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UN chief calls for sustainable funding for UN agency backing Palestinian refugees

Xinhua, April 7, 2017 Adjust font size:

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for "sustainable, predictable and sufficient" funding for the UN relief agency working for Palestinian refugees.

In a report presented here Thursday, the secretary-general urged all UN member states to be more active in rendering financial support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The report said that member states widely value the indispensable role that UNRWA plays in the provision of essential services to the Palestine refugees and the impact it has had in the context of the unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict.

The secretary-general notes in his report that recurring financial crises threaten to disrupt service provision to as many as 5.3 million Palestine refugees.

For his part, Pierre Krahenbuhl, the commissioner general of UNRWA, said that the importance of the report lies both in its renewed focus on the plight of Palestine refugees and in the determination to improve the resourcing of UNRWA's vital services.

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

The UN 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.

Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, UNRWA was established by the United Nations 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. Enditem