The European Union is “funding” Lebanese institutions without monitoring their compliance with fundamental rights, Human Rights Watch says.
Los syrian refugees Trying to reach Cyprus from Lebanon are being detained by EU-funded Lebanese authorities and forcibly expelled to their home country despite fleeing war and persecution, says a new report published on Wednesday by Human Rights Watch.
The Cypriot coast guard is enabling these forced expulsions by pushing refugees back to Lebanon, while the EU is pumping money into Lebanese armed forces responsible for repeated abuse against human rights, the report also says.
“Despite the talk from European donors about health obligations human rightsEuropean funding to Lebanese security agencies for border management has continued while those same agencies have carried out abusive removals and summary expulsions of Syrian refugees,” the report states.
The ONGbased in New York, compiled the findings based on photographic and video evidenceaircraft and boat tracking data, as well as the testimonies of sixteen Syrian refugees and asylum seekers who had attempted to leave Lebanon, where they faced increasingly hostile conditions.
Of the sixteen refugees, fifteen had suffered human rights abuses at the hands of the Lebanese or Cypriot authorities, including arrests, beatings, body restraints and verbal insults.
Eleven of them had been returned by force into Syria Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), including four who had been previously returned from Cyprus to Lebanon.
“Not only is this a flagrant violation of the right to request international protection – which is their right, and which was summarily denied to them by both the Cypriot and Lebanese authorities – but they were also beaten, pushed, handcuffed, arbitrarily detained and subjected to inhuman treatment,” Nadia Hardman, investigator at the Crimes Division, told Euronews. Human Rights Watch Refugee and Migrant Rights.
“All this before what is the most devastating part of the story, when they are sometimes forced to return to Syria, where we have documented (…) the way in which the returned refugees are arbitrarily detained, disappeared and sometimes murdered“he added.
Hardman claims that the actions of the Cypriot and Lebanese authorities are a clear violation of the legal principle of “non-refoulement”which prohibits a State from deporting any person to a country where they may suffer cruel or degrading treatment.
The conditions faced by Syrian refugees in Lebanon -what hosts the largest number of refugees per capita in the worldincluding 1.5 million Syrian refugees – have worsened significantly in recent years as hostility against refugees grows.
A sharp increase in the number of Syrian refugees crossing irregularly into EU Member State Cyprus was detected in April amid the growing regional instabilitywhich led the Cypriot authorities to suspend the processing of asylum applications.
The EU responded in May with a financial package of 1 billion euros for Lebanon until 2026, which includes money to equip and train Armed forces Lebanese to better manage the border.
Half of the package (500 million euros) was approved in August, of which 368 million went to help vulnerable people in Lebanon, including Syrian refugees. The remaining 132 million euros were allocated to apply a series of economic and security reformsincluding intensifying “support for the security sector and border management,” according to the Commission.
The EU “finances” institutions without “meaningful controls”
Human Rights Watch claims the bloc is funneling money to Lebanese state authorities and institutions without the necessary checks and balances to ensure that they comply with fundamental rights.
“There is no conditionality for these institutions, these agencies to comply with the fundamental principles of the human rights“Hardman told ‘Euronews’. “In fact, what we have seen with The EU-Lebanon agreement is almost a reward. “Here we have another promise to provide outrageous sums of money without any conditionality,” he said, adding that his organization is not against financing the Lebanese authorities, but that it is necessary to introduce clear conditions and control mechanisms to ensure that the EU is not complicit in these abuses.
ADVERTISINGThe NGO also questions the ability of the EU Executive to determine whether the partners it hires to provide support in border management Lebanese authorities – such as the Vienna-based International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) – comply with fundamental rights, given that They are not subject to EU human rights frameworks.
The European Commission told Human Rights Watch in a letter dated August 20 that EU-funded interventions carried out by the ICMPD are “closely followed by the European Commission, including through the EU Delegation in Beirut“.
“Before each payment [a ICMPD]the EU carries out a verification of financial and operational progress based on the narrative and financial reports submitted by the implementing partner,” the letter adds, according to Human Rights Watch.
The NGO adds that in internal documents to which it has had access, the EU Executive recognizes that “security agents “Those who benefit from EU projects may act contrary to international human rights standards.”
ADVERTISINGCyprus aspires to the Commissioner for the Mediterranean
The Human Rights Watch revelations come as the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyeninterviews candidates to be part of its next College of Commissioners in charge of directing the work of the powerful EU Executive for the next five years.
The Cypriot candidate, Costas Kadisdeclared on Monday to the Cypriot media that the new position of European Commissioner for the Mediterranean “interests” his Government.
That role would be to oversee the bloc’s migration management agreements with countries in its southern neighbourhood, including existing agreements with Egypt, Lebanon, Mauritania and Tunisia to stop the migratory flows. Some of these agreements have been harshly criticized by human rights advocates for ignoring documented violations by these countries.
In her political priorities for the next mandate, Von der Leyen promises to continue developing “strategic relationships” in matters of Migration and Security with non-EU countries, adding that a “new Pact for the Mediterranean” will aim to deepen these partnerships. Human Rights Watch questions the wisdom of assigning the portfolio to Cyprus.
ADVERTISING“Chipre is carrying out illegal expulsions. “They are bound by the EU human rights framework and standards, which are very powerful and are being ignored,” Hardman said.
“Until there is an investigation and a accountability for what are essentially flagrant violations of international law, I don’t think they should be in charge of a portfolio where they will be dealing with important issues like Migration.”
