POLICY BRIEF DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS COUNTRY REPORT AND MIGRATION PROFILE FOR LEBANON Maysa Baroud, Joint Visiting Fellow, Middle East Council on Global Affairs& Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs December 2024 Irregular maritime migration from Lebanon to the EU via Eastern and Central Mediter­ranean routes has increased in recent years, driven largely by Lebanon’s compounded crises, regional spillover, and an in­creasingly hostile environment for Syrian refugees. Despite relying on migrants for certain jobs, migration-related policies are complex and frag­mented, while the country is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, leaving mi­grants and refugees with lim­ited protection and rights. Strengthening social and eco­nomic development at the lo­cal level to address migration drivers and establishing a comprehensive legal frame­work to ensure that migrant and refugee rights are pro­tected are essential.