- Title: U.N. Palestinian refugee agency seeks donations as funding slips
- Date: 27th August 2019
- Summary: GAZA CITY, GAZA (AUGUST 27, 2019) (REUTERS) UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS (UNRWA) AGENCY COMMISSIONER-GENERAL, PIERRE KRAHENBUHL, STANDING NEXT TO UNRWA MEDIA ADVISOR PREPARING TO DELIVER STATEMENT (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNWRA COMMISSIONER-GENERAL, PIERRE KRAHENBUHL, SAYING: "(I would like to) Take this opportunity to robustly reject the personalised nature of the attacks that have been formulated against me." FLAG OF UNRWA WAVING (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNWRA COMMISSIONER-GENERAL, PIERRE KRAHENBUHL, SAYING: "And in addition to the financial challenges, we have faced repeated political challenges in recent years and I think here for example of challenges against the definition of Palestine refugees or the numbers and misrepresentations in that regard, but we also face challenges to our services and to the delivery of our services in East Jerusalem for example. It is very important that everybody understands that UNRWA is a service provider but we are also an advocate for the rights of Palestine refugees and we take those two roles very seriously indeed.'' MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNWRA COMMISSIONER-GENERAL, PIERRE KRAHENBUHL, SAYING: "I have also said consistently that we are very openly co-operating with that process, we are engaging with it and we simply humbly ask that everybody wait for the findings, the official findings of this investigation and do not work with, or react to, simply pieces of information that are presented or misrepresented in the public field, as has been the case over the last few weeks." MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNWRA COMMISSIONER-GENERAL, PIERRE KRAHENBUHL, SAYING: "And so standing here in Gaza I can say that we are very proud that we succeeded in opening the school year on time and through that preserving one of the most fundamental rights of any child on the planet, but certainly also of Palestine refugee children and that is the right to education.'' VEHICLES ON ROAD SCHOOL STUDENTS NEAR SCHOOL SIGN READING (Arabic and English): "BEACH ELEM CO-ED (C) SCHOOL" SCHOOL STUDENTS WALKING VEHICLES ON ROAD
- Embargoed: 10th September 2019 14:27
- Keywords: Palestinians UNRWA UN Gaza funding UNWRA seeks funding operations at risk
- Location: GAZA CITY, GAZA
- City: GAZA CITY, GAZA
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA001ATZV3UV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The head of a U.N. agency supporting Palestinian refugees, which is under an investigation over suspected internal misconduct said on Tuesday (August 27) it still needed $150 million in donations to keep it operating until the end of this year.
Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said however, the agency had a better start in 2019 despite of the U.S. cut of $360 million, UNRWA's largest single contribution.
Speaking in Gaza where he visits to oversee the start of the school year, Krahenbuhl, said contributions from other countries helped overcome challenges caused by "politicised" decisions that were played against humanitarian services.
Krahenbuhl said Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium had suspended their contributions to the organisation while the U.N. investigation - on whose findings he promised to act - was under way.
UNRWA provides services to about 5 million Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank and Gaza. Most are descendants of some 700,000 Palestinians who were driven out of their homes or fled fighting in the 1948 war that led to Israel's creation.
Washington has been critical of the United Nations count of Palestinian refugees, questioning a "right of return" claimed by the Palestinians as part of any eventual peace settlement with Israel.
In May, U.S. Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt told the U.N. Security Council that UNRWA should be effectively dismantled. UNRWA's mandate, which has been repeatedly renewed by the U.N. General Assembly, runs until June 30, 2020.
At the news conference, Krahenbuhl urged all parties to await official findings, pledging: "We will not only act on them, we will abide by them."
(Production: Fadi Shana, Nihad Khalil, Rahaf Ruby, Lara Afghani) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
