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Naturalization of refugees a Lebanese decision: UN

Xinhua, June 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag said on Wednesday that the decision to nationalize Syrian refugees is up to Lebanon alone.

"The issue of naturalizing refugees and giving them citizenship is only the decision of the Lebanese state," Kaag said during the Syria Aid Forum for Emergency and Reconstruction in Beirut.

According to the United Nations Higher Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Lebanon hosts more than 1.1 million Syrian refugees who fled their war-torn country since the uprising against the regime of President Bashar Assad erupted in 2011.

The huge influx of refugees has put an enormous strain on the country's economy and infrastructure.

A recent report by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon drew the ire of Lebanese officials last month as it appeared to call on Lebanon to naturalize Syrian refugees.

But the UN has since played down the report.

Kaag said the responsibility should be shared on an international level in order to help the refugees and rebuild Syria, underlining the fact that there is a "need to look for collective solutions where the country does not have to take on more than it can handle."

"Lebanon is the country that has been most affected by the Syrian crisis. There are hundreds of countries that have taken in Syrian refugees, and I always show my gratitude to Lebanon for hosting the refugees," she said.

Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas, who participated at the forum, said both the Lebanese and Syrian people are against the naturalization of refugees.

"Lebanon does not have any spare passports for sale or rent and the Lebanese people do not have a desire to strip the Syrian people of their identity," he said. Endit