Back to Contents There are several main checkpoints across the country that do not move, such as those located in the North and South of the country, and ones before and after specific areas around the Beirut airport. These checkpoints are permanent (largely) and are on the radar of refugees, stateless persons and other people who wish to avoid them. The issue is with ad hoc checkpoints that are set up following political tension/a political event, or in the case where there is a perceived security threat, or the army/police is looking for a specific profile of people. In many cases, this is where the arrests happen (i.e. when the checkpoint is not routinely located there).” (Source: Dr. Jasmin Lilian Diab, written communication with Asylos, 6 October 2022) The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a report on Palestinians in Lebanon in January 2021 which stated that: “5.1 Domestic […] A source indicates that Palestinians who have the right papers also face discrimination and risk being unjustly arrested at checkpoints. The probability of this varies by situation and depends on the militia guarding the checkpoint. Checks are carried out randomly, but one source indicates that people based on their skin colour or appearance, who may be associated with Palestinian and Syrian refugees, are more likely subject to questioning and possible discriminatory treatment at checkpoints.” (In-house translation. The translator is a native Dutch speaker) ORIGINAL SOURCE “5.1 Binnenland […] Een bron geeft aan dat ook Palestijnen die over de juiste papieren beschikken te maken hebben met discriminatie en kans hebben onterecht opgepakt te worden bij controleposten. De kans hierop verschilt per situatie en hangt af van de militie die de controlepost bewaakt. Controles worden willekeurig uitgevoerd, maar een bron geeft aan dat personen op basis van hun huidskleur of uiterlijk, die mogelijk geassocieerd worden met Palestijnse en Syrische vluchtelingen, meer kans op ondervraging en mogelijke discriminatoire behandeling ondervinden bij controleposten.” (Source: Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Thematisch ambtsbericht Palestijnen in Libanon”, January 2021, pp. 27-28) Based on a Whatsapp survey in Palestinian camps and gatherings in Lebanon, the UNDP stated in August 2020 that: “Mieh Mieh Palestine refugee camp vs. Mieh Mieh village [...] Entry and exit restrictions for people and goods in the camp is a persistent inconvenience. Indeed, one young person exclaimed that ‘the number of checkpoints add a lot of stress on people who live in the camp, sometimes you have to get out an hour earlier to make sure you are not late because of the checkpoints’. Many FGD [focus group discussion] participants also claimed that what can or cannot be brought into the camp depends on the mood of the soldiers monitoring these checkpoints: one man told us they ‘spend hours at checkpoints, to explain the entry of necessities. [The guards] require permits to enter food and basic equipment, such as heaters in the winter, gas tanks, water, a TV. I don’t understand why all this, especially after the withdrawal of weapons!’ Another said that ‘they stop sick people at checkpoints, and even when we give them proof that they are sick or dying, they insist on IDs, even dead people need permits to pass’. Regarding this last point, we found that these delays often meant that some people did not make it to the hospital alive. A young woman in our FGD became emotional as she spoke of the tragic death of her father: ‘my father had a heart attack in the middle of the night and due to the lack of any medical facilities in the camp, we tried to take him to a hospital outside, but they made it hard on us at the checkpoints and he died on the way’.” (Source: UNDP, “Nothing and Everything to Lose: Results from a Qualitative Whatsapp survey of Palestinian Camps and Gatherings in Lebanon”, August 2020, p. 27) 5. Freedom of movement 52