Top UN official warned on Sunday, April, 3rd,2022, that the UN relief and works agency for Palestine refugees in the near east (UNRWA) is facing a worsening financial situation as a result of the Russian-Ukraine crisis.
Adnan Abu Hasna, UNRWA’s media advisor in Gaza, said in a statement that some donor countries notified the UN organization “not to expect even half of the payments and grants they supplied to UNRWA in 2021,” while “others informed they would postpone their donations.”
And while Jordan, for its part, has agreed to help UNRWA in the future and has promised to work with regional and international partners to secure the funds needed to keep the agency operating, the collective Arab states have reduced their aid contribution to the organization from $200 million to roughly $20 million per year, according to Hasna, making current funding only available until March of the next year.
He highlighted that this “coincides with global increases in food, fuel, and transportation costs.”
“UNRWA is working closely with a number of European nations to ensure that the agency’s services are not disrupted, and to highlight the significance of these services until a solution to the Palestinian refugee crisis is found,” the UN official said.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini has appealed to donors to prevent the agency and its services from collapsing as a result of this scenario.
The UK has also slashed its contribution to UNRWA by 60%, according to Abu Hasna, since “the agency’s resources have not developed and the budget has not expanded in accordance to the rise in the number of Palestinian refugees, significantly hurting host nations, refugees, and the agency’s services.”
On 3 February, Lazzarini met with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi to discuss ways to support the agency and provide “sufficient and sustainable” assistance so that it can continue to serve the 5.7 million refugees in Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria, according to a Jordanian Foreign Ministry statement
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said in January that it will require 1.6 billion dollars from the international community in 2022 to cover expenses, having already received a minimum of $806 million to cover basic services for refugees like education, healthcare, and social services.
In the event that UNRWA is no longer able to provide its services, Lazzarini cautioned that the region’s stability will be jeopardized on humanitarian, political, and security grounds.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which was founded in 1949 as a humanitarian organization, is entirely funded by voluntary contributions and grants from donor countries.
About 5.6 million Palestinian refugees are registered in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, according to the agency’s mandate.
Education, health care, relief, infrastructure, camp rehabilitation, protection, and microfinance are among UNRWA’s services for Palestinian refugees.
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