BALADI NEWS
Twenty-one Lebanese municipalities have taken discriminatory restrictions against Syrian refugees taken as part of their efforts to combat the COVID-19.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned such practices, considering them as undermining the
country’s public health response, and reducing the impact efforts exerted
against the virus.
The organization accused the Lebanese municipalities of
imposing discriminatory restrictions that do not apply to Lebanese residents, reporting that the Kfarhabou municipality in northern Lebanon has imposed a curfew on Syrian
refugees between 3 p.m. and 7 a.m. local time, while the municipality of Darbaashtar, “prohibited” Syrians from leaving their homes
or receiving visitors without any exceptions.
The organization says that Discriminatory measures against
refugees are not new, indicating that in the past few years many practices
and strict restrictions were imposed on refugees such as curfews, forcing them
to clean the streets, in addition to conducting unjustified raids on their
homes.
At least 18 municipalities in the Bekaa valley have mandated
restrictions other than curfews that only target the refugee population, it
says.
On the other hand, the organization called on the
municipalities to inform the Syrian refugees that they can obtain health care
without any punishment, if they feel any symptoms similar to the symptoms of the
coronavirus regardless of their residency or any other documents; since many
Refugees have expressed to the organization their concerns over not having access
to health care, lacking information on how to protect themselves from
infection.
Since the start of the virus spread in Lebanon, the UNCHR has launched awareness campaigns in the
refugee camps, and distributed sanitizers.
Lebanon hosts more than a million Syrian
refugees; the majority of them have fled their homes following the Assad
regime’s military campaigns that targeted them.