In 2023, Syrian refugees in Lebanon faced numerous significant challenges and hardships. Throughout the year, Access Center for Human Rights (ACHR) worked to develop a deeper understanding of the humanitarian and security crisis confronting Syrian refugees, emphasizing the need for policies and procedures that improve their situation and uphold their rights and dignity, without compromising the principles of human rights protection and international humanitarian law.
During 2023, ACHR documented numerous human rights violations faced by Syrian refugees in Lebanon and analyzed the challenges in this context. ACHR monitored the impact of inflammatory political rhetoric and observed the Lebanese government’s deliberate avoidance of clear policies to handle the refugee crisis, which supported direct and indirect practices to pressure refugees to return to their home country. These practices fostered hate speech against refugees and pushed them towards irregular migration across the Mediterranean, risking their lives in search of a better environment and dignified life.
ACHR also monitored the Lebanese authorities’ tightening of security measures, the increase in security raids, arbitrary arrests, and forced deportations of Syrian refugees. These policies led to a rise in physical assaults, forced evictions from rented homes and camps, and a notable increase in kidnapping crimes for financial extortion and human trafficking against refugees. Additionally, ACHR highlighted the difficulties refugees faced in accessing the internet and information, affecting their personal and legal rights and decisions, and resulting in the loss of contact with the outside world, especially after security forces raided camps and confiscated electronic devices.
Based on the data, documentation, and reports that ACHR worked on during 2023 concerning the human rights situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, it aimed to enhance advocacy efforts and defend refugee issues through its active participation in various events, conferences, and meetings with relevant organizations, stakeholders, and decision-makers at local and international levels to advocate for and raise awareness about Syrian refugees’ issues and highlight the violations they face amid media blackout. ACHR also sought to keep the public informed about the latest developments and events related to Syrian refugees through regular posts on its social media platforms and website.
To read the full annual impact report: