As the displacement crisis in Lebanon worsens, figures reveal the deep-rooted reasons for the continuous influx of Syrians into Lebanon. The number of displaced individuals is so dynamic that it requires daily updates due to the ongoing wave of displacement. This crisis is exacerbated by puzzling statements from the European Union, which openly accepted the influx of refugees into Lebanon under increasingly flimsy pretexts. Additionally, it is reported that the High Commissioner for Refugees has not only disregarded the Lebanese rejection of its policies regarding registered refugees but has also adopted a strategy that encouraged hundreds of thousands of unregistered displaced persons to flow into Lebanon.
According to diplomatic sources, the High Commissioner for Refugees currently pays monthly salaries to 850,000 registered displaced individuals, along with generous assistance that compels them to stay in Lebanon. What's less known is that the commissioner has dealt with new waves of unregistered displacement by providing them with $10 a day, amounting to $300 a month, and a total of $270 million monthly benefits for about 900,000 unregistered displaced individuals. This implies that many still in Syria will struggle to reach Lebanon for this aid.
In a concerning development, Luis Miguel Bueno, the official spokesperson for the European Union in the Middle East and North Africa, announced that "there will be no return for Syrian displaced persons at present, and they must be assisted in Lebanon." He stated that the EU relies on the assessments conducted by the specialized UN agencies, particularly the High Commissioner for Refugees, which according to their evaluation, conditions for the dignified and voluntary return of displaced persons to Syria are not available. He concluded by saying, "Specifically regarding Lebanon, we have supported the Lebanese government and the agencies present for hosting these displaced individuals for a long time."
On the domestic level, following a committee session entirely dedicated to the issue of the Syrian presence in Lebanon, Head of the Administration and Justice Committee, MP George Adwan, emphasized that "Lebanon is not a loose country or a lax homeland, even if its institutions and agencies are lacking." He insisted that all Lebanese, whether MPs or not, are called to stand firmly against the Syrian presence and its looming dangers to Lebanon.
At the governmental level, Minister of Interior and Municipalities in the caretaker government, Bassam Al-Mawlawi, is scheduled to hold a meeting at eleven o'clock this morning with several governors in the presence of a number of mayors to follow up on the directives issued regarding Syrian displacement.
In a related context, British Home Secretary Suella Braverman warned of an "incoming hurricane" in the immigration file, accusing the Labour opposition of seeking to "open the borders." On the third day of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, she suggested that "the winds of change that brought her parents across the world in the twentieth century are nothing compared to the impending hurricane." She added that "demand will always exceed supply," warning of the arrival of "millions" of additional migrants to British shores in an influx that is "uncontrolled and unmanageable" unless the government that takes over next year acts "decisively."
In a speech deriding the "imminent" threat posed by the Labour opposition, she emphasized the "strong borders" defended by the Conservatives and the presumed absence of borders with the Labour Party, which leads in polls for the upcoming legislative elections. She praised the 20% decline in the number of migrants arriving in the UK in small boats compared to last year, noting that the latest figures show 25,000 since January. Braverman, a staunch critic of the European Court of Human Rights, which struck down the British plan to deport irregular migrants to Rwanda, condemned "international rules that deserve to be applied in another era."
