Interview: UN refugee relief body's closer ties with China help boost its development programs: commissioner-general

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)'s increased ties with China have helped to strengthen the agency's development programs, the head of the UN refugee relief has said.

Asking China to stretch out its hand and donate funds is not the agency's goal, but instead the agency is seeking benefit in areas where China has developed expertise, Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner-general of UNRWA, said in an interview with Xinhua Wednesday.

"Based on the capacity which China has for education, professional and vocational training, which China has a lot of experience ... what we're trying to do (is to) engage with China to think about what contributions that could be made to some of our key objectives," he said.

With the Middle East being so unstable and the risks of further radicalisation, the fact that UNRWA has half a million children in schools "is also a way to contribute to some measure of stability," Krahenbuhl said.

The commissioner-general noted that the ongoing humanitarian crisis feeding the flood of refugees into Europe is what happens when some world powers irresponsibly continue to allow the conflicts to persist without necessary political solutions.

He also said UNRWA's work must not be taken for granted, that they "just continue to work and take those risks" without the support that is necessary to implement their mandate.

The agency's efforts to provide relief aid to millions of displaced Palestinians from the ongoing conflicts have come at great cost to its employees, he said, adding that no other aid agency has ever lost so many people in the context of war.

Founded in 1949, UNRWA has helped some 5 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, east Jerusalem, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Endit