Image source: hrw
Human Rights Watch declared on September 4, 2024, that the Lebanese Armed Forces and Cypriot authorities work together on preventing Syrian refugees from reaching Europe and then deporting them “in danger” to Syria.
The 90-page report published by Human Rights Watch has been titled as: “I Can’t Go Home, Stay Here, or Leave: Repelling and returning Syrian Refugees back from Cyprus and Lebanon”.
The report documented the reasons why Syrian refugees badly requested to leave Lebanon and try to reach Europe, and mainly focused on how many refugees were returned by Cyprus to Lebanon into Syria were expelled, with a notification that the Lebanese army intercepted them and kicked them out immediately to Syria, in combination with the return of the Cypriot Coast Guard and Cypriot security forces to Syrian refugees coming from Lebanon by boat to Cyprus, without putting in consideration their conditions as refugees, and the danger of this expulsion or the risky and unsafe situation in Syria..
According to the report, the organization interviewed 16 Syrians who attempted to leave Lebanon illegally between August 2021 and September 2023, reviewed and verified photos and videos sent directly from interviewees, reviewed the tracking data of aircraft and boat for verifying interviewees’ accounts, submitted requests for getting information of EU funding documents.
The organization documented expelling cases occurred between August 2021 and September 2023, but the Lebanese side confirmed to Human Rights Watch that it expelled Syrians returning from Cyprus in April 2024 and publicly announced new withdrawals in August 2024.
In the same context, Nadia Hardman, Refugees and Migrants rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, said Lebanon is violating the fundamental prohibition on returning refugees to face oppression by preventing Syrian refugees from their right to leave for the sake of protection and then returning them to Syria by force.
Lebanon’s General Security Directorate which controls the entrance and residence of foreigners announced that the arrest and the return of 821 Syrians on 15 boats who attempted to leave Lebanon between January 1, 2022, and August 1, 2024.
The report considered that these expulsions constitute a clear violation of Lebanon’s commitments as a party in the United Nations Convention against Torture, and under the principle of non-forced return in international law, which requires that persons not be forcibly returned to countries where they may have a risk of torture or persecution, and noted that refoulements carried out by Cyprus are collective expulsions that prohibited in the European Convention on Human Rights, and violate the prohibition of indirect or sequential refoulement..
Lebanon resumed the deportation of Syrian refugees after a racist campaign recently against Syrians amidst warnings from international organizations that Syria is still unsafe place, the latest of which were the assurances by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which is tasked to provide international protection and humanitarian assistance to refugees, which definitely did not encourage “voluntary return”, while Lebanon hosts about 1.5 million Syrian refugees -the highest number of refugees in the world, and Lebanon suffers from multiple worsening crises that led to social and economic conditions for individuals who living there, which prompted Syrian refugees to leave to Europe.
Cyprus took harsh legal measures to prevent the influx of refugees across the Mediterranean Sea, by repelling and deporting refugee boats coming from Lebanon, in addition to the authorities’ postponement of asylum applications for all Syrians in its territories.
As a reaction, Amnesty International, 7 September 2023, asked the authorities in Cyprus to protect refugees and migrants from such racist attacks, and to take an immediate action to address them.
International law prohibits the so called “constructive” refoulement, which occurs when states use indirect means to force individuals returning to a zone where they are at true risk of serious human rights violations.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the principle of non-refoulement prohibits person transfer from one authority to another when there are valid reasons that the person will face the risk of being subjected to violations of their fundamental rights.
This principle is especially recognized in case there is a potential risk of torture or mistreatment, or arbitrary deprivation of life, or an oppression based on ethnicity, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. It also includes other reasons determined by the treaties ratified by the relevant states.
Same Justice Human Rights organization states that the principle of non-refoulement of refugees is explicitly enshrined in the provisions of international humanitarian laws, and calls for protection of the rights of Syrian refugees in neighboring countries, and not to return them “forcibly” to their countries, affirming at the same time that the restrictions, tightening of security and intimidation, which push refugees to return by force to their country, can be considered as a refoulement in violation of international humanitarian laws.
