BEIRUT, Lebanon — For nearly four years, Syrian refugees have been fleeing their war torn country for the relative safety of Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon. These countries have been, for the most part, welcoming. In Lebanon, Syrians, if provided with paperwork at all, were given free six-month visas. Most refugees simply crossed the border, but as of Monday, January 5, Lebanon capped off the number of refugees it is willing to shelter.
Lebanon has instituted entry restrictions that have more or less closed its doors to Syrian refugees. Now, under stringent policy, Syrians who are allowed to cross the border must fall under six specific categories: tourist, business, student, transit, short stay and medical. Moreover, the people who do fit in one of these categories must also meet a set of criteria, which includes having a minimum amount of cash, and hotel reservations. These criteria are of course to ensure the validity of the six categories.
Both the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the United States have shown sympathy toward the refugees and criticized Lebanon for their seemingly callous decision.
One spokesperson for the United States State Department remarked that “We will continue to strongly encourage the governments of the region to provide for a refuge for asylm seekers.”
The UNHCR has refused to disclose its data on Syrian refugees to Lebanese officials for fear that that information will be used to further disavow refugees fleeing to the country or that are already in the country.
“We are looking at these new procedures with some interest, because those procedures don’t make mention of the agreement of the [Lebanese] government to continue to allow the most vulnerable cases to come through,” UNHCR’s regional spokesman Ron Redmond commented on the matter.
So far Lebanon has made no move to repatriate or deport the refugees that are already in the country. Although, if any refugee were to return home by his or her own volition, maybe just to visit or to help more Syrians flee, he or she will not be allowed back into Lebanon.
It follows that Lebanese officials do of course have their reasons for securing Lebanon’s borders against more refugees. More than one million refugees have been added to Lebanon’s population of four million. In other words, a substantial one in five people currently residing in Lebanon are refugees.
This figure has led Lebanon’s Interior Minister, Nohad Machnouk to exclaim that, “We have enough. There’s no capacity any more to host more displaced [refugees].”
In addition to problems of population that could have adverse effects on Lebanon’s economy, there are fears among Lebanese citizens, most of whom approve of the restrictions, that the refugees may bring war and instability with them like some kind of contagion.
The majority of the Syrians who have fled Syria are Sunnis, and in a country like Lebanon, which was established when European powers were busy reworking the map to their own liking following World War I, there is already tension between Sunni and Shia populations. That said, it is reasonable for Lebanese people to fear exacerbated strain as a result of a growing refugee population that could disrupt Lebanon’s sometimes precarious peace.
The recent influx of Syrian refugees is not the first time that Lebanon has played the role of a haven for displaced peoples. Since the creation of Israel in 1948, only five years after Lebanon gained independence, Lebanon became a haven for Palestinian refugees. It could be argued that Lebanon is historically and culturally indebted to various refugees, and hopefully the country will be able to find a way to keep housing people in need, while concomitantly maintaining their own stability.
– Jarad Sassone-McHugh
Sources: Washington Post, The Guardian, Naharnet, Spokesman Review
Photo: Flickr