BALADI NEWS
Human Rights Watch on Friday condemned Lebanon’s order for Syrian refugees to demolish their hard shelters as tantamount to “illegitimate pressure” on them to return to their war-torn country.
Lebanon, a country of some four million people, says it hosts at least 1.5 million Syrians on its soil after they fled the eight-year war next door, many living in informal settlements in the country’s east.
Nearly a million are registered as refugees with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
To discourage any permanent settlement, Lebanese authorities gave Syrians living in the region of Arsal until July 1 to demolish shelters made of anything but timber and plastic sheeting.
“This crackdown on housing code violations should be seen for what it is, which is illegitimate pressure on Syrian refugees to leave Lebanon,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) refugee rights director Bill Frelick said.
“Many of those affected have real reasons to fear returning to Syria, including arrests, torture and ill-treatment by Syrian intelligence branches,” he said.
Lebanese politicians and part of the population have called for Syrian refugees to go home, blaming them for a string of economic woes in the country.
Source: The Globe Post.