Social Justice & Basic Services

First - The status quo:

1. Social justice is not a priority for Lebanon’s political system and is consistently taking a downturn.
2. The people’s poverty and their financial needs make them depend on electoral votes and fall under the clientele system.
3. Given the growing need for money, citizens are forced to become over-indebted, to sell their land and properties, and to degrade their dignity.
4. Most of the social services and assistance fail to reach the targeted people who have the right to receive them.
5. General policies do not aim, clearly and fundamentally, at fighting against poverty and the expansion of misery pockets in the cities.
6. Concerted action and solidarity among the Lebanese are a strong basis for a better future.

Second - The principles:

1. Human dignity and the decent living shall be a top priority.
2. Medical care, education, and retirement insurance are natural rights that the state must provide for all citizens within its capabilities that are huge if it wasn’t for the significant systematic waste, corruption, and mismanagement of its resources. In this regard, the Lebanese National Bloc Party contributed to the adoption of several laws, chief among which is the 1963 Social Security Act.
3. Securing decent housing and job opportunities lie at the core of social justice.

Third - The vision:

1. A general policy and laws aimed at radically reforming all public social security funds must be adopted in order to ensure comprehensive medical care and old-age insurance, but the way these funds are financed should be adjusted.
2. The state should adopt a housing policy to encourage the establishment of residential areas for low-income people. Such places shall be decent in terms of their location and the quality of construction, and "ghettos" must be avoided.
3. A law aimed setting up an unemployment fund should be passed, the National Employment Office must be modernized, and institutes offering continuous vocational training should be established, as per the labor market requirements, with the aim of reducing long-term unemployment.
4. Cash assistance for the poorest must be adopted, but it shall only be granted if the children are receiving an education and if the parents are provided with vocational training so that they can secure their costs of living in the future.

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