(CN) — In its latest controversial move to block asylum-seekers, the European Union on Thursday sought to shut off another migratory route into Europe by paying crisis-racked Lebanon to keep migrant boats from leaving for Cyprus.
During a trip to Beirut on Thursday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a three-year, $1-billion-aid package for Lebanon.
But critics warned the deal would finance Lebanon's efforts to force Syrian refugees to return to their war-torn homelands and end up stopping asylum-seekers from finding refuge in the EU by reaching Cyprus, an EU member state about 125 miles from Lebanon.
Von der Leyen said the aid would be spent on basic services, including schools and healthcare, and on training and equipping Lebanese forces to better handle “border management” and fight human traffickers.
The arrangement was similar to other so-called “cash for migrants” deals the EU and member states have inked with Turkey, Libya, Tunisia, Mauritania, Morocco, Albania and Egypt to keep asylum-seekers from reaching the EU, a preferred destination for scores of people fleeing war, disease, famine and persecution in Africa and Asia.
Across Europe, countries are taking a harsher approach toward migrants and asylum-seekers. The bloc as a whole is seeking to make it easier to deport people deemed to have entered the EU illegally. Anti-immigrant sentiment has fueled the rise of far-right parties across the EU.
In signing the deal with Lebanon, EU officials reportedly were worried the troubled war-torn country may become overwhelmed by a flood of new refugees as the Middle East conflict worsens.
Lebanon is in a deep crisis.
It's been crippled since 2019 by a severe economic crisis that shut down its previously lucrative banking sector and crushed the value of its currency. Politically, the country is essentially leaderless without a president or a caretaker government in charge.
After civil war broke out in neighboring Syria in 2011, about 1.5 million Syrians fled to Lebanon. About 785,000 Syrian are registered as refugees in the country, though the number of Syrians in Lebanon may be as high as 2 million.
Since 2011, the EU has provided Lebanon with 2.6 billion euros (about $2.8 billion) in aid to handle the Syrian refugee crisis.
More than 400,000 Palestinians also are registered as refugees in Lebanon. The country has the highest number of refugees per capita in the world.
At the same time, Lebanon has been drawn into conflict with Israel through Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese political party and militia at war with Israel. Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, cross-border attacks between Israel and Hezbollah have grown more intense and deadly.
In recent months, Cyprus reported a surge of migrant boats from Lebanon, prompting the small island nation to urge EU leaders to do more to stem the flow.
Between January and mid-April, the United Nations human rights office in Lebanon said at least 59 migrant boats carrying 3,191 people left Lebanon. By comparison, only three boats carrying 54 people departed Lebanon in the same period last year.
In response, Cyprus has taken a tough stance on migrants. Its coast guard has been accused of forcing boats to turn back to Lebanon. Last month, Cyprus was criticized for suspending the processing of Syrian asylum applications.
Lebanon, too, has become much more aggressive toward Syrian refugees, especially since an official with the Christian nationalist Lebanese Forces party, Pascal Suleiman, was killed last month in what military officials said was a botched carjacking by a Syrian gang. The incident prompted outbreaks of anti-Syrian violence by vigilante groups, as reported by the Associated Press.
On Thursday, Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, said Syrians must go home.
“We refuse that our country becomes an alternative homeland” for Syrians, Mikati said during a news conference with von der Leyen and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.
In a statement, the EU acknowledged Lebanon's difficulties in hosting so many refugees and added that it was time to “work on a more structured approach to voluntary returns to Syria.”
The EU also said it remained “committed to maintain legal pathways open to Europe” for asylum-seekers.
Human rights groups blasted Brussels for suggesting it was safe for Syrian refugees to return to their war-torn country.
“Time to stop euphemisms: Nowhere in Syria is safe for refugees to return,” Philippe Dam, the EU director for Human Rights Watch, said on social media. “EU should not fund abusive security forces nor policies that contributes to forced returns to Syria.”
Amnesty International and other groups in a statement denounced the EU for paying countries outside the bloc to stop migrants.
“These deals expose individuals to human rights risks, erode asylum protection and undermine the international protection system as a whole,” the groups said.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
Follow @cainburdeau
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