Rachid Derbas

Rachid Derbas was born in 1941 in the village of Ain Yacoub in Akkar, Lebanon. He moved with his family to the city of Mina at the age of seven.

He completed his primary and secondary education at the National Orthodox School (Mar Elias) in Mina, graduating in 1961 with the Lebanese Baccalaureate, Philosophy section. He obtained a law degree from Cairo University in 1966 and a Lebanese law degree in 1967.

He joined the Tripoli Bar and began his legal training in the offices of former minister Omar Miskawi and lawyer Rachid Fahmi Karami. He later established his own practice and was elected President of the Tripoli Bar Association in 1998, serving until 2000.

He is a founding member of the Tripoli Poetry Forum and a member of the Cultural Council of North Lebanon and the Lebanese Writers Union.

Cultural and public life

Derbas has given numerous poetry readings in Beirut, Tripoli, Damascus and other Lebanese cities and towns, and has lectured at universities and professional associations on literary, political, legal and cultural subjects.

He writes a monthly article for An-Nahar and presents a weekly radio programme, “Naqous fi Ahad,” on Sawt Kel Lebnan.

In 2014, he was appointed Minister of Social Affairs in the government of Prime Minister Tammam Salam. In that role, he was particularly responsible for the Syrian refugee file and represented Lebanon at local, Arab and international conferences and meetings.