Lebanon blamed for 'unjustifiable expulsion' of Syrian refugees

Beirut, 21 Apr 2018 [Fik/News Sources]: Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday criticised Lebanese municipalities for what it called the unjustifiable expulsion of thousands of Syrians from their homes since 2016, as sentiment against refugees simmers.

"At least 3,664 Syrian nationals have been evicted from at least 13 municipalities from the beginning of 2016 through the first quarter of 2018 and almost 42,000 Syrian refugees remained at risk of eviction in 2017," said the global rights watchdog in its report "Our Homes Are Not For Strangers." 

HRW quoting Lebanon’s social affair's ministry said the Lebanese army evicted another 7,524 people in the vicinity of the Rayak air base in the Bekaa Valley in 2017 and 15,126 more Syrians near the air base have pending eviction orders.

Almost one million Syrians are registered as refugees in Lebanon, though many expect the real number is much higher.

The Mediterranean country's population stood at just four million before neighbouring Syria's civil war broke out in 2011, sending tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing across the border in search of safety.

Several politicians have blamed a flurry of social and economic woes in Lebanon on Syrian refugees, and calls for them to return have increased in the run-up to the country's first parliamentary elections in nearly a decade on May 6.

'No legitimate justification'

"Municipalities have no legitimate justification for forcibly evicting Syrian refugees if it amounts to nationality-based or religious discrimination," said Bill Frelick, refugee rights director at HRW.

"Lebanese leaders should curb rhetoric that encourages or condones forced evictions, expulsions, and other discriminatory and harassing treatment of refugees in Lebanon," Frelick said.

The evictions have caused refugees to lose income and property, and their children to miss school or drop out altogether, according to the HRW report, which was compiled on the basis of interviews with 57 Syrians affected by the measures.

Some municipalities have claimed the evictions were based on housing regulation infractions such as tenants not registering their leases with them, the report said.