Lebanon is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which provides the internationally recognised definition of a refugee and outlines the legal protection, rights, and assistance a refugee is entitled to receive, nor the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, which expands the Convention to apply universally and protect all persons fleeing conflict and persecution. Lebanon is also not a signatory to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, which establishes a framework for the international protection of stateless persons; the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which sets rules for the conferral and non-withdrawal of citizenship to prevent cases of statelessness from arising; nor the 1997 European Convention on Nationality, which establishes principles and rules on nationality.

However, Lebanon has ratified several other international legal instruments that also relate to treatment of refugees, including the:     

• International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), which obliges signatories to take action to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which sets out protections for a wide range of human rights, including freedom from torture and other cruel, degrading or inhuman punishment, fair trial rights, equality, and non-discrimination 
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which ensures the enjoyment of economic, social, and cultural rights to education, fair and just working conditions, adequate standards of living, social security, and the highest attainable standard of health
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which sets out provisions to ensure women’s full enjoyment of human rights on an equal basis with men
• Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), which requires signatories to take effective measures to prevent acts of torture
• Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which protects children’s rights and obliges public bodies to consider children’s best interests     
• Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which seeks to eliminate disability discrimination and safeguard the rights of disabled people

Lebanon has also signed but not ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICED), which combats enforced disappearance.     

While Lebanon is not party to the Refugee Convention, Lebanon is obligated to respect the international customary legal principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits any country from deporting any person to a country where they face the threat of persecution.

Lebanon does not have a legal framework governing the treatment and protection of refugees, which means that Lebanese law does not differentiate between illegal immigrants and asylum seekers. For asylum seekers with nationalities other than Syrian, UNHCR conducts Refugee Status Determination (RSD) in order to identify international protection needs and durable solutions.    

Since 2015, Lebanon has put in place measures that have had the impact of limiting refugees’ abilities to apply for asylum. For example, admission to Lebanon is restricted to those who can provide valid identity documents and proof of approved reason for entry (of which seeking refuge is not included, other than in exceptional circumstances approved by the Ministry of Social Affairs). Moreover, the Lebanese Government suspended the registration of Syrian refugees by UNHCR in 2015.           

Article 26 of the 1962 Order No. 319 Regulating the Status of Foreign Nationals in Lebanon does grant the right to request asylum to foreign nationals who are the subject of prosecution or conviction by a foreign authority for a political crime, or whose life or freedom is threatened (also for political reasons). However, only a fraction of refugees have been able to obtain legal residency, with many living in fear of being arrested and evicted from local authority shelters. 80% of Syrians in Lebanon do not hold legal residency. 

Lebanon’s political system has suffered from widespread corruption since the end of the civil war in the 1990s, which has resulted in economic challenges, poverty, poor governance and a breakdown in public services. Catastrophic events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the explosion of ammonium nitrate at Beirut Port in 2020 have exacerbated Lebanon’s crisis. Lebanon’s situation has led to many expressing concerns as to whether the country is in a position to continue to host refugees. Local organisations, newspapers and academic journals have reported hostility, legal discrimination, and forms of direct violence towards the refugee community. 

With the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, UNHCR released its Operational Framework for Voluntary Return, which outlines its plans to assist the voluntary return of Syrian refugees and involuntarily displaced persons. UNHCR estimates that between December 2024 and February 2025, 290,000 Syrians crossed back into Syria from neighbouring countries and up to 1.5 million Syrians would return by the end of 2025. The Government of Lebanon has implemented facilitation measures for refugees wishing to return to Syria through land border crossing points. Refugees who entered Lebanon (legally or illegally) and have exceeded their authorised length of stay, are allowed to depart through land border crossing points without paying any fees or penalties (information available in Arabic only), and without re-entry bans being issued against them.

Between October 2023 and November 2024, UNHCR estimates that more than a million people were displaced in Lebanon (some of them already refugees) as a result of clashes between Israel and Hezbollah in southern and eastern Lebanon. Israeli air strikes in September 2024 hit a number of areas including Lebanon’s capital Beirut, leading to further displacement. Southern Lebanon has borne the brunt of the Israeli strikes, with civilian structures and agricultural land reportedly destroyed.  

The socio-economic crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Beirut blast, the Gaza situation and the escalation of hostilities in 2024 have exacerbated the plight of refugees in Lebanon. The tightening of administrative restrictions, rising official fees for residency  renewal, new limitations on livelihood opportunities, and a surge in collective evictions have further strained the difficult protection environment for refugees.