UNRWA: We have reached the breaking point and our activities are at risk in March

Lazzarini warned that stopping the agency’s activities would threaten peace in the region (French)

The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, warned yesterday, Thursday, that the agency had reached the breaking point, with Israel’s repeated calls to dismantle it and freeze donor funding in the face of unprecedented humanitarian needs in the Gaza Strip.

Lazzarini stressed - in a letter addressed to the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Dennis Francis - that UNRWA had reached the breaking point, and that its ability to carry out its duties in accordance with General Assembly Resolution No. 302, by which it was established in 1949, had become severely threatened.

Lazzarini expressed his fear that the region is on the verge of a massive catastrophe with serious implications for peace, security and human rights, if the agency cannot meet the needs of Palestinian refugees in the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

Lazzarini pointed out that the suspension by 16 countries of their funding, which amounts to a total of $450 million, will make the agency’s activities throughout the region at great risk, starting next March.

He stressed that the humanitarian agency “has filled, over decades, the void resulting from the absence of peace, or even a peace process,” calling for political support from the United Nations General Assembly to allow it to survive and move towards a long-awaited political solution, as well as reforming its funding method, which mainly depends on Voluntary contributions.

UNRWA has been subjected to political pressure and funding cuts since Israel accused 12 of its employees of participating in the attack on October 7, although it did not provide any evidence to support its allegations.

As a result, the agency immediately terminated the contracts of the accused employees and launched an internal investigation. UN Secretary-General António Guterres also assigned an independent group, headed by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, to evaluate UNRWA and its political neutrality.

Senior UN officials reiterate that UNRWA is irreplaceable in Gaza, where it forms the backbone of humanitarian aid.

There is no alternative plan for UNRWA in Lebanon

In Lebanon, the director of the UNRWA office warned yesterday that the agency does not have an alternative plan for after next March, if the donor countries that suspended their funding in the wake of Israeli accusations persist in suspending funding.

She explained that the agency may not be able to finance quarterly cash distributions to about 65% of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, noting that this will be the first service that the agency is unable to provide in the first quarter of this year only.

UNRWA runs 12 refugee camps in Lebanon, providing services ranging from health care and education to garbage collection, and Klaus said that if funding dries up, the camps' streets will be filled with garbage within two days.

She stressed that it would be a mistake to believe that other agencies can fill the gap that UNRWA will leave if it stops providing its services, expressing her hope that donors will reconsider freezing funding.

Source: Agencies