Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi revealed that during his recent visit to Paris, he told French President Emmanuel Macron that the international community was not encouraging Syrian refugees to return to their homeland.
“The essence of the matter is that the international community does not encourage these Syrian refugees to return, but it is rather intimidating them. This is what I personally told French President Macron and the senior officials I have met,” the patriarch said on Sunday.
He added that he raised two main points during his official visit to France in May.
“First, the separation of the political situation in Syria from the return of the displaced to their homeland and their homes. Second, the need to encourage refugees to return by focusing on the right to citizenship and the resulting civil rights, and on the duty to preserve their culture, civilization and history, rather than intimidate them,” the patriarch said.
Lebanon is hosting over a million Syrian refugees who have fled the unrest raging in their homeland. Some Lebanese officials have grown increasingly disgruntled with the refugees, who are straining the country’s already weak infrastructure.
“We, the Lebanese, have demonstrated the courage to return to unsafe places during the war we have lived through,” added Rahi.
Lebanon witnessed a civil war between 1975 and 1990.
Rahi also commented on the recent controversial naturalization decree, which has sparked a wave of angry reactions among different Lebanese political parties, some of whom even threatened to challenge it before the Higher Constitutional Council.
“While the Lebanese people were waiting for the birth of a new government that will confront challenges and meet their expectations, the authorities surprised them with a decree to naturalize a group of foreigners who are not of Lebanese origins,” the patriarch stated.
“This matter contradicts with the preamble of the Constitution, which categorically rejects any division of Lebanon or any resettlement,” he added.
