Mashnouq: Syrians 27% of Lebanon Population, Govt. Can't Cope with Influx
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq said Tuesday that Syrian refugees are “our guests and our people,” but noted that the government “does not have the assets or infrastructure to cope with these numbers.”
“Syrian refugees represent 27% of Lebanon's population, while in Jordan they number 10% of the population and in Turkey 4%,” Mashnouq said during a meeting with the representatives of several municipalities, lamenting the fact that Amman and Ankara are receiving greater international aid.
“The refugees are our people but we won't accept that they become the cause of a problem in Lebanon,” he added.
The minister called for devising a mechanism that can “identify the real refugees, the regions that can host them and the services that we can offer them.”
Mashnouq stressed that the government does not have “the ability or assets to cope with more refugees.”
“Prime Minister (Tammam) Salam and I are laying out the standards needed to make someone qualify for refugee status, and this depends on the region from which refugees come,” the minister added.
“Curbing the influx hinges on two points: specifying who is a real refugee and limiting migration from safe Syrian regions,” Mashnouq noted.
He also urged more talks with the international community in order to prevent further deterioration.
On April 3, the U.N. said more than a million people fleeing Syria's war have registered as refugees in Lebanon.
The U.N. refugee agency says that every day it registers 2,500 new refugees in Lebanon -- more than one person a minute.
According to the UNHCR, refugees from Syria, half of them children, equalled a quarter of Lebanon's resident population on April 3. The agency warned that most of them live in poverty and depend on aid for survival.
UNHCR representative in Lebanon Ninette Kelly branded the one million figure as "a devastating marker."
"The extent of the human tragedy is not just the resuscitation of numbers, but each one of these numbers represent a human life who, like us, have lives of their own, but who've lost their homes, they've lost their family members, have lost their future," she told reporters.
Kelly said Lebanon has become the country with the highest per capita concentration of refugees worldwide.
Lebanon "is literally staggering under the weight of this problem. Its social services are stressed, health, education, its very fragile infrastructure is also buckling under the pressure."
The massive refugee crisis is compounded by a spillover across the border of the violence that has ravaged Syria for the past three years, with Lebanon experiencing frequent bombings and clashes even as it grapples with political deadlock and an economic downturn.
Y.R.
M.T.
15 April 2014, 17:59
44
As Hezbollah lovers on this forum are saying, these refugees are all pro-Assad and are fleeing the takfiris and co :)
Let Hezbollah help them and assist them! I'm sure their help will be welcomed with open hands at the camps. In fact, I dare Hezbollah to go for a walk at any of these camps and "help out".
In fact, they should arm them to go fight in Syria with them instead of sending brainwashed Lebanese youth to their deaths.
Of course, the situation is in fact the opposite and Hezbollah is (At least partly) responsible for the influx of refugees in the country. Hezbollah is responsible for our open-borders with Syria long used for their drugs and weapon smuggling operations.
Whatever happens is on Hezbollah who lies to all of you about protecting Lebanon when they only protect their brainwashed shiite community. Thank god that the number of shiites opposed to Hezbollah are increasing every day !
15 April 2014, 19:13
54
Send them, along with the Palestinian refugees, to Saudi Arabia. Problem solved.
16 April 2014, 04:09
21
Now that the Qalamoun region has been liberated by the Syrian army why the 1 Million plus refugees have not returned to these regions and be refugees in their own country? Could it be they are Chechen Takfiris? According to M8 the Syrian civilians love Bashar, so if they we so surely they would have gone back
16 April 2014, 12:42
11
This is a serious crime bestowed upon Lebanon. The Lebanese government should shoulder responsibility for watching with a blind eye while these refugees poured, and continue to pour in. Alas, if its not too late, it very well may be, find a remedy and search for altneratievs to send these people back home or to another Arab Islamic state, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar- home to vibrant economies and sponsorship of the Syrian war that has left over 100k dead.
16 April 2014, 13:15
20
(1). Despite the fact that both sides of the Syrian war have gained and consolidated ground, Syrians of both sides keep flocking to our country. The questions remains why? Now that the honorable minister Mashnouq has raised the alarm, the government must now prioritize its policies and make the return of the Syrian refugees its mainstay. Syrians should now start returning back to their country, those with the regime and those against to their respective sides. Camps inside Syria are now a feasible option, so this can be started within the 12 months period ahead of us.
16 April 2014, 13:15
10
(2). In Lebanon, most Syrians move around freely, almost unhindered, to knock at your door with visiting card on hand to offer their services, as if this was their country. Almost no screening is done on them, so in fact who knows who is whom? If the Arabs, the Iranians and the West have funded different sides of tthe conflict, so now must they find ways to repatriate them and house them, but in Syria. Enough for Lebanon to bear the brunt of it all.
16 April 2014, 14:31
10
I hope you were being sarcastic... I'm just intrigued as to why you would mention jezzine to bud a refugee camp? Is it because it is a Christian village in the south?
