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UN agency for Palestinian refugees facing 37 mln USD shortfall for 2016

Xinhua, December 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

Pierre Krahenbuhl, the commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), has provided a briefing to the ad hoc committee of the UN General Assembly by videoconference from the Gaza Strip, to inform them that his agency still lacks 37 million U.S. dollars for this year's budget, a UN spokesman said here Wednesday.

"He expressed hope that this gap will be overcome in the next few days," Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, said at a daily news briefing here.

Krahenbuhl said that next year's UNRWA Programme Budget will have to rise, by about 5 percent, to 715 million U.S. dollars, simply to preserve the UN agency's operations at their current level.

He estimated that the gap projected between income and expenditures in 2017 will be 115 million dollars.

"The world cannot afford to abandon Palestine refugees," the commissioner-general said. "The stakes are too high."

Pending a just solution to their plight in accordance with UN resolutions and international law, he said. "We must act decisively to uphold their rights, dignity and the quality of UNRWA services."

Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly on Dec. 8, 1949 to carry out direct relief and works programs for Palestine refugees. The agency began operations on May 1, 1950.

In the absence of a solution to the Palestine refugee problem, the General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA's mandate, most recently extending it until June 30, 2017.

UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN member states. It also receives some funding from the Regular Budget of the United Nations, which is used mostly for international staffing costs.

The agency's services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance, including in times of armed conflict.

UNRWA services are available to all those living in its areas of operations who meet this definition, who are registered with the agency and who need assistance. When the agency began operations in 1950, it was responding to the needs of about 750,000 Palestine refugees. Today, some 5 million Palestine refugees are eligible for UNRWA services. Enditem