UNRWA review warns Palestinian aid group could collapse
It comes ahead of a vote by UN member states on whether UNRWA should continue its operations.
Commissioned by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the review headed by former senior UN official Ian Martin concluded the discrepancy between UNRWA's mandate and its lack of financial support would mean major changes.
The review was prompted by "political and financial pressures" that are preventing UNRWA from fully carrying out its mandate, its director of external relations and communications Tamara Al Rifai told The National.
Four options were put forward for the agency. The first was to cut back on services, according to Reuters, which saw the document. The second was to create an executive board to advise and support UNRWA 's commissioner general in an effort to enhance accountability and secure more funding. A third option was to transfer some services to governments and the Palestinian Authority. The final scenario was closure.
The UN General Assembly is set to vote on renewing UNRWA's mandate at the end of this year. Only the 193-member assembly can change it. The review of its options has been distributed to all the member states.
Created in 1949, UNRWA provides aid, health care and education for millions of Palestinians in the occupied territories as well as Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. But in recent months it has lost US funding and been banned by Israel. The organisation is dealing with a deficit of about $200 million as a result of the US pausing funding last year.
The deterioration of UNRWA's position has been hastened by an Israeli campaign against the agency in which it accused members of colluding with Hamas in the October 7 attacks. UNRWA launched an investigation into the claim and suspended staff suspected of involvement.
Israel's Knesset then passed a vote to ban the work of the agency altogether.
"While we continue to implement our mandate given to us by the General Assembly, we never do it comfortably – especially since the war in Gaza ... where Israel has made the dismantling of UNRWA one of its objectives," Ms Al Rifai said.
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