BEIRUT, 4 Sep (AP) \u2014 European aid sent to Lebanon in an attempt to regulate migration by sea is funding practices that violate human rights, according to a global watchdog report published Wednesday.<\/p>\n
As part of a policy to contain migration, authorities in Cyprus have physically pushed Syrian refugees back to Lebanon, and Lebanese security agencies have deported them, the Human Rights Watch report said.<\/p>\n
The report, based on interviews with 16 Syrians who tried to leave Lebanon via smuggler boats, found that 15 of them \u201csuffered human rights violations at the hands of Lebanese and\/or Cypriot authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rights groups have frequently criticized the tactics of authorities in both Lebanon and Cyprus in dealing with would-be migrants and asylum seekers. Officials from the two countries deny violating any laws but say they are overwhelmed by the migration they are facing.<\/p>\n
Lebanon, which has been in the throes of a severe financial crisis since 2019, hosts around 775,000 registered Syrian refugees and hundreds of thousands more unregistered, the world\u2019s highest refugee population per capita.<\/p>\n
Lebanese political officials have pushed for western countries to resettle the refugees or assist in returning them to Syria \u2014 voluntarily or not. At the same time, Lebanon has an agreement with Cyprus to halt the smuggling of migrants and has received substantial funding from the European Union and European countries for border control.<\/p>\n
In some cases, Syrian refugees who were caught by the Lebanese army attempting to leave to Cyprus by sea have been driven to the Lebanon-Syria border and dumped on the Syrian side, Human Rights Watch said. Allegedly, some of them were then detained by the Syrian army, while others were extorted by smugglers for passage back to Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Cyprus, meanwhile, suspended processing of Syrian asylum applications in April. Human Rights Watch accused Cypriot authorities of forcibly turning back boats carrying asylum seekers coming from Lebanon.<\/p>\n
In some cases, Cypriot authorities forcibly prevented asylum seekers from landing, and in other cases they made it to shore but \u201cwere not given the opportunity to claim asylum\u201d and instead were detained and then returned to Lebanon, where some were then deported to Syria, the report said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth Lebanese and Cypriot authorities used excessive force at the time of arrest and during detention,\u201d Human Rights Watch said.<\/p>\n
The European Union and European countries gave Lebanon some 16.7 million euros ($18.5 million) from 2020 to 2023 for border management \u201cmainly in the form of capacity-building projects explicitly aimed at enhancing Lebanon\u2019s ability to prevent irregular migration,\u201d the report said. In August, the European Union allocated another 32 million euros ($35.3 million) to \u201ccontinue implementing border management enhancement projects in Lebanon through 2025,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
Cyprus\u2019 Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection in a statement denied carrying out so-called pushbacks. It noted that Cyprus is a \u201csmall frontline country\u201d that has \u201creceived massive migrant flows over the last few years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe state\u2019s capacity to host additional migrants is overstretched,\u201d the statement said. \u201cTherefore, we aim to strike a balance between our legal obligations and the realities on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lebanon\u2019s General Security agency told Human Rights Watch that between Jan. 1, 2022, and Aug. 1, 2024, it recorded 1,388 people, including 821 Syrians, on 15 departing boats, who were caught attempting to leave Lebanon. General Security maintained that every deportation of which it \u201chad knowledge and on which it coordinated, was subject to international human rights law standards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Acting Director-General Beate Gminder of the European Commission\u2019s Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs said in a response to the report\u2019s findings that the commission \u201ctakes allegations of wrongdoings very seriously,\u201d but that it is the responsibility of national authorities to \u201cinvestigate any allegations of violations of fundamental rights\u201d and to prosecute wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
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