The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has requested more funding and support to provide its services to Palestinian refugees.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philip Lazzarini called - in his annual report on the work of the UN agency before the Fourth Committee, the Special Political and Decolonization Committee - to "remain strong in our commitment to human rights and the well-being of Palestine refugees," according to a statement by the United Nations Information Center.
 
Lazzarini expressed the hope that the discussion would lead to recognition of the irreplaceable role of UNRWA, and to an overwhelming vote to renew the Agency's mandate for another three years.
 
He explained that the past year was difficult for Palestine refugees across the region, with increasing challenges facing the realization of their basic rights, noting that in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, about 90 percent of Palestine refugees currently live below the poverty line, and refugees living in camps and in Its surroundings are particularly violent. The death toll this year has reached levels not seen since 2005, and almost all refugees now depend on the UNRWA food basket in the Strip.
 
"In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, high levels of violence affect (UNRWA's) ability to deliver services, and in Gaza nearly half of the Agency's students suffer from psychological trauma due to repeated cycles of violence and 15 years of blockade that limits their ability," he said. to grow and engage like their peers anywhere else.”
 
The UN official added: “Palestine refugees await with great anticipation the affirmed support and solidarity of the international community in the General Assembly, they are waiting for a sign of hope and a message that they have not been abandoned. And outrage, despite this, UNRWA is making a difference in the lives of millions of Palestine refugees, and more than half a million children continue to receive their education daily in more than 700 UNRWA schools across the region.
 
The increasing number of competing crises over the past decade have heightened indifference to the plight of Palestine refugees, and for a long time (UNRWA) has tried to reconcile three opposing sources of pressure, first, the mandate of the General Assembly that requires the Agency to provide services similar to public services, and secondly, the chronic shortage In sufficient voluntary funding from Member States and the unpredictable nature of most of the funding, thirdly the inability to change the scope or method of service provision because any change in the way UNRWA operates is viewed with suspicion by the Palestinian refugee community and an attempt to weaken the mandate, and weaken the rights of refugees.”
 
Lazzarini noted that over the past ten years, despite active and continuous communication, an annual funding shortfall of approximately $100 million has forced the agency to operate within very stringent financial constraints, and the funding gap has slowed the agency down, especially in areas that require constant modernization and roll-out. New models.
 
Lazzarini stressed the importance of this not being a procedural and routine recognition, and that it be accompanied by a real will to provide the necessary and predictable resources that would allow Palestine refugees to access a dignified life.
 
It is noteworthy that (UNRWA) is an agency designed to be temporary, relying almost exclusively on voluntary funding, as it has run schools and its primary health care centers, and for more than seven decades, it has provided public sector-like services to one of the poorest and most disadvantaged communities in the Middle East.
Source: Middle East News Agency