United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)
Context:
- Recently UN officials urged countries to reconsider their decision to suspend the funding for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
- It also assured that it would take strict action against any staff member found to be involved in Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.
- The agency also noted that nearly two million Palestinians in Gaza are dependent on UNRWA services which would be scaled back as soon as February if the funding is not restored.
- The US and eight other Western countries together provided more than half of UNRWA’s 2022 budget and cut the money after Israel accused some of the agency’s staff members of involvement in the October 7 attack.
What is UNRWA?
- UNRWA refers to UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East.
- UNRWA was founded in 1949 to provide aid to about 700,000 Palestinians who were forced to leave their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
- The UN agency operates in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as well as Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.
- The above are the countries where the refugees took shelter after their expulsion.
- UNRWA runs education, health, relief and social services, microfinance and emergency assistance programmes inside and outside refugee camps.
- UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions by donor states like the US and other western states.
- It also gets a limited subsidy from the UN but it is used only for administrative costs.
- UNRWA is crucial for the survival of people living in Gaza, which has plunged into a humanitarian crisis after the outbreak of the conflict in the region.
- The agency has been the main supplier of food, water and shelter to civilians of the conflict zone.
- UNRWA sadly would run out of money needed for its aid work within weeks if the funding isn’t restored.
