UNRWA
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The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is an organization created to provide assistance and support to Palestinian refugees who were displaced due to the 1948 Palestine War. The United Nations established the agency in December 1949.
| United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | UNRWA |
| Formation | 8 December 1949 |
| Type | United Nations Programme |
| Purpose/focus | Provide direct relief and works programmes for Palestinian refugees |
| Headquarters | Amman, Jordan and Gaza, Palestinian Authority |
| Commissioner-General | Philippe Lazzarini |
| Deputy Commissioner-General | Leni Stenseth |
| Parent organization | United Nations |
| Budget | US$806 million[1] |
| Website | www.unrwa.org |
UNRWA offers necessary services like education, healthcare, social services, and emergency aid to Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.[2]
UNRWA employs around 30,000 people. Most are Palestinian refugees, plus a small number of international staff. The agency operates numerous schools and health centers, providing education and medical care to Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's goal is to improve the living conditions and well-being of these refugee communities.
UNRWA is funded through voluntary contributions from various countries around the world. It is separate from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which serves other refugee populations globally. The United Nations General Assembly regularly renews UNRWA's mandate to support and assist Palestinian refugees until there is a just and durable solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
As of 1 January 2024, during the Israel–Hamas War in 2023-24, at least 142 members of UNRWA working in the Gaza Strip had been killed by Israeli armed forces.[3][4]
UNRWA Media
UNRWA operations, as of 1 January 2020
UNRWA staff member comforts a distressed child at a school shelter in Nuseirat camp, Gaza Strip.
Total number of Palestinian refugees registered by UNRWA (1950–2008)
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UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini with US Secretary Antony Blinken in Amman, Jordan, 4 November 2023
British politician Alan Duncan talking to schoolchildren at a school supported by UNRWA and UKaid in Gaza, 10 December 2012
Women receiving bread from United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees (UNRPR), 1948: photo from UNRWA Archive
Polio vaccines being administered at an UNRWA shelter in Al-Shati refugee camp during the 2024–25 Gaza Strip polio epidemic
Residents of Yarmouk Camp line up to receive UNRWA aid during the Syrian civil war, January 2014
Men dig a mass grave for victims of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, 1982, from the UNRWA Archive.
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References
- ↑ UNRWA. HOW WE SPEND FUNDS. UNRWA (August 2020)United Nations.
- ↑ What is the UNRWA? (in en). DW. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ↑ Israeli strikes kill UN staff, more than 70 of his extended family in Gaza (in en). Al Jazeera. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ↑ "UNRWA SITUATION REPORT #59 ON THE SITUATION IN THE GAZA STRIP AND THE WEST BANK, INCLUDING EAST JERUSALEM". UNRWA. 2 January 2024. https://www.unrwa.org/resources/reports/unrwa-situation-report-59-situation-gaza-strip-and-west-bank-including-east-Jerusalem. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
