their leadership and participation through learning, exchange of expertise, networking and mutual support. She speaks to UN Women about her journey and efforts through the network.

Fidaa Sahili is a humanitarian activist who has championed development, social change, active citizenship and youth empowerment in Baalbek-Hermel for more than two decades. She currently leads the Assi Association for Development and is managing a UN Women-supported project empowering women peacebuilders. Amid intensified Israeli military operations, several women involved in the project have been displaced. Those remaining have faced significant are continuing their work and maintaining communication with the displaced, despite limited resources, mobility and risks to their safety.

Tamara Elzein is the first woman Secretary-General of the National Council for Scientific Research of Lebanon. She also held the role of President of the UNESCO Science Commission at its 42nd General Conference in November 2023. As a pioneering leader, she is trying to ensure the integration of environment and gender equality in the complex humanitarian emergency unfolding across Lebanon.

In Tyre, South Lebanon, where clashes and attacks have been escalating across the Blue line and beyond since the outbreak of the conflict in Gaza, women peacebuilders are among those being displaced. Fadia Jomaa is a journalist, environmental activist and mediator engaged in a UN Women regional project. Hers is one of ten local women’s mediation networks that are working to prevent and resolve conflicts and contribute to sustainable peace through policy change and community-level action.

Amid escalating violence across Lebanon, three women mediators share their work and determination to support their communities. Violent clashes along the Blue Line have escalated, with strikes and violence spiraling across Lebanon in recent weeks, including in the heart of Beirut. Amid growing insecurity, UN Women teamed up with partners to leverage the role of local women mediators in South Lebanon in support of community-level humanitarian action.

Intensified hostilities began in October 2023 and have escalated since 23 September 2024, disrupting women’s livelihoods in Lebanon and increasing their needs for protection, shelter, food, and health and cash assistance, according to a recent Gender Alert by UN Women.

According to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, between 8 October 2023 and 1 October 2024, a total of 1,575 people have lost their lives, including 297 women. Overall, there have been 10,835 casualties, of whom 2,110 women.

As part of the ongoing collaboration between UN Women and the Lebanese Armed Forces, the first phase of a year-long series of workshops, spanning from September 2024 to September 2025, has been launched, they aim to enhance the integration of female soldiers into the various units of the Lebanese Armed Forces.

Miray Mtanious, navigated separation, societal pressure and the challenges of single-motherhood at the age of 26. Last year, Miray joined the Women’s Protection Committee in Beirut. The Committee provides awareness-raising on gender-based violence, the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse, and accountability to affected populations. Miray shares her story of personal transformation, liberating herself from societal constraints and becoming an inspiration for others facing similar struggles.

Lebanon’s female labour force participation rate stood at a mere 28.7 per cent in 2022, notably lower than the corresponding rate for men (67 per cent). UN Women partnered with the NGO Acted to provide temporary employment opportunities for 300 women in four menstrual hygiene production facilities in Beirut, Saida, Tripoli and Bekaa. Among them was Ruba Rayya, in Bekaa, whose journey was marked by both difficulties and unexpected empowerment.

Montaha Jaber, 55, has been living in the Bekaa region most of her life. Determined to gain independence and make ends meet, she took a job at UN Women and Acted’s new menstrual hygiene production facility, which was starting a new line producing quality and affordable women’s sanitary products. Trained as a manufacturer, Montaha reflects on her work and the mission of challenging social taboos around women’s reproductive health.