UNRWA: Gulf countries helped in overcoming financial shortfalls
BRUSSELS: The Commissioner-General for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Pierre Krahenbuhl, heaped praise yesterday on Gulf countries for their contribution to help the UN agency to overcome its financial difficulties following the US cut of financial allocations to UNRWA.
“In addition to the EU and its member states, Gulf countries played a very crucial role in the current positive dynamic. The four major Gulf countries Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait have contributed USD 50 million each. We have also received pledges of USD 200 million from Gulf countries for our core activities. This is unprecedented and outstanding,” he told a news conference yesterday.
Referring specifically to Kuwait, he said the Kuwaiti Deputy (currently Acting) Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled AlHamad Al-Sabah who was present at the special meeting on UNRWA on the sidelines of the UN General in New York ten days ago, announced an additional USD 42 million which added to the USD 8 million that Kuwait has already contributed.
“This is very important support that comes from the Gulf. We have never had those levels for our core funding. This is remarkable,” stressed the UNRWA chief. Krahenbuhl, however, said that UNRWA continues to have an unprecedented difficult year in financial terms noting that the US in January decided to cut its contributions from USD 364 million in 2017 to only USD 60 million.
Unprecedented shortfall
The US confirmed in August that there will be not be any further US funding for UNRWA, he said. “We deeply regret this decision because it was a political decision and not based on UNRWA’s performance or any other humanitarian reason”. He said UNRWA was facing an unprecedented shortfall of USD 446 million since the beginning of the year. The UN agency launched a campaign called “Dignity is Priceless” and since January it has brought the shortfall down from USD 446 million to USD 66 million.
He stressed on the role of the European Union saying it has had a historically strong partnership since 1971 with the UNRWA. The EU contributes 42 percent or 664 million euro (USD 760 million) to UNRWA’s total budget. He said a major achievement of UNRWA this year was that it was able to open the school year for 526,000 boys and girls in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and Jordan in “this very delicate environment on time.” “There was a strong concern among the host governments and authorities that the delay in the UNRWA school year would create further instability in the Middle East,” he said.
The Jordanian King have been standing with us every step of the way, he said noting that 126,000 Palestinian boys and girls go to schools in Jordan. “We will now look into how we can stabilize these achievements in financial terms because 2019 will also be a big challenge for us,” he added.
He warned that the absence of political horizons to resolve the Palestine question deeply affects the Palestinian community present throughout the Middle East. UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly Resolution 302 on 8 December 1949 to carry out direct relief and works programs for Palestine refugees. In the absence of a solution to the Palestine refugee problem, the General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA’s mandate - most recently extending it until 30 June 2020. 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.