Beirut – The Minister of the Displaced in the caretaker government in Lebanon, Issam Sharaf El-Din, said that the UNHCR gave them an initial response by rejecting the plan to return the displaced to Syria, while the Lebanese government threatens to expel the Syrians from Lebanon if the international community does not cooperate to return them to their country.
Sharaf El-Din added, “Therefore, we have a bilateral agreement between Lebanon and Syria. If it culminates with the commission, there will be gains as we engage in dialogue.”
He pointed out, “We agreed to form a Lebanese-Syrian committee to coordinate the relationship and indicate the type of refugee if he is a displaced person or a political refugee, and we asked the UNHCR to pay financial and in-kind assistance on Syrian territory, and this matter was rejected by the representative of the UNHCR office in Lebanon, Iaki Ito.”
He stressed that if the commission does not pay in Syrian territory, it encourages the displaced to stay in Lebanon, noting that the issue of the tripartite committee between Lebanon, Syria and the commission was discussed, but the commission did not respond.
He explained that “the Commission considers that the decision is temporary until security is established in Syria,” adding, “As Lebanon and Syria, we see that security is stable and there is no need for the displaced Syrians to remain in Lebanon.”
The Minister of the Displaced stated that he made it clear to the UNHCR that there is a displaced person and a political refugee who fled to take shelter in Lebanon, and this political refugee has rights, and the UNHCR must help us because Lebanon does not absorb this number and they must travel to a third country.
He continued, “There are 9,000 immigration requests, 5,000 political refugees have traveled, and 4,000 are on the way, but 9,000 over the number in Lebanon is very small.”
Sharaf El-Din stressed that “the Syrian worker in Lebanon must submit a visa to work in Lebanon, and whoever lives in the camps has a different situation.” In the same context, he indicated that the Syrian state pledged to provide shelters with all their requirements.
Lebanon has put forward a plan to secure a temporary return of the Syrians to their country on a monthly basis, with the UNHCR suspending aid for the 15,000 displaced people who must return every month and receive it in their country.
The Lebanese caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, had threatened last June to expel the Syrian refugees from his country by legal means if the international community did not cooperate with Lebanon to return them to Syria.
