Lebanese authorities increase deportation of Syrian refugees

Over recent months, Lebanese authorities have increased the deportation of Syrian refugees back to Syria. It is being reported that the Lebanese Armed Forces are undertaking a systemic programme of deportation, using coercive measures intended to force the return of Syrian refugees. These actions are in clear violation of the international law of non-refoulment, which protects individuals from being returned to a country where they face torture, cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment and other irreversible harm.

Refugees started arriving in Lebanon in 2011, after the breakout of the Syrian civil war. Currently, Lebanon hosts 800,000 UNHCR-registered Syrian refugees, whose status protects them from deportation. At the height of the displacement, Lebanon hosted around 1.2 million registered refugees. The Lebanese Government has refused to house Syrians in formal camps, resulting in them being scattered around the country, with many in unsuitable informal settlements.

Forced Deportation 

Lebanon is now facing international condemnation for their treatment of refugees, specifically the forced deportation of Syrian refugees back to Syria. Since the beginning of April, the Lebanese Armed Forces have undertaken raids on Syrian refugees in neighbourhoods across Lebanon including Mount Lebanon, Jounieh, Qob Elias, and Bourj Hammoud, and then immediately deporting the majority of them. Interviews by Amnesty International have revealed that the Lebanese Army drove the deportees to the border and handed them directly to the Syrian authorities, with some being arrested or disappearing upon their return to Syria. UNHCR spokesperson Paula Barrachina has confirmed that at least 73 raids on Syrian communities took place in April. Al Jazeera reported that more than 1,100 Syrians have been arrested and 600 deported since the start of 2023.

The current actions of the Lebanese Government break the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), that Lebanon is part of. CAT makes a nation obligated not to extradite any individuals who may be in danger of facing torture in their home country, known as nonrefoulement. Lebanon has faced international condemnation before for their treatment of refugees. In May 2022, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights published a report which found that Palestinian and Syrian refugees in Lebanon face disastrous conditions, with 88% living below minimum survival conditions.

 Anti-refugee rhetoric 

Over the last four years, Lebanon has faced one of the most severe economic crises, leaving more than 80% of the population living in poverty. It has created a dire situation for refugees, with 90% of families in need of humanitarian assistance to survive, according to the UNHCR. This situation has been made worse by a nonfunctioning Government, with a deeply divided parliament who have failed to agree on a new president since October 2022.

Over this time, the Lebanese Government have adopted anti-refugee rhetoric, using the Syrian refugees as a scapegoat for their economic mismanagement. Lebanese officials have been calling for a mass return of Syrians, stating that they are a burden on the country’s resources, and are fuelling the economic meltdown. This rhetoric has been increasing rapidly, with the federation of trade unions recently declaring a “National Campaign to Liberate Lebanon from the Syrian Demographic Occupation”. In an interview, Social Affairs Minister Hector Hajjar claimed that refugees make up 40% of Lebanon’s population, which “no country in the world would accept”. Top Christian cleric in Lebanon, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai, used his Easter Sunday message to say that Syrian refugees were “draining the state’s resources, disturbing social security, and competing with the Lebanese for their livelihood”.

ACHRS stance

ACHRS condemns the actions of the Lebanese authorities in their deportation of Syrian refugees, and joins the international community in urging Lebanon to halt deportations to Syria, which are in breach of non-refoulment.