{"id":289197,"date":"2023-09-22T16:26:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T20:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=289197"},"modified":"2023-09-22T16:26:01","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T20:26:01","slug":"unrwa-lazzarini-statement-22sep2023","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/unrwa-lazzarini-statement-22sep2023\/","title":{"rendered":"UNRWA Commissioner General Lazzarini at Ministerial Meeting Co-hosted by Jordan and Sweden on the Margins of the General Assembly"},"content":{"rendered":"
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22 September 2022<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Remarks<\/a><\/p>\n

Remarks by UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini, Ministerial Meeting Co-Hosted by Jordan and Sweden on the Margins of the General Assembly High-Level Segment<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cMeeting the General Assembly\u2019s Commitments to UNRWA\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

22 September 2022 @13:30-14:45 (New York)<\/p>\n

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As delivered<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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-Begins-<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr. Secretary-General, thank you for your <\/span>passionate and emotional testimony and advocacy on behalf of Palestine refugees. Thank you for bringing a human face to the plight of Palestine refugees.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Minister Safadi, Minister Linde, y<\/span>our resolute leadership in mobilizing the international community in support of UNRWA has been simply remarkable over the last years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Excellencies,<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I<\/span>n the absence of a political horizon, the future of millions of Palestine refugees is at a crossroads.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We are here today<\/span>, because we all agree that UNRWA plays a unique role in advancing their rights and wellbeing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We are here <\/span>to acknowledge the vital contribution of our Agency to regional stability.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And we are here because we all believe that, in the absence of a genuine political solution, UNRWA is irreplaceable <\/span>in this part of the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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T<\/span>oday\u2019s meeting is about seeking the path that will finally bring financial sustainability to the Agency.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For 10 years<\/span> now, we are confronted with the same shortfall. We know how unsettling this is for Palestine refugees, the Host countries and the international community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This <\/span>path would factor in the three conflicting pressures under which the Agency operates:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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First,<\/span> t<\/span>he General Assembly\u2019s mandate which requires the Agency to deliver public-like services to one of the most destitute community in the region;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Second, <\/span>the<\/span> chronic<\/span> lack of sufficient <\/span>voluntary <\/span>funding<\/span> from Member States;\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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and <\/span>lastly,<\/span> <\/span>the <\/span>inability<\/span> to <\/span>change the<\/span> scope of service<\/span> delivery <\/span>because of <\/span>the <\/span>deep <\/span>perception <\/span>within <\/span>the communities we <\/span>serve<\/span> that <\/span>any <\/span>weakening <\/span>of <\/span>UNRWA<\/span> is a <\/span>further<\/span> weakening of the <\/span>right<\/span>s<\/span> of <\/span>Palestine <\/span>refugees<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Over the last <\/span>decade, we have explored different avenues to address the chronic underfunding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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W<\/span>e have stepped up fundraising efforts and expanded our donors base.\u00a0 Many are here today.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We <\/span>have also sought to absorb the underfunding through efficiency and through increasingly draconian austerity measures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Let me thank here the Secretary-General for<\/span> referring to the cost-efficiency of the Agency which has been confirmed by different experts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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These <\/span>measures have now reached their absolute limit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A<\/span>t the Brussels conference co-hosted by Jordan and Sweden last year, we presented a vision of a modernized Agency with a stable three-year budget as we are highly predictable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The vision was <\/span>strongly endorsed but was not followed by additional predictable funding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Finally<\/span>, this year, we tried to introduce new ways to partner with UN agencies, but legitimate concerns within the communities in the absence of a political horizon have limited the scope of this effort.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ex<\/span>cellencies,\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I hope this meeting will lead to a new initiative<\/span> to secure sustainable funding to the Agency.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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T<\/span>o translate the support for the mandate into matching financial resources, political will is required.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At the end of the year the mandate of UNRWA will be up for renewal.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I<\/span>, therefore, echo the call today of the Secretary-General that you consider options, including through International Financial Institutions, an increase of assessed contributions and greater financial burden sharing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Today it is crucial that the international community does not turn its back <\/span>on Palestine refugees. It is time to walk the talk and show Palestine refugees what it means when we commit to safeguarding and advancing their rights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Thank you.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

22 September 2022 Remarks by UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini, Ministerial Meeting Co-Hosted by Jordan and Sweden on the Margins of the General Assembly High-Level Segment \u201cMeeting the General Assembly\u2019s Commitments to UNRWA\u201d 22 September 2022 @13:30-14:45 (New York) As delivered -Begins- Mr. Secretary-General, thank you for your passionate and emotional testimony and advocacy on […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":301,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[909,1149],"document-category":[2637,1338],"document-source":[1817],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1945,6650,1741,5200,2613,1745],"entity":[],"document-language":[],"class_list":["post-289197","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-jordan","country-sweden","document-category-remarks","document-category-statement","document-source-united-nations-relief-and-works-agency-for-palestine-refugees-in-the-near-east-unrwa","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-funding-needs","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-humanitarian-relief","document-subject-internally-displaced-persons","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/289197","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\/301"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/289197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":289200,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/289197\/revisions\/289200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=289197"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=289197"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=289197"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=289197"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=289197"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=289197"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=289197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}