Eighty-four percent of Syrian refugees in Lebanon would return due to bad conditions
Beirut — North-Press Agency
Layal Karroubi
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Lebanon has conducted a survey revealed that 84% of Syrian refugees in Lebanon would like to return to their home villages and cities in Syria.
The UNHCR spokeswoman in Lebanon, Lisa Abu Khaled, said in an interview with North-Press that the survey has included all the displaced people in the refugee camps in Lebanon and in the other areas where they are distributed in, outside the camps.
Abu Khaled stressed: “Most of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon believe that their return to Syria is the best solution”.
“With the return of some refugees to Syria and others are ready to return in the medium term, their dignity and safety must be preserved in Lebanon,” she said.
The Role of UNHCR
Concerning the role played by UNHCR in the return process, Abu Khaled explains: “UNHCR staff meet people before they return to make sure they have the authenticated documents such as birth certificates and schools, the staff is also present at the departure points for organizing the movement and for public security”.
She also confirmed: “Our role is to respect the decision of the refugees, not to make a decision on their behalf”.
The Safe Return
In light of media and human rights reports on the persecution and dangers against Syrian refugees, the Syrian Network for Human Rights has reported that about 2,000 people were arrested after returning to Syria during the past two years.
A report in the Washington Post last month said: “Even those who have not been arrested have been subjected to some forms of abuse by the regime (Syrian Government), the least of which is forcing them to snitch about their relatives”.
“The access to the returning refugees is also essential in Syria, although UNHCR has access to certain areas in Syria, it’s still difficult for us to have immediate access to all areas to which the refugees return,” said Abu Khaled.
Abu Khaled pointed out that during the recent meetings of the High Commissioner Filippo Grandi in Damascus, he had called for “increasing UNHCR’s access to places of return, to provide more support for the displaced persons and the returnees”.
The reality of refuge in Lebanon
As long as the conditions for the safe and voluntary return of refugees have not met yet, Abu Khaled explains that the majority of refugees would like to return because of their poor social and economic situation in Lebanon, saying: “Three-quarters of Syrian refugees in Lebanon are below the poverty line, 51% of whom live below the extreme poverty line with less than $3 per day, and less than half of the population receives food support of $27 per person per month”.
Abu Khaled also points out that only 19% receive other cash support, $17 per month for all family members”.
Therefore: “90% of the Syrian refugees have debts of $1,000 because they cannot cover their basic needs of shelter, food, and medicine,” she added.
UNHCR spokeswoman stresses: “It’s difficult for refugees to find livelihood opportunities under the current economy, even in the three permitted sectors, and humanitarian assistance is not enough to cover the needs of even the most vulnerable people”.
The Lebanese government had announced on July 2018 that it would facilitate the return of refugees to Syria under an agreement with the Syrian government. In March 2019, the Lebanese General Security had announced that 172,046 refugees had returned to Syria since December 2017.