NNA - Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on Wednesday chaired a ministerial meeting to discuss the most recent developments regarding the Syrian refugee presence in Lebanon.

The following are the ministerial committee’s decisions:

1- Requesting of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to provide the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities with all kinds of data on displaced Syrians within a week’s time, provided that the refugee status be removed from every Syrian national departing from Lebanese territories. 

2- Asking of the Lebanese security apparatuses to strictly pursue violators and to prevent the illegal entry of Syrians to Lebanon. 

3- Requesting of the Ministries of Interior and Municipalities and Social Affairs to carry out all the legal requirements in terms of registering the births of Syrians on Lebanese soil, in coordination with the UNHCR. 

4- Requesting of foreign countries to participate in bearing the burdens of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, especially with their increasing number amid the exacerbating economic crisis.

5- Requesting of the Ministry of Labor, in coordination with the General Directorate of General Security, to tighten labor control within the permitted sectors.

6- Requesting of the Minister of Justice to discuss the possibility of handing over detainees, and those sentenced, to the Syrian state immediately, taking into account the relevant laws and agreements — after coordination the Syrian state.

7- Assigning the Ministers of Social Affairs and Labor, the Secretary General of the Supreme Defense Council, and the Acting Director General of General Security to follow up on the implementation of the Committee’s decisions, coordinate with the Syrian side, and submit periodic reports in this regard to the Ministerial Committee.

==============R.H.