Lebanon, risky repatriations of Syrian refugees: to alleviate migratory pressure, the Beirut government has increased deportation practices

BEIRUT – “We have less than a month to save Jumaa”. Jumaa Mohammad Lahib is a Syrian theologian and researcher who risks being deported from Lebanon to Syria on April 5th. He launched the appeal – also through a petition on Change.org – is Estella Carpi, teacher of Humanitarian studies at University College London, who is acting as spokesperson in Europe for his friend’s situation. “I have known Lahib since 2012, when he had to take refuge in Lebanon. We are evaluating the steps to take together”, he says, tracing the lines of a now common story: with the outbreak of the war in 2011 – which will enter its 14th year on 15 March – hundreds of thousands of Syrians fled to the neighboring country, which today it hosts a million and a half.

You risk arrest or forced conscription. Among these, families fleeing violence and hunger but also political opponents such as Lahib, who according to Carpi “in Syria today would be persecuted twice: for having opposed both the regime of President Al-Asad and the armed groups of extremist orientation, with which it did not want to come to terms with”. Lebanon, in order to alleviate migratory pressure, has increased deportation practices towards Syria in recent years, thus also meeting Damascus’ request to repatriate the refugees. However, those who return, as reported by various associations including Operation Dove from the Pope John XXIIIrisks arrest or forced conscription.

Not very transparent “voluntary” repatriations. There are no official estimates, but according to human rights organizations the Syrian and Lebanese authorities are not transparent when they present the repatriations as “voluntary”. “Often these are people who have no other choice” warns the teacher, who adds: “However, Lahib, who has a wife and five children, knows that in addition to arrest and other forms of persecution, upon his return he could even be killed”. His career as an intellectual and his role as a researcher for the Syrian Future Movement, an association created by Syrians abroad to relaunch the democratic ambitions of the 2011 revolution, is a factor of alarm, especially for the regime. Carpi explains: “Often the deportations concern intellectuals and opponents and Lebanon does not oppose it.”

But there is a solution “Lahib and his family are registered with theUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Unhcr), who according to international humanitarian law has the duty to activate legal protection for cases like his, asking the local government to suspend the ordinance. The authorities notified it on March 6 and it must be observed within 30 days. We don’t have much left.” Recently, this theologian and activist also applied to come to Italy via the Humanitarian Corridors, a protocol carried out by the Italian government in collaboration with civil society bodies.

A practice inexplicably blocked. Carpi recalls: “She had passed all the interviews and seemed done, then inexplicably the process was blocked.” The outbreak of new conflicts such as the one in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip are causing slowdowns in the corridors, and not only in Italy: “I know a family who has been waiting for 15 months to move to France”, says the teacher. As for Lebanon, “it is in disastrous economic conditions. UNHCR takes this into account by avoiding ‘making a loud statement’. On the other hand, it is essential to guarantee facilitated transfer channels for Syrian refugees, who also suffer racist laws and limitations in Lebanon.” An exasperation made clear “by the increase in risky migrant boats from the Lebanese coasts”, she concludes.