The EU funds training and infrastructure for Lebanese security forces involved in border management who forcibly send Syrian refugees back to Syria after their expulsion from Cyprus, a practice that goes against human rights laws, a Human Rights Watch report has found.
HRW, which spoke to 15 Syrians who claimed to have suffered human rights violations at the hands of Lebanese and Cypriot authorities, said Cyprus did not allow them to make asylum claims and in some cases violently forced them on vessels bound for Beirut – a practice that is also against international law. Both Lebanese and Cypriot authorities have denied human rights violations.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said it is aware of possible violations of human rights by Lebanese security actors but it appears this has not stopped it from increasing its funding to an external think tank, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development, that works with those security forces.
In May, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a €1 billion ($1.1 billion) package for Lebanon, which included funding for security forces, although it remains unclear what exactly they have received. One week later, Lebanon's most powerful security agency, General Security, announced new measures to restrict Syrians' ability to obtain legal status, said HRW.
Under a Dutch-funded project, the ICPMD provides them human rights courses, but appears not to measure whether this translates in compliance in border actions, said HRW.
'Inherent contradiction'
“The omission is particularly concerning as many abuses committed by Lebanese security actors against Syrian refugees and asylum seekers had continued between June and September 2023, after ICMPD supposedly delivered the above training in May 2023,” said the report.
“The inherent and unacceptable contradiction is obvious: as the ICMPD continued receiving sizeable project funding and hailing the Lebanese security agencies’ “significant progress” in human rights compliance, the very same agencies continued to commit abuses against Syrian refugees.”
The EU and European countries gave Lebanon about 16.7 million euros ($18.5 million) from 2020 to 2023 for border management “mainly in the form of capacity-building projects explicitly aimed at enhancing Lebanon’s ability to prevent irregular migration”, the report said. In August, the EU allocated another 32 million euros ($35.3 million) to “continue implementing border management enhancement projects in Lebanon through 2025”, it said.
Lebanon hosts the highest number of refugees per capita in the world – about 1.5 million Syrians – and stopped allowing them to be registered as refugees in 2015.
Burdened by an unprecedented and protracted financial crisis, the small Mediterranean country has turned increasingly hostile to Syrians, who are “trapped in perpetual vulnerability in Lebanon”, said HRW.
Syrians are increasingly trying to make it to Cyprus, which has witnessed a surge of arrivals and stopped issuing Syrian asylum applications in April. There are about 30,000 Syrians in Cyprus, a country of 900,000 inhabitants.
Syria's 13-year-old civil war has pushed millions to flee abroad. Less than one per cent want to return home, the UN has found, because of economic and security concerns.
Cyprus returns irregular migrants to Lebanon as part of a 2020 agreement, the Cypriot Ministry of Interior told HRW, but said practical details were in the hands of the police, which did not give further details.
Some EU countries are increasingly vocal about wanting to send Syrians back to Syria despite a lack of a political solution to the conflict and President Bashar Al Assad's statements saying he does not want refugees back for economic, political and sectarian reasons.
The National exclusively reported in June that the Czech Republic was working on a fact-finding mission in Syria to establish “safe zones” and that Cyprus had expressed interest.
In the HRW report, Habib, a 15-year-old Syrian from Idlib who moved to Lebanon when he was three years old and travelled alone to Cyprus, described having his hands zip-tied with other children as he was forced to sail back to Lebanon.
After the seven-hour trip to Beirut, the Lebanese army was waiting and beat one of the men during questioning, Habib said.
“They started making fun of us and said they would send us to Maher Al Assad who is in charge of the Syrian army’s Fourth Division,” he said, referring to a branch of Syria's much-feared security forces run by a brother of Mr Al Assad.
The Lebanese army then loaded them on a bus, drove them to the Syrian border, at Masnaa crossing point, and told them to walk across the border. Some were detained by the Syrian army, but they all paid smugglers to bring them back to Lebanon.
Beate Gminder of the European Commission’s Migration and Home Affairs directorate said in a response to the report’s findings that the commission “takes allegations of wrongdoings very seriously”, but that it is the responsibility of national authorities to “investigate any allegations of violations of fundamental rights” and to prosecute wrongdoing.
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What you as a drone operator need to know
A permit and licence is required to fly a drone legally in Dubai.
Sanad Academy is the United Arab Emirate’s first RPA (Remotely Piloted Aircraft) training and certification specialists endorsed by the Dubai Civil Aviation authority.
It is responsible to train, test and certify drone operators and drones in UAE with DCAA Endorsement.
“We are teaching people how to fly in accordance with the laws of the UAE,” said Ahmad Al Hamadi, a trainer at Sanad.
“We can show how the aircraft work and how they are operated. They are relatively easy to use, but they need responsible pilots.
“Pilots have to be mature. They are given a map of where they can and can’t fly in the UAE and we make these points clear in the lectures we give.
“You cannot fly a drone without registration under any circumstances.”
Larger drones are harder to fly, and have a different response to location control. There are no brakes in the air, so the larger drones have more power.
The Sanad Academy has a designated area to fly off the Al Ain Road near Skydive Dubai to show pilots how to fly responsibly.
“As UAS technology becomes mainstream, it is important to build wider awareness on how to integrate it into commerce and our personal lives,” said Major General Abdulla Khalifa Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief, Dubai Police.
“Operators must undergo proper training and certification to ensure safety and compliance.
“Dubai’s airspace will undoubtedly experience increased traffic as UAS innovations become commonplace, the Forum allows commercial users to learn of best practice applications to implement UAS safely and legally, while benefitting a whole range of industries.”
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
UAE SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Adel Al Hosani
Defenders: Bandar Al Ahbabi, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamis, Mohammed Barghash, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Hassan Al Mahrami, Yousef Jaber, Mohammed Al Attas
Midfielders: Ali Salmeen, Abdullah Ramadan, Abdullah Al Naqbi, Majed Hassan, Abdullah Hamad, Khalfan Mubarak, Khalil Al Hammadi, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Harib Abdallah, Mohammed Jumah
Forwards: Fabio De Lima, Caio Canedo, Ali Saleh, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
ICC Women's T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier 2025, Thailand
UAE fixtures
May 9, v Malaysia
May 10, v Qatar
May 13, v Malaysia
May 15, v Qatar
May 18 and 19, semi-finals
May 20, final
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Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
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Political flags or banners
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Bikes, skateboards or scooters
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