The Lebanese Foreign Ministry suspends residency applications for the benefit of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Affiliate – INA The Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Lebanese caretaker government, Gebran Bassil, issued instructions to the Protocol Directorate to stop residency applications submitted to the ministry on behalf of the High Commissioner for Refugees in Lebanon. Bassil took this decision based on the written report submitted to him by the mission sent by him to the Arsal region, which concluded that the High Commissioner for Refugees does not encourage the displaced to return, but rather intends to intimidate them regarding military service, the security situation, the housing and living conditions, cutting off aid for them, and their return without care. Internationalism, and other issues that prompt them not to return. This measure came after several warnings from the Ministry directed directly to the Director of the Commission in Beirut, Mireille Girard, and after she was summoned twice to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition, Minister Bassil requested a study of other progressive measures that could be adopted against UNHCR, which are many, if the UNHCR insists on adopting the same policy. Bassil warned that “enough has been done with its (the UNHCR’s) actions regarding the issue of returning the displaced to a safe and dignified return to their country.” Bassil assured the media that “there is no going back on this issue of absolute priority… There is an international will to keep the displaced in Lebanon, and we are determined to break it,” noting that the Commission “clearly challenges the policy of the Lebanese government.”