About 13 years have passed since the Syrian refugees in Lebanon’s camps were deprived of the most important axioms and human rights, which are walls that shelter them instead of a piece of cloth, after the war in their country forced them to live in a place that lacks the minimum necessities of life.

After all these years, Zahraa’s despair reached the point of abandoning her dream of living in a house one day, and her utmost wish became a wall to lean on while she sat, and she says, “My spine has bent because the tent cannot bear me leaning on it.”

There are many details that do not occur to anyone, and the residents of the camps are deprived of them, including, according to what Zahraa told the “Al-Hurra” website, “hanging their clothes in a closet instead of throwing them on the ground and having them invaded by mice and insects, a small wall to spread the rug after cleaning it, and a private toilet and warm water for bathing.” .

When the refugee in the Gaza camp in the Lebanese Bekaa fled her homeland, she expected that her return would not take long, but the reality was different. She says, “What we faced in this country we did not face in Syria when the missiles were raining over our heads, because we knew that if death chose us, it would do that.” All at once, but since we arrived in Lebanon, we have tasted death every day: poverty, hunger, cold, and terror.”

It is enough, according to Zahraa, “our fear of military and security raids from time to time, and the blocking of the Wi-Fi networks that connected us to the world, as well as the solar panels that we used to break the darkness and terror of the place, and here we are spending the night by the light of a lighter because we fear that the candles will cause an eruption.” A fire with undesirable consequences.”

Last April, the Lebanese Army began a security campaign against refugee homes throughout Lebanese territory, where its members raided them and arrested a number of Syrians, in implementation of the decision of the Supreme Defense Council issued on September 24, 2019, regarding the deportation of those who enter Lebanon through illegal and illegal border crossings. Holders of official and legal documents.

Human Rights Watch stated in a report issued in June that the Lebanese army summarily deported thousands of Syrians – including children accompanied by their families – to Syria between April and May 2023.

The Lebanese authorities escalated their battle against the refugees, in various local and foreign arenas and forums, trying with all their might to put pressure on their return to Syria, despite international warnings about the dangers of returning to their country.

Even a blessing…a curse

A new winter is welcomed by refugees outside their homeland and homes, as this season has become for them a curse and not a blessing. Zahraa says, “The nylon shawls that we arm ourselves with to confront it are too weak to protect us from its deluge, and when the rain hits the tent we feel like pebbles are falling on our heads, just as we feel that thunder and lightning are coming.” Like lightning that might strike us at any moment, as for the snow, or the white visitor as it is described, it takes off its sandals on the doorsteps of the camp, scattering it all around it.”

The refugees do not find a means of heating other than blankets or burning “plastic and wooden materials and whatever old shoes and clothes are available” in a failed attempt to overcome the extreme cold, as they lack heating materials, especially with the rise in diesel prices since the Lebanese government lifted support for this material, as well as the rise Firewood prices and power outages.”

Zahraa says, “Diseases have penetrated our bodies. All members of my family suffer from malnutrition because we are unable to secure our daily food. In addition to that, I have heart disease and high blood pressure, while my eldest daughter needs a liver transplant, which costs astronomically, in addition to the fact that it is not available in the country.” “Lebanon, as I saw it. I don’t even have the price for its medicine. I see it dying before my eyes without being able to save it.”

As for Zahraa’s youngest daughter, who is 14 years old, about two months ago she was sexually assaulted by a group of young men while on her way to the educational institute. She is now in a very difficult psychological situation, as she sits all the time in one of the corners of the tent, placing her head between her feet and standing up. By biting her nails, her mother did not dare to tell her father and siblings about what had happened to her and changed her condition, “for fear that they would slaughter her in the name of honor. As for my middle daughter, she threatened to commit suicide if her father insisted on marrying her.”

All the mother of seven children is thinking about now is securing $400 to pay the landowner’s annual rent for the tent so that he does not evict her and her family. She says, “My husband and four children are unemployed because they fear they will be arrested and deported if they move outside the camp because they do not have legal papers.”

She stressed, “The Lebanese authorities are trying by all means to return us to Syria, as if we are happy with this situation, but between the option of detaining our children in the regime’s prisons and forcing them into reserve service in the army and the option of enduring all forms of suffering in Lebanon, we will definitely prefer the second option.”

It is noteworthy that the Acting Director General of Public Security, Major General Elias Al-Bisari, revealed last October during a lecture he gave on “The Problems of Syrian Displacement in Lebanon” at the “Lawyer’s House” that “the number of registered displaced persons reached one million and 147 thousand until 2014, and the number has decreased today to 790 thousand displaced persons.” “Registered after the number decreased for several reasons, including voluntary and automatic returns and resettlement in a third country,” based on official statistics issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, according to what was reported by “General Security” magazine.

The refugees are distributed in the governorates, as Al-Bisari pointed out, according to UNHCR statistics, as follows: “22% live in unofficial camps, 58% reside in unsuitable and overcrowded residential buildings, and 20% in different places,” stressing the necessity of gathering small, scattered camps in order to ensure services and preserve them. On security, the environment, and controlling their movement.

The Lebanese government had previously developed a plan to return 15,000 refugees per month, and began implementing it in 2022 despite warnings from international human rights organizations against forced returns, and after two convoys left for Syria, the plan was halted and replaced by individual deportations away from the media cameras, while continuing the racist campaign and tightening the screws. On the Syrians.

Absolute deprivation

Despite all the difficult conditions that Abu Adel and his family are experiencing in the Arsal camp, he does not think about returning to his homeland, for fear of being arrested. He says, “I never expected that my fate and my family would be to live in a dilapidated tent that we fasten with stones to resist the strong winds. My children are shivering from the cold, and I am unable to provide heating for them. All of this is because the rent for a small house exceeds one hundred and fifty dollars, which is a large amount for a person who is unemployed most days of the month.”

“Abu Adel” adds in an interview with “Al-Hurra” website that his children are deprived of the simplest things, “from a comfortable bed and mattress, warmth, toys, delicious food, and new clothes, and on top of that, the international aid that used to support us a little to pay the rent of the tent or buy a gas bottle or canister was cut off from us.” Milk, in short, we live in a psychological and economic war that has destroyed our dreams and thinking about our future.”

If he had the money, he would have detained “Abu Adel,” as he secured seats for himself and his family on a migration boat. “Even if the sea swallowed us, he would still be more merciful than this situation.”

“Death boats” have become the only hope for survival in light of a severe economic crisis that Lebanon has been going through since 2019. The World Bank has classified it among the worst in the world since 1850, as the lira lost its value after the exchange rate of one dollar crossed the threshold of 100,000 liras before it fell slightly to About 89 thousand liras.”

According to a previous report by Human Rights Watch, the Lebanese authorities pursued “an aggressive return agenda, by issuing decrees and regulations aimed at making the lives of Syrian refugees difficult and pressuring them to leave, forcing them to dismantle their concrete homes, imposing a curfew, expelling them from some municipalities, and obstructing the renewal of permits.” residency, and deported thousands of them summarily.”

90 percent of Syrian refugees live in extreme poverty, and depend on borrowing and increasing debts to survive, according to what the organization indicated, at a time when the Lebanese authorities view their file as a burden, considering that their presence has contributed to accelerating and exacerbating the economic crisis, knowing that since In 2015, UNHCR stopped registering Syrians and building permanent camps for them at the request of the Lebanese government.

Dangerous repercussions…and a blocked horizon

The most prominent thing that camp residents feel, according to the director of the “Key to Life” Association, the psychological and social specialist, Lana Kaskas, “is the absence of protection, especially for the groups most at risk, i.e. male and female children and women. The shortage of health, food and social services and the inability to access To her, from this danger and exposes them more to exploitation.”

For example, as Qasqas tells Al-Hurra website, “Children may be exposed to harassment and sexual assault while on their way to the toilet, which is a distance from their place of residence. Mothers who are unable to provide food for their children may also be exploited,” and she adds, “A large number of camp children do not have the right to access Education, which means that a generation grows up without culture and the acquisition of skills and abilities.”

The practice of racism and discrimination against camp residents by their surroundings, according to Qasqas, is reflected in “their sense of self-worth, self-confidence, and planning for their future, as it generates negative and aggressive feelings in them, and opens the way for feelings of violation and vulnerability to replace feelings of safety, and as a result of the psychological pressures they are experiencing, we find that these “More vulnerable to anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Yesterday, Wednesday, the Lebanese Foreign and Expatriate Affairs Committee referred a proposed law related to “Syrian displacement” to the joint committees to merge it with the four similar or similar laws in the Administration and Justice Committee, so that the Lebanese government would have, as the committee indicated, “a clear law aimed at regulating their residence and deporting violators.” “From them, and a paper through which you can deal with those concerned in this file in an effective legal and constitutional manner.”

During his meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell last Saturday, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati stressed the necessity of resolving this issue by “supporting the displaced in their country to encourage them to return.”

The Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Abdullah Bou Habib, also stressed during the meeting with Borrell that “the pressure that Lebanon is bearing from the displacement crisis has exceeded all imaginable limits.” Given Lebanon’s capacity, the cumulative effects of many crises, and its scarce resources, this crisis will touch the core of the country if it is not resolved.”

On Friday, Al-Bisari revealed that he had noticed a positive change in the positions of European countries regarding the refugee issue, noting in an interview with Public Security magazine that he had received their data, which “a specialized work team is working on.” He also indicated that he was working “to process the births of displaced people so that they do not become undocumented.” “.

Thirteen years have passed since “the displacement of millions of Syrians outside their country and similar numbers inside it,” says the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, and so far the data do not suggest, as he confirms to the “Al-Hurra” website, “a solution to this problem, at least in the foreseeable future, due to the tense situation.” In the Middle East, especially since the Syrian file has become forgotten, even though some countries want to bring it back to the forefront again.”

Abdel Rahman stresses, “This issue is the most difficult, whether it relates to refugees from Lebanon, Jordan, or Turkey, and even in some Arab countries, where they have begun to talk about the refugee crisis there and the necessity of their returning to their homeland at a time when this country cannot tolerate its people residing there as a result of the significant deterioration of economic conditions and the perpetuation of division.” Syria is between several regions, and therefore I see that the refugee tragedy continues, and what I fear is that their fate will be like the fate of the Palestinian refugees.”

Source: Al Hurra