Analysis by Essamar Bou Moughlbey, Contributor

December 6th, 2020

Authorities have heightened calls for the return of refugees in 2018, and municipalities have forcibly evicted thousands of refugees as a result. In total, there are around 1 million refugees registered with the UNHCR, and according to the HRW, in 2018, 300,000 refugee children were not given access to proper schooling and education. Provided the migration crisis present in Lebanon after the Syrian civil war, the problem of human trafficking and smuggling has substantially risen, making solutions and mitigation processes an urgent topic of discussion ever since. Lebanon’s residency policy makes it undoubtably difficult for Syrians to maintain legal status, heightening risks of exploitation and abuse and restricting refugees’ access to work, education and healthcare. 74% of Syrians in Lebanon now lack legal residency and risk detention for their unlawful presence in the country. The massive displacement of civilian populations that accompanies conflict is known to drive people into highly exploitative situations. It is important to recognize migrants and asylum seekers fleeing conflict as refugees, and facilitate these individuals’ access to employment and basic services. 

Today, one in five people in Lebanon is a refugee from Syria. No other country has hosted more refugees’ per capita basis, which places a well acknowledged and significant amount of stress on the country. In 2015, the Lebanese government has implemented measures to effectively close its borders, limiting the number of Syrians entering the country, and leaving Syrian refugees open to detention and deportation for entering, working and staying in Lebanon without the correct paperwork - with no opportunity to work legally, and with children unable to go to school. Refugees are forced into desperate situations to survive. They have been found to work in exploitative jobs for little to no money. Consequently, Syrian parents are sending out their children to work in order to minimize their risk of detection. It’s estimated that between 60-70% of Syrian refugee children are working in some of the worst situations. 

Furthermore, Syrian refugee girls residing in Lebanon are increasingly forced into child marriages, a survival strategy and decision made based on patriarchy to ‘secure the girl’s economic future, reducing the economic burden on the family,’ as well as to divert them away from the threat of sexual harassment and abuse. Sexual exploitation is a growing issue for Syrian and Palestinian Syrian female refugees, and cases in which these women and young girls have been coerced into prostitution or providing sexual favors for food and shelter for their families continue to arise. 

Municipalities in Lebanon have forcibly evicted thousands of refugees in mass expulsions without legal basis or due process. Tens of thousands remain at risk of eviction, with approximately 174,000 Palestinian longstanding refugees living in Lebanon continuously facing restrictions on their right to work and own property. 

The starting point here is arguably to ensure that Syrians fleeing conflict and persecution are properly recognized in Lebanon as refugees, that they can legally work and their children can go to school. As a result, to such uncertainty and mistreatment, the human trafficking level has only augmented as the years have passed. Human trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force, or other forms of coercion such as abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, position of vulnerability, or of the giving or receiving of payments and benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person. The consent of the victim to the intended exploitation is and should always be irrelevant. 

It is important to note that the term “enslaved” is mainly used when individuals are forced to work through a mental or physical threat; owned or controlled by an employer, usually through mental or physical abuse or the threat of abuse; dehumanized, treated as a commodity or brought as property. It’s been acknowledged that there has been a human trafficking network in Lebanon, responsible for transporting Syrians across the border into Lebanon and forging documents. Despite the growing issue of slavery and trafficking of Syrian and Palestinian Syrian refugees in Lebanon, insufficient effort is being directed towards addressing its causes. 

Hence, the risk factors contributing to slavery and trafficking among Syrian refugees include a lack of legal protection, lack of right to work, harassment by Lebanese security forces, insecure housing, lack of implementation of anti-trafficking legislation, establishing a monitoring system to document slavery and human trafficking of refugees in Lebanon. 

Syrians now make up the largest refugee population in the world, and at least 1.5 million women, men and children have sought protection in Lebanon. Around 11 million Syrians have been killed or forced to flee their homes, making it the duty of host countries, particularly Lebanon, to pay closer attention to this regard, in order to prevent further humanitarian injustices from taking place.