Forced Migration Governance in Jordan and Lebanon: Lessons from two EU Compacts

Fleeing war, repression, and economic breakdown in their home country, Syrians have become the largest group of forced migrants in the Middle East. Relative to their own populations, neighbouring Jordan and Lebanon have hosted the largest number of Syrians per capita. While both are small, middle-income, and resource-poor countries, the perception of their respective governance of Syrians has been diametrically different: while the 2016 EU-Jordan Compact has been hailed as a success story of innovative refugee governance, the EU-Lebanon Compact has never achieved similar recognition. Instead, Lebanon has been criticized for applying a largely laissez-faire, non-policy approach to the Syrian crisis, which then turned into heavy securitization of Syrian immigration. This policy brief evaluates both compacts five years after their signing and outlines a more reflective potential EU policy approach.