BEIRUT: Religious and political leaders from the northern city of Akkar have warned the Lebanese government against withholding medical treatment to Syrian refugees and leaving them to die.
A statement issued at the end of a lengthy meeting held Monday at the residence of Future bloc MP Mouin Merhebi accused Prime Minister Najib Mikati of denying medical care for Syrian nationals fleeing an eight-month crackdown by the Syrian regime.
The meeting comprised of Akkar Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rifai, Azem Ayoubi, head of a local Islamic group; Khaled Taha, lawyer and coordinator of the Future Movement in Tripoli and Zakaria Abdullah, head of the Union of Municipalities for the area.
The group said Mikati had ordered the government-run Higher Relief Council to freeze medical care to Syrian refugees.
While acknowledging that the government-run Higher Relief Council had “to some extent” fulfilled its duties toward Syrian refugees in terms of hospitalization and health care for the sick and wounded, the participants said they were “surprised” by Mikati’s decision to halt medical assistance.
“This decision is a violation of all rules of treatment of refugees provided by the human rights charter and the laws of the United Nations, putting dozens of [Syrian] refugees at risk of death from medical conditions, and their inability to return home to seek the necessary treatment,” the group said in its statement.
“We hold the prime minister, who heads the Higher Relief Council, fully responsible for the outcome of this unjust and arbitrary decision ... and we hold the government and the relevant institutions [responsible for] the consequences of their support for the Syrian regime for the sake of implementing its bloody and criminal schemes,” the statement added.
The group, which said it stood in solidarity with the Syrian people, hailed the protesters as determined heroes in the face of “killing and terrorizing the people for more than four decades.”
“It is the duty of the government and the head of the government to deal with these refugees in line with international law and the human rights charter, especially with the entire world knowing they’re being killed, arrested, intimidated and tortured if they return to their homeland of Syria,” the group said in the statement.
It said that providing assistance and attention for the Syrian refugees was a religious, humanitarian, legal and national duty.
The participants also accused the Lebanese military of imposing a “media blockade” in the Wadi Khaled border area.
“The Syrian people are exposed to a campaign of intimidation by the Assad regime, seeking to keep them from freedom and dignity,” read the statement.
In its latest report on the refugee situation in the region, the U.N. Higher Commission for Refugees states that there are now 3,505 Syrians registered with the agency and with Lebanon’s High Relief Commission.
Protests against the rule of Syrian President Bashar Assad have raged since earlier this year. The U.N. says over 3,000 Syrians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the crackdown by Damascus. Syrian authorities deny targeting civilians, blaming the deaths on "armed gangs" who are part of a conspiracy targeting the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment