UNRWA top official warns agency could collapse
The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, reveals that the agency "can no longer increase the number of refugees that it supports."
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"Chronic and drastic funding shortfalls could even precipitate" the collapse of the agency.
The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philip Lazzarini, warned of the possibility of the collapse of the UN agency.
In an open letter to Palestinian refugees, Lazzarini said a long-term lack of funding for the agency represents an “existential” threat.
The Commissioner-General emphasized that "chronic and drastic funding shortfalls could even precipitate" the collapse of UNRWA.
The agency's top official revealed that "austerity has reached its limit" and is affecting the quality of the agency's services.
Lazzarini expressed that UNRWA "can no longer increase the number of refugees that it supports."
"Austerity reaches its limit when we put 50 children in a classroom or leave the most deprived children without transportation or stationary...when a doctor can only spend three minutes with a patient...[and] when many teachers and sanitation laborers are daily paid workers," the letter read.
Lazzarini also recalled his meetings with struggling Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, who are threatened by a daily fear of displacement and financial instability, especially under COVID-19.
It is noteworthy that over five million Palestinians are registered as refugees with UNRWA.
Since 2020, UNRWA's Commissioner-General has warned that the agency is facing a critical financial situation due to the pandemic.
The agency's financial situation plunged after the former US President Donald Trump's administration cut its funding in early 2018 and withheld $65 million.
The US and "Israel" put pressure on UNRWA, claiming the agency has become a burden on the international community.
