Amnesty Criticizes Lebanon's Restrictions on Syrian Refugees
Amnesty International has criticized the measures introduced by Lebanon in 2015 to curb the influx of Syrian refugees into the country, although it lauded Lebanon for hosting “over one million refugees.”
Amnesty “recognizes the immense strain on the Government of Lebanon in hosting over one million refugees from Syria and commends it for its efforts in this regard,” the human rights watchdog said in a statement.
“However, in January 2015, the government overturned its open-border policy and in May 2015, it instructed UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) to provisionally suspend all new registration of Syrian refugees,” it noted.
The London-based global organization said it “regrets Lebanon’s rejection of recommendations to ratify the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its Additional Protocol and to facilitate the registration of refugees and renewal of their residency permits.”
It pointed out that the renewal of residency permits for refugees from Syria who entered Lebanon before January 5, 2015 is difficult due to the “onerous process of obtaining documents, the annual fee of US$200 and the requirement that applicants pledge, in some cases, not to work and, in others, to find a Lebanese sponsor.”
“Those who cannot afford to renew annual residency permits become irregular in status and at risk of arrest, detention and deportation,” Amnesty lamented.
It also noted that in January 2016 Lebanon “forcibly returned around 400 Syrians to Syria, in violation of the principle of non-refoulement.”
Lebanon has struggled to deal with an influx of refugees that now represents a quarter of its four-million-strong population, and last year began making it harder for Syrian refugees to stay.
More than 270,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011.
The war has displaced over half of the country's population, including more than four million who have fled abroad, becoming refugees.
Y.R.
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