Refugee children deprived form education in Lebanon: report

Access Center for Human Rights asserted that Syrian refugees are “deprived of their basic rights,” facing a new phase of restrictions on their lives, after several incapacitating requirements have been imposed on their children’s right to education, guaranteed by the UN.

On Wednesday, the center reported that, “Despite the financial support—estimated at around $8 billion since 2011—from the international community to Lebanon, refugees continue to face various obstacles and an increasing pressure as they are deprived of their fundamental rights.”

Refugees are once again facing more limitations and regulations without the supervision of the competent authorities.

The Mediterranean country of around 4.5 million people says it hosts some 1.5 million Syrians, of which nearly a million are UN-registered refugees.

The participants of the initiative informed Lebanese officials that the continued deterioration of the human rights situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon would lead to disastrous long-term consequences, stressing the need for the Lebanese government to apply the content of both domestic laws and international conventions regarding the protection of Syrian refugees residing in Lebanon.

Lebanese politicians routinely blame the country's economic and other woes on Syrian refugees and the government has ratcheted up the pressure to send them back.

Rights groups have decried measures to make the lives of refugees increasingly difficult.

Since June, more than 3,600 Syrian families have seen their shelters demolished in the eastern region of Arsal, according to local authorities.

Homes made of anything other than timber and plastic sheeting are not allowed.

In August, the Lebanese army destroyed a further 350 structures in the north of the country and arrested dozens of people for lacking residency documents, humanitarian groups said.

The labour ministry, meanwhile, is cracking down on foreign workers without a permit, a move activists say largely targets Syrians.

Eight years of war in Syria have killed 560,000 people and driven half the pre-war population of 22 million from their homes, including more than 6 million as refugees to neighboring countries.