Document #1029101
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
Information on the treatment of returning
students, employees or others associated with the Hariri Foundation
is not currently available to the IRBDC. The Hariri Foundation was
established by Rafiq al-Hariri, a wealthy Saudi businessman of
Lebanese extraction. It is a non-sectarian private organization. In
Lebanon the Hariri Foundation is considered a charity organization,
and one source mentions that teams from the Hariri Foundation
worked to clear the rubble at two Palestinian refugee camps in the
southern suburbs of Beirut after a three year seige by Amal. [ Hala
Jaber, "Saudi-Sponsored Relief Teams Begin Work in Palestinian
Camps", Reuters, 25 January 1988.] No details concerning
maltreatment of the Hariri workers are given in the article.
The founder of the Hariri Foundation, Rafiq
al-Hariri, is the Saudi mediator of the Arab tripartite committee
responsible for the Lebanese peace negotiations. [ "Further details
of Saudi Foreign Minister's Talks in Damascus", BBC Summary of
World Broadcasts, [Syrian Arab Republic Radio, Damascus], 21
October 1989.] He reportedly has "good ties with both Christians
and Moslems in Lebanon, as well as with Syria". [Issam Hamza, "U.S.
Envoy Discusses Lebanese Crisis with Assad", Reuters, 17
September 1988.]
Outside Lebanon, the Hariri Foundation
funds needy Lebanese students pursuing University education abroad.
The money is lent to students, who, upon return to Lebanon, are
expected to repay the loan. Christian, Shi'ite, Sunni and Druze
students are all eligible for loans, though reportedly, in
practice, more Sunni students appear to be funded. [ World
University Services of Canada, 18 April 1989.] In Canada,
approximately 300 Lebanese students have been supported through the
programme since 1986. [ Canadian Bureau for International
Education, 18 April 1989. The CBIE administers the programme in
Canada for a Hariri Foundation office in Washington, D.C.] For more
on the Hariri Foundation, please refer to the photocopied materials
from the organization's publication, Hariri Foundation: A
Profile in Achievement.