Human Rights Watch accuses Lebanon and Greek Cyprus of deporting refugees to Syria

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday accused Lebanon and Cyprus of deporting refugees to Syria, where they face life-threatening dangers. The report highlights serious violations of international human rights law by both countries.

HRW alleges that the Lebanese Armed Forces and South Cypriot authorities are coordinating efforts to expel Syrian migrants back to Syria.

Lebanon’s army intercepts refugees

The HRW report claims that Lebanon’s army has been intercepting Syrian refugees attempting to flee by boat and forcibly returning them to Syria, highlighting a pattern of deporting refugees to Syria.

According to the report, the army “pulled them back, and summarily expelled them to Syria,” a country still grappling with the aftermath of a brutal civil war.

South Cyprus rushes refugees back to Lebanon

The report also accuses Cypriot authorities, including the coastguard, of sending refugees who reached Cyprus back to Lebanon.

This has been done “without regard to their refugee status or risk of being expelled to Syria,” HRW said. Many of the refugees returned to Lebanon were reportedly deported to Syria shortly thereafter by Lebanese authorities.

Five interviewees said they reached Cyprus on four different boats. In one case, Cypriot authorities intercepted an interviewee’s boat and left it drifting overnight without bringing the people ashore or offering them food. The authorities then transferred the people to a Cypriot vessel and returned them to Beirut port.

In two cases, interviewees’ boats were intercepted by Cypriot Coast Guards, including by using maneuvering tactics that put the one of the interviewees’ boats in danger, as shown in videos one interviewee sent to Human Rights Watch.

In another case, an interviewee who was an unaccompanied, 15-year-old child asylum seeker landed on Cypriot shores undetected. Interviewees in these three cases ended up spending one to two nights in Cypriot detention centers but were not given the opportunity to claim asylum.

Cypriot officers then forced the interviewees, including by zip-tying their hands and shoving them onto Cypriot vessels that returned them directly to Beirut port. Four of the interviewees, including the child, were expelled by the Lebanese army to Syria via the Masnaa border crossing.

Human Rights Watch

Cypriot authorities have collectively expelled hundreds of Syrian asylum-seekers without allowing them access to asylum procedures, forcing them onto vessels that traveled directly back to Lebanon. People expelled said that Lebanese army officers handed them directly to Syrian soldiers and unidentified armed men inside Syria.

A 44-year-old Syrian woman said that after the Cypriot Coast Guard intercepted their boat, officers “started grabbing us and shoving us” onto the return vessel, and “used a taser and baton” on her husband.

“The blood came from his nose and mouth, everywhere,” she said. Once back in Lebanon, she said, the “army drove us from the port … to a no-man’s land in between the (Syrian and Lebanese) borders … telling us to run to the other side.” She said the Syrian army detained her and her family for nine days.

Lebanon and South Cyprus decline to comment on accusations of deporting refugees to Syria

The Lebanese army has declined to comment on these allegations, while the Greek Cypriot government was unavailable for a response. However, Lebanon’s General Security agency insisted that any deportations involving Cyprus were “subject to international human rights law standards.”

EU aid and bilateral agreements

In May, the European Union approved $1 billion in aid to Lebanon to help manage irregular migration to Europe. However, HRW’s Nadia Hardman criticized both Lebanon and Cyprus, accusing them of violating “the fundamental prohibition on returning a refugee to face persecution.” She added that “Cyprus also violates this prohibition by pushing refugees back to Lebanon, where they risk being sent to danger in Syria.”

Cyprus’s Interior Minister, Constantinos Ioannou, confirmed that in 2020, Cyprus and Lebanon renewed a mutual agreement on managing sea crossings. He stated that several boats were intercepted and returned to Lebanon in line with this agreement.

Deporting refugees to Syria by Greek Cyprus and Lebanon represents a severe breach of international human rights standards. The coordinated efforts between these countries to return refugees to war-torn Syria not only jeopardize their safety but also highlight a disturbing disregard for their rights and protections.