WARNING TO WORLD LEADERS DISMANTLING UNRWA RISKS SACRIFICING A GENERATION
March 7, 2024Dismantling the UN Palestinian refugee aid agency (UNRWA) would sacrifice a “generation of children,” its chief Philippe Lazzarini warned this week amid an increasingly bitter row between the UN and Israel.
“Dismantling UNRWA is short-sighted. By doing so, we will sacrifice an entire generation of children, sowing the seeds of hatred, resentment and future conflict,” Lazzarini told the UN General Assembly.
Lazzarini cautioned that “without additional funding, we will be in uncharted territory with serious implications for global peace and security.”
The United States, as the primary contributor to UNRWA, along with other nations, suspended their financial support following unsubstantiated allegations, which US intelligence sources have questioned, by Israel that 12 UNWRA employees participated in the Hamas-initiated assault on 7 October.
On the weekend the European Union announced it was reinstating its aid to UNRWA totalling some €50million.
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English Script:
Philippe Lazzarini: Dismantling UNRWA is short-sighted. By doing so, we will sacrifice an entire generation of children, sowing the seeds of hatred, resentment and future conflict. The notion that the agency can be dismantled without violating a host of human rights and jeopardising international peace and security is naive at best. I’m here today because, UNRWA the United Nation’s Agency for Palestine Refugees is at a breaking point. 75 years after its creation by this assembly as a temporary U.N. entity, pending a just political solution to the question of Palestine, the agency’s ability to fulfill its mandate is seriously threatened. Despite this prompt and decisive action and the unsubstantiated nature of the allegation, 16 countries have pulled their funding totaling 450 million dollar. UNRWA has no capacity to absorb financial shocks, especially when a war rages in Gaza. We are functioning hand to mouth. Without additional funding, we will be in unchartered territory, with serious implications for global peace and security. UNRWA is facing a deliberate and concerted campaign to undermine its operations and ultimately end them. Operations that are mandated by this Assembly. Part of this campaign involves inundating donors with misinformation designed to foster distrust and tarnish the reputation of the agency. More blatant, the Israeli Prime Minister openly stating that UNRWA will not be part of post-war Gaza.
