Publish Date : 31-Aug-2018
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) will receive $5.4 million emergency assistance from the Japan for Palestine Refugees. The new funds pledged will immediately be utilised to provide food aid to about one million Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Japan has long been considered a valued donor to UNRWA. Since 1973, Japan has been a member of the UNRWA Advisory Commission, which advises and assists the UNRWA Commissioner-General in carrying out the agencys mandate. In 2017, Japan contributed a total of $43.3 million in aid.
UNRWA has been suffering from a severe budget deficit that may endanger the start of the upcoming school year. The situation has been exacerbated by Americas freeze on aid to Palestine since the start of 2018, when President Donald Trumps administration declared an internal review of its policy.
The president also announced that $65 million would be withheld from UNRWA, the UN body that provides education, healthcare and social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and occupied East Jerusalem, as well as those Palestinians living in neighbouring Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
In the wake of cuts to UNRWA funding, the body has been forced to dismiss 13 per cent of its emergency programme workers in the besieged Gaza Strip and move 57 per cent on to part-time contracts. A further 1,000 employees working in emergency programmes are threatened with dismissal.
Last week, UNWRA staff in the besieged Gaza Strip protested the move outside the organisations headquarters, with deputy head of the UNRWA Staff Union, Amal Al-Batsh, saying that we came today to tell UNRWA that its harsh measures against the employees working in the emergency programme are unacceptable.
About UNRWA
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN Member States. UNRWA also receives some funding from the Regular Budget of the United Nations, which is used mostly for international staffing costs.
The Agencys services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance, including in times of armed conflict.UNRWA is unique in terms of its long-standing commitment to one group of refugees.
It has contributed to the welfare and human development of four generations of Palestine refugees, defined as persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict. The descendants of Palestine refugee males, including legally adopted children, are also eligible for registration.
UNRWA services are available to all those living in its areas of operations who meet this definition, who are registered with the Agency and who need assistance. When the Agency began operations in 1950, it was responding to the needs of about 750,000 Palestine refugees. Today, some 5 million Palestine refugees are eligible for UNRWA services.
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