Date: May 11, 2019 Source: The Daily Star Japan gives UNHCR $3.5M to support locals, refugees BEIRUT: Japan contributed another $3.5 million to the United Nations refugee agency to support education programs for over 100,000 Lebanese and Syrian refugee students in Lebanon, a UNHCR statement said Friday. The funding will support child protection services; sexual and gender-based violence prevention and response in the Bekaa Valley and North Lebanon; vocational education; and protection for children who suffer violence, neglect or exploitation. Japan had already contributed over $29 million to the UNHCR in Lebanon since 2013. Japanese Ambassador to Lebanon Matahiro Yamaguchi said he hoped that the new contribution would help “relieve the suffering of the vulnerable communities and ... promote peaceful coexistence between the Syrian refugees and the Lebanese residents” by enabling both local and refugee communities to pursue education and develop skills. “This generous contribution from the government of Japan and its people will help the UNHCR continue providing essential services for vulnerable groups within the Lebanese and refugee communities,” the agency’s representative in Lebanon, Mireille Girard, said.