{"id":13455,"date":"2018-09-01T01:29:32","date_gmt":"2018-09-01T01:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=13455"},"modified":"2018-09-01T01:29:32","modified_gmt":"2018-09-01T01:29:32","slug":"syrian-swimmer-who-saved-refugees-arrested-in-greece-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=13455","title":{"rendered":"Syrian swimmer who saved refugees arrested in Greece -lawyer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nBEIRUT: The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Friday that Syrian refugees in Lebanon need assurances of a \u201csafe and dignified return\u201d to their homeland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nGrandi\u2019s comments follow confirmation by Lebanon\u2019s President Michel Aoun that Lebanon will continue to organize a gradual voluntary return of refugees in accordance with a Russian initiative.<\/p>\n

\nMu\u2019in Al-Marabi, Lebanon\u2019s deputy secretary of state, who took part in the meeting between Grandi and Prime Minister Saad Hariri, told Arab News that the UN commissioner had no problem with the Russian initiative, but insisted that conditions should be suitable for repatriation of Syrian refugees.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cGrandi said we must be logical and unbiased when we discuss refugees\u2019 return,\u201d Al-Marabi said.<\/p>\n

\nThe UN commissioner cautioned against a hasty solution for the return of refugees, saying this would be counterproductive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAt the same time, we are faced with the need to rebuild the infrastructure so that Syrian refugees can live in dignity, which will take an unknown amount of time and require funds \u2014 Russia recognizes this and requests the support of international bodies,\u201d Al-Marabi said.<\/p>\n

\nGrandi also called for an end to the Foreign Ministry\u2019s freeze on residency applications by UNHCR staff.<\/p>\n

\nAccording to the deputy secretary of state, Grandi told Hariri: \u201cWe cannot work and help unless our conditions are comfortable and not complicated.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nForeign Minister Gebran Bassil ordered a freeze on all residency applications by the UN refugee agency in June, saying that the agency had been practicing a \u201cpolicy of intimidation toward Syrians planning to return.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nGrandi also voiced concern about the worsening situation in Idlib, in northwestern Syria. \u201cThis is the next big phase of the war in Syria and it could be devastating, though we hope it is otherwise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe also hope to save the lives of civilians, and the Syrian government said it would try to adopt an approach that saves as many civilians as possible, but you know that the situation is very difficult, complicated, and a cause for concern for everyone, including Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nBeirut was Grandi\u2019s third stop on a tour that started from Jordan then Syria, where he met with officials in the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, in Damascus and reviewed the measures taken by the Syrian government to facilitate the return of refugees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nAccompanied by the UNHCR representative in Lebanon, Mireille Girard, Grandi began his visit to Lebanon by meeting Aoun, who demanded that \u201cthe UNHCR play a greater role in facilitating the safe return of Syrian refugees in Lebanon to their towns and villages.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nMore than 735,000 Syrians in Lebanon had been displaced from Syrian territory that is now safe, Aoun said.<\/p>\n

\nAoun said that \u201cLebanon will continue to organize the gradual return of Syrian refugees who wish to return,\u201d and called on international organizations to help those who have returned to their towns, villages or safe areas in Syria.<\/p>\n

\nHe denied that Lebanese authorities had pressured groups of refugees to return, explaining that \u201ctheir return to safe areas in Syria was fully voluntary.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nAfter meeting with Hariri, Grandi said: \u201cThings have been terrible in Syria during the past years, but we try to observe people\u2019s concerns about whether to return or not.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe have openly discussed with the Syrian government how to deal with certain challenges, some of which are financial while others are linked to legal matters, and informed President Aoun and PM Hariri of our discussions\u2019 results.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nGrandi said that he had met with Russian officials in Damascus and Geneva, and confirmed that the UNHCR has a close dialogue with Russia.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe hope that donors will continue to support Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan, which I visited a few days ago,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need the support of donor states.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEIRUT: The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Friday that Syrian refugees in Lebanon need assurances of a \u201csafe and dignified return\u201d to their homeland.\u00a0 Grandi\u2019s comments follow confirmation by Lebanon\u2019s President Michel Aoun that Lebanon will continue to organize a gradual voluntary return of refugees in accordance with a Russian initiative.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":13456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}