The flood of refugees from Syria has put enormous pressure on the Lebanese capital. Now the City of Copenhagen is offering to help Beirut.
Any well-functioning city would struggle to cope with an influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees over the course of just a few years.
But when the city is on the brink of chaos to begin with, barely having recovered from a devastating war, the flood of refugees only serves to complicate matters.
Given the circumstances, it is in many ways a miracle that Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, has managed to stave off a complete collapse under the burden of hosting refugees that have fled across the border from Syria in the past five years.
The city is under pressure, struggling with a shortage of electricity, mountains of trash and congested streets. As a result, the City of Copenhagen hopes to lend a helping hand and assist the famous city in navigating the difficult road ahead.
“There is a lot of talk about helping Syria’s neighbouring countries, and Beirut is facing a number of major challenges that we would try to help them overcome by offering our expertise,” said the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, Frank Jensen of the Danish Social Democrats.
What the City of Copenhagen specifically hopes to offer Beirut has not yet been determined.
But the idea is that the City of Copenhagen will send a delegation to Lebanon to examine the prospects of such an initiative. According to a preliminary memorandum drawn up by the municipality, environment, water, waste and energy are likely to be among the key areas of focus.
In addition, the City of Copenhagen has a lot of experience in creating stimulating urban and public spaces – such as playgrounds – and this might also constitute an area of cooperation.
With the exception of the Corniche, a seaside promenade that offers a stunning view of Mediterranean, Beirut suffers from a distinct lack of public spaces and parks where the various population groups – primarily Christians and the Shia and Sunni Muslims – can meet up and come together.
The government endorses initiative
“Copenhagen has significant experience in a number of areas where Beirut is struggling – such as collecting and sorting waste, water supply and other utilities. Following the population boom in Beirut due to the influx of refugees, these challenges have become severe,” said Frank Jensen.
Meanwhile, the City of Copenhagen hopes to benefit from the experience that the City of Beirut has amassed the past many years, having succeeded in making the city work well despite its complex religious set-up.
Frank Jensen has presented the project to the Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Kristian Jensen, both of whom welcome the plan.
“In my view, this is an excellent initiative from the City of Copenhagen. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to help facilitate it,” said Kristian Jensen. He sees the project as part of an anti-extremism drive.
“Islamic State must be fought using military force and civilian initiatives. Improving the environment plays an important role in a city like Beirut with its large number of Syrian refugees as it would give people hope and make them turn their back on extremism,” said Mr Jensen.
Andreas Kamm, Secretary General of the private humanitarian organization Danish Refugee Council, agrees that the initiative is promising.
“To facilitate cooperation between major cities is a great idea as they are facing many of the same problems. There are a lot of things that Copenhagen is likely to be better at managing than Lebanon is. Earlier, Denmark cooperated with Bosnian municipalities following the Yugoslav Wars. Sharing experience is a good idea,” Mr Kamm said.
According to Frank Jensen, the City of Copenhagen is currently discussing the potential for cooperation with the Embassy of Denmark in Beirut.
