The plan, criticized by UNHCR and the EU, who call it “soft deportation”, provides for the return of at least 15,000 people per month. The intention is to implement it “as soon as possible”. However, some analysts believe that it is no longer considered a priority. The election of the President of the Republic and the new government are essential to outline future policies.
Beirut () – Beirut has postponed the repatriation plan for Syrian refugees, which provides for the return to their country of origin of some 15,000 people per month. The decision is seen as vital for Lebanon, but has come under heavy criticism because the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the European Union and several international human rights NGOs see it as a form of “soft deportation”.
The Lebanese Minister for the Displaced, Issam Charafeddine, announced on October 18 in a public statement that “the Lebanese state has decided not to immediately implement the initial plan proposed by the ministry.” However, this same plan “will be launched as soon as possible.”
However, analysts and local political experts believe that the project has largely lost priority, pending the resolution of the problem related to constitutional deadlines in Lebanon. These provide for the election of a President of the Republic and the subsequent formation of a new government, two stages that promise to be as fundamental as they are highly problematic.
Officially the problem was raised during the sixth conference on Syrian refugees that took place in Brussels on May 9, during which donor countries had insisted on the integration of Syrian refugees into the Lebanese social fabric. After an initial reaction of shock, the Lebanese delegation understood that the international community, and in the first place the donors themselves, would not approve – for many reasons – the return of the Syrian refugees who fled the war in their country of origin.
In the first place, because this same community, which has lost its bet on the overthrow of the Syrian regime, does not want to make its failure known, giving President Bashar al-Assad a point in his favor. But also -according to an unconfirmed hypothesis that circulates insistently in some political circles- because this large number of displaced Syrians in Lebanon, mostly Sunni, constitutes an element that could counteract the power of Hezbollah and the growing number of Shiites in that country, in the context of a situation of uncertainty and conflicting tensions.
And finally, because the war in Syria, which began in the spring of 2011, is not really over yet, despite significant gains made by the regime and its allies. However, they have not yet achieved the final victory, which could convince the international community to give in on the refugee issue. Minister Charafeddine, who traveled to Damascus last August, made it clear that he had received all the guarantees and assurances from the Syrian government that its citizens can return “without fear of reprisals from the regime.” He then added that “a convoy made up of 483 families will leave at the end of this week” from Ersal (in eastern Lebanon) to return to their country. But even this return seems to be problematic: the director general of security Abbas Ibrahim, in charge of organizing the repatriations, confirmed that the Lebanese authorities are still waiting for the green light from the counterpart in Damascus before proceeding.
The repatriation plan should have been done, according to the minister, in agreement with the UNHCR and with Syria. However, neither the UN High Commissioner nor Damascus, each for their own reasons, take this solution for granted. Syria wants to use this circumstance to normalize its relations with the country of cedars, since Beirut has never officially broken ties with its neighbor since the war began in 2011. At the same time, it should be remembered that no top-level representative has officially visited Damascus since the civil war began and, those who did, were “in a personal capacity”.
The discrepancy with the United Nations body is of a different nature. Lebanon calls, first of all, for monthly aid payments to Syrian refugees to be suspended to encourage them to return to their country. This aid is a source of tensions and questions from the local population, according to which the Syrian refugees in Lebanon enjoy a higher standard of living than theirs. It is also considered that the goal of the international community is to naturalize them. But Lebanon has made it clear to the EU and the UN that it sees itself as a “transit country” and categorically rejects the European plan to integrate the hundreds of thousands of Syrians it currently hosts into its territory.
