nited Kingdom Special Representative for Syria Jonathan Hargreaves met Thursday with caretaker Minister of the Displaced Issam Charafeddine and caretaker Foreign Affairs Minister Abdallah Bou Habib. (Courtesy of @UKSyriaRep)
BEIRUT — The United Kingdom Special Representative for Syria Jonathan Hargreaves met Thursday with caretaker Minister of the Displaced Issam Charafeddine and caretaker Foreign Affairs Minister Abdallah Bou Habib to discuss the repatriation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
Here’s what you know:
• Charafeddine explained to Hargreaves the repatriation plan’s stages developed by the Lebanese authorities, after consulting Syrian officials, whereby refugees are relocated to “safe” areas and accommodation centers in Syria.
• Charafeddine had announced that Lebanese officials are working on a plan, to be finalized “within months,” to repatriate 15,000 Syrian refugees to Syria every month.
• Hargreaves said in a tweet following the meeting Thursday that the UK “recognizes the generosity of Lebanon and its people for hosting Syrian refugees,” pointing out that, however, “Syria is not yet ready for dignified, voluntary and safe refugee return, as set out by [UN refugee agency (UNHCR)].”
• UNHCR said earlier this month that it was not part of any negotiations or plans for the mass return of refugees from Lebanon to Syria.
• Rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch declared that Syria is “unsafe for return,” detailing the abuses Syrians risk upon returning to their country in 2021 reports. The reports have corroborated that while there has been a decline in military conflict, “arbitrary arrests, detention, torture and ill-treatment, involuntary or enforced disappearances, rape, and death” are still common in Syria.