Bridging the Gap between Social Protection and a Humanitarian Response: Lebanon’s Refugees amid Host Community Fatigue, COVID-19 and Good Practices

Over the last decade, Lebanon has been navigating a protracted Syrian refugee crisis and, more recently, a severe political, economic and financial crisis exacerbated by the mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic and the explosion at Beirut port in August 2020. As a result of this layered and intersectional crisis, the social, health and food needs of both the refugee and vulnerable local populations have become exceedingly acute. The government has also done a poor job of managing the COVID-19 pandemic. The explosion in the country's capital on 4 August 2020 left more than 200 dead and thousands more injured and cost the country millions of USD in damages (apart from the long-term repercussions on the country's economy and political stability). Despite the fact that the country intercepted a mass influx of refugees as a result of the Syrian conflict, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) largely found that the Lebanese government persistently affirmed commitments to key protection principles and standards, in addition to upholding the non-refoulement principle -though there were varying degrees of political and popular support for this (UNHCR 2013). The presence of refugees in Lebanon (Palestinians earlier on and Syrians more recently) has profoundly impacted the country's infrastructure, political stability, and economic realities. This impact continues to be put to the