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FINLAND COMMITS EUR 4.5 MILLION PER YEAR TO Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA FOR 2015-2018

16 March 2015

Finland has signed a new multi-year funding agreement that will see the long-term partner of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA contribute EUR 4.5 million (US$ 4.8 million) per year to the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA General Fund between 2015 and 2018.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl said: “Multi-year agreements, like the one signed with Finland, provide valued stability in an environment of financial and political uncertainty. I thank the government and people of Finland for their long standing and generous support for Palestine refugees, one that ensures that Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA can provide reliable and crucial health, education, relief and social services.”

Finland has been a long-standing supporter of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA, focusing its support on the Agency’s General Fund, while also contributing to Emergency Appeals. In 2014, Finland was among the Top 20 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA donors, contributing US$ 8.9 million, including US$ 6 million towards the General Fund. This new multi-year agreement follows a previous agreement covering 2011-2014, which committed a baseline of EUR 3 million per year to the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA General Fund. While the EUR 3 million baseline in the previous agreement was topped up each year to reach EUR 4.5 million, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA appreciates Finland’s commitment to a EUR 1.5 million increase in the annual baseline contribution.

BACKGROÄ¢¹½ÊÓƵD INFORMATION

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, and microfinance.

Financial support to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA has not kept pace with an increased demand for services caused by growing numbers of registered refugees, expanding need, and deepening poverty. As a result, the Agency's General Fund (GF), supporting Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA’s core activities and 97 per cent reliant on voluntary contributions, has begun each year with a large projected deficit. Currently the deficit stands at US$ 100 million.

For more information, please contact:

Christopher Gunness

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA Spokesperson

Mobile:

+972 (0)54 240 2659

Office:

+972 (0)2 589 0267

Sami Mshasha

Chief of Communications & Arabic Language Spokesperson

Mobile:

+972 (0)54 216 8295

Office:

+972 (0)2 589 0724