{"id":287259,"date":"2023-05-19T15:49:16","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T19:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=287259"},"modified":"2023-05-23T15:54:21","modified_gmt":"2023-05-23T19:54:21","slug":"at-arab-league-summit-unrwa-commissioner-general-urges-to-renew-financial-commitment-to-palestine-refugees-press-release","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/at-arab-league-summit-unrwa-commissioner-general-urges-to-renew-financial-commitment-to-palestine-refugees-press-release\/","title":{"rendered":"At Arab League Summit, UNRWA Commissioner-General Urges to Renew Financial Commitment to Palestine Refugees – Press Release"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

19\u00a0 May 2023<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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UNRWA currently needs US$ 1.4 billion for operations, programmes and emergency response.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jeddah,<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the request of the UN Secretary-General, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, attended the Arab League Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia today.<\/p>\n

In his bilateral talks he highlighted the Agency\u2019s dire funding crisis, amid unprecedented needs of Palestine Refugees. The Commissioner-General urgently called on rich Arab states to reinstate or increase their financial support as the Agency struggles to deliver on its mandate and to provide critical services to the Palestine Refugees.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupport to Palestine Refugees is a collective obligation, including from Arab countries. Longtime historic partners have decreased their funding in the last few years, dramatically affecting our ability to maintain quality services, including education, health care and social protection. While countries hosting Palestine Refugees face their own acute political and financial challenges, I am hereby calling on Arab donors to support UNRWA and be among our closest partners,\u201d said Lazzarini.<\/p>\n

Over the last decade, UNRWA has suffered from underfunding every year, with a heavy toll on the quality of some services in its areas of operations. Meanwhile, refugees\u2019 challenges continued to massively increase amid unprecedented poverty, unemployment, financial crises, neglect and in some cases conflicts and natural disasters.<\/p>\n

\u201cArab countries were among the founders of UNRWA and the most vocal supporters of the rights of Palestine Refugees. Today, as UNRWA risks collapse, I hear supportive statements from the region to Palestinians and urge that they be extended to the refugees through UNRWA,\u201d added Lazzarini.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Arab Donors\u2019 funding to the Agency made up one-fourth of its total funding. Since then, it has massively dropped, severely deepening the financial crisis the Agency struggles with.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we are one of the largest UN agencies in the world, we live hand to mouth. At the end of every month, we often are uncertain whether we can pay salaries to our nearly 30,000 staff. UNRWA staff is the backbone and the engine of the Agency\u2019s basic services: teachers, medical workers, engineers and logisticians. They should not live in constant uncertainty and limbo, and neither should the Palestine refugees they serve,\u201d concluded Lazzarini.
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\nNotes to Editors\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n