Lebanon summons UN official over refugee report

Beirut: Lebanon’s foreign ministry has summoned the country’s top UN official over concerns that the international body is pressuring Lebanon to naturalise its large refugee population.

The foreign ministry pointed on Friday to an April UN report that recommends that when “conditions are not conducive” to refugees returning home, host countries should examine offering them citizenship.

Naturalisation is a sensitive topic in Lebanon, where over one in four residents is a refugee. The UN says the war in neighbouring Syria, now in its sixth year, has sent over one million refugees to the tiny country. Human Rights Watch has accused Lebanon of criminalising the refugee workforce and exploiting it for cheap labour.

The UN’s top official to Lebanon, Sigrid Kaag, says the report’s recommendations are in line with the 1951 Refugee Convention.