"The United Nations was informed that the Lebanese government will not accept hosting further Syrian refugees, unless their displacement is due to battles near Lebanon's border," Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbass said on Thursday.
The minister's statement was made following a meeting between the ministerial committee that deals with the refugees' affairs and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres.
UNHCR Commissioner Guterres visited Syrian refugees in the Lebanese capital on Thursday, ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20.
Guterres aimed, during his visit, to draw attention to, and appeal for support to Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
"An attitude of compassion and solidarity from the international community in relation to the Syrian refugees and to the countries hosting them is needed more than ever. And what the international community is doing is very little compared with the suffering and the needs of the people we met, namely those that we met today," he said.
There are now over 1 million Syrian refugees displaced in Lebanon, making up a quarter of the population. Lebanon also hosts the highest number of Syrian refugees in the region.
"We have only 20 percent of the Syrian children in Lebanon in formal education, in formal schools where they can get a diploma, where they can use to move ahead in their lives. So, it's very little what we are doing. We need much more support from the international community for Syrian refugees, but also much more support for a country like Lebanon, for Jordan - countries that are facing an enormous challenge," Guterres added.
At least 50,000 Syrian children work as child laborers in Lebanon, often as street vendors or on farms, to support their families. The UNHCR is expected to launch its main annual Global Trends Report on forced displacement worldwide on World Refugee Day.
LBCI/REUTERS