Qazzi Warns of Naturalization over Refugee Employment Projects

Labor Minister Sejaan Qazzi said on Thursday that he boycotted a ministerial committee meeting to protest a decision by some donor countries to assist Lebanon by finding job opportunities for Syrian refugees.

“I won’t make compromises in that regard,” Qazzi, who represents the Kataeb Party in the cabinet, told An Nahar newspaper.

“We will head towards naturalization without knowing,” the minister warned after he boycotted the meeting of the ministerial committee tasked with dealing with the affairs of Syrian refugees.

There are fears that the international community would encourage the displaced Syrians to remain in the host countries, such as Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan after a proposal to create hundreds of thousands of short-term jobs to help the refugees survive in the overburdened Middle Eastern states.

The STEP program, which has been proposed by the foreign ministry, allows the short-term employment of Syrians.

The project activates the economy and finds job opportunities for the Lebanese and Syrians in the agriculture and construction sectors, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said in January.

He added that the Syrians would put part of their salaries in private accounts which they will have access to upon their return to their country.

At a conference they held in London in February, world leaders pledged more than $10 billion to help fund schools, shelter and jobs for refugees from Syria's civil war.

Their move was intended to slow the migration of the refugees to Europe.

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