KEY POINTS
- Senegal repatriates citizens escaping worsening conditions in Lebanon.
- Many returnees describe losing everything due to the ongoing crisis.
- Senegal is working to bring more citizens home safely.
Lebanon is still experiencing increasing instability and Senegal has started evacuating its citizens from the country.
Over thirty Senegalese migrants have been repatriated home after they had to escape the difficult lifestyle in Lebanon who’s economic and political situations have worsened. Most of them report that they had a terrible time, claiming that they lost all and are now trying to start over.
Lebanon’s crisis deepens: migrants return
Lebanon has been experiencing a very bad economy and political instability for years now and the situation has become worst in the recent past.
This has made many migrants including Senegalese nationals to be stuck and in search of a means to leave the country. As the jobs are hard to come by and the cost of living continues to rise, many of these workers have been unable to make ends meet.
Lebanese people and Senegalese citizens, who used to go to Lebanon in the hope of finding better paid jobs, are now in a very bad situation.
Some are coming back with nothing; they lost their money and other properties as the crisis spread across the country. Reuters reported one Senegalese father saying “Everything is lost,” as he and others headed back to Dakar, carrying nothing but the clothes they were wearing.
Senegal increases measures to repatriate its citizens
Due to the increasing humanitarian situation, the Senegalese authorities have increased the repatriation of their citizens from Lebanon.
The government has collaborated with the international organizations and the Lebanese authorities in the repatriation of the migrants. Most of the people being repatriated were in domestic service or the informal sector, which has been badly affected in Lebanon.
The Senegalese government has reassured its willingness to repatriate more of its citizens who are still stranded in Lebanon.
It is also working to develop a plan in cooperation with consular services and other international humanitarian organizations aiming at assisting those passengers who need to be repatriated to Senegal by giving them safe means to do so and providing necessary reintegration assistance upon they arrive to Senegal.
Rebuilding lives back home
For the Senegalese migrants, arriving back home from Lebanon is the start of a new ordeal. Most of them are returning to a country that has few employment openings, especially after the global economic downturns.
But there is hope that with the help of government and people’s help these people will be able to start anew and find work.
According to a statement, humanitarian aid is being given to the returnees in form of shelter, foods as well as counseling services to ensure that they fit in the new society.
Local authorities have also said that they are coming up with long-term strategies of how job training and economic opportunities are to be provided to those who have been rendered jobless through reproductive justice.
A hopeful path forward
The condition of those repatriated from Lebanon is still challenging, but there is optimism that their future in Senegal will be much brighter. The Senegalese government is also trying to help its citizens during this crisis, as the efforts are still being made to evacuate more nationals.
The repatriation also brings out the persecution challenges other migrants in conflict prone regions thus the need to foster regional cooperation in protecting the vulnerable persons.
