What's the best bit of the UN? No 5: UNRWA
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Version 0 of 1. Unique among the main UN organisations, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency was set up to deal with what was then regarded as a temporary refugee problem, and an individual one at that: the plight of Palestinian refugees. Established in 1949 the body was mandated to carry out relief and works programmes supporting about 750,000 Palestinians who had fled their homes in the conflict, which was triggered by the establishment of the state of Israel. The UN general assembly, which mandated the UNRWA’s establishment, has continued to renew the organisation’s mandate in the absence of an agreed solution to the Palestinian refugee problem, both those who were internally displaced to camps in the West Bank and Gaza and to neighbouring countries such as Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. By 1965 the UNRWA’s definition of whom it would serve had been changed, first, to the third generation of refugees – born after 14 May 1948 – and by 1982 to all generations of descendants, totalling upwards of 5 million people. The agency’s main task is to maintain and provide services – including education and healthcare and relief during times of conflict – in the large network of camps, the most substantial of which are in Gaza. In particular UNRWA schools educate 500,000 pupils across the region. The UNRWA has faced criticism from Israeli political figures and pro-Israeli commentators over a number of issues, most significantly whether its existence perpetuates the refugee problem and over issues of neutrality, to which it has always responded forcefully. Its facilities in Gaza have been the target of Israeli military strikes, most recently during last summer’s conflict when UNRWA schools being used as shelters were struck, causing numerous fatalities. In recent months the agency has faced a pressing new problem – its worst funding crisis . It was triggered by last summer’s conflict in Gaza and the continuing war in Syria, where it supports refugees in camps such as Yarmouk, which is suffering a typhoid outbreak. The agency’s costs have spiralled as a result. In Gaza, the agency says, the long-term effects of the joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade have seen those going to the UNRWA for food assistance rise from 80,000 in the year 2000 to 860,000. Despite announcing that it would be investing $750m in reconstruction in Gaza, the agency has received only a third of the amount promised by donors. It warned earlier this summer that it might not be able to run its schools. The funding crisis has, in turn, created frictions with Palestinians. There have been demonstrations outside UNRWA offices, and the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has been drawn in to help end the cash shortage from donors. |