Berlin/Osnabrück, May 2, 2024 – The children's rights organization terre des hommes warns of the consequences of the agreement with Lebanon announced today by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen: Children and young people suffer particularly from the effects of deals that are intended to keep asylum seekers away from the EU borders.
“In Lebanon, children, young people, and their families are not safe on the run: Syrian refugees are increasingly being scapegoated for the worsening political and economic crisis in the country. Access to legal residency documents is being systematically obstructed, they are subjected to repression, and are constantly threatened with imprisonment, torture, and deportation. Since mid-October 2022, the Lebanese government has been systematically carrying out so-called ‘voluntary returns,’ which are in fact illegal deportations,” says Nina Violetta Schwarz, Middle East expert at terre des hommes . “The lack of prospects and the fear of being handed over to the Assad regime are driving many Syrians and their families to attempt the dangerous crossing to Europe in unseaworthy boats via Cyprus. It is cynical for the EU to now pay the Lebanese state around one billion euros to prevent people from fleeing to Europe.”
terre des hommes has repeatedly criticized the EU's migration policy and the actions of member states for causing suffering for people on their journey to Europe: "In recent months, we have received repeated reports from our partner organizations that asylum seekers are being left alone in boats at sea and that the responsible coast guards are refusing to rescue them. So-called pushbacks to the Lebanese mainland are occurring repeatedly. Children experience violence against themselves or their families, have to endure hunger and thirst, suffer trauma, or even lose their lives. Our partners on the ground are doing everything they can to provide legal support to those affected," Schwarz continued.
terre des hommes is concerned by the fact that the EU has already concluded similar agreements with Tunisia and Egypt in recent months. Schwarz: “So far, migration agreements have made the EU vulnerable to blackmail by autocratic regimes – but have never led to an improvement in the situation of children and young people seeking protection. With the upcoming European elections in mind, we demand that the EU finally take its responsibility for human and children's rights seriously again, instead of supposedly buying its way out of it with billion-euro deals.”