REPORT: UNHCR and the situation of displaced Syrians in Lebanon

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is overseeing the debate ongoing in Lebanon over the deportation and the halt to receive displaced Syrians, considering it to be a violation of the international law and the Lebanese constitution which embodies the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.      

The UNHCR does not take into account unofficial numbers of displaced Syrians; it only deals with numbers of displaced registered with its departments and those who applied for registration. In coordination with the Lebanese state which called for more seriousness in dealing with this issue, mainly in terms of statistics, this UN body is offering the displaced many services.    

In this regard, the head of the UNHCR’s Legal Unit Dominique Tohme stressed that no state has the right to close the borders to prevent displaced persons from entering or to deport them back to their country unless they become a threat to national security or if one of them committed a heinous crime.        

Tohme told LBCI that 30% of the registered displaced are residing illegally on Lebanese territory.


For the full LBCI report, watch the video above