Lebanon charges punitive registration fees to Palestinians fleeing Syria war
BEIRUT (IPS) - Over the past year, more than 50,000 Palestinian refugees have fled violence, chaos and destitution in Syria to seek sanctuary in Lebanon. The vast majority have found themselves living in dire poverty and trapped in chronic insecurity.
Denied assurances of legal residence, many are unsure if and how they can continue to live in the country during 2014.
“Who from the Palestinian families can pay $200 for the papers for every family member? If the average family is five people, then that is $1,000. This is impossible as we know most Palestinian refugees aren’t even sure how they are going to feed their children one day to the next,” said Mahmoud Assir Saawi, president of the Council for Palestinian Refugees Fleeing from Syria.
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The presence of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Lebanon has always been a highly divisive issue, with many Lebanese blaming Palestinians for the role they played in the nation’s civil war from 1975 to 1990. The arrival of large communities of their compatriots this past year has further exacerbated existing fears and prejudices.
It is perhaps for this reason that the arriving Palestinians have been classified as “guests,” “migrants” or “displaced people.” To afford them the more apt title of “refugee” would bring with it legal obligations, most notably under the 1951 refugee convention, which Lebanon would struggle to realize.
Fears of Palestinian, and even Syrian refugees settling in Lebanon permanently, and thus shifting the precarious sectarian balance within the country, are common and are regularly aired in the media and by politicians. As such the refugees’ status remains vulnerable and their sanctuary insecure.
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