JORDAN: THE UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY (UNWRA) THREATENED BY THE FINANCIAL CRISIS
Record ID:
337721
JORDAN: THE UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY (UNWRA) THREATENED BY THE FINANCIAL CRISIS
- Title: JORDAN: THE UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY (UNWRA) THREATENED BY THE FINANCIAL CRISIS
- Date: 9th September 1997
- Summary: AMMAN, JORDAN (SEPTEMBER 9, 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV/SV UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY (UNRWA) MEETING, ATTENDED BY DELEGATES FROM 28 COUNTRIES (6 SHOTS) 0.49 2. CU UNRWA COMMISSIONER-GENERAL PETER HANSEN SAYS NO DECISION HAS BEEN MADE, SHOULD NOT BE THINKING OF SPENDING LESS BUT MORE (ENGLISH) 1.11 3. LV EXTERIOR OF UNWRA BUILDING, PROTERSTERS OUTSIDE 1.18 4. CU SIGN ON UNWRA BUILDING 1.25 5. SV WOMAN FEEDING CHILD 1.30 6. LV/SV DEMONSTRATORS IN FRONT OF UNWRA BUILDING (3 SHOTS) 1.45 7. MCU PALESTINIAN ACTIVIST LEILA KHALED SAYING THIS MEANS THE CREATION OF MORE HARDSHIP FOR PALESTINIANS SO THAT THEY ARE MORE LIKELY TO ACCEPT POLITICAL SETTLEMENTS (ENGLISH) 2.00 8. SV/CU/LAS PROTESTERS SHOUTING SLOGANS (3 SHOTS) 2.22 9. LV PROTESTERS IN FRONT OF BUILDING 2.30 10. CU UNRWA SIGN ON BUILDING 2.36 BAQAA CAMP, NEAR AMMAN, JORDAN 11. SLV UNWRA REFUGEE CAMP 2.47 12. SLV SCHOOLCHILDREN GOING INTO CLASS (2 SHOTS) 2.57 13. SLV STUDENTS GOING INTO BUILDING 3.02 14. SLV SCHOOLCHILDREN 3.10 15. SLV SCHOOLCHILDREN BEING TAUGHT IN CLASSROOM (2 SHOTS) 3.20 16 MCU BOY SAYING MY FATHER DOES NOT WORK SO HE CANNOT PAY THE FEES (ENGLISH) 3.28 17. SLV SCHOOLCHILDREN IN CLASS 3.35 Initials P3 S3 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 24th September 1997 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: AMMAN AND BAQAA CAMP, NEAR AMMAN, JORDAN
- City:
- Country: Jordan
- Reuters ID: LVA4Y1N0IZ304R9CAUNCETGHGP9D
- Story Text: The U.N. agency aiding millions of Palestinian refugees has urged international donors to dig deep into their pockets to avoid further cuts in its services which have already triggered angry protests in refugee camps.
Around 150 Palestinian refugees on Tuesday (September 9) demonstrated outside The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA) building in Amman, calling for an end to plans to scale down the body's services in the region.
UNRWA, facing a 20 million United States dollar shortfall, said its health and education programmes were threatened by the financial crisis.
"Such cuts should not be made, cannot be borne by the refugees, and should be addressed by the donor community," UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen told reporters at a meeting of nations offering financial support or shelter to the refugees.
The agency, which helps 3.4 million registered refugees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, says it was forced to scale back its work because donations have failed to keep up with the climbing refugee population.
UNRWA said it planned to charge school fees throughout the region, cut international staff, freeze recruitment of teachers, stop scholarships and cut back some hospital funds.
But even these measures, aimed at warding off technical bankruptcy, would only account for one third of the shortfall, UNRWA said.
During the conference, around 300 people demonstrated in the Baqaa camp and some 150 gathered at UNRWA's Amman offices.
Jordan is host to over 40 per cent of the U.N.- registered refugees.
The refugees, whose fate is due to be settled in the final stage of Israel's 1993 interim peace deal with the PLO, say the UNRWA cuts are a signal that the international community is turning its back on them.
"They're a step towards settling the Palestinian refugees in Arab countries, which we reject and condemn," said Palestinian activist Leila Khaled outside UNRWA's Amman offices.
"The only thing we accept is that we have the right to return to our country," said Khaled, who hijacked an American TWA airlines flight 28 years ago to highlight the plight of Palestinians.
She also said cuts would result in the "creation of more hardship for Palestinians so that they are more likely to accept political settlements".
But UNRWA says it faces an impossible task trying to maintain services to a population of refugees growing at 3.8 per cent a year while donations have not grown since 1993.
In the Baqaa camp, near Amman, one girl said school fees would be disasterous as her father did not work and could therefore not pay the schol fees.
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