WORLD WORLDWIDE Human Rights Watch News Journal Update - THE WEEK IN RIGHTS

 

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July 7, 2023

Syrian children gather between tents at a refugee camp in Saadnayel in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, June 13, 2023. © 2023 Anwar Amro/AFP via Getty Images Lebanon Arrests, Deports Thousands of Syrians Thousands of Syrians who had been living in Lebanon, including unaccompanied children, are being thrust back into nightmarish conditions as the Lebanese Armed Forces arbitrarily round people up and deport them to Syria. Since April, armed forces have conducted over 100 raids, 2,200 arrests, and 1,800 deportations of Syrian refugees. Human Rights Watch spoke to nearly a dozen Syrians who were deported to Syria and who described the abuse they endured there. Horror after Deportation One man said that Syrian Military Intelligence arrested him and 12 other people following their deportation. He said that Syrian officers tortured them severely in detainment, including through electric shocks, beatings with a water pipe, and being hung from the ceiling by their hands. Others deported by Lebanon ended up in the hands of smugglers who extorted family members for their return. Some people simply disappeared after returning to Syria. Hardship in Lebanon More than 1.5 million Syrians are living in Lebanon, which is hosting by far the largest number of refugees per capita in the world, despite the country’s grueling economic crisis. Most Syrians fled after the Syrian conflict broke out 2011, and during the ensuing years when Syrian government forces and other armed groups oversaw the military bombardment, torture, and enforced disappearances that transformed the country into a hellscape. This most recent round of deportations from Lebanon is the latest in a long list of coercive measures designed to make Syrians in Lebanon feel like they have no choice but to return to Syria. Lebanese regulations have stripped many Syrians of their legal status. As of 2022, only 17 percent of Syrian refugees hold legal residency. This means they cannot move freely through checkpoints and have difficulty accessing health care or schools for children. Lebanese forces have also demolished refugee shelters. Most Syrians live in extreme poverty. The Wrong Legacy After one April raid, authorities deported a man, his wife, and four out of their five children, just after he had dropped off his 7-year-old daughter at school. Despite repeated pleas to pick up his daughter from school before being deported, the army rejected his request. The Lebanese government’s role in taking in Syrian refugees is no excuse to separate families or arrest people en masse, only to dump them over the border into the hands of an abusive government. Read More The Latest News Civilian Deaths from Cluster Munitions in Ukraine New Human Rights Watch research found that Ukrainian cluster munition rocket attacks on Russian-controlled areas in and around the city of Izium in eastern Ukraine during 2022 caused many casualties among Ukrainian civilians Read More Bangladeshi Labor Activist Killed Shahidul Islam was president of the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation Gazipur district committee. He was beaten to death on June 25 after he visited a factory to secure unpaid wages for the factory’s workers. Read More Australian Teen Locked in Solitary for 500 Days Imagine being locked alone in a tiny cell for over 20 hours a day for more than 500 days over a 744-day period. That is how Michael, an Aboriginal teenager with an intellectual disability, spent most of his time in pretrial detention. Read More Since You’re Here… Have You Subscribed to The Daily Brief? The Daily Brief brings you the world’s top human rights news, explored and explained by my colleague Andrew Stroehlein, every weekday. Sign Up Today Weekly Quiz Test Your Human Rights Knowledge Know your human rights news? Take our weekly quiz and see how you stack up. Find It Here

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