BEIRUT —
Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday said Lebanon was ready to expel Syrian
refugees living in the country if the international community does not work to
repatriate them.
اضافة اعلان
Lebanon, grappling
with its worst ever economic crisis, has the world’s highest proportion of
refugees in its population, with the government estimating that Syrians account
for almost a quarter of its more than 6 million residents.
“Eleven years
after the start of the
Syrian crisis, Lebanon no longer has the capacity to
bear this burden, especially under the current circumstances,” Mikati said.
“I call on the
international community to work with Lebanon to secure the return of
Syrian refugees to their country, or else Lebanon will ... work to get Syrians out
through legal means and the firm application of Lebanese law.”
Mikati’s remarks
were made during a ceremony launching the 2022–2023 Lebanon Crisis Response
Plan, which is backed by the UN.
The UN
humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon, Najat Rochdi, was in attendance.
Mikati’s statement
follows similar remarks made in May by social affairs minister Hector Hajjar,
who said that Lebanon could no longer afford to host such a large refugee
population.
On Monday, Lebanon
appealed for $3.2 billion to address the ongoing impact of the Syria crisis,
according to a UN statement. Some $9 billion have been provided in assistance
through the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan since 2015, the UN says.
But a dire
economic crisis that has plunged many Lebanese into poverty is exacerbating
public resentment over the continued presence of Syrian refugees in the
country.
Some political
figures and pundits have recently posited that, thanks to cash handouts by aid
agencies, Syrian refugees have been receiving more assistance than the poorest
Lebanese.
Nine out of 10
Syrians in Lebanon are living in poverty, while poverty levels for Lebanese
have also risen to cover more than 80 percent of the population.
Rights groups,
including
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have warned against
forced repatriation to Syria, where they have documented cases of detainment,
torture and disappearance committed by the Syrian authorities against
returnees.
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