When the Minister of Finance tried to explain during that legislative session held to debate the tax law that there are treaties and agreements governing the relationship between the two countries, making it impossible to impose arbitrary taxes, that same MP said: What agreement are you talking about, now that the number of refugees has reached two million?
It was easy for the MP to say that the Syrian displacement was illegal, but there were persons who told him that his statement was inaccurate. The objecting minister refused to let that statement pass, saying: By the way, the presence of Syrian refugees does not conflict with the law.
This debate sums up the Lebanese authorities’ handling of the refugee dossier, an issue dominated by arbitrariness and triviality, adding to the exploitation of the refugee issue to political ends here and there.
Two million refugees is the easy figure tossed around by politicians. It is naturally larger than the figures put forward by the UN, down to almost half according to the UNHCR. As a result of the lack of seriousness in dealing with the issue, all the efforts made by the authorities have not led to this day to any changes in these numbers. As long as the war in Syria rages on with no end in sight, the international community is cautious about returning refugees to their country, in fear of putting them at risk again. The official authorities in Lebanon are working hard to keep permanent settlement at bay, which many countries consider to be one of the solutions to the refugee issue. The US president had announced this from the UN rostrum.
The branches of power’s lack of a unified vision of the issue of refugees is closely linked to the bitter political dispute over the Syrian crisis since its breakout. This disagreement resurfaces on every occasion and on every item, whether it has to do with the right timing for their return or the areas to which they should return, and, most importantly, what channel to use? The dispute is most severe between those seeking to return the refugees in coordination with the Syrian government, led by the President of the Republic, and those who reject any contact with that government and who prefer the United Nations to be the mediator, led by the Prime Minister, with the UN considering that "the conditions are not suitable for their return" at this time.
Disagreements within the Government are no less severe than those outside it. Obviously, there is no unified authority on the issue of refugees, nor is there political consensus about it. Each party is addressing the issue independently. As soon as a party tries to impose its views on the others, it is confronted with fierce opposition. The Ministry of Displaced Affairs had submitted a vision to the Ministerial Committee tasked with the affairs of refugees, but all parties swiftly asked for striking it off the agenda. The Foreign Ministry’s paper still faces barriers to getting to the Council of Ministers due to disagreements over it. On trips abroad, the Prime Minister’s discourse is strikingly different from that of the President of the Republic on the matter. Recently he made a personal initiative, delivering to the ambassadors of the five major countries, and the representatives of the European Union, the United Nations and the Arab League messages to the stable and low-tension regions where he expressed his rejection to linking return to a political solution, considering that there is no interest in an explosion in Lebanon as a result of the refugee crisis.
This difference confirms that there is no unified policy to deal with the refugees, particularly in terms of the part on their return to Syria. On the other hand, everyone is still committed to the 2015 ministerial agreement, which states: "the rejection of resettlement, ending the refugee movement permanently (except in humanitarian cases), the loss of the refugee status by any Syrian who returns to Syria for any reason." Contrary to what is being promoted and the fear-mongering of the consequences for the large number of unregistered Syrian births, who may become persons with the maktoum el-qayd (no official records in Lebanon), the previous government had considered that the registration of births at the embassy or with the UNHCR immediately removes the status of maktoum el-qayd for the newly born. These points were reiterated by the Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil in his paper to the Government, in which he proposed the basis for a comprehensive plan to pave the way for the safe return of refugees. In the paper, Basil proposes that the Government gradually takes steps to encourage the Syrians to return to their country and prepare for such a return in a manner consistent with international obligations.
Besides the dispute over the method of return, "political violence" towards refugees has been on the increase lately. Many link this rise to the approaching parliamentary elections. The presumptive candidates believe that focusing on the issue of refugees reinforces their electoral presence. They, therefore, do not address it officially, in a way seeking to find logical and scientific solutions to the refugee crisis, but rather as part of political one-upmanship that neither benefits refugees nor the host communities, contributing to increasing tensions between the two groups. Some politicians, who are presumptive candidates for the parliamentary elections, believe that having refugees in the crosshairs earns them points in the elections, believing that voters are now rejecting Syrian refugees who they see competing with them for livelihoods.
The return of the Syrians to their country is the most popular slogan, as well as talk of the need to besiege their movements in different towns and cities. This one-upmanship is consistent with racism refugees are facing in many areas, whether through night curfews or collective expulsions from villages. It is also consistent with manifestations of violence against them just for being Syrians. The result is more racism, which leads some refugees to not leaving their homes, fearing for themselves and their families of unprovoked violence, generalizations and prejudices, and sometimes the terrorist or criminal stigma. The statistics of the Ministry of Interior show that the level of crime among Syrians does not exceed that among the Lebanese, despite the vast difference in living standards and conditions. The solution is not necessarily instilling fear in refugees. But this is just what happened after a series of attacks against them that terrorized them. "We are living in safety because the Syrians are ‘good’," says the former Minister of Social Affairs Rashid Derbas. "If they wanted to organize themselves socially, economically or politically, they would have changed the face of Lebanon; we have to get out of the nest of vipers and see reality for what it is, without hyperbole."