UNRWA

PRESS RELEASE

Press Release No. HQ/G/03/2006

28 February 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


European Commission Announces $ 76 Million

for UNRWA Annual Budget

Gaza – Today the European Commission announced a donation of $ 76 million to the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) for its annual budget.

The funds will support UNRWA’s general programming in the areas of education, health, relief and social services in the Agency’s five fields of operation: the Gaza Strip and West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Karen AbuZayd, UNRWA’s Commissioner-General, welcomed the European Commission’s latest donation: “We are grateful for the Commission’s timely contribution to UNRWA’s 2006 regular budget. It will enable UNRWA to continue to deliver critically needed humanitarian services to Palestine refugees without interruption.”

The European Commission is also a generous supporter of UNRWA’s Emergency Appeal, which aids the most vulnerable and at-risk refugees in the Gaza Strip and West Bank by providing emergency employment, food assistance, mobile health care, and shelter repair and rehabilitation.

European Commission contributions to UNRWA in the past year amounted to $ 75.5 million.

-Ends-