Syrian refugees salvage belongings from the wreckage of their shelters at a camp set on fire overnight in the northern Lebanese town of Bhanine on December 27, 2020 [File: Ibrahim Chaloub/AFP]
On January 18, Lebanon’s human rights record was examined by the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review Working Group.
Prior to the session, the government of Lebanon submitted a report to the UNHRC on the progress it had made in addressing the shortcomings and failures the working group identified in its previous assessment in 2015. In the 27-page report covering a variety of human rights-related issues, there was also a section dedicated to the rights of the more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees Lebanon is currently hosting. Beyond providing information on the legal and administrative framework it uses to regulate the presence of Syrian nationals in Lebanon, however, the Lebanese government said very little in this report about the hardships Syrian refugees are