The Human Rights Council (HRC) at the United Nations recently released a report that detailed the findings of Mr. Olivier De Schutter, the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, during his visit to Lebanon between November 1 and November 12 2021. The visit’s purpose centered upon assessing the consistency between the government’s anti-poverty policies and its human rights obligations as well as on extending recommendations to the government. During the course of his visit, Mr. Olivier Schutter met with people living in poverty across several Lebanese regions, as well people affected by the Beirut Port blast. Mr. Olivier’s report pointed out that Lebanon, once a country enjoying elevated human development and life expectancy levels, has quickly declined into one suffering from the most severe economic and financial crises in  history. In figures, 80% of the country’s population has been pushed into poverty since the year 2019, with the local currency shedding 95% of its value, prices hiking by over 200% and diesel prices soaring by more than 2,000% over the course of just one year, impeding work and school attendance. Always in the same vein, the report revealed that 9 in 10 surveyed people in Lebanon expressed that their income is not sufficient, while 6 in 10 surveyed people have commented that they are willing to leave the country in the event they could. The report indicated that the government did little to alleviate the ramifications of such a tragedy, especially in the light of the political squabbles. The report considered that the financial crisis that ravaged Lebanon was “entirely avoidable”, as it emanated from decades of failed social investments, a tax system that favors evasion and benefits the wealthy resulting in a dramatic income & wealth concentration, meager public services and a failed electricity sector that is dominated by vested interests. The report added that the “man-made catastrophe” was amplified by a triad of crises namely the Beirut port explosion, the COVID-19 pandemic and the presence of refugees. As per the report, the Beirut Port explosion resulted in 120 deaths, hundreds of thousands of homeless people, 163 non-functional schools and 56% of private businesses being negatively impacted. In parallel, the country was struck by the COVID-19 pandemic which exposed the flaws of years of underinvestment in the public health system while the country is concurrently suffering to cope with the presence of over 1 million refugees on its territories. Mr. Olivier’s report also pinpointed several groups that were particularly affected by the crisis namely women, children, refugees (Syrian and Palestinian), migrant workers and people with disabilities. In details, the report pointed out that women are still deprived from passing on the Lebanese nationality to their foreign spouses/children and that their participation in the labor force is one of the lowest in the world standing at 29.3%. As far as children are concerned, the report noted that over 80% of children (~1.8 million) suffer from a multidimensional poverty (doubling the year 2019 reading), with 77% of households lacking money to buy food and 60% purchasing food on credit. In addition, some 400,000 children missed school in the year 2020, with another 42,000 children not returning to school in 2020-2021. As far as refugees (Syrian and Palestinian) are concerned, the report considered that they are being deprived of many basic rights and being more vulnerable to the financial crisis plaguing Lebanon. Similarly, the report unveiled that more than 200,000 migrant domestic workers are still working under the Kafala system and accordingly are excluded from Lebanon’s labor law protections, being forced to work for long hours at a reduced pay, deprived of rest and subjected to verbal, physical and sexual abuse. Finally, the report considered that people with disabilities are facing real difficulties in adapting to the situation as households with a member having disabilities spend on average 16.5% more to attain the same standard of living as other households. In the same vein the report commented that people with disabilities are being excluded from the labor market with 71%-80% reporting that they have never been employed before.