“Where are my rights?” more than thirty protesters, mainly women and children, including a handful of men and elderly, all notably from Sudan or Ethiopia, chanted across the road from the United Nations refugee agency's (UNHCR) offices in the Jnah neighborhood of Lebanese capital, Beirut, during a rare, sunny morning on January 14, 2020.
The protesters - backed by a few activists and supporters from various backgrounds, including members of the Anti-Racism Movement (ARM) - called on the UNHCR to reopen their case files previously closed, a more faster and more robust resettlement status for case files that have been pending for years, provide services of protection by UNCHR, and a general respect and dignity towards refugees and asylum seekers from African countries.
A group of security forces, an assemblage of private security, diplomatic police, and the Lebanese internal forces, watched silently and curiously from behind the blue metal gates.
