Caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil sent a letter to the President of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly María Fernanda Espinosa, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, on the backdrop of the voting on the Global Compact for Refugees, adopted during the Marrakech forum held earlier this month.
In the letter, Bassil underlined Lebanon's rejection of the settlement and integration of refugees and displaced people on the Lebanese soil. "To Lebanon, the sole solution to the displacement crisis is the safe return of refugees to their homeland," Bassil added. "We consider that the settlement in third countries is a partial solution, sometimes harmful and could be appropriate for some cases," the letter continued. Moreover, he maintained that the Declaration for Refugees and Migrants must not be exploited as a tool to impose obligations on countries.
"Lebanon highlights the importance of abstaining from politicizing the refugee crisis on its soil and using it to exert pressure," he said, refusing to link the refugees' return to any other thing but "the suitable conditions" and "the sovereignty of the host country."