The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, concluded a two-day visit to Lebanon today, paying tribute to the government and its people for continuing to provide refuge to the highest number of refugees per capita in the world.
In his meetings with the government, which included President Aoun, the Speaker of Parliament, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Social and Refugee Affairs and the Director General of General Security (GSO), Grandi reaffirmed UNHCR’s commitment to continue its support to Lebanon to both refugees and Lebanese communities. He will reiterate this appeal at a major aid conference for Syria in Brussels later this week.
“After eight years of this terrible war, the impact on Lebanon is very heavy and this cannot be taken for granted by the international community,” said Grandi, who arrived in Lebanon following a three-day visit to Syria. He acknowledged Lebanon’s growing fatigue at hosting over one million Syrians for so many years but expressed his hope that it would not lead to growing restrictions, which, he said could fuel social tension.
A number of Syrian refugees have already made the decision to return home. During his meetings in Damascus, Grandi called for more UNHCR access to places of return, a confidence-building measure.
Grandi told reporters Saturday that UNHCR is still having difficulty getting permission to access some of the areas refugees have returned to in Syria to see the conditions of the returnees, including in areas of the Damascus countryside. He said he had given a "very strong message" to Syrian authorities that the refugee agency should have access to all areas where returnees are living.
"I think it is very important that in areas of return organizations like mine, UNHCR, which have experience in this matter, are present and they can observe the return and have access to the returnees and help them to address some of the problems that they face," he said. "Without that presence, there is an element of confidence that is missing."
While in Syria, Grandi said he had visited Damascus, Homs and Hama, and had met some refugees who had returned from Lebanon.
"Those I saw, their conditions were pretty hard, but they're pretty hard in some of the settlements here as well," he said. "It's pretty tough, because they lived in damaged houses, there are no jobs – this job issue is very big – and so it's difficult. But those that I met and that my colleagues have met ... generally say, 'Ok we made this choice, we have decided to come back, and we prefer to have hardship here rather than in a place where we're not at home.'"
Grandi also expressed his grave concern for the civilians trapped in ISIS-held areas in Northeast Syria and also about the conditions for the over 50,000 people who have sought shelter in the Al Hol Camp since December. He expressed concern for the desperate conditions for people in Rukban and called for a solution to their plight.
