By Rayane Abou Jaoude
BEIRUT: The first batch of 4,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon who have been selected for resettlement abroad left Wednesday for their next temporary home – in Germany.
The 107 individuals, identified as vulnerable refugees, will stay in Germany as part of a program aimed at securing their immediate protection.
Thirty men, 40 women, 34 children and three infants, all selected by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and approved by the German government, gathered at the International Organization for Migration offices in the Beirut southern suburb of Jnah in the morning and boarded three buses for the airport.
They are part of a group of 4,000 vulnerable refugees who have been selected for a temporary two-year stay in Germany. Another 1,000 will be flying out from Syria separately.
The group includes single women, families at risk, people with close family ties in Germany and those suffering from serious medical conditions.
UNHCR spent June and July selecting the candidates according to their experiences in Syria and living situation in Lebanon.
All were registered before April 2013 as per the selection criteria. The process was done along with the German government, which gave the final approval. The Lebanese government also cooperated.
“It was a tough decision, but our registration data is accurate,” UNHCR spokesperson Dana Sleiman said. “We tried to be as fair as possible.”
The refugees were also interviewed by the agency following the selection process, and the IOM then conducted two packed days of orientation on German culture and laws.
“It’s a broad spectrum of families,” IOM spokesperson Samantha Donkin said, adding that the group includes farmers, accountants and a doctor.
“Many of them are minorities in Syria who fear prosecution.”
The refugees will be admitted under the Humanitarian Admissions Program of the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), the IOM said. About 15,800 Syrians applied for asylum in Germany in 2012, according to the agency.
Azad Sino hails from Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city.
He was traveling to Germany with his wife and two children.
“We’re very excited to go,” he said. He and his family have spent the past year and 10 days in a small cramped room in the Chouf area of Saadiyat.
Sino suffers from serious health problems and “security problems” which have made him unable to work, prompting his wife to sell some of her jewelry just to get some cash.
He is hoping Germany will give him and his family a second chance, but is still eager to return home once it is safe.
“We are immigrants by force, not by choice,” he said.
The refugees arrived at Rafik Hariri International Airport in the morning and departed for Hanover, Germany, on a private charter flight, accompanied by IOM personnel and official medical escorts.
Once in Hanover, the refugees will be transferred to a reception center in Friedland, where they will spend weeks undergoing an “extensive cultural program,” including learning the German language, IOM spokeswoman Samantha Donkin said.
They will then be allocated to different areas, and those with family members in Germany will be sent to live nearby.
Some 25 IOM charter flights will relocate the remaining refugees over the next 12 months. The refugees will remain in Germany for two years, a period that may be extended depending on their experiences and the developments in the Syrian conflict.
“Not only will it provide 4,000 vulnerable Syrian refugees with better living conditions and improved access to services,” said UNHCR Assistant Representative for Protection in Lebanon Veronique Robert.
“It is [also] a first step toward alleviating the burden on Lebanon – a small country now hosting over 730,000 refugees from Syria.”
The next flight is scheduled to depart Beirut sometime in October, according to the UNHCR.
German Ambassador Christian Clages, who was also present at the Beirut airport, told The Daily Star he expected the German public would offer them a warm welcome.
“The German public is, as all the audiences worldwide, watching with huge concern and [watching] these images from Syria under these circumstances,” he said. “The question of this refugee catastrophe, which is the biggest one for the past 20 years, is of concern to all of us.”
The ambassador said German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich would be present at the airport in Hanover to welcome the refugees. His presence will guarantee national coverage, especially since the refugees’ arrival comes 10 days ahead of parliamentary elections.
Clages is also hoping more EU countries will follow suit, adding that one of the purposes of the program is to have other countries “follow in the spirit of a burden-sharing with Lebanon.”
“We have a very long friendship and close relations with this region. This year we will celebrate 50 years of bilateral relations with Lebanon, so we have many Lebanese in Germany,” he said.
Clages also said there were many Syrians with German nationalities in the EU country who had been trying to keep their relatives away from the fighting, and that for some this initiative facilitated that effort.
He denied allegations that the selected 107 belonged to a particular religious group, adding that non-Muslims made up only 15 percent of the selected refugees who flew to Germany Wednesday.
“I can’t wait,” Syrian refugee Khaled Sleiman Idriss said enthusiastically. “It’s another world.”
Idriss was traveling with his two young daughters, Nour and Huda, and was keen on starting anew in the European country.
He hails from the war-battered town of Qusair and was critically injured in the fighting. He was transported by ambulance to a hospital in Tripoli, after which he spent another two months at the American University of Beirut Medical Center receiving treatment.
His daughters were also seriously injured, and will be receiving treatment in Germany.
Although Idriss is grateful for the temporary relocation, like Sino, he too would like to return to Syria eventually.
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12/09/2013
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