Lebanese government stands firm on obtaining data on Syrian refugees

Lebanon is home to almost 800,000 Syrian refugees who have entered the country since 2015. Among them are over 500,000 individuals who continue to enter Lebanon illegally on a daily basis, identifying themselves as displaced persons fleeing the war in Syria.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has added 800,000 registered Syrian refugees to the list of displaced persons since the beginning of the war in Syria. This decision contradicts the Lebanese government's October 23, 2014, decision to stop registering Syrians in Lebanon without the approval of Lebanese authorities and according to the standards they set.

However, the UNHCR demanded the Lebanese government hand over a list of 1.66 million Syrian refugees within a two-day deadline, which the agency did not meet. Instead, the agency handed the data to General Security, the authorized entity to receive, protect, study, and safeguard the information.

The UNHCR demanded that, in return for handing over the data, the 800,000 refugees registered after 2015 be added to the list of 860,000 displaced persons registered before that period and be granted residency in Lebanon and access to services received by registered displaced individuals.

The UNHCR did not settle for these conditions.

The General Security responded to the conditions. According to LBCI's sources, the Acting Director-General of General Security, Brigadier General Elias El Baissari, sent a letter to the UNHCR, giving the agency until Monday to comply with its promises.

Furthermore, caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, followed the issue and sent a representative to question the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Imran Riza, about the UNHCR's conditions, especially since the Lebanese government is not backing down from its decision.

Thus, the Lebanese authorities want complete, uncompromised, and unconditional data, and this is not the first time that the UNHCR has withheld data from the Lebanese state.

Years ago, Lebanon submitted a paper of 15 points to the UN about displaced persons and their numbers, but it was not responded to.

Nevertheless, after this file has gained Lebanese consensus about the need to address it, the government has not backed down from its decision and will not withdraw from obtaining the data of the displaced.