{"id":150168,"date":"2018-07-03T21:43:08","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T21:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=150168"},"modified":"2018-07-03T17:43:08","modified_gmt":"2018-07-03T21:43:08","slug":"unrwa-commissioner-general-visited-yarmouk-camp-first-senior-un-visit-in-years-to-access-camp-press-release","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/unrwa-commissioner-general-visited-yarmouk-camp-first-senior-un-visit-in-years-to-access-camp-press-release\/","title":{"rendered":"Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA Commissioner-General Visited Yarmouk Camp, First Senior Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Visit In Years to Access Camp – Press Release"},"content":{"rendered":"
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03 July 2018<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Kr\u00e4henb\u00fchl visited Yarmouk today, the first senior Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ official in years to access the camp, which remains an enduring symbol of the Palestine Refugee diaspora, and of the extreme human costs of the devastating conflict in the country.\u00a0 Mr. Kr\u00e4henb\u00fchl said \u201cThe scale of the destruction in Yarmouk compares to very little else that I have seen in many years of humanitarian work in conflict zones\u201d.<\/p>\n

Once a proud neighborhood home to some 160\u2019000 Palestine refugees, the camp now lies in utter ruin. Wherever one looks, the horror experienced by inhabitants of Yarmouk is all too evident. Yet again, Palestine refugees were exposed to the trauma of displacement, loss of relatives, homes and livelihoods. \u201cIn every visit to Syria over the past years – and again during this visit – Palestine refugees have spoken of the pride of what Yarmouk represents in the history of the community\u201d, the Commissioner-General underlined, adding \u201cToday, they express deep anxieties about what the immediate and longer-term future holds and about the prospect of return and reconstruction\u201d.<\/p>\n

Carrying out a three-day mission to Syria from 1 to 3 July 2018, the Commissioner-General also met with Palestine Refugees, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA students and staff, as well as with senior government officials and diplomats.<\/p>\n

Mr Kr\u00e4henb\u00fchl visited Yalda, to meet Palestine refugees displaced from Yarmouk, including during the most recent round of fighting in the neighborhood, when Government forces reestablished control of the area. Speaking to refugees during distributions of aid in Yalda, the Commissioner-General heard stories of unimaginable despair, from people who faced extreme conditions, suffering and pain inside Yarmouk over the years: \u201cBeing able to access Palestine refugees again in Yalda, was very important for Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA. Providing essential assistance to people who have been exposed to such dramatic circumstances, lies at the heart of our mission\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr. Kr\u00e4henb\u00fchl also travelled to Sbeineh, a previously an embattled area to the south of Damascus, to which Palestine refugees have been authorized to return. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA rehabilitated key installations – its schools, clinics and community centers – providing vital services to some 10,000 Palestine refugees and helping to recreate a sense of normalcy for a deeply scarred community, and encouraging further returns. \u201cThe impact of people returning to their homes, often after years of internal displacement, is very significant. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA\u2019s long experience in Syria has allowed us to play an important supportive role to the refugee community in Sbeineh\u201d, said the Commissioner-General.<\/p>\n

In Damascus itself, Mr Kr\u00e4henb\u00fchl took part in a ceremony to honor a group of highest performing 9th Grade Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA students, the vast majority of whom are girls. This included a meeting with Aya Abbas, who was born and grew up in Yarmouk, before having to flee the camp in late 2012 when the conflict engulfed the neighborhood. Despite the immense adversity, she scored top marks in all her final exams. Mr Kr\u00e4henb\u00fchl congratulated her and the other students for their courage and achievements: \u201cYou are an inspiration to all Palestine refugees and to the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Commissioner-General held meetings with Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA staff in Damascus, Yalda and Sbeineh, as well as from Aleppo, Dera\u2019a, and Homs, first and foremost to express his deep respect and recognition for their outstanding determination and courage over all these years of conflict. At a time when the Agency faces an unprecedented financial crisis, staff expressed strong worries about the possible impact on services. The Commissioner-General informed them of latest developments in the efforts to mobilize the critically needed additional funding, noting that Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA will knock at every door and reach out to every existing and potential donor: \u201cI cannot imagine saying to our proud students that we have failed to keep open the schools that are so important in their lives\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Commissioner-General met in Damascus with H.E. Dr. Faisal Miqdad, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, H.E. Mr Hussein Makhlouf, Minister of a Local Administration and Environment and Mr Ali Mustafa, Director General of the General Administration for Palestine Arab Refugees (GAPAR).<\/p>\n

These meetings were an important opportunity to discuss the situation of Palestine refugees in Syria, the need for ongoing steps to ensure their security and protection, as well as access to some of the delicate areas where Palestine Refugees are located. The meetings focused in particular on Yarmouk and the prospects of return for Palestine refugees. The Commissioner-General highlighted Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA\u2019s strong determination to stand with the Palestine refugee community and confirmed that the Agency is prepared to carry out a broader assessment of conditions in Yarmouk once security and more general access opportunities permit.<\/p>\n

Mr. Kr\u00e4henb\u00fchl expressed recognition for the support received from the Government in terms of recent access approvals to access Yalda, and Yarmouk today, and stated Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA\u2019s readiness to provide additional support to Palestine refugees in and around Dera\u2019a, who are currently experiencing significant hardship and risks in light of the escalation of violence in the south of Syria.<\/p>\n

The Commissioner-General also repeated his appeal for ongoing protection and respect for Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA’s staff in their daily activities. This is a matter of utmost importance and Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA itself has taken several initiatives to strengthen its ability to support staff facing a diversity of security concerns.<\/p>\n

While in Syria the Commissioner-General called on the world to preserve its commitment and support to Palestine refugees: “if we are serious about leaving no one behind, we need to match the unparalleled courage shown by Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA students and celebrate their skills. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA\u2019s education and other services need to stay open. It is a matter of rights and dignity\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

BACKGROÄ¢¹½ÊÓƵD INFORMATION<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA is confronted with an increased demand for services resulting from a growth in the number of registered Palestine refugees, the extent of their vulnerability and their deepening poverty. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions and financial support has been outpaced by the growth in needs. As a result, the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA programme budget, which supports the delivery of core essential services, operates with a large shortfall. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA encourages all Member States to work collectively to exert all possible efforts to fully fund the Agency\u2019s programme budget. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA emergency programmes and key projects, also operating with large shortfalls, are funded through separate funding portals.<\/p>\n

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and mandated to provide assistance and protection to some 5.4 million Palestine refugees registered with Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA across its five fields of operation. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip achieve their full human development potential, pending a just and lasting solution to their plight. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, protection and microfinance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

For more information, please contact:<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Christopher Gunness<\/b><\/div>\n
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Spokesperson, Director of Advocacy & Strategic Communications<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Mobile:<\/div>\n
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+972 (0)54 240 2659<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Office:<\/div>\n
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+972 (0)2 589 0267<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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c.gunness@unrwa.org<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Sami Mshasha<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Chief of Communications, Arabic Language Spokesperson<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Mobile:<\/div>\n
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+972 (0)54 216 8295<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Office:<\/div>\n
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+972 (0)258 90724<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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s.mshasha@unrwa.org<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

03 July 2018 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Kr\u00e4henb\u00fchl visited Yarmouk today, the first senior Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ official in years to access the camp, which remains an enduring symbol of the Palestine Refugee diaspora, and of the extreme human costs of the devastating conflict in the country.\u00a0 Mr. Kr\u00e4henb\u00fchl said \u201cThe scale of the destruction in Yarmouk compares […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[2241],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[1817],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2517,1769,1945,5358,2349,2153,1745],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-150168","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-syria","document-category-press-release","document-source-united-nations-relief-and-works-agency-for-palestine-refugees-in-the-near-east-unrwa","document-subject-access-and-movement","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-ClosuresCurfewsBlockades","document-subject-living-conditions","document-subject-refugee-camps","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/150168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/150168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=150168"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=150168"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=150168"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=150168"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=150168"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=150168"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=150168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}