14 Nov 2021; MEMO: A Lebanese municipality has imposed a series of measures on Syrian refugees, including a night curfew and a limit on the hours they work and wages they earn daily.
The municipality of Ras Baalbeck issued an order this week that male Syrian workers must not be paid more than 40,000 Lebanese liras per day and can only work from 8AM till 3PM. Female workers are also limited to an hourly wage of 10,000 Lebanese liras.
Other measures Syrians refugees are subject to include a night curfew from 7PM till 6AM, as well as being forbidden from receiving visitors from outside areas.
A spokesperson for the municipality, Wadiaa Nabak, explained the reasons for the measures to the newspaper L'Orient Today. "Syrian workers are already getting international aid and are paid in dollars every day from foreign funds, and the curfew and visitors rule was set as a measurement to reduce the rate of thefts happening in the area," Nabak said.
The restrictions are the latest of many previous ones issued by numerous other municipalities throughout Lebanon, with the organisation Human Rights Watch reporting last year that over 330 municipalities had imposed curfews on Syrians.
Although it criticised such measures as "violating Lebanon's international human rights commitments and Lebanese domestic law," Syrian refugees continue to remain unprotected by the country's labour laws.
