UNRWA CONGRATULATES FORMER COMMISSIONER-GENERAL FILIPPO GRANDI
ON NOMINATION AS THE NEW UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES
12 November 2015
STATEMENT BY UNRWA SPOKESPERSON CHRIS GUNNESS
We are delighted by the appointment of Filippo Grandi as the new United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It is great news for refugees worldwide. UNRWA colleagues wish Filippo and UNHCR every success.
It is also great news for Palestine refugees to have someone in this position who understands their plight so well. Filippo’s legacy at UNRWA lives on. We are now stronger than we have been in many years as we continue to make the Agency even more effective in serving and advocating for this increasingly marginalized population.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions, and financial support has not kept pace with an increased demand for services caused by growing numbers of registered refugees, deepening poverty and conflict. As a result, the UNRWA General Fund, which supports core essential services and most staffing costs, operates with a large deficit. UNRWA emergency programmes and key projects, also operating with large deficits, are funded through separate funding portals.
UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and mandated to provide assistance and protection to some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip achieve their full human development potential, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, and microfinance.
For more information, please contact:
Christopher Gunness
Spokesperson, Director of Advocacy & Strategic Communications
Mobile:
+972 (0)54 240 2659
Office:
+972 (0)2 589 0267
Document Sources: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Subject: Assistance, Human rights and international humanitarian law
Publication Date: 12/11/2015