The Legal Aspect of Syrian Refugees in Turkey and Lebanon

Lebanon

International Treaty Law: the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Optional Protocol. This treaty of law explains about the way to protect the refugees. Its protection functions specifically include “promoting the conclusion and ratification of international conventions for the protection of refugees, supervising their application and proposing amendments thereto”; (Khan).

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The Lisbon Treaty, signed on December 2007, specifies that the Union (Article 78) shall develop a common policy on asylum, subsidiary protection and temporary protection offering appropriate status to any third-country national requiring international protection. Furthermore, these policies must be in accordance with the Geneva Convention rules and the additional Protocols relating to the status of refugees (Bouboukiotis, 2016).

National Legislation related to refugees and asylum-seekers

Lebanon does not have a comprehensive domestic legal framework to guide authorities’ treatment of refugees, and does not make a legal distinction between SRL and other types of immigrants (Bidinger, Lang, Hites, Kuzmova, Noureddine, & Akram, 2014).

Lebanese Refugee Policy: Entry

The Ministry of the Interior’s General Security Office (“GSO”) controls all entry points on the border into Lebanon, and has wide discretion to designate procedures for the treatment of SRLs (Bidinger, Lang, Hites, Kuzmova, Noureddine, & Akram, 2014).

1994 Bilateral Agreement with Syria

A bilateral agreement between Lebanon and Syria which has been in force since 1994 governs the status of and procedures concerning the entry of Syrian nationals in Lebanon (Bidinger, Lang, Hites, Kuzmova, Noureddine, & Akram, 2014).

Turkey

MOU

Unlike the other host countries considered in this report, we were not able to find any record of an MOU between the Turkish government and UNHCR. This is consistent with Turkey’s historical tendency towards an opaque migration and refugee policy (Bidinger, Lang, Hites, Kuzmova, Noureddine, & Akram, 2014).

1951 and 1967 Conventions

Turkey has acceded to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (CSR51), and to the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (PSR67). (Bidinger, Lang, Hites, Kuzmova, Noureddine, & Akram, 2014).

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Temporary Protection

Pursuant to the 2012 Council of Ministers Directive, Turkey’s current policy is to grant Temporary Protection, rather than refugee status, to all persons fleeing the situation in Syria.

The temporary protection regime has three main elements:

1. An open door policy for all Syrians;

2. No forced returns to Syria (non-refoulement)

3. Unlimited duration of stay in Turkey.

(Bidinger, Lang, Hites, Kuzmova, Noureddine, & Akram, 2014).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKE9_eynlOw

References;

Bidinger, S., Lang, A., Hites, D., Kuzmova, Y., Noureddine, E., & Akram, S. M. (2014). Protecting Syrian Refugees: Laws, Policies, and Global Responsibility Sharing. International Human Rights Clinic.

                                                

 Bouboukiotis, A. (2016, November 2). Legal aspects in dealing with the migration and refugee crisis. Retrieved from AthensLive News: https://medium.com/athenslivegr/legal-aspects-in-dealing-with-the-migration-and-refugee-crisis-8348f7b2978a

Khan, A. A. (n.d.). Can International Law Manage Refugee Crises? Undergraduate Law Journal.