UNITED NATIONS
Annual Report of the Director
of the United Nations Relief and
Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
in the Near East
1 July 1960–30 June 1961
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OFFICIAL RECORDS : SIXTEENTH SESSION
SUPPLEMENT No. 14 (A/4861
NEW YORK
NOTE
Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined with figures. Mention of such a symbol indicates a reference to a United Nations
document.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Letter of transmittal v
Letter from the Chairman of the Advisory Commission of the
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
in the Near East vi
INTRODUCTION 1
PART I. REPORT ON UNRWA OPERATIONS, 1 JULY 1960-30 JUNE 1961 5
Annex to part I
Tables
1-5 Statistics concerning refugees and c 14
6-8 Basic rations and supplementary feeding 17
9-11 Health statistics 18
12-16 General education and university scholarships 19
17 Vocational and teacher training 21
18-21 Finance 21
22-25 Social welfare 25
26 UNRWA Personnel 26
PART II. BUDGET FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 1962 27
Appendix. Location map of UNRWA activities at end of volume
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
Beirut, Lebanon
26 August 1961
Sir,
I have the honour to submit herewith my Annual Report to the General Assembly on the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East for the period 1 July 1960 to 30 June 1961, in compliance with the request contained in paragraph 21 of resolution 302 (IV) of 8 December 1949 and paragraph 8 of resolution 1315 (XIII) of 12 December 1958. The Advisory Commission of the Agency has considered this report and its views are set forth in the letter of which I attach a copy. I wish to make it clear that the views expressed in the Introduction to the Report are my own; it should not be assumed that the Governments represented in the Advisory Commission necessarily subscribe to all the views I have expressed.
The report is presented in three main parts, as follows:
An Introduction, in which I have endeavoured to evaluate the present condition of the Palestine refugees, and their need for continued international assistance in the light of certain factors which I consider relevant to any general review of the problem;
Part I, representing an account of the Agency's activities during the 12 months ending 30 June 1961, to which are annexed 26 statistical tables relating to particular activities; and
Part II, a presentation of the Agency's budget for the calendar year 1962 for consideration by the General Assembly at its sixteenth session.
(Signed) John H. DAVIS
Director
President of the General Assembly, United Nations,
New York
LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE ADVISORY COMMISSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY FOR PALESTINE REFUGEES IN THE NEAR EAST
25 August 1961
Dear Dr. Davis,
At its meeting held on 17 August, 1961, the Advisory Commission of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East carefully considered the annual report which you are submitting to the General Assembly of the United Nations at its sixteenth session.
In the view of the Advisory Commission your report accurately describes the Agency's activities during the period 1 July 1960 to 30 June 1961. It also reports progress on the three-year programme which you submitted to the General Assembly at its fifteenth session.
Your proposed budget for the calendar year 1962 gives details of new expenditure arising from the implementation of the three-year programme, as well as of the inevitable increase in the cost of relief and education programmes. It is clear from
your presentation that a substantial increase in governmental contributions will be necessary for the remainder of the period of the Agency's extended mandate if the three-year programme is to be carried through according to plan. The Advisory Commission therefore considers it most important that the attention of the General Assembly be duly drawn to the Agency's precarious financial situation, with particular regard to the disturbing decline of its working capital. In the course of their discussion of this section of the report, however, the members of the Advisory Commission reserved the positions of their respective Governments.
My colleagues all join me in extending their cordial thanks for your efforts in the preparation of your report.
Yours sincerely,
(Signed) Louis PANNIER
Chairman,
Advisory Commission
Dr. John H. Davis,
Director,
United Nations Relief and Works Agency,
Beirut
INTRODUCTION
1. In this report, which covers the period 1 July 1960 to 30 June 1961, the Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has attempted to: (a) review the current condition of the refugees, (b) summarize the activities of the Agency during the past year,
including a progress report on the implementation of the Agency's three-year programme for assisting refugee youth, and (c) submit a budget for 1962.
BACKGROUND
2. The Agency is now in its twelfth year of operation–having been authorized by the General Assembly in December 1949 and having started functioning in May 1950.1 The Agency's objectives, as indicated in its title, were intended to centre about the two focal points of Relief, to alleviate suffering, and Works, to provide employment. Historically speaking, UNRWA has had to devote most of its efforts and funds to the relief objective because the refugees had to be fed and housed and given medical care pending a solution. Meanwhile the rehabilitation of the Palestine refugees has proved to be a much more difficult and a much longer-term task than was at first envisaged. In part this was due to the fact that "Works" projects for the purpose of direct resettlement were in principle unacceptable to the refugees (their one overwhelming desire being repatriation), to the Arab people generally, and therefore to the Arab Governments, who consider that resettlement projects contravene paragraph 11 of General Assembly resolution 194 (III) concerning the refugees' rights to repatriation or compensation. In large measure, it was also due to the economic and social obstacles which inherently stood in the way of putting to productive use the abilities of upwards of a million displaced people in the countries where they had taken refuge–countries which themselves possessed limited natural resources and which were already faced with grave problems in providing a livelihood for their own rapidly growing populations.
3. However, the fact is that virtually every adult refugee who in 1948 had a skill needed in the Arab world soon found a job and he and his family have been self-supporting ever since. Furthermore, almost all young refugees who in the intervening years have received specialized training–unfortunately only some 3,000–have become self-supporting.
4. In general, the 70 odd per cent of all adult refugees who became dependent on UNRWA were farmers, small shopkeepers, unskilled workers, and herders, together with the sick and the old. In general, the areas into which they crowded were already saturated with persons possessing such skills. Particularly acute has been the problem of families engaged in agriculture and related village services, who constituted more than two-thirds of all refugees who became dependent on UNRWA. It was their misfortune that the host countries already had a large excess of native sons who wanted to farm but who had no land, since for years the farm population has been increasing at a rate several times that needed to replace retiring farmers and supply occupants for newly developed land.
5. Gradually the problem of the adult refugee has shifted to the younger adults as more children grow to maturity each year. Today, of the more than one million refugees now registered with the Agency, approximately half are adults and half are children, if one defines adulthood as starting at about 18 years. Of the 500,000 adults dependent on UNRWA, three out of five have matured to adulthood as refugees. In general, these adults are more literate than their parents, but less skilled in the art of making a living, because most of them have not had an opportunity to learn a trade or technical skill either through apprenticeship or through training. Of the children now registered, 30,000 will become adults each year and taking their place will be another 30,000 to 35,000 new-born babies.
6. Particularly serious is the fact that in all probability the greater part of the approximately 150,000 young men who have grown to maturity as refugees since 1948 have already missed for life their opportunities to obtain specialized training. This is likely to be so because it is improbable that during the next decade or two there will be enough technical and vocational schools to admit all who want to enter and in the resulting competition against younger men, who are more adaptable and still single, the more mature young men will not be able to gain admission. This does not mean that the older persons could not learn, nor that some of the more resourceful will not become skilled even without specialized training; merely that in the face of the limited training and apprenticeship opportunities which are almost certain to exist, most will find it difficult to compete successfully against younger men. To the extent that this is true, these refugees will become more of a liability than an asset to any country in which they may reside.
7. A related factor which has operated to keep refugees, both young and old, idle in camps and villages has been the relatively modest rate at which new jobs have been created, generally, in the Middle East during the past thirteen years. For the region as a whole and for the period as a whole, new jobs have barely kept pace with the increase in the number of workers, not including refugees (such pressure for employment, of course, is not unique to the Middle East, but characterizes most countries which are striving to climb the ladder of progress). Moreover, an increasing percentage of the new jobs have been of a technical or semi-technical type for which most refugee adults were unprepared and for which they had little opportunity to obtain training. With respect to any country where pressure for jobs is keen, it would seem illogical for one to expect responsible officials and employers to adopt a policy of giving employment to refugees in preference to the indigenous population.
8. Closely related to the rate of job creation in the past and largely determining the rate for the future is the question of the ratio between resources and population. In terms of known resources which can be readily developed the host countries have definite limitations. For this reason, in considering projects for refugee settlement within these countries, responsible persons must consider first the capacity of these countries to absorb their own population increase during future decades. In this connexion, the Director of UNRWA stated in his report to the fifteenth session of the General Assembly that unless resort is to be made to an uneconomic level of investment "the fact has to be faced that for the majority of the refugees… the areas where they are presently located hold out almost no prospect of their absorption into satisfactory, self-supporting employment. It follows that if these refugees are ever to find suitable employment, they will have to move across an international frontier in one direction or another". Nothing that has happened during the past year has caused the Director of UNRWA to alter this judgement.
9. As already indicated, political forces, also, have played a significant role in perpetuating the problem of the Palestine refugees. In large measure the political attitudes and activities in question have simply reflected and underlined the basic feelings of the Arab people. For thirteen years the lot of the Palestine refugees has been one of frustration, uncertainty, disappointment and hardship. They have been subjected to the privation of living for years on international charity–for the most part in enforced idleness. Even greater than their physical privation (UNRWA per capita assistance having averaged less than $30 per person per year over the eleven-year period as a whole) has been the loss of self-respect which accompanies the loss of the opportunity to be self-supporting. Such a life cannot help but leave scars–deep scars which affect human personalities. Hence it is hardly a matter for surprise if the refugees show embitterment and resentment over the loss of their homes and homeland, if they constantly clamour to return to them, or if these attitudes are reflected in political circles. Nor is it surprising that the refugees still strongly demand the right of choice between repatriation and compensation held out to them by the United Nations under paragraph 11 of the General Assembly resolution 194 (III)–a right which has never been implemented.
10. Closely paralleling the feeling of the refugees regarding the Palestine issue are the feelings of Arab people generally. They, too, have lived close to the problem–and all the more so because the refugees have lived among them. Here, also, bitterness and resentment are strong. In fact, it is difficult to detect much difference as between refugees who have been employed and self-supporting during the past thirteen years, refugees who have been unemployed in camps and villages, and non-refugee Arabs. Nor can one see much difference of attitude as between older refugees and the oncoming generation.
11. When one takes into account the complex of factors, both political and socio-economic, which have had a bearing on the Palestine refugee problem during the past thirteen years, there is little mystery as to why these unfortunate people have continued to remain as refugees. Even if by good fortune a satisfactory political solution to the problem were found soon, the cumulative socio-economic aspects of the problem which now exist would take some years to untangle.
12. When account is taken of the entire array of complicated problems confronting the host Governments, not only with respect to refugees, but encompassing the whole struggle for development and progress, it seems clearly unrealistic to assume that the major responsibility for solving the refugee problem should now rest with the host Governments.
THE AGENCY'S THREE-YEAR PROGRAMME
13. In terms of a future policy regarding the Palestine refugee problem, the most salient single fact would seem to be that the problem continues to grow ever larger and more complex. It grows larger in that the net total of registered refugees is increasing by 30,000 to 35,000 persons per year, and more complex in that an additional 30,000 new adults are being added annually to the number of refugees who, in a large measure, are unemployable as well as unemployed.
14. Taking these facts into account, the Director of UNRWA recommended in his report to the fifteenth session of the General Assembly that during the present mandate period (1 July 1960 to 30 June 1963) UNRWA should hold relief services to about the per capita level of 1960 (even though this represents only the basic minimum of existence) in order to maximize its assistance to maturing refugee youth by helping them to develop the basic abilities with which they were endowed. On this more constructive side of the Agency's work he recommended that during that period the Agency should:
(a) Expand vocational training to the point that UNRWA can turn out about 2,000 graduates per year, compared with 300 in 1960;
(b) Increase the number of scholarships awarded annually to university students from 90 to 180;
(c) Improve the Agency's basic elementary and secondary education programme as a means of supporting steps (a) and (b) and of properly relating this to the educational trends within the host countries;
(d) Continue a modest loan-grant programme for helping qualified refugees to put their acquired skills to productive use in enterprises of their own.
15. These recommendations are in conformity with the policy set forth in paragraph 6 of General Assembly resolution 1456 (XIV), adopted 9 December 1959, which directed "the Agency to continue its programme of relief for the refugees and, in so far as is financially possible, expand its programme of self-support and vocational training".
16. This three-year programme is moving ahead about on schedule. In fact, the vocational training portion is somewhat ahead of schedule by virtue of the fact that its second phase (i.e., doubling of the size of training centres) has been integrated with the first phase (building of new centres) for reasons of economy. Basic relief and education services are being maintained as planned; modest improvements in education and limited increases in university scholarships have been achieved; and plans for a small loans-grants programme are being evolved.
17. However, the problem of financing the programme for the future is still a serious one. The Director's report of last year estimated the aggregate cost of the three-year programme to be $16.2 million in addition to the total expenditure level for 1960. This would provide $8.1 million for relief and basic education services and $8.1 million for the expanded programmes for assisting young refugees. Of the extra $16.2 million required for this effort, the Director of UNRWA stated in his last year's report that he would undertake to raise a minimum of $4 million as an extra-budgetary amount, principally from World Refugee Year sources, and indicated that the balance of about $12 million would need to come from increased regular contributions by Governments.
18. The Director of UNRWA is pleased to report that as at 30 June 1961 the Agency had received or been definitely promised the sum of $4.4 million in the form of extra-budgetary amounts. These contributions, of course, are a one-time gift and the donor has, in most instances, designated them for use in expanding vocational training, university scholarships, or the loangrant programme. As anticipated, owing to the time interval inherent in the appropriation procedures of Governments, the Agency has received only a very limited increase of funds through regular contributions for the fiscal year 1961. This means that almost no additional funds have become available this year for the increased cost of relief or for improvements and expansion of basic education. Therefore, the Agency has been forced to draw down its already limited working capital in order to cover this deficit during 1961.
19. Certain contributors to UNRWA have inquired whether it would be satisfactory if they increased their regular contributions but designated the additional sum for use only in the expansion of vocational training. Of course, within limited bounds this approach would create no serious problems for the Agency. The truth is that food, health services and shelter are all more basic to the refugees' survival than any form of education or loans-grants. Similarly, the provision of basic educational services for the increased population is more vital to the over-all welfare of refugees than are the badly needed improvements and expansions in the education and training programme (even though improvements in general education are essential to the success of the vocational training programme as a whole). Hence, the priorities of the Agency under the three year plan have been set as follows:
Millions $
1. Provision of relief services to increased population.. 4.4
2. Provision of existing levels of education services to
increased population ………………………….. 3.7
Sub-total 8.1
3. Improvement of general education ………………… 2.5
4. Expansion of vocational training ………………… 4.6
5. Increase in university scholarships ……………… 0.5
6. Provision of self-support assistance through loans
and grants …………………………………… 0.5
Sub-total 8.1
TOTAL 16.2
20. As already indicated, in 1961 the Agency has resolutely pushed ahead with priority item number 4 above (and to a limited degree items number 5 and 6), despite the almost total lack of contributions for priorities 1, 2 and 3, using the $4.4 million of extra-budgetary funds received. This has been done because, in the Director's opinion, the need of young refugees for specialized training is sufficiently great as to justify the taking of the risk involved. This risk, however, cannot be overlooked. To cover priority items number 1, 2 and 3 in 1961, the Agency has had to draw heavily on its working capital with the result that by the end of the year working capital will be at a level somewhat below that which is deemed to be prudent and any further reduction would jeopardize the Agency's ability to continue its basic relief programme. Extra-budgetary contributions have, as noted above, provided only some $4.4 million of the $16.2 million cost of the three-year programme; the balance of $11.8 million must therefore still somehow be obtained in 1962 and 1963 if the Agency is to continue its established relief and education programmes and to complete its three-year programme for the improvement of general education and the expansion of vocational training, university scholarships and individual assistance.
21. The Director of UNRWA feels strongly the need to carry to completion the Agency's three-year programme in all its aspects. To do this the total budget must be met.
22. After careful consideration, the Director is prepared to undertake to raise $1 million of additional money from voluntary sources for each of the years 1962 and 1963. This, when added to the $4.4 million already raised from such sources, would bring to $6.4 million the total sum obtained outside regular contributions. Subtracting this from the $16.2 million needed for the total programme (in addition to the Agency's expenditure level for 1960) leaves $9.8 million to be provided by increased regular contributions from Governments during the remainder of the Agency's mandate period. Of this amount, $4.6 million will be required for 1962 and $5.2 million for 1963. As shown in part II of this report, total contributions requested of Governments therefore will amount to $37.2 million for 1962. The corresponding figure for 1963 is estimated to be $37.8 million.
23. The Director would seek to raise the additional $1 million from voluntary sources for each of the years 1962 and 1963 by soliciting donations in the form of 2,000 scholarships of $500 each for the purpose of meeting the costs of training young refugees in the vocational training centres which are now being built. The experience of raising the $4.4 million already obtained convinces the Director that this can be done.
24. Therefore, the Director of UNRWA urges the General Assembly to consider the entire three-year expanded programme of UNRWA as an integral package –taking duly into account the fact that vocational training centres and the loan-grant programme are inherently in a residual position with respect to funds. The Director appeals to Governments to take the facts here presented into account in determining their pledges to UNRWA for next year.
RELIEF SERVICES
25. As has been indicated, during the past year UNRWA pursued a policy of holding per capita relief services to about the level of 1960 in order that it might maximize its effort to assist young adult refugees (see part I of this report for details relative to relief services).
26. During the past year, the Agency has strengthened its effort to revise its registration rolls, particularly with respect to rations, and it has met with some success. The heart of the problem has been and is a lack of sufficient confidence on the part of the refugees to bring forth their co-operation in a mutual effort to revise the rolls even in their own basic interest. In general, when UNRWA has tried unilaterally to revise the system, strong protests have been registered in the press and with Governments by refugees, who were concerned with their status, with the result that such efforts have had only limited success. This has been true even though, in UNRWA's view, the proposed changes would have brought about a net gain to the refugees in terms of services to those who need them. Currently, the Agency's approach is to work more closely with the refugee leaders and with host Government officials in both the planning and implementation of a programme to rectify registration rolls, in order that such programme may be more practical and that the Agency's motives may be better understood.
RELATIONSHIPS WITH HOST GOVERNMENTS AND ORGANIZATIONS
27. This year, as last, the Director is pleased to report that relationships between UNRWA and the host Governments have been good. Among other things, a number of misunderstandings and claims, some of long duration, have been resolved. The Governments themselves have continued to do much for the refugees in terms of providing land, water, and security protection and in rendering assistance in health, education and welfare. Of particular significance this year has been the assistance provided to facilitate the implementation of the Agency's three-year programme, including land and certain services in connexion with the building of new vocational training centres. As shown in table 21 annexed to part I of this report, the financial burden borne by the host Governments in behalf of the refugees is material–last year aggregating in excess of $5 million. In general, the host countries and Governments show deep understanding of the refugees and sympathy for their needs.
28. The Agency has continued its cordial working relations with other United Nations entities serving the Middle East. With regard to paragraph 6 of General Assembly resolution 1315 (XIII) in which the Agency was requested "to continue its consultations with the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine
in the best interests of their respective tasks, with particular reference to paragraph 11 of resolution 194 (III)", no occasion has arisen during the past year calling for such consultations except in the context of the unblocking of refugee bank accounts in Israel.
29. The voluntary agencies which work in the Middle East have continued to administer effectively to the needs of refugees–some on an expanded basis. In addition to the clothing gifts, their services include numerous activities relating to health, education, and welfare which are invaluable in terms of assistance given both to refugees and other claimants. A list of these agencies is given in table 24 of the annex to part I of the report.
CONCLUSION
30. In this report the Director of UNRWA has dealt with UNRWA affairs without attempting to present any general solution to the Palestine refugee problem, since responsibility for the latter rests elsewhere within the United Nations. Even so, the general observations, here set forth, which are based on the Agency's experience, should also be pertinent to any general solution; and none more than the conclusion that any solution, if it is to be effective, must take adequately into account the deep feelings and aspirations of the peoples of the Middle East as a whole. In the Director's opinion, it has been the failure to do this that has determined the failure of the several solutions to the problem which have been proposed in the past.
31. In the interest of international peace and security, it is important that an equitable solution to the problem of the Palestine refugees be found as xpeditiously as possible. At the same time, both the history and the present status of the problem bear evidence that a solution in the immediate future may not prove possible. Hence, for some time to come, there may well be no practical alternative to continuing to provide relief services to refugees in need, and educational services for refugee children and young adults. Such a course would seem imperative for the purpose of relieving human suffering, preparing refugee youth for useful lives, supporting stability and progress in the Middle East and thus helping to maintain the peace of the world.
32. In the opinion of the Director of UNRWA, it is within this frame of reference that the General Assembly should study the Palestine refugee problem for the purpose of giving guidance to UNRWA during the remainder of its present mandate period and for determining the need for and nature of international assistance in behalf of Palestine refugees after 30 June 1963, when the Agency's mandate expires.
Part I
REPORT ON UNRWA OPERATIONS, 1 JULY 1960-30 JUNE 1961
A. The provision of relief
33. As directed by the General Assembly in resolution 1456 (XIV), the Agency has continued to carry out its basic task of providing relief to Palestine refugees in need. The nature and extent of the relief services provided has changed but little since the Agency first began operations in 1950. The basic ration has remained virtually the same throughout this time and the supplementary feeding programme, which was developed during the early years of the Agency's operations, has assisted the same proportion of the refugee population for the past six years. As has frequently been stressed in the past, these relief services are minimal and can only maintain an indigent refugee and his family at the barest level of subsistence. It will, moreover, be recalled that the programme of operations2 approved
by the General Assembly for the three years of the Agency's extended mandate, i.e. the three years ending 30 June 1963, presupposed the maintenance of basic relief services at their existing levels, the only increases in expenditure envisaged being those due to unavoidable factors such as the natural increase of the refugee population, which at present is approximately 30,000 per annum.
34. Information concerning each of the Agency's relief programmes is contained in the following paragraphs.
BASIC AND SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDING
35. Nearly 40 per cent of the Agency's budget is devoted to what may be considered to be its primary task, the purchase and distribution of basic food commodities, and during the year the Agency imported into its area of operations 111,000 tons of flour and 29,000 tons of other foodstuffs for refugee consumption. The basic ration, consisting of flour, pulses, oils and fats, sugar and rice, with the addition of dates in winter, remained unchanged both in quantity and composition; it provides 1,500 calories per day in summer and 1,600 in winter, and a total vegetable protein content of 41.7 and 44.2 grammes respectively. No fresh food items are supplied and many refugees, in areas and circumstances in which this is possible, supplement their rations with meat, fruit, vegetables, eggs etc., either grown by themselves, or bartered for part of their dry rations, or bought with their small earnings.
36. The basic ration being dietetically inadequate, provision continued to be made through the supplementary feeding and milk programme for the protection of the more vulnerable groups of the refugee population–children, pregnant and nursing women, tuberculosis patients etc.–against possible malnutrition. Approximately 5 per cent of the refugee population received some form of supplementary feeding, and as experience has shown that the largest group in need of it are under 6 years of age, 70 per cent of the beneficiaries are now designated from the 0-5 age-group. The supplementary feeding programme as a whole is to be subjected to a thorough technical review in the coming months.
37. Tables 6, 7 and 8 in the annex contain details of the composition of the basic ration and statistical information on the supplementary feeding and milk programmes.
NUMBERS, ELIGIBILITY AND REGISTRATION
38. During the twelve months under review, the number of refugees registered with the Agency increased by about 30,000, owing to natural increase, to a total, as at 30 June 1961, of 1,151,024, of whom 870,266 were registered for rations. Table 1 of the annex contains the Agency's basic registration statistics over the period June 1950 to June 1961, and table 2 shows the distribution of registered refugees by country and age as at 30 June 1961.
39. The Agency effected the following changes of entitlement during the year: 20,700 persons were removed from the relief rolls because of death, self-support, absence etc.; 44,300 persons were added to, or reinstated on, the rolls, including 39,300 babies. Table 2 of the annex provides a comprehensive picture of the changes in the composition and entitlement of families registered for rations covering the eleven-year period July 1950 to June 1961.
40. The Agency has long recognized that its rolls contain inaccuracies, both with respect to those who are not eligible for assistance but get it and those who are entitled but do not get it, and the General Assembly's attention has on several occasions been specifically drawn to this problem. As has been pointed out, however, the possibility of achieving a substantial degree of rectification depends on the co-operation with the Agency both of the refugees themselves and of the host Governments; in recognition of this, the General Assembly in resolution 1456 (XIV) of 9 December 1959 called for the co-operation of the Governments concerned in working towards a solution. It is highly satisfactory to record that during the past year the Agency and the Government of Jordan have worked together in developing a policy and procedure for ration-roll rectification which has as its purpose the simultaneous elimination of those not eligible and the adding of at least an equal number of eligible persons not now receiving rations. A significant start has now been made which the Agency intends to follow up in the coming year. If this pilot operation succeeds, the Agency will then seek to work out a similar programme with other host countries, where the same problem also exists though to a lesser degree than in Jordan. In this connexion, certain useful developments have occurred in Gaza in recent weeks which hold promise of fruitful co-operation for the future.
41. Satisfactory as the above-mentioned developments are, the Agency does not wish to minimize the practical task in the field of rectification that lies ahead. Its present registration statistics are subject to three major sources of inaccuracy: (a) a backlog of false registrations which occurred in the initial inscription of refugees and which have not been eliminated in spite of repeated efforts by the Agency; (b) a substantial accumulation of unreported deaths over the past eleven years; and (c) persons who should be eliminated from the ration rolls on grounds of income. On present information it is not possible to provide any dependable estimate for the categories (a) and (c). Without a general investigation into the individual circumstances of at least a large sample of the refugee community any figure for these categories could only be conjectural. The Agency has of course attempted to undertake such an investigation on several occasions in the past but has been forced to desist because hostile reactions among the refugees or untoward developments on the political plane caused the governmental authorities concerned to decide that the time was not opportune. However, it is possible to give a rough indication of the magnitude of the inaccuracy arising from unreported deaths (category (b) above). During the past eleven years the average rate of deaths reported to the Agency has been 5 per thousand among ration recipients, their babies and children. Whatever improvement may have been brought about in the health conditions of the refugees, and even though the actual death rate among them is not precisely established, the above figure is obviously unrealistic and indicates that at least 100,000 dead persons must now figure on the Agency's rolls (although it should be recognized that some of the families concerned contain entitled persons, especially children, not presently receiving rations).
42. In order to put the above appraisal of the accuracy of the Agency's rolls into proper perspective, the following facts must be borne in mind. First, the "ration ceilings" operated by the Agency in each of the host countries, along with the control exercised over eligibility, have a restrictive effect on the number of refugees actually in receipt of rations. Thus, whereas the registered refugee population as a whole increased last year by about 30,000 persons, and 16,800 babies were issued with rations after their first birthday, the net increase of persons on the ration rolls was only 4,500, account taken of cancellations for death, self-support, etc. Secondly, as the General Assembly is aware from previous reports, the registration rolls in Jordan contain a large number of children (139,987 as at 30 June 1961) who benefit from the Agency's health, welfare and education services but do not receive rations. It has been a major objective of the Agency in recent years to give these children rations to the extent that the rations of dead or ineligible persons are eliminated. The rectification achieved in Jordan since the new efforts described in paragraph 40 above were initiated has already made it possible to add to the ration rolls some 3,000 children, previously not receiving rations, and there is good reason to believe that progress in this direction will now continue at a gradually increasing rate. Thirdly, there is a nucleus of genuine refugees who, for one reason or another, have never been registered with the Agency; only where it can be established that extreme hardship exists are persons from this group added to the ration rolls. Finally, the Agency's definition of a refugee eligible for assistance is narrowly drawn and stipulates the loss of both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 hostilities. Substantial numbers of Palestine Arabs do not qualify for Agency relief on the technical grounds that they did not lose both home and means of livelihood, i.e. they may have lost their source of income and may be wholly destitute, but did not lose their home. This category has become known as "economic refugees" and includes frontier villagers in Jordan, some destitute inhabitants of Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, and certain bedouin expelled after 1948. The General Assembly has more than once confirmed that, despite the undoubted need of these unfortunate people, the Agency's mandate does not extend to them and that Agency relief should not be given to new claimants within these classes. While thus the extent of error known to exist in the Agency's registration records is substantial, there are counter-balancing features which lead to the conclusion that basically the volume of the relief dispensed by the Agency may not be excessive in relation to the number of persons still in need as a result of the 1948 conflict. To the Agency it seems that there is less room for questioning the total magnitude of the relief being provided than for questioning its actual distribution between the various categories of persons affected by the events of 1948. Within the limits of its mandate, the Agency is making every effort possible in its rectification of the rolls to have relief directed towards those in real need.
CAMPS AND SHELTER
43. The steady increase in camp population to which attention was drawn in the last two reports continued. The total number of refugees living in official camps in the four host countries rose during the year by about 24,000, owing to natural increase and new admissions, to a total of 440,000 as at 30 June 1961, i.e. rather more than one third of the registered refugee population. To help meet this pressure for camp accommodation, the shelter construction (or subsidy) and maintenance programme, whose cost averages some $675,000 a year, was continued in all areas.
44. The Agency maintained 57 camps during the year. The construction of new camps in Jordan and Lebanon, which was anticipated in last year's report, has not yet taken place owing to difficulties over the acquisition of the necessary land. Construction of the new camp in Jordan in replacement of an existing unsatisfactory one may, however, begin later this year, and the Agency's plans with regard to Lebanon may be modified to provide for the construction of one new camp and a major extension to an existing one.
45. Table 4 of the annex contains UNRWA camp statistics over the period 1950-1961, and table 5 shows the breakdown of refugees in camps in each of the host countries.
46. The fact that approximately 60 per cent of the refugees live outside camps should not be interpreted as implying that as a group they are self-supporting, or necessarily closer to self-support than the camp-dwellers. In the main they are not living in camps because for various reasons they were not incorporated into camps at the time of their flight from Palestine. Either there was no room for them in camps, and they found shelter where they could in caves, on private land and similar places of refuge; or, if they had some small reserves of money (which have long since been used up), they may have preferred to rent a room or accept the hospitality of friends or relations rather than face the rigours of the primitive and overcrowded tented agglomerations which constituted the first refugee camps.
They have always been dependent on rations and other Agency services, and the constant pressure for admissions into camps, which cannot be met for physical and financial reasons, speaks for itself. It is, moreover, not possible to draw any broad distinction between the opportunities for employment open to camp-dwellers and those living outside; indeed, in this respect conditions vary greatly as between the camps themselves, some of which are appreciably worse off than others.
CLOTHING
47. As in previous years, a distribution was made to the refugees of second-hand clothing contributed by voluntary organizations all over the world; a list of these is contained in table 23 of the annex. 1,600 tons of such clothing were imported, on which the Agency paid $200,000 in ocean freight. While this expenditure represented a reduction of $100,000 on that of the previous year (when record shipments, stimulated by the World Refugee Year, took place) the needs of the refugees were better met since the proportion of men's to women's clothing, which is habitually too low, was considerably increased. Under a new distribution system designed to eliminate omission and duplications, each needy refugee received 1.7 kilogrammes of clothing. For the future the needs of this programme can be still more effectively met, and at a reduced cost to the Agency, if the proportion of men's clothing is increased to 50 per cent of the total and if clothing of questionable value is eliminated.
HEALTH CARE
48. During the year under review, the Agency spent approximately $3 million on its health services. The nature and extent of the services provided underwent little change from the pattern established in recent years, which aims at providing a comprehensive health service to the refugee population, properly balanced as between its preventive and curative aspects and in harmony with public health trends in the host countries. The Agency's Health Department continued to be supervised by personnel seconded from the World Health Organization (WHO), the implementation being effected almost entirely by employees recruited from among Palestine refugees. It is gratifying to be able to record once again that during the past year no major
epidemic occurred among the refugees, whose general state of health remained satisfactory.
49. The success of the Agency's health programme has been materially enhanced by the generous assistance received from a variety of quarters–Governments, universities, voluntary organizations, United Nations Agencies (particularly WHO), private firms and individuals. Their assistance has taken the form of personnel, free hospital beds, services in out-patient and mobile clinics, maternal and child health centres, assistance in mass immunization campaigns, medical supplies, biological products such as vaccines, layettes, X-ray equipment and supplementary food supplies. In some cases, funds were provided to cover the cost of specific training courses, for the construction of much-needed clinic buildings and for the installation of village water supplies.
50. In general, throughout the period under review, the provision of medical supplies was satisfactory, these being mostly purchased by the Agency through UNICEF on a world tender basis.
Clinics, hospitals and laboratories
51. In the past year, the Agency operated or subsidized 100 health centres and 8 mobile clinics, the latter covering 28 points of service. In general these services were satisfactorily maintained. Some essential replacement of unsatisfactory clinic buildings was carried out within the Agency's budgetary limits and with the welcome help of voluntary agencies. As may be seen from table 9 of the annex, which gives details of visits to Agency and subsidized clinics, on an average five visits per refugee were paid to these clinics during the year.
52. The Agency continued to base its hospital policy on the principle of using wherever possible the services provided by hospitals operated by Governments, local authorities, voluntary agencies or private individuals. Only where, for geographic or other reasons, these hospitals cannot meet the Agency's needs does it establish its own institutions. Only 6 hospitals are now directly maintained; 68 other hospitals are presently used by the Agency through the subsidization of beds. The number of beds maintained by or reserved for the Agency amounted to 2,062 in 1961, or 2.00 per thousand population served, which is approximately the same rate as obtained for the local population in the area. Occupancy rates in certain hospitals and sanatoria in Jordan and Lebanon were low and steps were taken towards negotiating changes in the relevant agreements with the administrative authorities concerned. Other developments during the year affecting the hospitalization of refugees were the provision of funds by the Agency for the construction, in order to relieve overcrowding, of two new wards in the Bureij Tuberculosis Hospital in Gaza, which is operated jointly by the Agency and the Government Public Health Department, and the submission to the Government of the United Arab Republic of a draft agreement (which is still under negotiation) concerning the hospital services for refugees provided by government hospitals in the Gaza Strip.
53. Laboratory services continued to be provided by Agency-operated, university or subsidized private institutions according to circumstances and the type of examination required. Following an agreement concluded prior to the period under review, the Jordan Government provided, on payment of a subsidy by the Agency, a complete laboratory service for refugees covering public health and clinical laboratory examinations. The Agency, however, still found it necessary to maintain small clinical laboratories of its own attached to both the Salt hospital and the Nablus Tuberculosis hospital. In the Gaza Strip, the Agency continued to depend on its own central laboratory while in Lebanon it continued to maintain two small laboratories.
Maternal and child health
54. The Agency continued to maintain, directly or through subsidy, eighty-four prenatal centres (mostly at regular clinics) where medical and nursing supervision is readily available and where abnormalities of pregnancy are referred elsewhere for investigation and treatment. Attendances at these centres are high, averaging 75 per cent of the total number of pregnant women, most of whom pay not less than four visits. The child health service continued to give advice to mothers on the
various aspects of infant care, and provided prophylactic immunization against smallpox, diphtheria, tetanus and the enteric group fevers. Expectant and nursing mothers were entitled to a special supplementary ration issue from the beginning of the fifth month of pregnancy until twelve months after delivery. Pregnant and nursing mothers were also entitled to a daily issue of 40 grammes of skim milk reconstituted.
55. The health of the school population, which was well maintained, was protected and safeguarded by the regular school health programme operating in each of the host countries. In this manner the general health and nutrition of the school population was kept under close observation, including routine medical examinations (especially of new entrants), the designation of children in need of supplementary feeding, and the performance of numerous other duties to safeguard and protect the health of the school population.
Communicable diseases control
56. Table 11 of the annex contains a list of infectious diseases recorded among the refugee population during the past twelve months. No case of the six "Convention" diseases–plague, cholera, yellow fever, smallpox, epidemic typhus and louse-borne relapsing fever–occurred among the refugees. During the summer season, diarrhoeal diseases (such as dysentery) and eye diseases (such as conjunctivitis and trachoma) were, as usual, the most widespread. There was an increased incidence of enteric group fevers in Jordan and the Northern Region of the United Arab Republic. Only four cases of diphtheria occurred among the refugee population, the lowest yet recorded. The incidence of poliomyelitis and infective hepatitis showed a slight increase over the previous year.
57. Active immunization either in the form of mass campaigns and thorough routine procedures in clinics was carried out by Agency or government health personnel against certain communicable diseases.
Malaria control
58. In Lebanon, the Northern Region of the United Arab Republic and Jordan, malaria control for the last two years has been the responsibility of the National Malaria Eradication Programme authorities of the countries concerned. The Agency has, however, continued to co-operate by forwarding to these authorities information regarding cases diagnosed among the refugee population by the Agency's medical officers and by assisting the National Malaria Eradication Programme staff in control activities within the Agency camp areas. In the Gaza Strip, the Agency has continued to support the control measures of the government health authorities by providing assistance in the form of personnel, supplies and equipment.
59. During the period under review, no case of malaria was reported among the refugee population in Lebanon; 12 cases were reported in the Northern Region of the United Arab Republic, and 17 cases in Jordan. These low figures are a striking indication of the success of the malaria eradication programmes; in the first year of the Agency's life (1950-1951) 77,231 cases were reported, and this high incidence has been strikingly lowered year by year. In the Gaza Strip, where the incidence of malaria has always been low, 135 cases were reported last year, and it became clear that transmission of malaria was occurring locally. Preliminary investigations revealed that the anopheles mosquito was breeding in shallow irrigation wells in the orange groves. Larvicidal and localized residual spraying were immediately instituted and all cases of malaria diagnosed were treated. A WHO entomological specialist conducted a further study and his recommendations were carried out in the spring of 1961 in a joint operation of the government health authorities and Agency personnel.
Tuberculosis control
60. The Agency continued to maintain its programme of tuberculosis control by providing hospital facilities– altogether 445 beds in the four host countries–and outpatient facilities as required. These arrangements involve close co-operation with the Governments concerned. The potent anti-tuberculosis therapeutic agents now available have made out-patient treatment effective for a much greater proportion of the patients' recovery period, and for those requiring hospital treatment a much shorter stay in the hospital is required. In Jordan, the government health authorities have about completed the construction of a new Tuberculosis Centre at Nablus which will provide diagnostic and treatment facilities for the refugees, as well as for the general population living in the area.
Nursing services
61. A staff of 136 nurses and 329 nursing auxiliaries were employed by the Agency in its preventive and curative services, in addition to the considerable nursing staff employed in clinics and hospitals subsidized by the Agency. They have played an essential role in the Agency's programmes, with particular responsibilities in connexion with maternal and child health, home visiting, school health, mass immunization campaigns, health education, and tuberculosis and venereal diseases control.
Health education
62. The health education programme was actively pursued and broadened. A variety of methods were used to disseminate health information and instruction to the refugee population in general, and to such groups as pregnant and nursing women and school-children in particular. Especially noteworthy were two special campaigns carried out to supplement the regular health education programme, one on cleanliness with particular stress on personal hygiene and one on nutrition with particular emphasis on the importance of milk. Two special training courses for health education workers were conducted.
Medical education and training
63. The in-service training of medical and paramedical personnel continued as usual.
ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION
64. The environmental sanitation programme, an essential element in the protection of the refugees' health, was carried on in all its aspects at a total cost of some $1 million. Apart from the basic items of water supply and sewage and garbage disposal, the programme as usual covered a variety of insect control measures, particularly for mosquito, bedbugs and lice. No case of louse-borne diseases has been recorded for six years.
65. Because of the low rainfall in the spring of 1960 and the preceding winter months, a severe drought was felt throughout the remainder of the year until the late winter rainfall and that of the spring of 1961 relieved the situation. The drought was most severe in Jordan, where it necessitated an emergency water supply programme at a cost of $80,000. The water tanker fleet had to be increased and water had to be carried over considerable distances to the various camps in need. Only in Gaza, where water supplies from the deep wells were adequate, were no special measures called for.
SOCIAL WELFARE
66. The Agency's social welfare services have addressed themselves to two major problems: low refugee morale resulting from the lethargy engendered by thirteen years of aimless life in the camps; and the aleviation of distress among individuals suffering particular hardship. The first problem has been tackled through projects aimed at encouraging a revival of effort and self-help in the community as a whole; there is mounting evidence that group activities such as co-operatives, sewing centres, youth activities centres and adult training courses are succeeding in rekindling the spark of initiative and vitality among the camp-dwellers, while cultural and recreational activities show increased refugee interest and participation in almost every camp. The problem of extreme hardship has been tackled in the only way possible–through direct help to the individuals concerned in the form of small grants in cash or kind, and specialized educational assistance to physically handicapped youth. The Field Welfare Staff mostly act both as community development and case workers and on an average each of them carries out his responsibilities among 15,000 camp inhabitants. The following paragraphs give a brief outline of the principal programmes conducted.
Youth activities programme
67. The youth activities programme launched in April 1960, with the co-operation of the World Alliance of YMCA's, represents an effort to reduce the degree of idleness in the camps. The early development stage of this programme has hinged on a leadership training centre established in Lebanon which has been attended by 610 refugee youths selected from the camps of each host country as well as by Agency welfare officials. These purses provide instruction in the running of sports, recreational, cultural and service programmes. Although the courses usually last only two weeks, they have succeeded in bringing a fresh outlook and spirit of responsibility to young men growing up in the aimless and enervating life of the camps. The return of the trainees to their camps has given rise to a significant demand for the intensification of these activities, with the result that the Agency was forced to expand its initial programme for 16 youth activities centres: as at 30 June 1961, 34 centres were active and growing, and 7 more in early stages of organization. The launching of the programme in the field involved the provision of a considerable amount of equipment, on which the Agency spent nearly $20,000; generous help was also received from outside sources in the form of cash contributions and sports equipment. The over-all cost of the training and initial development in the field was originally estimated at $200,000, of which UNRWA was to provide $140,000 and the YMCA $60,000; this sum is likely to have been expended by the end of 1961 owing to an acceleration of schedule of implementation. New youth activities centres to be provided thereafter will depend on the raising of additional contributions for this purpose. Expenditure should taper off after 1962, when the need for the training of leaders and for new centres will have been largely met. The Agency is seeking to finance this programme as far as possible through special contributions.
Adult training courses
68. The six-month sewing courses for women maintained their popularity and there is a long waiting list at almost all of the thirty-four centres. Three new centres are under construction and seven more are needed. During the year, 1,662 girls graduated from the centres and were awarded certificates. These courses present the first opportunity for most refugee women to engage in an activity outside their living quarters and the centres are being increasingly used for various women's activities in the afternoon.
69. The six carpentry training centres in Gaza are organized on a similar basis and are equally popular. Ninety-one young men graduated from them last year, all of whom have been able to improve their situation through odd jobs. Funds are now allocated for the construction of a carpentry centre in Jordan.
Refugee co-operatives
70. Seventeen refugee co-operatives, financed by an initial contribution by the Agency, by money raised by their members and by loans and gifts from outside sources, are now in operation. They have a total family membership of 851. Two new ones were formed in Jordan: a bakery co-operative and the first school consumer co-operative. Despite two failures during the year, these co-operatives are now soundly established and enable their members to supplement their basic Agency rations with their earnings. More important still, they provide work. A list of currently operating co-operatives is contained in table 22 of the annex.
Hardship cases
71. In a refugee population which is largely destitute, hardship can present itself in a very extreme form in individual cases. Those responsible for the Agency's welfare services do what they can within the limits of available funds to give individual help in these cases, which arise in their acutest form in areas where the possibilities of casual employment are least. Last year, 35,417 refugees in specially critical circumstances were given help in the form of cash totalling $42,214, and 10,345 families were assisted with special distributions of clothing, fire-wood, blankets etc. Apart from this material assistance, the Agency's case workers gave advice on personal problems to thousands of others.
Small grants to individuals
72. Many hundreds of small donations have been received from persons sympathetic to the cause of the refugees in support of the Agency's programme of small grants to individuals who, without tools and equipment since leaving their homeland, have so far been unable to practice their trades. The case of each applicant is very carefully examined not only to be certain of his qualifications but to ensure that there is sufficient need for his specialty in the area where he lives. During this period, 296 refugees, who were given grants averaging $40, were once more enabled to go to work and earn small sums which benefit their families. $12,900 were spent on this programme, of which $8,100 came from outside contributions.
Assistance to handicapped youth
73. As in any community, blind, deaf and dumb, and crippled youth among the refugees present a tragic problem. The Agency has endeavoured to meet the challenge, as in past years, by placing these handicapped youths in institutions where they can receive specialized training which will enable them to develop as individuals and eventually support themselves. Last year thirty-four handicapped youths were so placed, for whom funds for the whole of the course (averaging six years at a cost of $1,800 each) were donated. The Agency is grateful for the help received from outside sources for this programme; there are still many handicapped refugees who could be helped if more funds were available. The Agency is now holding discussions with interested organizations for the establishment of a centre for the blind in Gaza, where none presently exists and where the problem of blindness is appreciable.
B. Education and vocational training
74. It has been recognized by the General Assembly that increased emphasis on general education and vocational training is indispensable if the refugee community is to face the future with the viability and self-reliance which should be its right. Accordingly, recent resolutions of the General Assembly have endorsed the Agency's proposals that it seek to maximize its effort to provide assistance to young refugees for the purpose of enabling them to develop their innate abilities. To this end the Agency has taken important steps forward during the past year, particularly in the expansion of vocational training facilities. In many respects the most important undertaking with which the Agency is now faced in support of this effort–and one which cannot be achieved overnight–is the improvement of the quality of general education, since this provides the base on which the vocational training programme rests and in large measure determines the height to which vocational trainees can attain.
75. The Agency's education and vocational training programme continued to operate under the technical guidance of UNESCO, which made available twenty international specialists.
GENERAL AND UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
76. The steady growth of the Agency's programme of general education is illustrated by the fact that its annual budget for this purpose has increased from $398,000 a decade ago to $6,883,000 in 1960-1961. The refugee child today has considerably greater educational opportunities than his parents had. In Palestine, under the Mandate, a little over half the children of school age were receiving some form of education and the rate of illiteracy was of the order of 58 per cent. Today the Agency offers six years of elementary education to all refugee children, three years of preparatory education to 70 per cent of the preparatory age group and secondary education to a rapidly growing number of pupils through grants to government and private schools (the number of students completing secondary education has more than quadrupled during the past four years). In addition, a few of the most gifted students are given university scholarships. A striking feature of this movement towards a comprehensive education system has been the increasing participation of girls at all stages. These educational facilities provided by the Agency are comparable with those available to the national population of the host countries.
77. In the school year 1960-1961, a total of 187,680 refugee pupils benefited from the Agency's elementary, preparatory and secondary education programme. Of this total, 128,501 pupils received their education in Agency elementary and preparatory schools, the balance of 59,179 being assisted by the Agency in government or private schools under a grants-in-aid system.
78. The fact that the majority of the teachers employed by the Agency (3,764 in 1960-1961) are under qualified, by general standards, continues to be a major obstacle in the way of the development of an adequate education programme. This deficiency is still serious despite the improvement in teaching standards which has been achieved in recent years through the operation of summer and in-training courses for UNRWA teachers The opening of the teacher-training centre for men in Ramallah, Jordan, in the autumn of 1960 with a capacity of 200 trainees–which it is planned to double by 1962–will in due course materially raise standards of teaching by establishing an ever increasing core of qualified teachers. The small teacher-training centre for women in Nablus, which has been seriously inadequate, will be replaced as from September 1962 by a combined vocational and teacher-training centre for women with a capacity of about 300 trainees of each type. This will be an additional important step forward towards better teaching standards.
79. Agency elementary classes are still subject in many cases to overcrowding, which acts as a further deterrent to the achievement of improved standards. The standardized Agency classroom is built for fifty pupils, which is considered the maximum that the most competent teacher can handle, but in many classes this number is stretched to as many as seventy pupils. The splitting of all classes of over fifty pupils is an important objective for the future. There is still some double-shifting, but the present building programme, if carried to completion, will gradually eliminate this.
80. The extension of secondary education has inevitably resulted in increased pressure for university education, and the Agency's aim has been to double the number of university scholarships from the 1959-1960 level of 90 to 180 per year by 1963. The number of new scholarships awarded in 1960-1961 was 135, bringing the total number of recipients of Agency scholarships in universities to 402. In addition to these, about 400 refugees from the Gaza Strip and the Northern Province or the United Arab Republic last year attended universities or institutions of higher learning at the expense of the Government of the United Arab Republic.
81. Statistical details concerning the Agency's educational system are to be found in tables 12-16 of the annex.
VOCATIONAL TRAINING
82. Thanks to an amount of approximately $4 million which was contributed by the peoples of the world in connexion with the World Refugee Year, the Agency was able in the past year to press vigorously ahead with the construction of new vocational training centres in Jordan, Lebanon and the Northern Region of the United Arab Republic. The goal of the present programme, as outlined in last year's report,3 is to increase the Agency's vocational training capacity from its 1959-1960 level of 600 to about 4,000 by 1963 (i.e. the total number of students, not the annual output). This represents a formidable increase judged in terms of practical and administrative problems, in the face of which the progress achieved so far may be considered gratifying. Construction is, in fact, ahead of schedule, as it was decided in the course of the year to proceed immediately with the doubling of facilities at a number of existing vocational training centres–an operation which had previously been envisaged as a second phase of the programme.4
83. Approximately twenty-two different trade and professional courses will be offered under the plans for men's vocational training centres now being implemented, this choice being based on the best information presently available to the Agency with respect to employment prospects in the area. The courses are being planned on a flexible basis so that they may be modified in the future as more adequate information becomes available. A further factor determining the choice of courses has been the need to base most of them on only nine years of schooling at standards which the Agency does not consider completely satisfactory; it is necessary at present to give trainees additional general education in the centres to enable them to handle vocational subjects.
84. Statistical details of the Agency's present vocational and teacher-training programme will be found in table 17 of the annex. It should be stressed that, while the construction and equipment of these installations has been financed largely by the special contributions of the World Refugee Year, their operating costs, which will be of the order of $2 million per year when the programme is in full operation, will have to be financed from contributions from Governments to the extent that
extra-budgetary contributions from private sources prove insufficient.
85. During the period under review, the following progress has been achieved in the vocational training programme:
(a) The extension of the Vocational Training Centre at Kalandia (Jordan) was completed;
(b) The new Vocational Training Center at Wadi Seer (Jordan) was completed and an extension to accommodate an additional 172 trainees will be completed by September 1961;
(c) The construction of a Vocational Training Centre near Damascus for 224 trainees was well advanced, and an extension to accommodate a further 168 trainees was initiated;
(d) The construction of a Vocational Centre in Siblin (Lebanon) for 192 trainees was almost completed, and an extension to accommodate a further 204 trainees was begun;
(e) A site was proposed for the construction of avocational Training Centre in Homs (Syrian Region of the United Arab Republic), construction of which will start in the autumn of 1961;
(f) The Teacher-Training Centre for men at Ramallah (Jordan) with a capacity of 200 trainees was opened in September 1960; an extension to accommodate a further 200 trainees has been designed and will be constructed in the near future;
(g) The site for a combined Vocational Training and Teacher-Training Centre has been made available to the Agency in Ramallah which will have capacity for 633 girls; construction will start in late summer 1961;
(h) The Agency will resume responsibility for the Agricultural Training Centre at Beit Hanoun (Gaza), with a capacity of 75 trainees–the effective date being September 1961;
(I) Negotiations have been completed for an addition to the existing Vocational Training Centre in Gaza which will accommodate 96 commercial and semi-professional trainees and 80 trainees in industrial courses construction to begin in the fall of 1961;
(j) Negotiations have been completed for the construction of a Vocational Training Centre in Khan Younis (Gaza) and the courses to be offered are now under consideration–the unit to be in operation by the fall of 1962;
(k) Negotiations have been completed whereby the United Arab Republic will accept 60 women and 60 men refugees in its Teacher-Training Course in Gaza–the course to open in September 1961.
C. Self-support activities
86. It is some years since circumstances compelled the Agency to cease thinking in terms of major resettlement projects "capable of supporting substantial numbers of refugees."5 With the approval of the General Assembly, the Agency's efforts have been redirected towards a major expansion of education and vocational training facilities, which aim at enabling the younger generation of refugees to put to productive use the innate abilities they possess. There has, at the same time, been a steady and even increasing demand from individuals among the refugees for assistance of a sort which will enable them to achieve more immediate individual self-support without prejudice to their rights to repatriation or compensation. Thus, the Agency has in recent years carried out selected projects of individual grants, mostly agricultural, the last of which came to an end in May 1960 when the East Ghor Canal Law was implemented by the Jordan Government and no more land was available for sale in that area. These programmes may be said to have been reasonably successful as far as they went. In its three-year plan, the Agency has provided $0.5 million for individual assistance and has to date received, from World Refugee Year sources, $343,000 designated for this purpose. During the past year it has been re-evaluating the pattern of its future policy on individual assistance, and is planning a programme of combined grants and loans, which it is hoped to implement in collaboration with the Jordan Government, as well as a housing programme which will enable refugees who have some income and a plot of land to build a house. In general, these projects have been more feasible in Jordan.
DEVELOPMENT BANK OF JORDAN
87. The Development Bank of Jordan was established in 1951 with substantial Agency capital participation, with the object of encouraging economic development and of raising the standard of living of the inhabitants of Jordan, including the refugees. One of the conditions under which the Bank grants loans is that applicants should undertake to employ an agreed number of refugees. The total number of refugees benefiting from projects established with the aid of the Bank's loans amounts to approximately 12,000.
88. During the year ending 31 March 1961, the Bank made a further 104 loans totalling $468,000, mostly in the first half of the year. In so doing the Bank used up the last of the available capital. The Bank receives far more applications than it can accept, and it appears that its business will have to level off at approximately seventy-five new loans per year totalling about $300,000, representing current loan repayments plus net income retained in the business.
PLACEMENT SERVICES
89. The Agency's placement service provides the link between potential employers in the Middle East and refugees with suitable qualifications, including graduates from the vocational training courses, by receiving applications for jobs from individual refugees. There were 2,533 such applicants, of whom 590 (334 of them teachers) obtained permanent employment. Others also secured jobs as a result of the information provided by contacting the employers direct.
90. The Agency continued to give financial assistance to refugees who wanted to emigrate and had obtained the necessary visas for this purpose, but who did not have the money to undertake the journey overseas. In the past four years, as a result of this service, 1,665 refugees have been enabled to start a new life in a country of their choosing, as is shown in table 25 of the annex. The cost to the Agency of this travel assistance averages $257 per person. The opportunities for emigration for the Palestine refugees as a whole are limited, although those who succeed in emigrating are generally successful in starting new lives. The fact is that the prospects for emigration are now less favourable than they have been for certain destinations: in 1959-1960 special one-time legislation, which has now lapsed, enabled a substantial number of refugees to emigrate to the United States; and visas for Brazil, another popular destination for Palestine refugees, are today less easily obtained than formerly. Thus the Agency's action in this field continues to be essentially of a marginal nature and must be regarded as an element in the individual self-support programme rather than an attempt to make any serious impact on the refugee problem as a whole. The initiative for emigration must in any case continue to rest with the individual refugee.
D. Financial operations
91. The Agency's fiscal period is the calendar year, whereas the present report covers the period 1 July 1960 to 30 July 1961. The accounts of the Agency for 1960 and 1961 are therefore each published in separate documents, together with the related auditors' reports. This section presents a summary of financial operations in 1960 and a preliminary view of operations in 1961. Part II of this report contains the budget for 1962 and discusses the problems of financing it.
92. The financial operations for 1960 can be summarized as follows, excluding World Refugee Year and other extra-budgetary funds (from which a considerable amount of income was received, but against which virtually no expenditure was undertaken):
(In millions of U.S. dollars)
Budget for 1960 ………………………. 38.7
Expenditure and commitments
Expenditure against 1960 budget ……….. 33.2
Commitments against 1960 budget ……….. 1.5 34.7
Income for 1960
Pledges by Governments ……………….. 32.4
Other income ………………………… 1.6 34.0
93. For 1960, therefore, income was $4.7 million less than the approved budget and $0.7 million less than expenditure plus commitments. This shortfall in income forced the Agency to defer some $2 million of budgeted expansions and improvements, principally in vocational training and self-support assistance projects. Unexpectedly favourable prices of basic food commodities fortunately permitted savings of a further $1.2 million, and careful administration avoided necessity of recourse to the operational reserve ($0.8 million). Nevertheless, it proved necessary to draw on working capital to the extent of $0.7 million in order to cover the excess of unavoidable expenditure and commitments over income.
94. Projected financial operations for 1961 fall into two rather distinct parts: the normal or existing operations of relief services and education, on the one hand and the expansion of vocational training, education and individual assistance, on the other. The projected "normal" operations are as follows:
(In millions of U.S. dollars)
Normal budget for 1961 ………………… 36.5
Estimated income for 1961
From pledges by Government …………… 32.6
From other sources ………………….. 1.6 34.2
95. The "normal" budget for 1961 as shown above is considerably less than the budget for 1960 only because all provision for expansion of vocational training, education and individual assistance in 1961 has been removed and shown separately in paragraph 98 below. For the "normal" budget alone in 1961, a deficit in income of $2.3 million is estimated. This deficit can only be met by further drawing down of working capital.
96. Because of the shortfall of income experienced in 1960 and expected in 1961, the general financial position of the Agency remains a matter of grave concern. The basic problem lies in the fact that income for nor mal operations has, in recent years, tended to be stabilized at about $34 million, whereas requirements (which already considerably exceed that figure) unavoidably increase each year. Unless normal income can be increased each year to cover the unavoidable increase in cost of the basic relief and education programmes, working capital must inevitably be drawn on to cover the deficit.
97. The working capital of the Agency has steadily declined over the years as evidenced by the following table:
____________________________________________________________
Deduct amounts
Actual Add reserved for Net true
working unpaid commitments and working
Year end capital pledges expansion programme capital
(In millions of U.S. dollars)
1958 ……. 22.2 0.5 (1.4) 21.3
1959 ……. 22.1 0.6 (2.4) 20.3
1960 ……. 23.1 1.3 (4.8) 19.6
1961 …….
(estimated)a 17.3 a a 17.3
____________________________________________________________
a Certain amounts will undoubtedly in fact be reserved for commitments and the expansion programme at the end of 1961, but in this event actual working capital will be increased correspondingly, leaving net true working capital unaffected. Any pledges unpaid at year end would reduce actual working capital but would not affect net true working capital.
For an Agency with a minimum budget of over $36 million per year, a working capital of only $17 million provides the barest margin of safety if continuance of vital operations is to be assured.
98. Operations in 1961 under the three-year plan of expansion of vocational training, general and university education and individual assistance towards self-support are progressing well, and funds are available for that part of the plan scheduled for implementation in 1961. That this is so is due in large measure to the generous response of contributors to the World Refugee Year. As at 30 June 1961 a total of some $4.4 million had been paid or promised to the Agency under these headings; full details of these contributions and pledges are set out in table 20 of the annex.
99. While these special contributions have enabled the Agency to make a most auspicious start on the implementation of its three-year plan, particularly on the construction of new vocational training centres, they also mean that the Agency's financial obligation for the future is being increased for the purpose of operating centres and to carry out the companion parts of the Agency's three-year plan. This problem, together with the related problem of obtaining sufficient funds to continue the existing programmes of relief and basic education services (described in paragraphs 94 to 96 above), is discussed in greater detail in part II of this report.
100. Tables 18 and 19 of the annex present a summary of the Agency's income and expenditure from 1 May 1950 to 30 June 1961.
Annex to part I
STATISTICES CONCERNING REFUGEES AND CAMPS
Table 1
TOTAL REGISTERED REFUGEE POPULAITON ACCORDING TO ENTITLEMENT, 1950-1961a
Members of families registered for rations "R" category E &M categories "N" category
1 2b ce 4 5d 6d 7d 8
|
Year |
Full ration recipients |
half ration receipients |
Babies and children registered for services |
Total 1+2=3 |
Other members receiving no rations |
Members of families receiving educations and/or medical services |
Members of families receiving no rations or services |
Grand total 4+5+6+7 |
|
June 1950 June 1951 June 1952 June 1953 June 1954 June 1955 June 1956 June 1957 June 1968 June 1959 June 1960 June 1961 |
f 826,459 805,593 772,166 820,486 828,531 830,266 830,611 836,781 843,739 849,634 854,268 |
f 51,034 58,733 64,817 17,340 17,228 16,987 16,733 16,577 16,350 16,202 15,998 |
f 2,174 18,347 34,765 49,765 60,167 75,026 86,212 110,600 130,092 150,170 169,730 |
960,021 879,667 882,673 871,748 887,058 905,986 922,279 933,356 963,958 990,181 1,016,006 1,039,996 |
— — — — — — — 18,203 19,776 21,548 22,639 23,947 |
— — — — — — — 4,462 5,901 6,977 8,792 9,515 |
— 24,455 32,738 45,013 54,793 63,403 74,059 62,980 63,713 68,922 73,452 77,566 |
960,021 904,122 915,411 916,761 941,851 969,389 996,338 1,019,201 1,053,348 1087,628 1,120,889 1,151,024 |
a The above statistics are based on the Agency's registration records which do not necessarily reflect the actual refugee population owing to factors such as the high rate of unreported deaths and undetected false registration (see paragraphs 8-10 of the report).
b Includes up to the year 1954 bedouin who received full rations thereafter and babies who are now issued with full rations after their first anniversary. Half rations are given at present only to frontier villagers in Jordan.
c Includes babies below one year of age and children who because of ration ceilings are not issued rations (139,987 in Jordan).
d Columns 5, 6 and 7 show the refugees whose entitlements to services have been reduced or cancelled according to their family income as known to the Agency and the income scale in force in their country of residence.
The members of "R" families receiving no rations (column 5) correspond to a level of income insufficient to cancel the whole family's entitlement to rations. Up to 1956, such refugees were reported together with families of the "N" category (column 7).
The "E" and "M" categories of entitlements (column 6) created in 1956 are applied in Lebanon only because it has not been possible to secure agreement for the introduction in other host countries of the income scales providing for the progressive
reduction or restoration of rations.
"N" category (column 7) includes refugees whose income is such as to disqualify them for rations or services, or who have received assistance to enable them to become self-supporting. The 1951-1956 statistics for that category have been adjusted since last year's report, which explains minor changes in the corresponding total population.
In general, it must be pointed out that the distribution of refugees by category of entitlement gives only a partial picture of the number of self-supporting refugees owing to the limitations faced by the Agency in determining their actual income or degree of need.
e The total population as at June 1952 included 19,616 refugees receiving relief in Israel who were UNRWA's responsibility up to 1 July 1952.
f Details not available.
Table 2
RECAPITULATION OF CHANGES IN COMPOSITION AND/OR ENTITLEMENT OF REFUGEE FAMILIES REGISTERED FOR RATIONSa JULY 1950-JUNE 1961
|
Year |
July 50 June 51b |
July 51 June 52b |
July 52 June 53 |
July 53 June 54 |
July 54 June 55 |
July 55 June 56 |
July 56 June 57 |
July 57 June 58 |
July 58 June 59 |
July 59 June 60 |
July 60 June 61 |
Total |
|
Increases Birthsa New registrations Loss of self-supportd Return from absence Miscellanceous |
10,057 19,537 8,481 — 10,256 |
21,315 13,265 2,592 — 12,468 |
28,335 1,993 2,685 180 2,014 |
28,711 2,885 4,194 442 521 |
30,788 1,502 4,461 642 680 |
30,658 1,287 8,433 973 1,061 |
27,960 1,370 6,823 3,599 309 |
40,041 859 6,045 1,436 231 |
37,047 645 3,030 1,113 292 |
37,776 525 4,417 1,039 248 |
39,299 324 3,490 935 252 |
331,987 44,192 55,61 10,359 28,334 |
|
TOTAL |
48,331 |
49,640 |
35,207 |
36,753 |
38,073 |
42,412 |
40,061 |
48,612 |
43,137 |
44,005 |
44,300 |
470,531 |
|
Decreases Deaths False registrations and duplications Self-support Absence Miscellandeous |
896 24,265 4,121 1,174 97,268 |
4,053 16,929 17,739 5,466 5,157 |
3,897 4,530 12,884 2,995 20,891 |
3,764 2,737 12,717 1,810 410 |
4,042 926 10,184 2,581 1,628 |
4,409 485 19,068 1,492 563 |
5,582 584 16,328 5,632 357 |
5,263 425 9,541 2,869 455 |
4,956 406 7,815 2,128 505 |
5,041 570 9,764 2,183 701 |
8,919 571 8,127 2,334 743 |
50,822 52,418 128,288 30,664 128,678 |
|
TOTAL |
127,724 |
49,334 |
45,195 |
21,438 |
19,361 |
26,017 |
28,483 |
18,553 |
15,810 |
18,259 |
20,694 |
290,870 |
|
Total ration recipients, babiesand children at year end June 50 =960,021 |
879,667 |
882,673 |
871,748 |
887,058 |
905,986 |
922,279 |
933,356 |
963,958 |
990,181 |
1,016,006 |
1,039,996 |
aThis table recapitulates changes affecting the total number of rations recipients, their babies and children registered for services (column 4 of Table 1) over eleven years. Births, new registrations, deaths, false registrations and duplications result in additions to or deletions from the registration records. Self-support and absence reflect transfer to or from the lower categories of entitlement (shown in columns 5, 6 and 7 of Table 1). Transfers within or between host countries, as well as issue of rations to babies attaining one year of age are not shown in this table. includes changes effected during the 1950-1951 census operations. fluctuation of births from year to year derive to a large extent from delayed registration.
dCovers income, employment with the Agency, assistance towards self-support, etc. or the cessation thereof.
eMiscellaneous changes include up to June 1953 a number of additions to or deletions from the registration records as well as certain changes in entitlement. The deletion of
refugees in Israel from the Agency's records is also reported mainly under this heading (40,930 persons over the period July 1950-June 1953).
Table 3
DISTRIBUTION OF REGISTERED REFUGEES ACCORDING TO COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE,
FAMILY ENTITLEMENT AND AGE AS AT 30 JUNE 1961
Number of persons
Family Number
entitlement Below 1-15 years 15 years of
Country Categorya 1 yearb c and over Total families
Jordan…….{ R 11,452 218,375 361,612 591,439 109,619
{ N 244 10,031 29,011 39,286 7,969
Total 11,696 228,406 390,623 630,725 117,588
Gaza………{ R 5,396 99,456 142,442 247,294 44,531
{ N 94 3,780 9,957 13,831 4,134
Total 5,490 103,236 152,399 261,125 48,665
R 1,596 46,654 68,217 116,467 24,609
Lebanon……{ E & M 68 2,410 6,719 8,657 1,621
{ N 78 2,437 12,562 15,077 4,50
Total 1,742 51,501 86,958 140,201 30,735
U.A.R. R 3,605 43,189 61,949 108,743 23,431
(Syrian {E & Md 6 238 614 858 129
Region)….{ N 32 1,751 7,589 9,372 3,280
Total 3,643 45,178 70,152 118,973 26,840
R 22,049 407,674 634,220 1,063,943 202,190
Agency total { E & M 74 2,648 6,793 9,515 1,750 { N 448 17,999 59,119 77,566 19,888
GRAND TOTAL 22,571 428,321 700,132 1,151,024 223,828
aSee table 1 for explanation of family entitlement.
bThe number of babies below one year of age is less than the number of births recorded during the preceding year, owing to delays in registration of births.
cA number of children born since 1950 in E, M and N families is not registered with the Agency.
dThese categories apply only to some UNRWA employees.
Table 4
NUMBER OF UNRWA CAMPS, TOTAL POPULATION SHELTERED AND TYPE OF SHELTER,
1950-1961a
Year Camp Populationb Tents Huts
June 1950……………….. 267,598 30,580 10,930
June 1951……………….. 71 276,294 29,989 15,760
June 1952……………….. 63 281,128 22,055 30,988
June 1953……………….. 64 282,263 18,059 39,745
June 1954……………….. 59 305,630 15,180 51,363
June 1955………………… 57 335,752 14,212 62,794
June 1956………………… 58 358,681 12,989 82,934
June 1957………………… 58 360,598 8,328 82,595
June 1958 ……………….. 58 396,761 4,950 89,598
June 1959 ………………… 58 414,467 1,984 98,147
June 1960 ………………… 58 421,518 149 103,616
June 1961 ………………… 57 442,862 108,155
Table 5
NUMBER OF REFUGEES IN UNRWA CAMPS ACCORDING TO COUNTRY AS AT 30 JUNE 1961a
Number of Number of Percentage of the total
Country families personsb refugee population
Jordan…………………………… 38,334 204,544 32
Gaza…………………………….. 28,104 156,738 60
Lebanon………………………….. 13,276 61,541 44
U.A.R. (Syrian Region)…………….. 4,352 20,039 17
TOTAL 84,066 442,862 38
aIn general, refugees not living in UNRWA camps live in the villages and cities of the host countries and are eligible for the same range of services except that the Agency provides for them no sanitation services. Their economic status differs little from that of refugees in camps (see paragraph 14 of the report).
bRefugees enumerated are all those officially registered in camps irrespective of their entitlement.
The figures do not include refugees in camps who are not given shelter by UNRWA but benefit from sanitation services only.
BASIC RATIONS AND SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDING
Table 6
BASIC RATIONS AND OTHER SUPPLIES DISTRIBUTED BY UNRWA
1. Basic dry rations
A monthly ration for one person consists of:
10,000 grammes of flour
600 grammes of pulses
600 grammes of sugar
500 grammes of rice
375 grammes of oils and fats
This ration provides about 1,500 calories per day per person. In winter the monthly ration is increased by:
300 grammes of pulses
500 grammes of dates or raisins
It then provides about 1,600 calories per day per person.
2. Other supplies distributed
1 piece of soap (150 grammes) per month to each ration beneficiary
1 blanket per ration beneficiary every three years
1.5 litres of kerosene to ration beneficiaries in camps during five winter months
Table 7
UNRWA SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDING PROGRAMME
AVERAGE NUMBER OF BENEFICIARIES, 1 JULY 1960-30 JUNE 1961
Daily cooked meal beneficiaries Monthly dry ration beneficiaries
Average for the year Average for the year
Number of 2-15 years
Feeding and special Pregnant Nursing TB-out
Country Centres 0-2 years cases Total women mothers patients Total Grand total
Lebanon ……….. 22 517 3,935 4,452 1,231 3,494 239 4,964 9,416
UAR (Syrian Region) 18 404 3,647 4,051 553 1,225 190 1,968 6,019
Jordan …………. {47 1,681 17,882} 22,314 2,785 10,222 606 13,613 35,927
{24a 208 2,543}
Gaza …………. 16 1,304 10,275 11,579 2,573 7,786 372 10,731 22,310
127 4,114 38,282 42,396 7,142 22,727 1,407 31,276 73,672
a Centres operated by voluntary societies.
Table 8
UNRWA MILK PROGRAMME
AVERAGE NUMBER OF BENEFICIARIES, 1 JULY 1960-30 JUNE 1961
Daily number of beneficiaries
Number of milk centres Average for the year
Preparation Milk Orphans, medical
and Distribution distribution prescriptions
Country distribution only centres Schoolsa etc. Total
Lebanon …… 23 11 39,343 3,719 540 43,602
UAR (Syrian Region) . 22 33,548 5,362 110 39,020
{82 4 72,346} 16,996 560 93,338
Jordan ………….. {33b 3,436}
Gaza ……………. 16 46,111 22,372 68,483
176 15 194,784 48,449 1,210 244,443
a Daily average during the scholastic year over nine months.
b Centres operated by voluntary societies.
HEALTH STATISTICS
Table 9
NUMBER OF VISITS TO UNRWA AND SUBSIDIZED CLINICS, 1 JULY 1960-30 JUNE 1961
UAR
(Syrian
Lebanon Region) Jordan Gaza Total
Population served by medical
services ………………………. 124,320 108,552 589,363 246,027 1,068,262
General medical cases …………….. 434,411 340,618 677,554 515,472 1,968,055
Dressings and skin ……………….. 231,279 145,178 816,720 491,076 1,684,253
Eye cases ……………………….. 196,271 75,910 968,997 594,159 1,835,337
Dental ………………………….. 36,336 16,827 77,337 18,281 148,781
GRAND TOTAL 898,297 578,533 2,540,608 1,618,988 5,636,426
Table 10
HOSPITAL FACILITIES AVAILABLE TO PALESTINE REFUGEES, 1960-1961
Hospital
Government and local authorities ………. 22
Voluntary societies or private ………… 46
UNRWA ………………………………. 6
TOTAL 74
In addition there are 3 maternity centres in Jordan and 8 in Gaza
UAR
(Syrian
Number of beds available Lebanon Region) Jordan Gaza Total
General …………………. 135 80 640 287 1,142
Tuberculosis ……………… 150 20 130 150 450
Maternity ………………. 25 11 66 80 182
Paediatric ………………. 31 18 140 17 206
Mental …………………. 50 50 100
TOTAL 391 129 1,026 534 2,080
Beds per 1,000 population …… 3.15 1.19 1.74 2.17 1.95
Table 11
INFECTIOUS DISEASES RECORDED AMONG PALESTINE REFUGEE POPULATION,
1 JULY 1960-30 JUNE 1961
UAR
Lebanon (Syrian Region) Jordan Gaza Total
Population …………… 124,320 108,552 589,363 246,027 1,068,262
Plague …………….. 0 0 0 0 0
Cholera ……………. 0 0 0 0 0
Yellow fever ……….. 0 0 0 0 0
Smallpox …………… 0 0 0 0 0
Typhus (louse borne) …… 0 0 0 0 0
Typhus (endemic) ………… 0 0 0 0 0
Relapsing fever (louse borne) .. 0 0 0 0 0
Relapsing fever (endemic) ……. 0 0 10 0 10
Diphtheria …………………. 1 0 3 0 4
Measles ……………………570 1,293 5,457 6,752 14,072
Whooping cough …………… 289 879 1,599 274 3,041
Chicken-pox ……………… 673 637 1,263 1,472 4,045
Mumps …………………… 633 488 1,585 53 2,759
Meningitis (cerebro-spinal) .. 5 2 17 4 28
Poliomyelitis …………… 10 9 34 7 60
Enteric group fevers …….. 29 424 348 17 818
Dysentery ……………….14,907 11,987 10,936 20,268 58,098
Malaria ……………….. 0 12 17 135 164
Bilharziasis ……………. 0 0 0 122 122
Ancylostomiasis …………. 26 0 12 1,034 1,072
Trachoma ……………….. 2,188 697 22,748 19,221 44,854
Conjunctivitis …………..16,911 10,520 68,033 20,522 115,986
Tuberculosis ………….. 124 90 193 230 637
Syphilis ……………… 35 32 27 96 190
Gonorrhoea ……………. 7 2 10 4 23
Scarlet fever …………. 0 0 12 0 12
Rabies ……………….. 0 0 0 0 0
Tetanus ………………. 4 0 4 11 19
Brucellosis …………… 0 0 0 0 0
Infectious hepatitis …… 72 109 180 137 498
Leishmaniasis …………. 2 0 3 0 5
GENERAL EDUCATION AND UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIPS
Table 12
UNRWA/UNESCO SCHOOLS
NUMBER OF ELEMENTARY AND PREPARATORY PUPILS 1951-1961
|
Country |
1951 |
1952 |
1953 |
1954 |
1955 |
1956 |
1957 |
1958 |
1959 |
1960 |
1961 |
|
GAZA Elementary Preparatory |
19,543 61 |
22,551 164 |
25,702 675 |
31,107 1,781 |
34,016 3,339 |
35,087 4,937 |
34,876 6,410 |
35,163 7,495 |
34,806 8,244 |
36,633 8,481 |
36,591 9,841 |
|
TOTAL |
19,604 |
22,715 |
26,377 |
32,888 |
37,355 |
40,024 |
41,286 |
42,658 |
43,050 |
45,114 |
46,432 |
|
JORDAN Elementary Preparatory |
16,345 — |
15,882 — |
30,118 87 |
39,188 812 |
42,144 1,694 |
43,649 3,062 |
42,431 4,608 |
41,600 5,852 |
39,519 7,292 |
38,223 7510 |
38,309 8,035 |
|
TOTAL |
16,345 |
15,882 |
30,205 |
40,000 |
43,838 |
46,711 |
47,039 |
47,452 |
46,811 |
45,733 |
46,344 |
|
LEBANON Elementary Preparatory |
4,564 — |
6,291 — |
9,332 86 |
11,695 384 |
12,567 620 |
12,983 948 |
13,155 1,003 |
13,936 996 |
14,881 1,325 |
15,422 1,668 |
16,292 2,159 |
|
TOTAL |
4,564 |
6,291 |
9,418 |
12,079 |
13,187 |
13,931 |
14,158 |
14,932 |
16,206 |
17,090 |
18,451 |
|
UAR(Syrian Region) Elementary Preparatory |
2,599 — |
2,895 — |
5,410 166 |
8,758 864 |
9,700 671 |
10,288 936 |
11,042 1,180 |
11,332 1,562 |
12,256 1,916 |
13,354 2,592 |
13,685 3,589 |
|
TOTAL |
2,599 |
2,895 |
5,576 |
9,622 |
10,371 |
11,224 |
12,222 |
12,894 |
14,172 |
15,946 |
17,274 |
|
GRAND TOTAL: Elementary Preparatory |
43,051 61 |
47,619 164 |
70,562 1,014 |
90,748 3,841 |
98,427 6,324 |
102,007 9,883 |
101,504 13,201 |
102,031 15,905 |
101,462 18,777 |
103,632 20,251 |
104,877 23,624 |
|
TOTAL |
43,112 |
47,783 |
71,576 |
94,589 |
104,751 |
111,890 |
114,705 |
120,239 |
123,883 |
128,501 |
Table 13
NUMBER OF REFUGEE PUPILS IN UNRWA, GOVERNMENT, AND PRIVATE PREPARATORY AND
SECONDARY SCHOOLS, AND NUMBER ATTENDING GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE PREPARATORY
AND SECONDARY FOR WHOM UNRWA PAYS SUBSIDY, AS AT 31ST MAY 1961
Number of pupils Number of pupils in Number of pupils
Country in agency schools government schoolsa in private schoolsa Total
Gaza ………………… 9,841 5,770 (3,400) ( ) 15,611 (13,241)
Jordan ………………. 8,035 8,643 (5,000) 1,695 ( 400) 18,373 (13,435)
Lebanon ……………… 2,159 142 ( 66) 3,228 (2,343) 5,529 ( 4,568)
U.A.R. (Syrian Region) … 3,589 1,651 (1,651) 1,687 (1,687) 6,927 ( 6,927)
TOTAL 23,624 16,206 (10,117) 6,610 (4,430) 46,440 (38,171)
a The government and private schools accept a number of refugee pupils in excess of those for whom grants are made by UNRWA. The number of refugee pupils in government and private schools for whom UNRWA pays subsidy is shown in parentheses.
Table 14
UNRWA/UNESCO SCHOOLS SHOWING NUMBER OF PUPILS BY GRADES AT END O F MAY 1961
ELEMENTARY
1st Elementary 2nd Elementary 3rd Elementary 4th Elementary 5th Elementary 6th Elementary Totals
Country Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls
Gaza ……………… 3,240 3,292 3,316 3,290 3,116 2,881 3,010 2,680 2,807 2,381 4,068 2,510 19,557 17,034
Jordan ……………. 4,389 4,307 4,392 3,52 2 3,582 2,641 3,647 2,333 3,257 1,624 3,259 1,356 22,526 15,783
Lebanon …………… 1,915 1,533 1,672 1,357 1,756 1,322 1,623 1,064 1 ,444 823 1,212 571 9,622 6,670
UAR (Syrian
Region) ………….. 1,764 1,348 1,549 1,160 1,459 1,062 1,221 777 1,156 667 1,058 464 8,207 5,478
TOTAL 11,308 10,480 10,929 9,329 9,913 7,906 9,501 6,854 8,664 5,495 9,597 4,901 59,912 44,965
GRAND TOTAL 21,788 20,258 17,819 16,355 14,159 14,498 104,877
PREPARATORY AND SECONDARY
Preparatory II Preparatory III Preparatory I Secondary II Secondary Totals
Country Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls
Gaza …..2,894 1,827 1,814 1,010 1,798 498 — — — — 6,506 3,335 Jordan . .2,709 956 2,026 658 1,041 47 346 — 252 — 6,374 1,661
Lebanon 977 335 564 158 59 7 58 1 1,658 501
UAR (Syrian
Region) . 1,146 422 778 268 766 209 — — — — 2,690 899
TOTAL 7,726 3,540 5,182 2,094 3,664 761 404 1 252 17,228 6,396
GRAND TOTAL 11,266 7,276 4,425 405 252 23,624
================================================================================================
Table 15
DISTRIBUTION OF PALESTINE REFUGEE CHILDREN RECEIVING EDUCATION AS AT 31ST MAY 1961
_____________
Number of pupils in elementary Number of pupils in preparatory Number of refugee
classes of UNRWA/UNESCO and secondary classes of pupils in government Total
Number of schools UNRWA/UNESCO schools and private schools number of
UNRWA/ refugees UNESCO Government Private receiving
Country schools Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total schools schools education
Gaza ………………… 82 19,557 17,034 36,591 6,506 3,335 9,841 5,770 52,202
Jordan ……………… 170 22,526 15,783 38,309 6,374 1,661 8,035 25,533 8,987 80,864
Lebanon …………… 61 9,622 6,670 16,292 1,658 501 2,159 819 9,247 28,517
U.A.R. (Syrian
Region) ……….. 77 8,207 5,478 13,685 690 899 3,589 6,496 2,327 26,097
TOTAL 390 59,912 44,965 104,877 17,228 6,396 23,624 38,618 20,561 187,680
Table 16
DISTRIBUTION OF UNRWA UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP-HOLDERS BY FACULTIES 1960-1961
Teacher
Arts and training
Pre- Sciences and
Country of origin university Agriculture freshman Commerce education Engineering Dentistry Medicine Pharmacy Total
Gaza …….. — 3 25 — 3 34 — 42 7 114(a)
Jordan ……. 26 2 46 3 2 43 3 42 2 169(b)
Lebanon ….. — — 31 — — 19 — 14 1 65(c)
U.A.R.
(Syrian Region) — 1 8 3 — 19 3 15 5 54(d)
TOTAL 26 6 110 6 5 115 6 113 15 402
a Includes 6 ARAMCO scholarships and 8 additional scholarships made possible by exemptions awarded by the Government
of the United Arab Republic to outstandingly successful scholars.
b Includes 9 ARAMCO scholarships.
c Includes 3 ARAMCO scholarships.
d Includes 4 ARAMCO scholarships.
VOCATIONAL AND TEACHER TRAINING
Table 17
VOCATIONAL AND TEACHER-TRAINING FACILITIES, 1960-1961
_
Annual output
Capacity (year 1961)
vocational Training Centre for men at Kalandia, Jordan ………… 392 169
vocational Training Centre for men (Gaza) ……………………. 192 48
Vocational Training Centre for men at Wadi Seer, Jordan ……….. 404 72
Commercial and secretarial evening courses in Beirut and Tripoli,
Lebanon …………………………………………………. 150 90
Teacher-Training Centre for men in Ramallah, Jordan …………… 200
Teacher-Training Centre for women in Nablus, Jordan …………… 84 19
1,422 398
FINANCE
Table 18
SUMMARY STATEMENT OF INCOME, EXPENDITURE AND WORKING CAPITAL OF UNRWA,
1 MAY 1950-30 JUNE 1961a
(In U.S. dollars)
Income
Contributions Working
from Other Total capital at
For the period Governments income income Expenditure period end
1 May 1950 to 30 June 1951 …………………… 38,781,617 1,346,325 40,127,942 33,383,180b 6,744,762
1 July 1951 to 30 June 1952 ………………….. 42,808,698 1,092,107 43,900,805 28,054,838 22,590,729
1 July 1952 to 30 June 1953 ………………….. 49,087,227 440,419 49,527,646 26,936,198 45,182,177
1 July 1953 to 30 June 1954 ………………….. 22,983,899 559,188 23,543,087 29,290,393 39,434,871
1 July 1954 to 30 June 1955 ………………….. 24,554,930 605,641 25,160,571 29,387,519 35,207,923
1 July 1955 to 30 June 1956 ………………….. 23,646,275 571,866 24,218,141 31,999,975 27,426,089
1 July 1956 to 31 December 1957 ………………. 42,452,880 1,072,872 43,525,752 52,009,113 18,942,728
1 January 1958 to 31 December 1958 …………… 33,928,466 1,104,793 35,033,259 31,665,379 22,310,608
1 January 1959 to 31 December 1959 ……………. 32,553,673 1,405,205 33,958,878 34,041,427 22,228,059
1 January 1960 to 31 December 1960 ……………. 32,852,870 2,629,135 35,482,005 34,584,432 23,125,632
1 January 1961 to 30 June 1961 ……………….. 12,973,799 1,324,211 14,298,010 17,073,387 20,350,255c
TOTAL INCOME AND EXPENDITURE 356,624,334 12,151,762 368,776,096 348,425,841
a Based on Agency's audited statements but reflecting for each year audited adjustments made through working capital in
subsequent years.
b Includes $2,646,909 deficit of United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees paid by UNRWA.
c Excluding $413,562 temporary adjustment for unallocated price variances on supply costs which will be allocated to operations
1 July to 31 December 1961.
|
Contributor |
1/5/50 to 30/6/51 |
30/6/52 |
30/6/53 |
30/6/54 |
30/6/55 |
30/6/56 |
18 months ended 31/12/57 |
12 months ended 31/12/58 |
12 months ended 31/12/59 |
12 months ended 31/12/60 |
6 months ended 30/6/61 |
total contributions |
|
Australia Austrria Bahrein Belgium Bolivia Brazil Burma Cambodia Canada Ceylon Cuba Denmark Dominican Republic El Salvador Ethiopia Federal Republic of Germany Federation of Malaya Finland France Gambia Gaza Authorities Ghana Greece Haiti Honduras Holy See India Indonesia Iran Ireland Israel Italy Japan Jodran Korea Kuwait Laos Lebanon Liberia Libya Luxembourg Mexico Monaco Morocco Netherlands New Zealand Norway Pakistan Philippines Qatar Rhodesia and Nyasaland Saudi Arabia Spain Sudan Sweden Switzerland Thailand Turkey United Arab Republic Egyptian Region Syrian Region USA UK and N.Ireland Uruguay Viet Nam Yugoslavia |
— — — 6,000 — — — — 1,400,313 — — — 5,000 — 25,500 — — — 2,285,714 — — — — — — — — — — — 114,354 — — 229804 — — — 225,800 — — 2,000 — — — — — 60,000 90,000 — — — 37,650 — — — — — — 478,219 171,263 27,450,000 6,200,000 — — — |
328,715 — — — 5,000 — — — — — — 58,000 — — — — — — 2,571,429 — — — 56,287 — 2,500 — — 30,000 — — 5,207 — — 184,996 — — — — — — 2,000 — — — 25,000 210,000 14,000 90,000 10,000 — 19,600 115,000 — 144,000 19310 — — — 718,280 125,673 30,000,000 8,000,000 — 5,000 68,700 |
712,088 1,400 — 30,000 — — — 2,000 600,000 — — 43,478 — — — 23,810 — 1,000 954,079 — — — — 2,000 — — — 60,000 — — 1,029 — — 154,000 2,000 — 1,207 14,385 — — 1,000 — 285 — — 140,000 42,097 — — — — 40,000 — — 44,788 — — — 546,633 63,948 36,000,000 9,6000,000 — 6,000 — |
112,500 700 — 30,000 — — 2,000 2,000 515,000 — — — — 500 — — — — 1,485,790 — — — 21,000 2,000 — — — 60,000 — — — — 10,000 — — — — 13,689 — — 3,000 75,482 286 — 25,000 140,000 42,000 82,764 — — — 40,000 — — 71,127 — — — 219,858 29,204 15,000,000 5,000,000 — — — |
112,500 700 — 30,000 — — — — 515,000 — — 86,956 — — — — — — 1,657,219 — — — 2,730 2,000 — — 1-4,000 — — — — 20,000 10,000 — — — – 13,689 — — — 28,800 — – 25,000 112,000 42,135 67,991 — — — 40,000 — — 57,915 26,733 — — 277,143 82,419 16,700,000 4,500,000 — — 40,000 |
112,500 700 — 30,000 — — 3,528 — — — — — — — — 16,603 — — 368,276 — — — 6,000 — — — 52,500 30,000 5,138 — — — 10,000 — — — — 12,652 — — 4,000 11,409 286 — 57,895 168,000 42,135 — — — 19,600 40,000 — — 57,915 12,444 — 5,357 224,924 74,900 16,700,000 5,500,001 — — 80,000 |
212,000 1,050 1960 50,000 — — 2,972 — 1,208,125 1,400 — 80,956 — — 10,000 24,997 1,500 2,000 700,810 — 19,157 — 11,000 — — — 17,967 60,000 3,350 — 135,957 — 20,000 174,403 2,000 — — 11,652 — — 2,000 — 572 5,714 64,474 210,000 53,202 62,964 1,250 10,500 — 114,668 — — 86,872 11,809 — 5,000 182,182 110,415 30,622,000 8,100,002 — — 40,000 |
195,200 1,400 — 20,000 — — — — 2,138,750 — — 50,680 — — — 190,476 — — 745,162 — 22,986 — 16,500 — — — 3,847 — 5,333 — — 39,953 10,000 100,935 — — 7,788 5,000 — 2,000 — 2,381 4,762 32,895 168,000 49,000 20,964 — — — 174,046 — 4,200 96,873 77,516 — 10,402 228,850 76,498 23,746,069 5,600,00 — — 80,000 |
190,400 2,000 — 30,000 — — — 857 2,075,000 — 5,000 43,440 — — — 238,095 3,000 — 264,002 30 129,592 3,000 39,000 — — 1,000 25,441 — 8,332 2,814 — — 10,000 99,045 — — 1,000 23,844 6,500 10,000 2,000 — 203 4796 65,790 140,000 21,000 20,964 — — — 138,833 — — 57,915 35,047 — 5,000 326,324 81,90 23,000,000 5,400,000 — 2,500 40,000 |
196,000 2,000 — 20,000 — 25,000 1,046 — 2,060,000 — — 43,440 — — — 238,095 1,500 — 182,757 — 130,045 — 17,500 — — — 23,739 — 3,000 7,000 — — 12,500 98,550 — — 500 23,844 5,000 — — — 204 — 65,790 168,000 63,000 22,014 — — — 85,618 16,667 — 57,915 35,046 3,125 5,000 339,083 83,474 22,147,418 5,624,000 5,000 — 40,000 |
100,800 — — — — — — 571 — — — 43,440 — — — — — — 32,260 — 65,022 3,000 15,000 — — 10,965 — — — — — 120,518 — 49,140 1,500 131,250 — 20,202 — — 2,000 — — 36,750 — 140,000 — — — — — — — — — — — 248,067 36,908 9,213,906 2,700,000 — 2,500 — |
2,272,703 9,950 1,960 246,000 5,000 25,000 9,546 5,428 11,512,188 1,400 5,000 456,390 5,000 500 35,500 732,076 6,000 3,000 11,247,498 30 366,802 6,000 185,017 6,000 2,500 11,965 227,494 240,000 25,153 9,814 256,547 180,471 82,500 1,090,873 5,500 131,205 2,707 367,057 16,500 10,000 20,000 115,691 4,217 52,022 361,844 1,596,000 438,569 457,661 11,250 10,500 39,200 825,815 16,667 148,200 550,630 198,595 3,125 30,759 3,789,563 936,610 250,579,393 66,224,004 5,000 16,000 388,700 |
|
Total Government contributions |
38,718,617 |
42,808,698 |
49,087,227 |
22,983,899 |
24,4554,930 |
23,646,275 |
42,452 880 |
33,928,466 |
32,553,673 |
32,852,870 |
12,973,799 |
356,624,334 |
|
UNESCO WHO Sundry donors |
83,393 42,857 781,200 |
25,425 — 671,969 |
105,000 42,857 54,022 |
35,000 42,857 83,091 |
55,535 42,857 55,386 |
102,140 |
58,706 39,976 160,372 |
82,268 33,029 142,075 |
114,916 33,610 254,392 |
164,121 25,254 1,118,428 |
85,190 16,172 688,393 |
1,013,363 391,349 3,977,455 |
|
Total contributions from others Misc. income and exchange adjustments |
907,453 438,872 |
697,394 394,713 |
201,879 238,540 |
160,948 398,240 |
153,778 451,863 |
200,882 371,044 |
301,945 770,927 |
257,372 847,421 |
402,918 1,002,287 |
1,307,903 1,321,232 |
789,755 534,456 |
5,382,167 6,769,595 |
|
Total income |
40,127,942 |
43,900,805 |
49,527,646 |
23,543,087 |
25,160,571 |
24,218,141 |
43,525,752 |
35,033,259 |
33,958,878 |
35,482,005 |
14,298,010 |
368,776,096 |
Table 20
STATEMENT OF EXTRA-BUDGETARY FUNDS RECEIVED OR PLEDGED FOREXPANSION OF EDUCATION, TRAINING AND INDIVIDUAL
ASSISTANCE, FROM 1 JULY 1959 TO 30 JUNE 1961a
(In U.S. dollars)
Other extra-budgetary Total extra-budgetary
World Refugee Year funds funds
Contributor Contributions Pledges Contributions Pledges Contributions Pledges
Governments
Burma…………………………………. 1,046 1,046
Cambodia………………………………. 286 286
Canada………………………………… 1,020,000 1,020,000
Cuba………………………………….. 5,000 5,000
Federation of Malaya……………………. 1,500 1,500
Gambia………………………………… 30 30
Greece………………………………… 2,500 — 2,500
Holy See………………………………. 11,965 11,965
Japan…………………………………. 2,500 2,500
Kuwait………………………………… — 131,250 131,250
Liberia……………………………….. 1,500 1,500
Morocco……………………………….. 36,750 36,750
New Zealand……………………………. 28,000 28,000
Pakistan………………………………. 1,050 1,050
Thailand………………………………. 3,125 3,125
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Irelandb…………………………….. 224,000 224,000
United States of Americac……………….. 500,000 500,000 Viet-Nam………………………………. 2,500 2,500
TOTAL FROM GOVERNMENTS 1,305,002 168,000 500,000 1,473,002 500,000
Others
Arabian American Oil Company…………….. 20,000 30,000 20,000 30,000
Australian World Refugee Year Committee….. 83,000 83,000
Canadian Committee for World Refugee Year…. 156,436 156,436
Children of Canada……………………… 71,400 71,400
CORSO, New Zealand……………………… 61,272 11,680 61,272 11,680
Danish World Refugee Year Committee………. 145,000 145,000
Farnsworth, Ann Labouisse, U.S.A…………. 14,400 14,400
Furse, William, U.K…………………….. 500 500
German National World Refugee Year
Committee……………………………. 212,500 25,000 212,500 25,000
Iranian World Refugee Year Committee……… 9,000 9,000
Irish Red Cross Society…………………. 42,005 42,005
Netherlands Committee for World Refugee Year 30,676 30,676
Norwegian World Refugee Year Committee……. 90,000 90,000
Order of St. John of Jerusalem, U.K………. 2,380 2,380
Oxford University Committee for World Refugee
Year………………………………… 840 840
Swedish Broadcasting Relief Committee…….. 25,697 25,697
Swedish Red Cross………………………. 20,000 20,000
Uganda World Refugee Year Appeal…………. 7,096 7,096
United Kingdom Committee for World Refugee
Year………………………………… 1,015,000 1,015,000
United Nations Secretariat staffs………… 10,241 10,241
Viet-Nam Committee for World Refugee Year… 28,283 28,283
World Refugee Year Stamp Plan……………. 100,000 150,000 100,000 150,000
World Refugee Year television and film show.. 8,030 8,030
Sundry donors and interest earned………… 75,212 75,212
TOTAL OTHERS 1,850,871 550,377 14,400 30,000 1,865,271 580,377
TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED
OR PLEDGED 3,155,873 550,377 182,400 530,000 3,338,273 1,080,377
aThe contributions shown in this table are included in tables 18 and 19 and are not additional thereto.
bThe contributions of the United Kingdom were received through the United Kingdom Committee for World Refugee Year.
cThe United States of America pledge is subject to the usual matching principle; that is, the total amount contributed to UNRWA by the United States for any one year (July to June) must not exceed 70 percent of the total contributed by all Governments for the same period.
Table 21a
DIRECT CONTRIBUTIONS FROM GOVERNMENTS TO REFUGEESb
(In U.S. dollars)
Social
Contributor and period of Education welfare Medical Security Miscellaneous Administration
contribution services services services Housing services services costs Total
Jordan
1 July 1959 to 30 June 1960……. 1,301,362 213,452 562,341 169,680 42,280 2,289,115
1 July 1960 to 30 June 1961……. 1,191,389 234,517 410,315 93,030 44,940 1,974,191
Lebanon
1 July 1959 to 30 June 1960……. 3,266 10,984 105,500 119,750
1 July 1960 to 30 June 1961……. 187,500 63,125 157,812 105,500 513,937
United Arab Republic
(Syrian Region)
1 July 1959 to 30 June 1960……. 393,056 390,618 9,707 527,777 163,611 1,484,769
1 July 1960 to 30 June 1961……. 416,667 410,640 8,908 555,554 184,344 1,576,113
United Arab Republic
(Egyptian Region)
1 July 1959 to 30 June 1960……. 721,059 139,873 32,584 43,303 270,360 58,460 1,265,639
1 July 1960 to 30 June 1961……. 725,757 349,758 64,621 78,463 37,336 62,393 1,318,328
France
1 July 1958 to 30 June 1959……. 17,281 17,281
1 July 1959 to 30 June 1960……. 16,686 16,686
1 July 1960 to 30 June 1961……. 19,503 19,503
aDelay in receipt of information in 1960 prevented inclusion of a similar table in the Director's report for 1959-1960. The present table therefore covers, for each Government, the period beyond that covered by the Director's report for 1958-1959, to
30 June 1961. All data shown are based upon information provided by the Governments concerned, and are expressed in dollars computed by applying the Agency's accounting rates of exchange, which are based on official or free market rates as appropriate.
bIn addition to the foregoing contributions direct to the refugees all Governments listed also made contributions to UNRWA for the latter's budget. These contributions are reported in the Agency's own accounts and are set out in tables 18 and 19. It is also to be noted that UNRWA (and, in some cases, voluntary agencies working with the refugees) enjoy exemption from customs duties and taxes. In addition, the cost of the normal services provided by the host Governments is increased by reason of utilization of these services by refugees.
SOCIAL WELFARE
Table 22
CO-OPERATIVES IN REFUGEE CAMPS, JULY 1961
Number of UNRWA
Type of families initial Outside Loan from
Co-operative Camp benefiting assistance donation Government
$ $
Lebanon
Consumer…….. Mar Elias 54 925 — —
Wool-kntting…… Ein-el-Hilweh 25 300
and wool
Jordan
Poultry…….. Deir Ammar 16 420 16,000 chicks 1,680
and incubator (Heifer
and brooder Project)
Poultry…….. Nuweimeh 20 1,008 16,000 chicks 700
(Heifer Project)
Agricultural.. Karameh 49 1,400 — 24,000 Saving and credit
(agricultural)….. Nuweimeh 18 560 — —
Handicraft………. Kalandia 20 350 $2,044 —
Mat-making……… Akabat-Jaber 42 1,568
Bakery……… . Jalazone 28 560 — —
Bakery……… . Fawwar 80 — — —
School……….. Irbed — — — —
Gaza
Consumer……… Nuseirat 273 346 — —
Consumer……… Bureij 131 346 — —
Poultry………. Maghazi 7 1,038 1,000 chicks —
(Heifer Project)
Soap-making…… Maghazi 7 754 $173 (NECC) —
Carpentry……. Khan Younis 8 1,830 $1,120 (CORSO) —
United Arab Republic
(Syrian Region)
Bakery……….. Khan Dannoun 73 1,125 — —
851 12,530
Table 23
VOLUNTARY AGENCIES DONATING CLOTHING TO PALESTINE REFUGEES, 1960-1961
American Friends Service Committee
American Middle East Relief Association
Canadian Lutheran World Relief
Catholic Relief Services (United States)
Church of Denmark Inter-Church Aid Committee
Church of Scotland
Church World Service (United States)
Inomeuropeisk Mission (Sweden)
Lutheran World Relief, Inc.
Mennonite Central Committee (United States)
New Zealand Council of Organizations for Relief Services Overseas, Inc. (CORSO)
Norwegian Church
Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (United Kingdom)
Red Cross Societies (United Kingdom and New Zealand)
Red Cross Society (Canada)
Swedish Red Cross
Unitarian Service Committee of Canada
United Church of Canada
Vastkustens Efterkrigshjalp, (Sweden)
Women's Voluntary Services (United Kingdom)
Table 24
VOLUNTARY AGENCIES IN THE AREA OF UNRWA OPERATIONS GIVING ACTIVE HELP
TO PALESTINE REFUGEES
CARE (Co-operative for American Relief Everywhere, Inc.)
The Church Missionary Society (in Jordan)
Jamiat al Islam (in Jordan)
The Lutheran World Federation (in Jordan and the Syrian Region of the United Arab
Republic)
The Mennonite Central Committee (in Jordan)
The Near East Christian Council Committee (in Gaza, in Lebanon through the Joint
ChristianCommittee, in Jordan directly and through the International Church Committee)
The Pontifical Mission (in Lebanon, Jordan and Gaza)
The Southern Baptist Mission U.S. (hospital in Gaza)
UNRWA Women's Auxiliary
The World Council of Churches
The Young Men's Christian Association (in Jordan, Gaza and Lebanon)
The Young Women's Christian Association (in Jordan)
Table 25
REFUGEES WHO EMIGRATED WITH UNRWA ASSISTANCE DURING THE FOUR YEARS
ENDING JUNE 1961
United States Venezuela Brazil Colombia Canada Others Total
1957-1958……. 80 170 137 1 11 34 433
1958-1959……. 273 75 84 – 1 44 477
1959-1960…… 167 9 166 8 18 39 407
1960-1961…… 75 12 121 77 14 49 348
595 266 508 86 44 166 1,665
UNRWA PERSONNEL
Table 26
STAFF EMPLOYED BY UNRWA AT 31 DECEMBER 1960
Locally Inter-
recruited national
Function staffa staffb Total
Medical, nutrition and sanitation……….. 3,618 17 3,635
Education and training………………… 4,565 29 4,594
Supply, transport and distribution………. 1,353 15 1,368
Other functions (placement,
welfare, administration, etc.) 1,167 85 1,252
TOTAL 10,703 146 10,849
aThe apparent increase of 611 locally recruited employees since 31 December 1959 is
mostly accounted for by formerly daily paid labourers now brought on to the manning table.
includes 22 UNESCO, WHO and other loaned or seconded staff.
Part II
BUDGET FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 1962
A. Introduction
101. In his report for 1959-1960, the Director of UNRWA presented a three-year plan of expenditure (1961 through 1963) covering the entire period of the Agency's renewed mandate; i.e. to 30 June 1963. The estimates for 1962 and 1963 were, of course, only tentative; the estimates for 1962 are now presented in final form and total $39,204,000.
102. There are several significant changes from the original estimates for 1962, as contained in the presentation to the fifteenth session of the General Assembly, the most important of which results from a decision in 1961 to advance by a year or more those parts of the vocational training expansion programme originally scheduled for 1962 and 1963. A second important change, of a technical type, follows the decision of the Agency to alter its accounting rate for the Egyptian pound from the official rate of £E1 = $2.88 to the effective rate of £E1 = $2.25; the financial effect of which is to reduce the estimates of expenditure by some $0.8 million and imultaneously to reduce estimated income (gain on exchange) by the same amount.
103. The estimates for 1962 represent the most realistic predictions the Agency can make with respect to cost factors relating to (1) maintaining essential services to an ever-increasing number of refugees (including such minor improvements and capital replacements as are unavoidable) and, (2) implementing the Agency's three year plan for expansion of vocational training, improvement of general education, increasing university scholarships and provision of loans and grants in 1962. The budget here submitted is minimal, reflecting only what the Agency believes can and should be done
in 1962.
104. Each year, two important influences continue to increase the Agency's budget for its existing programmes: first, the steady increase in the number of beneficiaries of the Agency's services and, second, the gradual increase in the unit costs of nearly everything the Agency buys. The budget figures for 1962 reflect the anticipated effects of these two unavoidable factors. In addition, certain capital replacements must be made as equipment wears out and buildings become unsafe or inadequate, and a minimum amount of adjustment and adaptation is necessary, particularly in health and sanitation services and in shelter.
105. In 1961, the budgetary effect of the Agency's three-year plan (of expansion of vocational training, improvement of general education, increase in number of university scholarships and provision of individual assistance) was primarily in the area of non-recurring costs, i.e. construction and equipment of new centres. In 1962, however, in addition to a continued, although much smaller, capital construction programme, recurring costs will increase sharply as the new centres are completed and commence operations.
106. Paragraphs 109 to 153 present the Agency's expenditure estimates for 1962 in detail. As in 1961 these estimates are presented in two parts, the first dealing with relief services and related activities, the second dealing with education, technical training, and indiviual assistance.
107. Paragraphs 154 to 159 deal with the problem of financing the Agency's requirements. This problem grows more serious each year, as regular income remains virtually unchanged while the Agency's expenditures unavoidably increase, quite apart from the increase resulting from the programme of expansion of vocational training, improvement in general education, increase in university scholarships and provision for the individual assistance scheme.
108. The heavy expansion programme in vocational training facilities during 1961 has been financed almost entirely from the extra-budgetary amounts derived from gifts (mostly World Refugee Year donations) and from the drawing down of working capital. These sources are of course non-repetitive, which means that the Agency will have to look entirely to contributing Governments, during fiscal years 1962 and 1963, except for the $1 million per year which the Director will attempt to raise from other sources.
B. Estimates of expenditure
GENERAL
109. The Agency's estimates for expenditure in 1962 are summarized in the following table:
BUDGET ESTIMATES FOR 1962
(Expressed in thousands of U.S. dollars)
1962 budget estimates
Improve-
ments
Existing and Activity operations expansions Total
Part I. Relief services
Basic subsistence…………….. 12,439 15 12,454
Supplementary feeding…………. 1,545 2 1,547
Health care………………….. 3,022 185 3,207
Environmental sanitation………. 896 108 1,004
Shelter……………………… 253 550 803
Social welfare……………….. 732 179 911
Placement services……………. 180 180
Eligibility and registration…… 239 8 247
Transport within UNRWA area……. 2,799 2,799
Supply control and warehousing…. 695 80 775
General administration and in-….
ternal services……………… 3,421 66 3,487
Operational reserve…………… 800 800
TOTAL OF PART I 27,021 1,193 28,214
Part II. Education, technical train-
ing and individual assistance
Elementary and secondary edu-
cation…………………….. 8,063 465 8,528
Vocational and university edu-
cation…………………….. 1,496 800 2,296
Projects and individual assistance 166 166
TOTAL OF PART II 9,559 1,431 10,990
GRAND TOTAL OF 1962 BUDGET 36,580 2,624 39,204
110. Under the heading "Relief services" (part I of the preceding table), $28.2 million will be required, including $27 million for providing relief services at existing per capita levels to the refugees, plus $1.2 million for improvements and expansion of such services. The latter figure is composed of $500,000 for providing shelter to those additional refugees whose need for shelter has become the most urgent; $293,000 for adjustments in medical and sanitation services to ensure their continuation at a minimum level; $179,000 for expansion of youth activities to combat the debilitating effects of idleness; and $221,000 for essential improvements in the Agency's facilities.
111. Under the heading "Education, technical training and individual assistance" (part II of the table), $11 million will be required, including $9.5 million for continuing the existing programme, $0.5 million for the expansion of general education and essential improvements in existing educational facilities, and $1 million for the expansion of vocational training and individual assistance under the three-year plan previously mentioned.
BASIC SUBSISTENCE
1962 estimates: Existing operations .$12,439,000
Essential
improvements …. 15,000
Total budget $12,454,000
112. Basic subsistence continues to be the most costly of all Agency operations. Included in the estimates are the costs of basic food commodities CIF Agency area ports of entry, the cost of quality control, and the cost
of field distribution to the entitled beneficiaries. (In 1961 and prior years, port costs and the cost of transport from ports of entry to field warehouses, approximately $1.5 million, were also included under this heading. In 1962, however, these costs will be included under "Transport within UNRWA area" which is set out in paragraphs 132 to 135 below. It is believed that the inclusion of all internal transport costs under the one heading will more accurately reflect the true nature of the expenditure.)
113. The basic ration will be distributed to an estimated 877,000 beneficiaries during 1962 (including approximately 16,500 half-ration beneficiaries) and will comprise:
Type of ration Quantity
(i) Basic food ration (consisting 1,500 calories per day in
of dry food commodities summer and 1,600 calories
–flour, rice, pulses, sugar, per day in winter
cooking oil, etc.)
(ii) Soap 150 grammes per month
(iii) Blankets One per benef iciary every
three years
(iv) Kerosene 1 litre per month for five winter months in Gaza
1.5 litres per month for five winter months in Lebanon,
UAR (Syrian Re-
gion), Jordan (camp resi-
dents only)
114. Provision has had to be made in the estimates for assisting the additional beneficiaries who become eligible through the natural increase of population. Food prices have been based on the best forecasts which the Agency can make; although certain commodities are expected to cost less in 1962, the aggregate of all food supplies is estimated to cost $0.1 million more than in 1961. Moreover, many items in the diet, especially flour, pulses and sugar, are notoriously subject to wide fluctuations on world markets. In the event that a political or economic crisis in 1962 should markedly affect food prices, this aspect of the budget could prove to be understated to a degree requiring fundamental recasting of the entire budget.
115. There is no provision for expansion of facilities for ration distribution of any kind, but $15,000 has been provided for replacement of the most sub-standard distribution centres in order to improve efficiency and reduce distribution costs.
SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDING
1962 estimates: Existing operations .. $1,545,000
Essential improvements 2,000
Total budget $1,547,000
116. Provisions in 1962 are limited to providing the following supplements to the basic ration for the vulnerable categories of refugee population listed below:
Type of ration Calories per day Type of beneficiary
(i) Whole milk………… 194 Babies 0-1 year
(ii) Skim milk…………. 125 Children aged 1-15
Nursing mothers
Pregnant women
Special medical cases
(iii) One hot meal six days per week.. 600/700 Special cases medically certified to be in need
of extra food
(iv) Special ration of flour, rice, etc 500 Nursing mothers
Pregnant women
(v) Special ration of flour, rice, etc 1,500/1,600 Non-hospitalized tuberculosis cases
(vi) Vitamin capsules……………… School and other children
117. Costs include the provision of the necessary food items and the costs of preparing and serving the supplementary meals. Included under the milk programme item are the costs of reconstitution of dried milk powder and distribution of the liquid milk.
118. Consistent with the explanation in paragraph 112, the internal transport of basic food commodities will be charged to the heading "Transport within UNRWA area", and not to this activity. Provision has had to be made to meet the continual rise in the prices of fresh food, for increasing attendance by entitled beneficiaries, and for major increases in the expected cost of milk.
119. No expansions in supplemental feeding facilities are proposed, but $2,000 is provided for the replacement of those distribution centres in Gaza which are considered to be sub-standard from a health point of view.
HEALTH CARE
1962 estimates: Existing operations … $3,022,000
Essential improvements 185,000
Total budget $3,207,000
120. The health care programmes are extensive, providing services for almost a million people through the operation of general clinics, hospitals, laboratories and pharmacies, as well as providing dental treatment, maternal and child health care, tuberculosis control, mental health care, school health service, health education, epidemiological measures, preventive medicine services and carrying out other necessary health measures and precautions. Although the total budget under this heading appears large, it only represents about $0.26 per person per month. The efficacy of the service may be inferred from the refugees' freedom from serious epidemics or other health catastrophe during nearly twelve years, despite the adverse conditions under which they have been living.
121. In order to maintain even the minimum standards set by the Agency, certain expenditures must be increased, including $112,000 for staff to meet the increasing number of refugees, and $73,000 for buildings and equipment to replace facilities whose condition has ceased to meet even minimum standards of safety, sanitation or usefulness, or which have become seriously overcrowded and inadequate.
ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION
1962 estimates: Existing operations …$ 896,000
Essential improvements 108,000
Total budget $1,004,000
122. "Environmental sanitation" includes surface water drainage, refuse and sewage disposal, water supply, insect and rodent control, ancillary camp facilities (such as bath-houses, incinerators and slaughter houses) and basic sanitation services in villages of the Gaza Strip where refugees comprise the predominant proportion of the inhabitants. These services extend to approximately 460,000 refugees officially quartered in camps and to a further 25,000 "squatters" on the outskirts of organized UNRWA camps.
123. The estimates include $108,000 for essential improvements within the existing programmes: $63,000 for sewage and refuse disposal facilities, $33,000 for water supply systems and $12,000 for miscellaneous items such as staff training. Because of the importance of adequate water supply and sewage disposal to good health, such improvements must be made promptly when needed.
SHELTER
1962 estimates: Existing operations ….$253,000
Essential improvements . 50,000
Proposed expansions .. 500,000
Total budget $803,000
124. This heading includes all costs of construction, repair and maintenance of shelter provided for refugees by the Agency (including cash grants for roofing to refugees who construct their own shelter), regardless of whether the premises are located in organized camps or elsewhere, the costs of allocating and controlling the use of shelter and otherwise administering the programme, and expenditures for the construction, repair and maintenance of roads and paths and for associated drainage facilities.
125. Provision of $50,000 has been made for providing or improving roads and paths, principally to permit easier access to camps by Agency vehicles in bad weather, and other minor improvements in camps.
126. Construction costs for new shelter are estimated at $500,000 to provide for growing family needs within existing camps, for replacement of sub-standard shelter, for admission of a limited number of pressing cases from new applicants and shelter for "refugee squatters" in a few localities where their present living conditions present a hazard to the community.
SOCIAL WELFARE
1962 estimates: Existing operations ….$732,000
Essential improvements .
Proposed expansions .. 179,000
Total budget costs $911,000
127. Estimates under this heading include the costs of all welfare activities. The largest single item under this heading is for ocean freight and distribution of used clothing for refugees, but welfare activities also include case work among individuals, burial grants, aid to religious institutions and community development activities.
128. During the past two years, there has been increasing importance attached to community development, particularly in the form of youth activities centres, craft training centres for adults and assistance to co-operatives and small grants to enable individual refugees to become more self-reliant and, where possible, self-supporting. The estimates therefore include $179,-000 for expansion of adult craft training and youth activities centres. Both the adult craft training and the youth activities centres contribute materially towards developing initiative and otherwise combating the effects of idleness at relatively low per capita cost.
PLACEMENT SERVICES
1962 estimates: Existing operations ….$180,000
Essential improvements .
Proposed expansions ..
$180,000
129. This service assists those qualified refugees who apply for help to find suitable employment and, in the case of refugees who, themselves, have obtained valid travel documents and employment in other localities, provides grants for subsistence and travel. No expansion or improvement in the level of these services is provided in this budget.
EIGIBILITY AND REGISTRATION
1962 estimates: Existing operations ….$239,000
Essential improvements .
Proposed expansions … 8,000
Total budget $247,000
29
130. The cost of all eligibility and registration activities is encompassed under this heading, including investigations to determine eligibility and maintenance of records with respect to changes in family status by reason of births, marriages, or deaths; changes of location; transfers to other categories of entitlement with respect to rations or service benefits; and the carrying out of systematic checks on eligibility rolls as a means of keeping them as accurate as possible.
131. The progressive steps towards rectification of the ration rolls, which are treated more fully in part I of this report, require a staff increase of $8,000 for 1962.
TRANSPORT WITHIN THE UNRWA AREA
1962 estimates: Existing operations ..$2,799,000
Essential improvements
Proposed expansion ..
Total budget $2,799,000
132. This budget heading provides for all costs of operating the Agency's transport system for both passenger and freight movements by road, rail, sea or air within the UNRWA area (whether by Agency-owned vehicles or by hired transport), including related costs for loading, unloading and insurance. Included also are costs of port operations and the essential replacement of vehicles.
133. As noted under paragraphs 112 and 118 above, commencing in 1962 transport costs of food supplies within the Agency's area will be charged to this heading and not to the Basic subsistence and supplementary feeding activities, as heretofore. This change is being made to facilitate a more accurate description of the use of funds.
134. In common with other users of freight transport in the area, the Agency is faced with rising freight rates for hired services and with rising costs for the operation of its own vehicles, both with respect to original price and to maintenance. On the other hand, by the adoption of much more rigorous criteria for the replacement of passenger-carrying vehicles and of replacement of engines only for freight-carrying vehicles, the cost of vehicle replacements is expected to be greatly reduced in 1962.
135. There has been a perceptible increase in the mileage required to be run by passenger vehicles owing to a combination of the expansion of the vocational training programmes, extension of protective services, more effective control of premises and closer supervision of field office operations. While this is reflected in terms of higher costs in this heading, such expenditure is expected to bring more than offsetting benefits in terms of efficiency and savings.
SUPPLY CONTROL AND WAREHOUSING
1962 estimates: Existing operations ….$695,000
Essential improvements . 80,000
Proposed expansions ..
Total budget $775,000
136. This heading covers the activities of receiving, warehousing, issuing of all Agency supplies, and the administrative procedures necessary to the control of inventories.
137. In the interest of efficiency, the following essential improvements are proposed, all within the scope of current activities: $60,000 to build a field office warehouse in the Syrian Region of the United Arab Republic, where rented warehousing facilities have proved to be expensive and inadequate; $13,000 for steel shelving in the field warehouses in Lebanon and Gaza; $6,000 for a weighbridge at the Lebanon field warehouse, to facilitate better control of supplies, and $1,000 for other necessary improvements in facilities.
GENERAL ADMINISTRATION AND INTERNAL SERVICES
1962 estimates: Existing operations ..$3,421,000
Essential improvements 66,000
Proposed expansions..
Total budget $3,487,000
138. This heading provides for the general administration and direction of the Agency and for the internal service activities essential to the proper functioning of the Agency. Included in general administration are the Agency's headquarters, five country and field office headquarters, 22 area offices, 50 camp offices, liaison offices in New York, Geneva and Baghdad, and the Advisory Commission. Included in internal services are administrative and office facilities and services; financial and audit services; legal, personnel, procurement, translation and communications services; engineering and architectural services and public information services.
139. The provision of $66,000 for improvements consists principally of $53,000 to provide office facilities for the increased staff necessary for the expansion of vocational training and improvement of education, to gether with $13,000 for other miscellaneous improve ments considered essential to proper working conditions.
140. In previous years the estimates under this heading were presented under three separate headings (General administration, General internal services and Operations administration and services). It is believed that presentation under a single heading of these essentially related activities simplifies the format of the budget and facilitates its understanding.
OPERATIONAL RESERVE
1962 estimates …………………..$800,000
141. For operational contingencies which are inherent in UNRWA activities and for emergencies such as the Agency has suffered at least once per year dur-
ing its history, a provision has been made in 1962 of $800,000 (the same figure as in former years). This is almost precisely 2 per cent of the total budget and is considered the absolute minimum margin of safety.
ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
1962 estimates: Existing operations ..$8,063,000
Essential improvements 284,000
Proposed expansions . 181,000
Total budgets $8,528,000
142. The estimates under this heading cover the cost of elementary schooling (six years), preparatory school ing (3 or 4 years depending on the country) and three years of secondary schooling, to the extent that the Agency is able to provide such education.
143. For some years the Agency has succeeded in providing elementary education for virtually all refugee children, and preparatory (lower secondary) and secondary education for an increasing percentage of children in these age groups. In 1960-1961, preparatory education was made available in Gaza to all children who qualified for admission to the preparatory cycle, and in 1961-1962 this policy will be essentially applied in Lebanon, the Syrian Region of the United Arab Republic, and Jordan, while some increase in secondary facilities will also be provided.
144. The estimates for existing operations therefore cover the cost of the programme as it existed in 1961, after making allowance for natural population increase in elementary schools. The cost ($181,000) in 1962 of expanding preparatory and secondary education, however, is shown separately as an expansion, in keeping with the Agency's three-year plan of expanding vocational training and improving general education.
145. The provision of $284,000 for improvements is to permit the replacement of a large number of old classrooms (principally of mud brick construction) which were built or rented in the early days of the Agency and which are now so overcrowded and unsatisfactory that the quality of education offered in them is seriously impaired.
VOCATIONAL AND UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
1962 estimates: Existing operations ..$1,496,000
Essential improvements
Proposed expansions . 800,000
Total budget $2,296,000
146. This heading provides for industrial, commercial and agricultural vocational training for limited numbers of students, for teacher training and for university training for carefully selected and qualified young men and women in professions such as medicine, dentistry, and categories of engineering for which there is a demand in the Middle East. Vocational and teacher training is largely conducted in the Agency's own centres, while university scholarships are awarded in universities within the Agency's area of operations.
147. As noted in paragraph 102 above, the entire schedule of vocational training expansion envisaged in the three year plan has been advanced by a year or more, by transferring the construction originally scheduled for 1962 and 1963 into the 1961 programme of works. No expansions are therefore planned for initiation in 1962. However, the estimates for 1962 reflect the effect of the expansions started in 1961, and these are shown separately as such in this budget.
148. For Vocational training administration and common costs an increase of $25,000 was made in 1961 and a further increase of $213,000 must be provided in 1962 to cover the cost of hiring a total of twenty eight International vocational training specialists, to cope with the expanded programmes.
149. In University scholarships it is proposed to proceed with increasing the approved number of scholarships, as planned in the three-year plan for the activity, but only, in 1962, to the extent of $44,000 above the 1961 level.
150. For all vocational training and teacher-training centres, estimates are based on the normal level of activity for all approved courses, for a full year's operation of those centres now completed or to be completed by the beginning of 1962, and for a proportional part of the year for those centres where construction will be completed during 1962. An exception is at the Siblin Vocational Training Centre (Lebanon) where for the first seven months of 1962, the whole centre will be used for conducting a specialized course for vocational training instructors for subsequent employment at the new centres to be operated by the Agency.
151. The following table gives the detail of cost estimates for each unit of Agency activity in the field of specialized education:
_ _________________________ (In thousands of U.S. dollars)
Existing Expanded Total
Activity title operations operations costs
1. Vocational education administra-
tion and common costs………… 373 213 586
2. Teacher-training administration
and common costs…………….. 105 105
3. In-service instructor training…. 10 10
4. Kalandia Vocational Training
Centre, Jordan……………… 210 210
5. Wadi Seer Vocational Training
Centre, Jordan………………. 176 60 236
6. Gaza Vocational Training Centre,
Gaza………………………. 112 21 133
7. Siblin Vocational Training Centre,
Lebanon……………………. 151 151
8. Damascus Vocational Training
Syrian Region of the Centre,
United Arab Republic………….. 56 100 156
9. Homs Vocational Training Centre,
Syrian Region of the United
Arab Republic………………… 40 40
10. Ramallah Men's Teacher-Training
Centre, Jordan……………….. 100 48 148
11. Ramallah Girls' Teacher-Training
Centre / Vocational Training
Centre, Jordan……………….. 95 95
12. Nablus Girls' Teacher-Training
Centre, Jordana………………. 34 34
13. Teacher Training, Gazab………… 7 14 21
14. Beit Hanoun Training Centre,
Gaza………………………… 7 14 21
15. Miscellaneous minor courses in all
host countriesc………………. 6 6
16. University scholarships………… 300 44 344
AGENCY TOTALS 1,496 800 2,296
a The Nablus Girls' Teacher-Training Centre, Jordan, will operate only for the first half of 1962, thereafter it will be combined with the Ramallah Girls TTC/VTC.
b Teacher training in Gaza will be conducted for 120 first-year trainees and 120 second-year trainees on a subsidy basis at the government Teacher-Training Centre in Gaza town.
c These minor courses comprise a variety of nursing, maternity and midwifery courses, some trades training, a pharmacy course and various courses in the English language and commercial and secretarial training. For some of these courses,
which are on a limited or fixed-term basis, no estimates are included in the 1962 budget since the total cost was funded on a project reservation basis at the initiation of the course.
PROJECTS AND INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE
1962 estimates: Existing operations …
Essential improvements .
Proposed expansions ..$166,000
Total budget $166,000
152. The only item under this heading is the second year's instalment of the three-year plan of $0.5 million for individual assistance towards self-support through loans and grants.
153. All other projects have either been concluded or are dormant except two: Training of handicapped youth and Treatment of handicapped youth; for both of these the total expected expenditure has already been funded on a project reservation basis in prior years.
C. Financing the 1962 budget
154. Judging by the experience of recent years, the Agency can expect a "normal" income in 1962 of only about $33.6 million, made up as follows:
Contributions by Governments. $32.6 million
Other income ……………. 1.0 million
$33.6 million
(When computed on the accounting basis which applied prior to 1962 this figure would be $34.4 million; but as explained in paragraph 102 above, the use of a revised exchange rate for the Egyptian pound will reduce expenditure and income equally by some $0.8 million per year.)
155. Expenditure for 1962, however, is estimated at $39.2 million, or $5.6 million in excess of estimated income. As explained in the introduction to this report, the Agency's three-year plan of expanding vocational training, improving education, increasing university scholarships and providing assistance to self-support is in a residual position with respect to funds available, i.e. the existing basic relief and education services must be provided for first. Consequently, any considerable deficit in income in 1962 would force the Agency to halt the implementation of its three-year plan, and possibly even to close training centres now being constructed. In the opinion of the Director this would be a tragedy in terms of the thwarted hopes of young refugees and in terms of wasted effort.
156. But the problem is even more serious than this. The cost of existing relief and education operations is already, at $36.6 million, well beyond the figure of $33.6 million estimated income. Failure of contributions in 1962 to cover all or a major part of the presently estimated deficit of $5.6 million could force the Agency to curtail some of its existing operations, at great risk of disturbing the peace and stability of the area in which the Agency operates.
157. During 1961, income has failed to cover the Agency's expenditure on existing operations and working capital has had to be drawn on heavily to cover the deficit. At the end of 1961, working capital will stand at the estimated figure of only $17.3 million. This represents roughly the cost of six months' operation of existing services and, in the Director's opinion, is the bare minimum required below which it would not be prudent to go. It will therefore be impossible to continue to draw down working capital to cover any deficit of income in 1962.
158. As stated in the introduction to this report, the Director will undertake to obtain further contributions from extra-budgetary sources of $1 million per year for the vocational training programme for each of the years 1962 and 1963. This amount, added to the $1 million the Agency expects to receive from usual sources other than governmental contributions, leaves a total of $37.2 million to come from ontributions by Governments, an increase of $4.6 million above the current level of such contributions.
159. The Agency therefore trusts that the General Assembly will, if it approves the budget presented in the preceding paragraphs, endeavour to provide the Agency with contributions totalling at least $37.2 million in 1962. This amount should enable the Agency to cover its budget for 1962, with respect both to the continuation of existing relief and education services and to the implementation of the three-year plan so auspiciously commenced in 1961.
Footnotes
1Information concerning the origin of the Agency and its mission and work prior to 1 July 1960 will be found in the following annual reports and other United Nations documents:
A. Final report of the United Nations Economic Survey Mission for the Middle East (28 December 1949) (A/AC.25/6, parts I and II).
B. Report of the Secretary-General on Assistance to Palestine Refugees: Official Records of the General Assembly, Fourth Session. Ad Hoc Political Committee, Annexes, vol. II, p. 14 (A/1060).
C. Reports of the Director of UNRWA and special reports of the Director and Advisory Commission to the General Assembly:
(a) Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifth Session, Supplement No. 19 (A/1451/Rev. 1);
(b) Ibid., Sixth Session, Supplements Nos. 16 and 16A (A/1905 and Add.1);
(c) Ibid., Seventh Session, Supplements Nos. 13 and 13A (A/2171 and Add.1);
(d) Ibid., Eighth Session, Supplements Nos. 12 and 12A (A/2470 and Add.1);
(e) Ibid., Ninth Session, Supplements Nos. 17 and 17A (A/2717 and Add.1);
(f) Ibid., Tenth Session, Supplements Nos. 15, 15A and 15B (A/2978 and Add.1);
(g) Ibid., Eleventh Session, Supplements Nos. 14 and 14A (A/3212 and Add.1);
(h) Ibid., Twelfth Session, Supplement No. 14 (A/3686 and A/3735);
(i) Ibid., Thirteenth Session, Supplement No. 14 (A/3931 and A/3948);
(j) Ibid., Fourteenth Session, Supplement No. 14 (A/4213);
(k) Ibid., Fifteenth Session, Supplement No. 14 (A/4478).
D. Pertinent General Assembly resolutions:
194 (III) of 11 December 1948; 212 (III) of 19 November 1948; 302 (IV) of 8 December 1949; 393 (V) of 2 December 1950; 513 (VI) of 26 January 1952; 614 (VII) of 6 November 1952; 720 (VIII) of 27 November 1953; 818 (IX) of 4 December 1954; 916 (X) of 3 December 1955; 1018 (XI) of 28 February 1957; 1191 (XII) of 12 December 1957; 1315 (XIII) of 12 December 1958; 1456 (XIV) of 9 December 1959; 1604 (XV) of 21 April 1961.
2See Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifteenth Session, Supplement No. 14 (A/4478), part III.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid., para. 22.
5 See General Assembly resolution 1315 (XIII) and previous resolutions.
Document symbol: A/4861
Document Type: Annual report, Report
Document Sources: General Assembly, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Subject: Refugees and displaced persons
Publication Date: 30/06/1961
Document Type: Annual report, Report
Document Sources: General Assembly, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Subject: Refugees and displaced persons
Publication Date: 30/06/1961