BEIRUT:
Members of the Sudanese community in Beirut have been blocking the entrance to
the Jnah office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
since Wednesday morning, a UNHCR press release said on Thursday.
About
20 of the protestors are considered refugees by the UNHCR; their cases have
been submitted to third countries willing to consider resettling them.
The
press release added that some refugees are awaiting resettlement decisions by
countries and are asking that these decisions be expedited. However, still
others have been rejected by resettlement countries and want their files to be
reviewed.
The
UNHCR said that its specialized staff has met, either individually or in
groups, with the Sudanese protestors in an effort to ease tensions.
The
organization noted that the sit-in has “unfortunately started to impede regular
assistance to both those protesting and other persons.”
Even though the UNHCR
maintains that the recent escalation of the protest constitutes a serious
safety concern, it emphasized that it will continue to “assist, protect, and
identify durable solutions [for] refugees.”
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