AMMAN — On
Monday,
UNRWA Commissioner-General of the Philippe Lazzarini presented to the
UN General Assembly’s Fourth Committee its annual report, Khaberni reported.
اضافة اعلان
“Since I last briefed this committee in
November 2020, the situation in the region has continued to deteriorate. The
vulnerability and needs of Palestine refugees have reached record levels.
For the first time in decades, four out of
the five areas where UNRWA operates are simultaneously in crisis: Gaza, the
West Bank including East Jerusalem Lebanon and Syria,” Lazzarini said in his
address to the UN, expressing hope that UNRWA’s mandate will be renewed for an
additional three years, and that the international community will show support
and solidarity to the
Palestinian refugees.
“The conflict in Gaza last May was the fourth
since 2008. It compounded and accelerated human suffering. UNRWA lost 20 of its
students. Over 1,300 shelters were
damaged and made uninhabitable. Psychosocial trauma, particularly among
children, is acute. Poverty remains widespread. After 14 years of blockade,
unemployment is skyrocketing, particularly among youth and women. In response,
UNRWA is now providing food assistance to almost all Palestine refugees in
Gaza, 70 per cent of the total population,” he said, expressing concern that
the humanitarian situation will continue to deteriorate “in the absence of a
genuine political track aimed at lifting the blockade on people, goods and
trade, in line with UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions”.
According to Lazzarini, settler violence is
rising and they act with impunity, “and thousands of people, including many
Palestine refugees, continue to live with the daily threat of forced
displacement”.
Why deploring the “deep sense of abandonment”
that “dominates the Palestine refugee psyche across the region”, Lazzarini said
that “sustaining quality services is becoming an impossible mission”, stressing
that there is a serious disconnect between the growing reliance of Palestine
refugees on UNRWA services and decreased donor funding”.
According to Lazzarini, UNRWA’s financial
situation “remains dramatic and uncertain. As I speak to you, we still lack the
funds to operate in November and December. Furthermore, the agency still
suffers a shortfall of $15 million to ensure the smooth running of its services
during this month.”
“In Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, 80 to 90 percent
of Palestine refugees now live below the poverty line,” he said, calling on the
UN committee to continue supporting the Palestinians, respond to their
humanitarian needs, and promote their right to a dignified life.
Meanwhile, UNRWA media advisor in Gaza Strip
Adnan Abu Hasna said that the agency is “working intensively to secure the
November and December salaries for approximately 30,000 staff members” in the
agency’s five areas of operation, Al-Mamlaka TV reported.
The agency was facing a financial deficit of
about $100 million, but the figure was brought down to $50–80 million following
contributions from some donor countries, Abu Hasna said,
While UNRWA continues to search for increased
funding and new donors, he said, it faces growing demand for its services, due
to the increase in the number of registered Palestine refugees whose living
conditions are worsening.
UNRWA’s activities in Jordan face 83 percent
deficit in the first six months of this year, according to Khaberni.
Some $6.4 million of $38.5 million needed for
its programs was received, the agency report said, which makes the deficit in
the first six months of the current year $32 million, according to Al-Ghad
News.
According to the 2022 report, of the
emergency appeal for Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, only $2 million was allocated
for cash assistance for basic needs, out of the needed $24.2 million, and only
$555,000 out of $3 million were directed toward emergency health requirements,
while no provision was made for emergency education requirements, estimated by
the agency to be $4.5 million.
Out of the $4.5 million required for social
protection need, only $141,000 was allocated; of the $2.4 million needed to
protect the environment, only $444,000 is needed, and out of the $1.1 million
needed for coordination and management, $1 million was allocated.
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