LEBANON DEPORTING CHILDREN OF MIGRANTS WORKERS AS LAW DOES NOT ALLOW RESIDENCY RIGHTS CHILDREN BORN TO THOSE MIGRANT WORKERS MARRYING LEBANON WOMEN DESPITE THE FACTS CHILDREN WERE BORN STUDIED AND LIVED IN LEBANON AND GOVT FACING MOUNTING PRESSURE FROM ALL SIDES AGAINST THIS ACTION Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch reported a “recent decision by General Security, Lebanon’s security agency in charge of foreigners’ entry and residency, to deny residency permit renewals for a number of low-wage migrants who have had children in Lebanon and, for their children, disproportionately interferes with the right to family life.” This is not the first decision in Lebanon to violate foreigners’ rights and limit their freedom. After many decisions against Syrian and Palestinian refugees, this General Security action tears migrant workers’ families apart by rejecting the renewal of residency papers of migrant workers’ children and, in some cases, the mothers as well. “This directive was not made public,” said Lama Fakih, Syria and Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Migrant workers were surprised to know about this decision when they tried to renew their children’s residency papers. We don’t know when this directive was issued. Migrant workers complained about it the first time in June 2014. We tried to contact General Security to obtain a copy of the directive, but they haven’t sent it yet.” Fakih also noted that “several non-governmental organizations requested a meeting with General Security to try to convince them to remove this decision, or at least, to make the decision public in order for migrant workers to know the new rule.” There is no law that forbids the renewal of the residency, as long as the applicant has not violated Lebanese law. Fakih told NOW that “migrant workers from categories 2 and 3 are not allowed to bring their families with them, but the law does not forbid them to have children in Lebanon, and they were able to obtain residency permits for them so they can go to school and remain in the country.” Brigadier Joseph Obeid, of the General Security media office, said: “We do not make the law; we only apply the laws issued from the parliament or the government. It is not true that General Security forced migrant workers’ children to leave schools in order to deport them. We applied the law to migrant workers who have illegal residency in Lebanon. The children were expelled with their parents in cases of illegal residencies only, and in cases where we couldn’t make any settlement.”
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 02:56:23 +0000
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