BEIRUT: A European aid group sent to Lebanon to regulate migration by sea is financing practices that violate human rights, said a global watchdog report published on Wednesday.
The Human Rights Watch report said as part of a policy to contain migration, authorities in Cyprus have physically pushed Syrian refugees back to Lebanon, and Lebanese security agencies have deported them.
The report, based on interviews with 16 Syrians who tried to exit Lebanon through smuggler boats, found that 15 of them faced human rights violations by Lebanese or Cypriot authorities.
Rights groups have frequently condemned the tactics of authorities in Lebanon and Cyprus in dealing with asylum seekers and migrants. Officials from the two states deny violating any laws.
Lebanon, which has been facing an acute financial crisis since 2019, hosts around 775,000 registered Syrian refugees and hundreds of thousands more unregistered, the world’s highest refugee population.
Lebanese officials have urged Western countries to resettle the refugees or assist in returning them to Syria. Lebanon has also signed an agreement with Cyprus to stop the smuggling of migrants and has received substantial funding from the European Union and European countries for border control.
Human Rights Watch said in some cases, Syrian refugees who were captured by the Lebanese army while attempting to leave Cyprus by sea have been driven to the Lebanon-Syria border and dumped on the Syrian side. Allegedly, some of them were later detained by the Syrian army.
In another development Cyprus, has suspended processing of Syrian asylum applications in April. Human Rights Watch accused Cypriot authorities of forcibly turning back boats coming from Lebanon carrying asylum seekers.
In some cases, Cypriot authorities used force to prevent asylum seekers from landing, and in other cases, they were allowed to shore but were not given the opportunity to claim asylum.
“Both Lebanese and Cypriot authorities used excessive force at the time of arrest and during detention,” Human Rights Watch said.
The European Union and European countries gave Lebanon $18.5 million from 2020 to 2023 for border management and to enhance Lebanon’s ability to prevent irregular migration,
Acting Director-General Beate Gminder of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs reacting over the report said that the commission takes these accusations very seriously.
