AMMAN — The UN agency for Palestinian refugees,
UNRWA, appealed Tuesday for $1.6 billion for its work in 2023, as it struggles
to overcome chronic budget shortfalls.
اضافة اعلان
UNRWA —which provides services to nearly six million
Palestinians registered in the Palestinian territories, including Israeli-annexed
east Jerusalem,
as well as in Jordan, Lebanon ,
and Syria —
warned that "compounding challenges" had placed it under
"immense strain", France24 reported.
The agency, which counts nearly 30,000 staff — most of them
Palestinian refugees — runs more than 700 schools that offer education to half
a million children, and provides health, sanitation and social services,
including food and cash assistance.
Out of the $1.6 billion requested,
UNRWA said $848 million
was needed for such core services.
It said another $781.6 million was needed for emergency
operations.
UNRWA chief
Philippe Lazzarini said the agency played
"an indispensable role" for millions of Palestinian refugees.
"We work to maintain the delivery of basic services in
an incredibly difficult financial and political context," he said in a
statement.
The agency warned that most Palestinian refugees now live
below the poverty line and a growing number are dependent on
UNRWA for assistance, sometimes for their "sheer survival".
Lazzarini said he had just returned from a trip to Syria
where he had "witnessed firsthand indescribable suffering and
despair".
That situation, he said, was "sadly mirrored in other
places like Lebanon and Gaza where
Palestine refugees are hitting rock
bottom."
"Many told me that all they asked for was a life of
dignity; that's not much to ask for."
UNRWA has long faced chronic budget shortfalls, which
worsened dramatically in 2018 when former US president Donald Trump cut support
to the agency.
His administration
branded UNRWA "irredeemably
flawed," siding with Israeli criticisms of the agency founded in 1949.
US President Joe Biden's administration has fully restored
support but UNRWA has said it is still struggling.
Last year, UNRWA only raised nearly $1.2 billion of the $1.6
billion it had appealed for, Lazzarini said.
"We cannot and should not be always scrambling to bring
in funds to cover our contribution to human rights and stability,"
Lazzarini said, stressing the need for "a more sustainable model of
funding ... a predictable, long-term and regular source of funding."
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