The effects of the United Nations’ failures in dealing with the crisis in Syria are affecting more than just those still inside the country. The loss of legitimacy of the world’s peacekeeping organization that receives millions of dollars annually from its member states is affecting the very individuals for whom it used to be viewed as a safety net.
Hundreds of thousands of people inside Syria are on the verge of starving to death in areas besieged by the Assad regime while humanitarian aid sits in warehouses just a stone’s throw away.
Within the past week starving residents of Moadamiyeh were forced to watch aid being delivered by the Red Cross to regime controlled areas while UN staff in Damascus threw up its hands in helplessness while it waits for Assad’s permission to enter that will never come.
And scorn for what is now viewed as an easily manipulated org that has allowed itself to be used as a tool by the Assad regime has spilled over into Lebanon causing the situation for Syrian refugees there to deteriorate as well.
In January a Syrian refugee named Abdullah told Richard Hall of the Global Post about how he was at home in an informal tent settlement for Syrian refugees in northern Lebanon when 300 Lebanese soldiers raided the camp. He shared how he was slapped, kicked and handcuffed before being taken away for interrogation regarding suspicions that there were armed groups in his village.
When Abdullah tried to produce a certificate from the United Nations that showed his refugee status, he told Hall that one of the soldiers replied: “Go pay a sponsor some money or return to your country. We are the state, you obey our laws. The U.N. means nothing.”
Abdullah said that he was detained for two days without food or water and his story is just one of a growing number of stories of abuse of refugees currently living in Lebanon as well as other countries to which Syrians have fled for refuge.
Human Rights Watch has been gathering stories from dozens of refugees inside Lebanon that attest to the growing risk being faced by Syrians there. Being registered with the UNHCR used to mean that refugees were protected under international refugee law but Lebanon has its own requirement of acquiring a sponsor as well as registration with the UNHCR in order to be legally considered a refugee.
And even with a sponsor the UN refugee status is subject to expiration requiring a $200 fee for reapplication and renewed sponsorship for it to be granted. Most Syrians in Lebanon went there thinking it would be temporary and have long since run out of the funds required for simply surviving which means they do not have the money to even reapply for refugee status.
Unfortunately, the need for sponsorship in Lebanon has also contributed to the abuse of refugees in a country that does not have the capacity to easily absorb the 1.2 million Syrians who are now trying to survive amidst Lebanon’s own population of four million that existed prior to the Syrian revolution.
Some Syrians have been forced by their sponsors into servitude and sexual slavery. Also since Syrian adults are forbidden by law to be legally employed, many children work to support their families which means they are no longer getting a regular education --- and the one they are getting as a result of living in Lebanon is not healthy.
In 2015, Lebanon also tightened up its borders in order to stem the flow of refugees and began deporting some Syrians back to Syria as new visa rules were introduced making it extremely difficult for any Syrian to renew their residency in the country, whether they are registered with the U.N. as a refugee or not.
We can assume that the deportation of Syrians, which puts them at an extremely high risk of being killed by the regime, is another extreme measure being adopted by the Lebanese government to try and stem the flow of refugees from Syria.
All things considered it appears as if the United Nations presence in both Syria and Lebanon has done little of value towards relieving the suffering of the Syrian people. One could even say it has only helped to make the situation worse.
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