{"id":256361,"date":"2021-08-05T16:39:33","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T20:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=256361"},"modified":"2021-08-05T16:39:33","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T20:39:33","slug":"unrwa-statement-on-un-watch-allegations","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/unrwa-statement-on-un-watch-allegations\/","title":{"rendered":"Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA Statement on Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Watch Allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
5 August 2021<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

Arabic: \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0631\u0628\u064a\u0629<\/a><\/p>\n

This week, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Watch — an organization with a deep history of unfounded and politically-driven assertions against the Agency — released a report accusing 22 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA personnel of promoting violence and hate through social media channels. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA confirms that 10 of the 22 persons mentioned in the report are Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA personnel; the others are not associated with the Agency.<\/p>\n

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA is upholding the values of the United Nations and has a zero-tolerance policy for\u00a0hatred. The Agency takes each allegation seriously. It has immediately launched a thorough investigation through due process to determine if any of these 10 persons, out of more than 28,000 personnel,\u00a0violated the Agency\u2019s social media policies that prohibit personnel from engaging in non-neutral behaviors online. We are concerned that some of the posts violate our rules and policies, and should misconduct be found, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA will take immediate\u00a0administrative or disciplinary action.<\/p>\n

In previous reports over a five years period, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Watch identified a total of 101 cases where Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA personnel allegedly posted content on social media that was in breach of its Regulatory Framework, including the neutrality policy. Upon investigation of these cases, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA found that 57% of the allegations could not be tied to personnel employed by the Agency at the time of the reported incident. Personnel who were found in breach, then, where either censured and\/or subjected to financial penalties.<\/p>\n

To suggest that hate is widespread within the Agency and schools is not only misleading and false, but validates sensationalist and politically-motivated attacks that deliberately harm an already vulnerable community: refugee children. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA\u2019s mandate is to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance to over five million Palestine refugees, a responsibility the Agency takes very seriously. The Agency has invested immense efforts in training its personnel to promote their understanding of neutrality and the vital role it plays in their daily work and of their obligations in that regard, including through courses on social media and neutrality, ethics trainings, and in-person field trainings on neutrality. Oversight and accountability of any organization is vital, and Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA welcomes future opportunities of assessment and looks forward to continued partnerships with all parties engaging with Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA to ensure every Palestine refugee child has access to quality education.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Sami Mshasha<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Director of Communications, Arabic Language Spokesperson<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Mobile:<\/div>\n
\n
+972 (0)54 216 8295<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Office:<\/div>\n
\n
+972 (0)258 90724<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Email:<\/div>\n
\n
s.mshasha@unrwa.org<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Tamara Alrifai<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA Spokesperson<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Mobile:<\/div>\n
\n
+962 (0)79 090 0140<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Email:<\/div>\n
\n
T.ALRIFAI@Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA.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<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

5 August 2021 Arabic: \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0631\u0628\u064a\u0629 This week, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Watch — an organization with a deep history of unfounded and politically-driven assertions against the Agency — released a report accusing 22 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA personnel of promoting violence and hate through social media channels. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA confirms that 10 of the 22 persons mentioned in the report are Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"template-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[1329,1338],"document-source":[2749,1817],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2441,2145,1745,6245],"entity":[2077,1729],"document-language":[6544],"class_list":["post-256361","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-press-release","document-category-statement","document-source-human-rights-watch","document-source-united-nations-relief-and-works-agency-for-palestine-refugees-in-the-near-east-unrwa","document-subject-education-and-culture","document-subject-public-information","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","document-subject-violence","entity-non-governmental-organization","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-arabic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/256361","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\/256361\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=256361"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=256361"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=256361"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=256361"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=256361"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=256361"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=256361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}