<\/p>\n
Arabic: \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0631\u0628\u064a\u0629<\/a><\/p>\n 7 November 2022<\/strong> Mr. Chair,<\/strong><\/p>\n Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,<\/strong><\/p>\n It is an honor to present to the General Assembly\u2019s Fourth Committee my annual report on the work of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.<\/p>\n The discussion we will have today will hopefully acknowledge the irreplaceable role of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA, as mentioned by the Chair, and lead to a resounding vote to renew the Agency\u2019s mandate for another three years.<\/p>\n Palestine refugees await with immense anticipation the confirmed support and solidarity of the international community at the General Assembly.<\/p>\n They await a sign of hope and a message that they are not abandoned.<\/p>\n Boats that sink in the Mediterranean with Palestine refugees on board are a stark reminder of the level of despair among the refugees.<\/p>\n This last year has been difficult for Palestine refugees across the region, with increased challenges to the fulfillment of their basic rights.<\/p>\n In Gaza, Lebanon and Syria 80 to 90% of Palestine refugees now live under the poverty line.<\/p>\n Their poverty was made worse by the socio-economic ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of the war in Ukraine on employment, prices and soaring inflation.<\/p>\n Poverty of Palestine refugees, combined with the absence of a political process and any hope for a better future is fueling distress, despair and anger.<\/p>\n In\u00a0the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,<\/strong>\u00a0high levels of violence impact the ability of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA to deliver services.<\/p>\n Refugees who live in and around camps are particularly exposed to the violence. The number of fatalities this year is the highest since 2005, as reported by the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ.<\/p>\n In\u00a0Gaza,<\/strong>\u00a0nearly half of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA students are traumatized from repeated cycles of violence and 15 years of a blockade that limits their ability to grow and engage like their peers elsewhere.<\/p>\n Nearly all refugees now rely on the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA food basket in the Strip.<\/p>\n In\u00a0Lebanon,<\/strong>\u00a0Palestine refugees tell Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA that \u201canything\u201d is better than their lives today.<\/p>\n They were already among the poorest, living in overcrowded camps and subject to systematic discriminatory policies.<\/p>\n As a consequence, deadly journeys on boats have increased, and with them, human tragedy.<\/p>\n There is unsurmountable pressure on Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA to do more.<\/p>\n But our financial situation is tying our hands, making us unable to support a community that has reached rock bottom.<\/p>\n In\u00a0Syria,<\/strong>\u00a0Palestine refugees are increasingly returning to live in neighborhoods that were razed to the ground years ago, because they have just no other options.<\/p>\n Every day, children emerge from the rubble to go to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA schools outside the camps.<\/p>\n We are now seeking to rehabilitate schools and health clinics in camps like Yarmouk and Ein el Tal, where Palestine refugees are returning to live.<\/p>\n In\u00a0Jordan,<\/strong>\u00a0the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the economy and the job market, stripping income out of a large portion of the refugees.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mr. Chair, \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite this difficult daily reality, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA continues to make a difference in the lives of millions of Palestine refugees.<\/p>\n More than half a million children continue to be educated every day in over 700 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA schools across the region.<\/p>\n Every year, our students are among the best achievers.<\/p>\n Ninety percent of the graduates of our vocational training centres find jobs within a year of graduating.<\/p>\n And Close to two million Palestine refugees access quality primary health care in Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA health centres.<\/p>\n Over two million of the poorest Palestine refugees receive cash or food assistance.<\/p>\n And Last year we provided close to 14,000 loans to women to start or sustain business and become financially independent.<\/p>\n Our social workers supported 4,000 survivors of gender-based violence in 2021.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To do all this, we have never ceased to innovate!<\/strong><\/p>\n Last year, we launched a digital learning platform, highly acclaimed by Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵESCO.<\/p>\n The platform helps students and their parents access learning from home when schools are closed due to conflict or other crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA is pioneering digital health care in the developing world and is sharing its knowledge with hosts countries and with the wider development community.<\/p>\n Our e-health system keeps the medical records of some 2 million patients.<\/p>\n It allowed us to spearhead telemedicine and develop smartphone applications to support patients, including pregnant women, track their health, remind them to go to their appointments and regularly test themselves.<\/p>\n Global validators, including the MOPAN and the World Bank have attested to the Agency\u2019s cost-effectiveness, efficiency and quality of services.<\/p>\n And Let me pause here a moment to acknowledge and pay tribute to the women and men behind these achievements and innovations, the very backbone of our Agency: the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA 28,000 staff – teachers, doctors, nurses, social workers, sanitation laborers -who are delivering these services every day.<\/p>\n The vast majority are Palestine refugees, living through the same hardship as the people they serve.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mr. Chair,<\/strong><\/p>\n Shifting global geopolitical priorities and regional dynamics have de-prioritized the Israel-Palestine conflict.<\/p>\n A growing number of competing crises over the last decade has sadly increased the indifference towards the plight of Palestine refugees.<\/p>\n For too long, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA has tried to reconcile three opposing sources of pressure:<\/p>\n First,<\/strong>\u00a0the General Assembly\u2019s mandate which requires the Agency to deliver public sector-like services;<\/p>\n Second,<\/strong>\u00a0the chronic lack of sufficient voluntary funding from Member States and the unpredictable nature of most of the funding;<\/p>\n and lastly,<\/strong>\u00a0the inability to change the scope or mode of service delivery because any change to the way Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA operates is perceived by the Palestine refugee community with suspicion and as an attempt to weaken the mandate, an attempt to weaken the rights of Palestine refugees.<\/p>\n For far too long, the Agency has been expected to manage chronic underfunding and at the same time deliver with quality.<\/p>\n Today, austerity is biting at the quality of our services and undermines staff morale.<\/p>\n Palestine refugees witness it every day.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mr. Chair,<\/strong><\/p>\n Over the last 10 years, and despite active and continuous outreach, an annual underfunding of around 100 million USD has forced the Agency to operate within very strict financial constraints.<\/p>\n The funding gap has slowed us down, especially in areas that require constant upgrading and rolling out of new models.<\/p>\n Today, for example, we need a substantial capital injection to implement our digital strategy, to deliver on our environmental sustainability commitments, to replace our basic assets that have become obsolete.<\/p>\n Keeping quality education, greening the camps, maintaining universal vaccination rates are all excellent returns of our collective investment.<\/p>\n The size, scale and scope of our operation deserves an additional 100 million USD per year.<\/p>\n If anything, 100 million USD is very little in return for the protection of rights and contribution to regional stability that the Agency brings through its presence and operations.<\/p>\n Allow me here to acknowledge the Member States that have remained committed supporters of the rights of Palestine refugees and of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA over the decades.<\/p>\n Without them, the Agency would not have been able to navigate the different storms.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mr. Chair,<\/strong><\/p>\n For over seven decades, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA has delivered public sector-like services to one of the most underprivileged communities in the Middle East.<\/p>\n The Agency is unique within the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ system as it is a direct service provider, running its own schools and primary health care centers.<\/p>\n It is also unique in that it relies almost exclusively on voluntary funding.<\/p>\n Voluntary and unpredictable resources are no way to run public-sector like services.<\/p>\n Over the last two years, it has been my priority to engage Member States on ways to equip the Agency with a sustainable funding base.<\/p>\n At the Brussels conference co-hosted by Jordan and Sweden last year, I presented a compact: a vision of a modernized Agency that operates with a three-year fixed budget.<\/p>\n This proposal did not yield the increased financial commitment by Member States that I had been hoping for.<\/p>\n This year, I initiated a dialogue to promote new ways to increase and strengthen our partnerships with Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ agencies, in line with Resolution 302 and in line with repeated recommendations of our Advisory Commission.<\/p>\n The objective was to tap into resources available within the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ system, by asking other Agencies to deliver some services on behalf of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA and under its responsibility.<\/p>\n Palestine refugees were concerned that reinforcing partnerships in the absence of a political horizon might further weaken Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA and, consequently, undermine their rights.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Distinguished Delegates,<\/strong><\/p>\n The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA mandate is coming up for renewal and I hope it will be adopted with the same enthusiasm as in 2019.<\/p>\n However, this should not be a procedural rubber stamp endorsement.<\/p>\n It needs to be accompanied by a genuine willingness to provide the necessary predictable resources that will allow Palestine refugees to access a dignified life.<\/p>\n The chronic financial shortfall undermines our ability to fulfil the mandate.<\/p>\n The shortfall also threatens our stabilizing role in the region.<\/p>\n In this context, I welcome the discussions that have been led by a number of Member States on assessed contributions to cover the Agency\u2019s operational costs.<\/p>\n Increasing assessed contributions is in line with the Secretary General\u2019s earlier call in his 2017 report on sustainable financing, which was the product of consultations among Member States.<\/p>\n I appeal to you to support a meaningful increase in assessed contributions.<\/p>\n We need a contribution that will put the Agency back on sustainable financial footing to ensure that we carry out our mandate as requested by the General Assembly.<\/p>\n And To be meaningful, the amount must be a game changer.<\/p>\n Palestine refugees need to be reassured that the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ and its Members States care and remain committed to their plight.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen,<\/strong><\/p>\n The absence of a genuine political solution to a 74-year-old conflict means that the international community has failed to resolve it.<\/p>\n But we have succeeded in investing in the human development of a refugee community that has graduated brilliant achievers who regularly surprise us with their success.<\/p>\n When your predecessors agreed to create Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA in 1949, they did not know that it would last that long.<\/p>\n It would have been unfathomable that the descendants of those who were expelled or fled their homes would still be awaiting a solution to their plight today.<\/p>\n But here we are, slowly working our way towards the 75th anniversary of a Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ agency that was designed to be temporary.<\/p>\n In the absence of a genuine political solution of the conflict, let us stay strong in our commitment to the human rights and wellbeing of Palestine refugees.<\/p>\n The international community might have failed them politically, but it is my hope and I appeal to you that it will continue to strongly support their human development, respond to their humanitarian needs and promote their right to a dignified life until there is a just and lasting solution to their plight.<\/p>\n Thank you, Mr Chair<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Arabic: \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0631\u0628\u064a\u0629 7 November 2022 New York Mr. Chair, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is an honor to present to the General Assembly\u2019s Fourth Committee my annual report on the work of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The discussion we will have today […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"template-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[909,933,2241],"document-category":[2197,2637,2773,1338],"document-source":[1365,5618,1817],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1945,2441,6650,2533,2349,2465,2153,1745],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6544,6542],"class_list":["post-282803","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-jordan","country-lebanon","country-syria","document-category-briefing","document-category-remarks","document-category-speech","document-category-statement","document-source-general-assembly","document-source-general-assembly-fourth-committee-special-political-and-decolonization","document-source-united-nations-relief-and-works-agency-for-palestine-refugees-in-the-near-east-unrwa","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-education-and-culture","document-subject-funding-needs","document-subject-health","document-subject-living-conditions","document-subject-poverty","document-subject-refugee-camps","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-arabic","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/282803","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\/282803\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=282803"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=282803"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=282803"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=282803"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=282803"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=282803"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=282803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nNew York<\/strong><\/p>\n