{"id":224768,"date":"2019-11-20T10:46:29","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T15:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=224768"},"modified":"2019-11-20T10:59:20","modified_gmt":"2019-11-20T15:59:20","slug":"on-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-convention-on-the-rights-of-the-child-unrwa-calls-for-increased-attention-to-children-in-conflict","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/on-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-convention-on-the-rights-of-the-child-unrwa-calls-for-increased-attention-to-children-in-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"On the 30th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNRWA Calls for Increased Attention to Children in Conflict – Press Release"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
20 November 2019<\/span><\/strong><\/h6>\n

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

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

\"Students<\/a><\/p>\n

Students attending Jerusalem Basic Girls School. \u00a9 2019 UNRWA Photo by Marwan Baghdadi<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

This week, as the Convention on the Right of the Child (CRC) turns 30, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reflects on the impact of its assistance to the children of Gaza, the West Bank including East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The CRC\u2019s promise to children is that they should live in safety, are protected from violence, discrimination and abuse, and that they enjoy economic, social and cultural rights. For the past 70 years, UNRWA has run programmes that have directly improved the wellbeing of many Palestine refugee children: today, over half a million students receive quality education in schools run by the Agency; Palestine refugee children within the UNRWA areas of operation have nearly a 100 per cent vaccination rate; the Agency is constantly improving\u00a0its support for children with disabilities and is empowering children through\u00a0its student parliaments program in UNRWA schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot for UNRWA to be proud of in terms of its contribution to the rights set out in the Convention,\u201d said Mr. Christian Saunders, Acting UNRWA Commissioner-General. \u201cHowever, many Palestine refugee children face considerable threats to their safety and wellbeing\u00a0and are unable to fully enjoy their childhood\u00a0or\u00a0reach their full potential.\u00a0Sadly, for\u00a0many Palestine refugee children, the global commitment to the upholding of their rights has a long way to go until it is\u00a0realized.\u201d<\/p>\n

An estimated 25 million girls and boys live in conflict situations in the Arab region today (UNICEF, 2019), which includes the Near East, where UNRWA is active. Unfortunately, despite achievements in the fields of health and education for children across the region, violence and conflict still mark the childhoods of many; children in Gaza born in 2009 will have experienced three wars and frequent episodes of military escalation; children born in Syria since 2011 will not know what it means to live without conflict; and children in the West Bank will only know a life under occupation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn UNRWA, we work every day to ensure that children can live in dignity pending a just and lasting solution to their plight, whether it is through providing them with a good quality education, or access to health care, relief and social services or through our protection work. We have our part of the CRC promise to honor and we take this responsibility very seriously,\u201d said Mr. Saunders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
Background Information:<\/div>\n<\/div>\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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:<\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Sami Mshasha<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Director of Communications, Arabic Language Spokesperson<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Mobile:<\/div>\n
\n
+972 (0)54 216 8295<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Office:<\/div>\n
\n
+972 (0)258 90724<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Tamara Alrifai<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
UNRWA Spokesperson<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Mobile:<\/div>\n
\n
+962 (0)79 090 0140<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

20 November 2019 Arabic: \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0631\u0628\u064a\u0629 Students attending Jerusalem Basic Girls School. \u00a9 2019 UNRWA Photo by Marwan Baghdadi This week, as the Convention on the Right of the Child (CRC) turns 30, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reflects on the impact of its assistance to […]<\/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":[2033,3285,2309,1745],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6544,6542],"class_list":["post-224768","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-children","document-subject-convention-rights-of-the-child","document-subject-protection","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\/224768","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\/224768\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=224768"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=224768"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=224768"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=224768"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=224768"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=224768"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=224768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}