A/HRC/31/18/Add.1 efforts by the Government of Lebanon to facilitate their access to public schools. Some schools offer extra afternoon classes for refugee children. United Nations agencies, local administrations, non-governmental organizations and religious communities provide humanitarian assistance. Private religious schools have, for instance, admitted refugee children without requesting the usual tuition fees, although this measure is a heavy burden on their resources. While some private religious schools concentrate on refugees from within their own religious communities, many religious schools accommodate refugee children from across the religious spectrum. Unfortunately, external subsidies are scarce and some foreign donors have recently reduced or even withdrawn their financial support. The international community has an obvious responsibility to do the utmost to overcome this deplorable situation. 80. Syrian refugees can and do use religious facilities that exist in their vicinity. There is no problem for them to visit a mosque and to participate in prayers. When trying to bury their dead, however, they are faced with a lack of land for graveyards, a problem for which no long-term solution is currently envisaged. C. Migrant workers 81. Little attention has so far been given to the religious beliefs and practices of the tens of thousands of migrant workers residing in Lebanon, many of whom come from African and Asian countries, including Bangladesh, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and the Sudan. In particular those who serve in private households are hardly visible in society and tend to be largely ignored. Lack of political and social support renders many of these people, particularly women and girls, vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. The children of migrant workers sometimes encounter difficulties in enrolling in public schools, and tuition fees for private education are rarely affordable. As a result, parents may be faced with the dilemma of either sending their children back to relatives in their home countr y or forfeiting their chances of providing even a minimal school education. 82. The migrant workers who shared their experiences with the Special Rapporteur did not see any problem in confessing and practising their religions. One interlocutor who had spent some time in other Arab countries confirmed that the standard of religious freedom in Lebanon was comparatively high, including for migrant workers. They are able to join existing religious communities or run their own churches, which may offer services in their language of origin. Some religious communities support the school education of children of migrant workers by subsidizing tuition fees in private religious schools. 83. In the wake of work-related migration, Buddhism has become a largely overlooked reality in Lebanon. Although no statistics exist, the number of Buddhists residing in the country has been estimated to run into the tens of thousands. According to information received, no Buddhist temples exist yet in Lebanon, although requests for acquiring premises or land to build a temple have reportedly been submitted. Apparently, quite a number of Buddhists living in Lebanon have converted to Christianity, which is another largely ignored feature of the changing religious landscape in Lebanon. 20

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