1.Information on the Hariri Foundation; 2. Does association with the Foundation create additional risks to students upon return to Lebanon? [LBN0314]

1 & 2.

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.