{"id":214662,"date":"2019-04-06T10:15:24","date_gmt":"2019-04-06T14:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=214662"},"modified":"2019-06-07T10:32:20","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T14:32:20","slug":"secretary-general-guterres-visits-baqaa-camp-in-jordan-in-solidarity-with-unrwa-press-release","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/secretary-general-guterres-visits-baqaa-camp-in-jordan-in-solidarity-with-unrwa-press-release\/","title":{"rendered":"Secretary-General Guterres Visits Baqa\u2019a Camp in Jordan in Solidarity with UNRWA \u2013 Press Release"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arabic: \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0631\u0628\u064a\u0629<\/a><\/p>\n

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, visited\u00a0Baqa\u2019a camp in Jordan today, where nearly 120,000 registered Palestine\u00a0refugees\u00a0live and engaged with staff and beneficiaries of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).<\/p>\n

On his visit, he met\u00a0students from the UNRWA Agency-wide student parliament (ASP), camp representatives, including women, and engaged with young pupils during lessons on human rights and science. During a visit to a\u00a0 school in the camp, Jordan\u2019s largest for Palestine refugees north of Amman, the Secretary-General highlighted the importance of continuing to fund the vital services UNRWA provides to millions of Palestine refugees in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stories I heard today were very compelling, both in showing the strength and courage of Palestinian refugees, and in conveying their concern about their future,\u201d said the Secretary-General. \u201cWhat remains with me are words of hope and determination of men and women, young and old.\u201d<\/p>\n

UNRWA faced its biggest financial challenge in 2018 following the decision by the United States to cut US$ 300 million from its funding to the Agency. The global campaign #Dignity is Priceless, combined with robust internal saving measures, allowed the Agency to entirely overcome a deficit of US$446 million in 2018.<\/p>\n

A group of women of various backgrounds, connected to UNRWA through education or social services, told the stories of their transformation. \u201cWe started selling books in our small home,\u201d said Rima Al-Sallal, co-founder of online bookstore Jamaloon. \u201cToday, we are the largest online booksellers in the Middle East and it is time to give back to UNRWA,\u201d she added, describing initiatives that her company implements to help promote the Agency.<\/p>\n

UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre\u00a0Kr\u00e4henb\u00fchl\u00a0joined the Secretary-General in a lively discussion with a group of boys and girls from the ASP which promote a culture of respect and tolerance and play a positive role in schools and community-wide.<\/p>\n

Mr. Kr\u00e4henb\u00fchl reiterated his commitment to keeping the 122,000 UNRWA students in Jordan in school this year and said that the Agency is currently investing important efforts to rehabilitate and upgrade schools in the Kingdom, which will improve learning conditions for some tens of thousands of students.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery conversation with representatives of our school parliaments is a reminder of the journey that these young girls and boys have undertaken and\u00a0 proof of how they have grown\u00a0 into confident and ambitious youth who meet with the United Nations Secretary-General to discuss their hopes and aspirations ,\u201d said Pierre Kr\u00e4henb\u00fchl. \u201cNothing illustrates the success of a Palestine refugee like academic achievement. Maintaining the education in our schools is akin to giving these young men and women a passport that makes them global citizens. We will not compromise on that,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

BACKGROUND INFORMATION<\/strong><\/p>\n

UNRWA is confronted with an increased demand for services resulting from a growth in the number of registered Palestine refugees, the extent of their vulnerability and their deepening poverty. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions and financial support has been outpaced by the growth in needs. As a result, the UNRWA programme budget, which supports the delivery of core essential services, operates with a large shortfall. UNRWA encourages all Member States to work collectively to exert all possible efforts to fully fund the Agency\u2019s programme budget. UNRWA emergency programmes and key projects, also operating with large shortfalls, are funded through separate funding portals.<\/p>\n

UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and mandated to provide assistance and protection to some 5.4 million Palestine refugees registered with UNRWA across its five fields of operation. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip achieve their full human development potential, pending a just and lasting solution to their plight. UNRWA services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, protection and microfinance.<\/p>\n

For more information, please contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tamara Alrifai<\/strong><\/p>\n

UNRWA Spokesperson<\/p>\n

Mobile:<\/p>\n

+972 (0)79 090 0140<\/p>\n

T.ALRIFAI@UNRWA.ORG<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arabic: \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0631\u0628\u064a\u0629 The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, visited\u00a0Baqa\u2019a camp in Jordan today, where nearly 120,000 registered Palestine\u00a0refugees\u00a0live and engaged with staff and beneficiaries of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). On his visit, he met\u00a0students from the UNRWA Agency-wide student parliament (ASP), camp […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"template-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[2437,1329],"document-source":[1817],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1945,2441,2153,1745],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6544,6542],"class_list":["post-214662","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-arabic-text","document-category-press-release","document-source-united-nations-relief-and-works-agency-for-palestine-refugees-in-the-near-east-unrwa","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-education-and-culture","document-subject-refugee-camps","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-arabic","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/214662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/214662\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=214662"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=214662"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=214662"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=214662"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=214662"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=214662"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=214662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}