By Stephen Dockery
BEIRUT: Over a dozen refugees ended
up in jail after the U.N. refugee organization in Beirut asked police to break
up a protest blocking their building’s main entrance over a week ago.
Families of the detained gathered
outside the organization’s headquarters Monday to lobby for their release.The
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) made no mention of the
arrests in their statement after the end of the sit-in. The Daily Star learned
of the detentions after being contacted by a refugee.
Sudanese refugees staged a monthlong
hunger strike in front of the UNHCR office throughout July demanding the
acceleration of their resettlement and status issues.
The refugees escalated their protest
at the end of July, blocking the main entrance of the agency’s building,
causing UNHCR officials to call the Internal Security Forces to end the
protest.
Early in the morning on a Saturday
at the beginning of August, Sudanese refugees said demonstrators were told by
police to give up their protest around the building or go to jail. Some 13
refugees, including a 16-year-old, refused to give up their cause and were
imprisoned. The refugees have been held in General Security detention cells for
10 days.
“You should protect us, not send me
to jail,” said a refugee and protester who gave his name as Brown, refusing to
be identified by his real name. “We need help to figure out our problems.”
Speaking after a small protest by
the families of the men detained, Brown said he has lost faith in UNHCR and how
it handles the Sudanese population.
“Look outside – they have kids, they
need protection, and they need help,” Brown said.
The refugees’ cardboard camp has
since been cleared away from outside the office and heavy cement flower pots
have been put in their place to prevent new sit-ins.
The detentions do not align with the
statement UNHCR published after clearing the refugees from their premises. The
ISF “took measures Saturday Aug. 4 to persuade protesters blocking UNHCR’s main
entrance to peacefully leave the premises,” the statement said.
UNHCR public relations officials now
admit the arrests took place, but say they were an unintended consequence of
the need to break up the disruptive protest.
“UNHCR has asked for the release of
the men,” UNHCR spokeswoman Ariane Rummery said.
Rummery said the organization has
been in touch with the judge and General Security officials handling the
refugees’ cases to lobby for their release. Rummery said visits to the
detainees have also begun.
“We think it’s regrettable that they
are in jail,” Rummery said.
But she also said the organization
saw the protest as a dangerous activity that was hurting UNHCR’s ability to
help a rapidly growing refugee population in Lebanon.
UNHCR says the majority of the
people involved in the sit-in are recognized refugees whose paperwork has been
submitted for resettlement to a new country, and they cannot expedite that
process. They say refugees with other problems have been counseled on their
best courses of action.
But many Sudanese refugees don’t see
it the same way. A sense of distrust and hurt has stung members of the
community who feel unfairly treated by both the refugee agency and many people
in Lebanon.
Families gathered outside the UNHCR
office to ask for help releasing their detained relatives listed numerous
injustices they say their family members experience every day.
They say the larger refugee
populations from neighboring countries like Iraq and Syria get special
treatment, while they continue to languish in what they describe as an
often-racist country, seemingly with no end in sight.
“We don’t have a future,” said
24-year-old Khalass Jomaa, who has lived as a refugee for the last 15 years
with her three children.
“We want help,” she said.http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Aug-14/184589-sudanese-refugees-jailed-after-unhcr-ends-their-protest.ashx#axzz23VassrgN
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