De jeunes réfugiés syriens sur le chemin du retour, du Liban vers la Syrie. Archives AFP
Lebanon seems to be following the path of many European countries that have adopted right-wing anti-migrant and refugee policies and is putting serious pressure on the nearly one million Syrian refugees living within its borders to return to their country.
For more than a year, a xenophobic campaign has aimed to villify refugees and place the blame for Lebanon’s ills on their shoulders. According to analysts, this tactic serves to deflect attention from the failure of politicians to address Lebanon’s economic crisis, which stems from a lack of vision, inadequate public policies and rampant corruption.
Now, a group of intellectuals, university professors and economists has created an initiative called Refugees = Partners to counter and debunk the stereotypes shaping the public perception of refugees. The group is aiming to reduce hate speech and rehabilitate the relationship between Lebanese and displaced Syrians.
Using scientific studies and actual data, the initiative wants to shed light on the weight refugees are placing on the economy and the impact they are having on the country. "It's a matter of shedding light on some inaccurate speeches and prejudices circulated by certain well-established media by publishing figures and data that are more accurate and closer to reality," Fatme Ibrahim, the project’s manager, tells L’Orient-Le Jour.
In Lebanon, refugees are being blamed for everything from the economic crisis and ecological disasters to security threats and an increase in general crimes. These accusations are pushed in the media, which often depicts refugees as a “heavy burden” that Lebanon “can no longer withstand”.
This narrative is unfounded and discriminatory, but has unfortunately begun to gain traction at the grassroots level. As a result, tensions between host communities and refugees have risen, and there is a risk that the situation could spill over into conflict in the short or medium term.
Seemingly every day there are more reports of incidents of animosity that bubble over into explosions of repressed hatred, often in the form of fist fights. On June 6, these tensions erupted into a brawl in the village of Deir al-Ahmar between a number of refugees and a team of Civil Defense workers. The confrontation was not the first of its kind and provoked anger from the inhabitants and elected officials of the Christian village, who have been demanding that the Syrian refugees be expelled for some time. The refugees also responded angrily and nearly 700 of them were forced to leave the tents where they had been living.
Social cohesion
Refugees = Partners plans to put forward an alternative narrative aimed at safeguarding the dignity, rights and duties of refugees. The initiative wants to raise awareness about this sensitive issue to improve social cohesion and encourage the adoption of policies that will help the situation and benefit both Lebanese and Syrians.
The campaign, targeting public opinion and activists, is based on facts and academic research. The idea is to take a rational approach that will distance itself from the dangers of political manipulation without obscuring the difficulties and complexities of the problem.
Time and time again, politicians, especially Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, have spoken passionately, sometimes using racist terms, about the supposed economic and other damages caused by the presence of refugees. Two weeks ago, Bassil said that Lebanon had lost “billions of dollars” and that the “very high unemployment rate” and “tough competition in the job market” were due to the presence of refugees.
These are unfounded allegations, according to Refugees = Partners, because the most recent study of the Lebanese labor market is from 2009, before the beginning of the crisis in Syria. The same goes for the supposed workforce competition caused by refugees. The Lebanese government has not produced any statistical studies showing this to be the case.
Confusion
According to Cynthia Saghir, research assistant with Refugees = Partners, the problem is "the confusion made between the impact of the Syrian crisis as a whole on the Lebanese economy (particularly the closing of borders to the export of Lebanese products) and the impact caused by the presence of the refugees. This has helped to fuel the negative rhetoric against the displaced people."
The studies carried out by the association show that 84 percent of Syrians in the workforce work in agriculture and construction. Both of these sectors were open to Syrian labor well before the beginning of the Syrian crisis, according to a graphic published on Refugees = Partners’ Facebook page. The page also states that of the 952,562 officially registered refugees only 130,731 actually work. The unemployment rate among Syrian refugees in 40.5 percent.
The association also publicizes the fact that $5.8 billion in humanitarian aid was given to Lebanon between 2013 and 2018–nearly $1 billion per year–and much of that has been re-injected into the Lebanese economy. Also, over 80 percent of refugees live in apartments or houses (compared to 17 percent in unofficial camps), which means, in addition to the aid money spent on food, health care and transportation, refugees spend between $383 and $530 million per year in rent. And 85 percent of Syrians living in Lebanon own a mobile phone, providing revenue to cellular companies and the State.
While Refugees = Partners debunks misinformation and brings new facts to light, it also doesn’t shy away from the actual impact of the presence of so many refugees in Lebanon. The biggest place it can be seen, according to the association, is on the environment and the burden placed on water and electricity supplies. While the presence of refugees has added further strain to these services, their delivery was flawed long before the refugees arrived to Lebanon.
(This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour on the 24th of June)
