00:00Syrian refugees are being prevented from reaching Europe, then deported back to danger in Syria.
00:09And the European Union is complicit. These are the conclusions of a new report.
00:15Human Rights Watch spoke to 16 Syrian refugees who had tried to cross to Cyprus irregularly
00:20from Lebanon, which hosts 1.5 million displaced Syrians and where hostility towards refugees
00:27is on the rise. 11 had been expelled by the Lebanese authorities back to Syria, four of
00:33them after having been pushed back to Lebanon from Cyprus.
00:37Without legal and safe pathways to Europe, they attempt this really dangerous journey,
00:42trying to cross the sea to reach a better life in Europe. What we found instead is that
00:48the Lebanese Armed Forces and for their part the Cypriot Coast Guard prevented them from
00:56continuing their journey. They were also beaten, shoved, handcuffed at times, arbitrarily detained
01:05and really subjected to inhuman treatment before they were, probably the most devastating
01:11part of the story, forced to return to Syria, where we know and have documented, as many
01:17other organizations have, the way in which refugees, returnees are arbitrarily detained
01:25and disappeared and sometimes killed on return to Syria.
01:30The European Union is funding several migration control projects in Lebanon. In May, Commission
01:35President Ursula von der Leyen announced a further 1 billion euros in financial support,
01:41including money to equip and train the Lebanese authorities to better manage the borders.
01:46Human Rights Watch says EU money is propping up those responsible for human rights violations.
01:53There really doesn't seem to be any kind of conditionality or consequence for funding
02:02these agencies. In fact, what we've seen with the EU-Lebanon deal, it's almost a reward.
02:07Here is another pledge to provide outrageous sums of money without, you know, any kind
02:14of conditionality attached to them.
02:17The Cypriot government has indicated it wants to secure the new role of European Commissioner
02:22for the Mediterranean, which would involve overseeing the EU's migration deals with countries
02:27in its southern neighbourhood. Human Rights Watch says the choice would be irresponsible,
02:33given Cypriot authorities' documented pushbacks against refugees.
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