The Refugee Crisis in Lebanon
A video released a few days ago showed a group of individuals posing as Nahr Ibrahim municipality members attacking and stabbing young Lebanese men in Beirut's Jbeil neighbourhood after mistaking them for Syrians refugees. These young men were seriously injured after the municipality decided to close any Syrian-owned businesses in the area at 9:00 p.m. The "racist" nature of these remarks, as well as the verbal and physical abuse endured by Syrian refugees in Lebanon, have drawn harsh criticism. Indeed, Lebanon hosts the largest number of refugees in the world per capita. According to the most recent estimates, there are more than six million people living in the country, which also includes over two million Syrian refugees, of whom 830,000 have registered with the UN. Since the beginning of the crisis in 2019, Lebanon's leaders have increasingly used refugees as scapegoats for the repercussions of their own economic crisis and corruption. However, Lebanon urgently requires a political solution that prioritises resolving the Syrian refugee issue. As the crisis approaches its thirteenth year, the government and civil society groups must be cautious in order to avoid the long-term human, development, and security repercussions of targeting the Syrian refugees in Lebanon (and elsewhere).
Syrians in Lebanon are facing hostile official policies as well as growing anti-refugee public sentiment. They have seen an increase in arbitrary deportations, including raids by the Lebanese army last month, which drew criticism from activists and rights groups following reports of refugees being detained and deported back to their country. The Lebanese interior ministry decreed last week that all municipalities should conduct a report to keep track of the Syrians living there and ensure their documentation before engaging in any dealings with them, including renting properties. Despite UN reports indicating that the majority of refugees are unable to provide the bare minimum of spending required to ensure survival, political forces, as well as some commentators and citizens, adopted an-anti refugee position. According to a 2015 survey conducted and published by the American University of Beirut, 251 households were discovered to be in poor and vulnerable conditions in areas that contained 87% of Syrian refugees and 67% of poor Lebanese. This figure may help to understand why some people blame immigration for the crisis's origins. These regions, according to the study, are beset by poverty, young unemployment, and a high demand for basic services, culminating in clashes between migrants and Lebanese competing for job and housing opportunities
The refugee crisis exacerbated the rhetoric between some NGOs concerned with the dire situation of the refugees and some Lebanese government officials. For instance, Amnesty International recently urged the Lebanese authorities to "stop these illegal operations, lest they be subjected to torture or persecution by the Syrian government upon their return to their country," in response to a social media campaign launched by Lebanese activists calling for the expulsion of the Syrians refugees from Lebanon. Based on statements made by the brother of one of the expelled refugees, who claimed that they were "transported directly to the border and handed over to the Syrian army," the report made reference to the expulsion of dozens of refugees who had either entered Lebanon illegally or were in possession of expired residency documents after Lebanese army raids on their homes. George Atallah, a Lebanese MP, responded to Amnesty’s calls, which he characterised as conspiratorial, by urging Amnesty '' to mind its own business’’ and not interfere in ‘’Lebanese sovereign decisions, and to contribute to restoring all the exiled Syrians to their country to live in safety and dignity there’’. Meanwhile, some municipalities in Lebanon issued restrictions on the movement and employment of foreign nationals, emphasising the need to take the necessary action against anyone who violates these rules. For instance, the municipality of Bikfaya in the Matn district of the Mount Lebanon Governorate published a set of data on its Facebook page indicating the need for shop owners to inform their foreign employees of the need to refrain from moving around between eight in the evening until six in the morning, regardless of the mode of transportation. Under penalty of deportation, it also made it illegal for any foreigner to live or work in the town without the sponsorship of a local resident.
These developments have widened the rifts between huge sectors of the Lebanese community and Syrian refugees. The politicisation of the country's refugee influx has left many Syrians with precarious legal statuses. Indeed, efforts by the Syrian government to normalise regional diplomatic relations, which were intensified following the disastrous February 6 earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, are prompting worries of large forced refugee returns. Some parties have heightened tensions, and the language of the Lebanese need to rid themselves of the weight of Syrian asylum and worries of resettlement has been converted into the language of provocation and hatred toward Syrians in Lebanon, which could lead to very disastrous possibilities. It is the obligation of the political parties, the Lebanese government, and the international organisation to work collectively to handle this situation responsibly. Indeed, massive efforts are needed to improve the economic, housing, and security situations in some areas of Syria for refugees who wish to return. For example, prior to the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, over 1.7 million people lived in camps in northern Syria, and the destruction exacerbated an already dire housing situation. Even before the earthquake, experts underlined the importance of a reconstruction and development-focused approach in this area. Another approach is also to provide long-term humanitarian and economic support to refugee-hosting countries. While stakeholders have called for development-oriented programming, especially in long-term refugee situations, aid programs are far too often dependent on short-term funding cycles carried out by international NGOs outside of host country systems. Indeed, without a new approach, the future of Syrian refugees and host communities in the Middle East looks bleak.