BACKGROUND AND HISTORY

Access Center for Human Rights (ACHR) is a refugee-led civil society organization with an operational background in law, human rights, journalism, and advocacy, dedicated to ensuring securing justice for Syrian refugees. Founded in 2017, ACHR documents and analyzes serious violations affecting Syrian refugees and other affected Syrian communities, working to ensure that their rights remain visible in legal, policy, and public debates. It focuses on protection risks, forced or unsafe returns, arbitrary detention, deportation, discrimination, legal insecurity, and barriers to voluntary, safe, and dignified return. Through research, statements, and evidence-based reports, ACHR highlights the gap between applicable international humanitarian and human rights law and the lived reality of the communities it supports. This documentation informs civil society actors, policymakers, donors, international organizations, and accountability-oriented initiatives, with the aim of driving meaningful policy change. It has been officially registered in France since 2020, under W931023779 and operates in accordance with French laws and regulations.. [MH1] [MH2] 

To promote legal accountability, international law, comprehensive refugee policies, and awareness of human rights violations in Lebanon, ACHR has published over 129 reports, campaigns, research papers, press releases, policy documents, and advocacy letters since 2019. The organization has also led or co-led numerous advocacy campaigns. In addition, ACHR maintains a database   which comprehensively and rigorously records violations. It has since become one of the organization’s main databases for publications and is an important resource for the work of its partners.

METHODOLOGY FOR RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION

Based on ACHR’s methodological principles, several different techniques are used to gather information. ACHR’s field officers interview survivors or witnesses by telephone or online communications. Through careful multi-source verification and rigorous questioning, our field officers establish the identity of interviewees and verify their testimonials to maximize the credibility of the information gathered. Reports, campaigns, statements, and other forms of publication are then produced from this information. This approach makes our documentation deeper and more reliable.

Counting Unit: The tables in this report rely on two different counting units. The first comprises 185 individual cases, each documented separately. The second comprises 11,523 persons whose names or numbers appeared within group incidents, which were documented through sampling and triangulation, that is, by comparing information from multiple independent sources. The true number of violations exceeds the documented figures.

The steps include:

• Gathering information — Information comes from face-to-face interviews, phone calls, email, and social media.
• Data validation — Validating the information involves cross-checking the data with other sources, either from other activists or partners and sometimes open-source data.
• Analysis of information — Data is researched, categorized, and tested for reliability and validity.
• Documentation — This involves identifying the entities to which violations are attributed and the harm resulting from human rights abuses and thoroughly documenting information based on legal standards of evidence, such as in cases of torture, using forensic evidence. Documentation informs the public, institutions, and organizations interested in human rights through the dissemination of reports and documentation results.

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE REPORT 

This report details numerous human rights violations that refugees in Lebanon were subject to throughout  2025 covering the period from 1 January to 31 December 2025.  ACHR identified the violation’s perpetrators, geographical locations of where violations took place, and other details to shed light on the dire situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and the systemic abuses perpetrated against them. It gives in-depth information on each kind of violation, including:

• Abuse of Power — Characterizing the misuse of institutional power against refugees to influence, manipulate, or control them.
• Arbitrary Arrest/Detention — Documenting the ad hoc nature of arrest and detention of refugees, most often without due process and/or formal charges.
• Confiscation of Official Documents — Underscoring cases where identity documentation such as cards and passports has been withheld or revoked, restricting movement and access to services as a result.
• Denial of Medical Services  — Documenting cases where refugees have been denied or blocked from medical care on a discriminatory or arbitrary basis, posing barriers to accessing essential services.
• Discrimination on the Basis of Race, Thought or Belief — Emphasizing cases of discrimination against refugees on the basis of race, thought, or belief, which adds to their misery and prevents them from accessing essential services.
• Arbitrary Pushbacks and returns—Documenting the rejection of asylum claims without a fair, just, or legally justifiable process, as well as the interception and forcible return of refugees attempting to flee Lebanon via irregular sea routes. This may include actions carried out by foreign authorities or other actors outside Lebanon and may result in refugees being returned or deported to Syria.
• Forced Deportation — Recording how refugees have been deported with force used in the process, often without due process or legal basis.
• Forced Evictions — Describing how refugees have been forcibly removed from their homes or camps without guarantees of adequate alternative housing.
• Incitement to Violence and Hate Speech —.Highlighting instances of rhetoric and actions by Lebanese officials, armed groups, and other community actors that directly or indirectly encourage hostility, discrimination, and violence against Syrian refugees.”
• Ill-Treatment and Torture — Identifying cases of refugees who have been subjected to physical torture or psychological or cruel and inhuman treatment .
• Enforced Disappearances — Recording cases of refugees taken into custody by state authorities or by persons or groups acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, where officials deny knowledge of the detention or conceal the person’s whereabouts and fate from their families.
• Deliberate Killing Recording of cases in which refugees were intentionally killed, including killings carried out with clear intent rather than as incidental harm, whether attributed to state actors (in which case they constitute extrajudicial killings) or to armed groups or unidentified perpetrators.
• Sexual violence—Recording cases in which refugees have been subjected to sexual acts, or attempts to obtain a sexual act, committed against their will through force, threat, coercion, or the exploitation of a coercive environment or of their incapacity to consent

Access Center for Human Rights (ACHR) is a refugee-led civil society organization with an operational background in law, human rights, journalism, and advocacy, dedicated to ensuring securing justice for Syrian refugees. Founded in 2017 and registered in Lebanon and France. ACHR documents and analyzes serious violations affecting Syrian refugees and other affected Syrian communities, working to ensure that their rights remain visible in legal, policy, and public debates. It focuses on protection risks, forced or unsafe returns, arbitrary detention, deportation, discrimination, legal insecurity, and barriers to voluntary, safe, and dignified return. Through research, statements, and evidence-based reports, ACHR highlights the gap between applicable international humanitarian and human rights law and the lived reality of the communities it supports. This documentation informs civil society actors, policymakers, donors, international organizations, and accountability-oriented initiatives, with the aim of driving meaningful policy change.

To read the full report