The Lebanese government must take a “sovereign decision” and clarify, in its discussions with international parties and organizations, that the Syrians who have arrived in Lebanon since the beginning of the war in their country are “displaced people” and not “refugees.” The message was conveyed by the Lebanese Forces’ parliamentary bloc, and several other MPs, in a petition addressed to the caretaker government. The text also urged the government to work on the repatriation of the displaced Syrians whose presence it stressed “is not legally justified.”
In a press conference in Parliament, on Tuesday, MPs Ghassan Hasbani, Georges Okais and Razi el-Hage (LF) noted that under the memorandum of understanding signed in 2003 between the Lebanese State, represented by the Directorate of General Security, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN agency acknowledges that Lebanon “is not a country of asylum”, but a country of passage for asylum seekers.
Hasbani To TIB
In a statement to This is Beirut, Hasbani explained that “Lebanon is a sovereign state and has signed a memorandum of understanding with the UNHCR back in 2003, stating that Lebanon is a country of passage and not a country of asylum. Therefore, there cannot be anyone with a refugee status on Lebanese territory”.
He added that the petition signatories call on the government “not to deal with the displaced people in Lebanon as refugees, and at the same time, to work on their safe return to Syria”.
Sovereign decision
The petition, which bears the signatures of parliamentarians from the Lebanese Forces bloc, as well as MPs Michel Moawad, Fouad Makhzoumi, Adib Abdelmassih and Ghassan Skaff, refers to the resolution voted on July 12 by the European Parliament, which affirmed that “the conditions required for a voluntary and dignified return of refugees are not met”.
The MPs stressed that “the classification of the Syrian presence in Lebanon is an exclusively Lebanese sovereign decision”, recalling that the preamble of the Lebanese Constitution rejects any “resettlement” of foreign nationals in Lebanon.
According to the petition, the reasons that drove Syrians to take refuge in Lebanon are no longer valid. The signatories, therefore, call on the government to take the necessary measures to repatriate them.
Hasbani, who read the text of the petition to the press, stressed that the qualification of Syrians displaced in Lebanon as refugees “is in contradiction with the Lebanese Constitution, laws and sovereignty, as well as with the agreements concluded with the United Nations in this regard”.
For his part, Okais emphasized the socio-economic impact of Syrian displacement on Lebanon, noting that the resolution of the European Parliament was denounced by all Lebanese political parties.
He further clarified that Lebanon is not a signatory of the 1951 Convention on Refugees, and therefore, it is not bound to apply it. “Instead of just executing the wishes of international parties and organizations, the government should, on the contrary, take sovereign initiatives and decisions, which international organizations must execute,” Okais said.
El-Hage also noted that “the presence of displaced Syrians in Lebanon is poorly organized, and many are without residency cards and work permits”, pointing out that other countries in which Syrians have taken refuge, such as Turkey or Jordan, have started to repatriate them.
