The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
After the release of the US Middle East peace plan earlier this week, a lot of Palestinians are “in a state of shock at this point”, said Christian Saunders, acting Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) today at the United Nations in Geneva.
Speaking to the press Saunders said that “the plan that was released this week is extremely unsettling for the Palestine refugees living under occupation, under blockade, and through conflict after conflict and crisis after crisis, hoping for justice and human rights, and with the constant fear that the international community will one day abandon them”.
He added that “today, more than ever, there is a need for stability and today the international community must send a clear message to Palestine refugees and to the world at large that the international community stands firmly behind them”.
UNRWA is the UN agency mandated by the UN General Assembly to provide protection and assistance to some 5.6 million Palestine refugees in Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank including East Jerusalem.
US President Trumps Middle East Peace Plan, presented last Tuesday (28.01.), proposed an independent Palestinian state, the recognition of Israeli sovereinty over West Bank settlements and to keep Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital. The plan was seen as heavily biased towards Israel and provoked protests of thousands of Palestinians rejecting it.
“A lot of people, a lot of Palestininas, are in a state of shock at this point in time, in a state of disbelief over the Trump Peace plan, the US Peace plan. The coming days, the coming weeks and months will see how they respond to that”, Saunders said.
UNRWA’s interim Commissioner Saunders came to Geneva to launch an appeal to donors to fund UNRWA’s 2020 budget with a minimum of US$ 1.4 billion for the 5,6 million registered refugees across the Middle East for this year.
“We are stretched to our limits under our shrinking budgets and the growing needs of Palestine refugees who are impacted by the same volatility and unpredictability that people face in the Middle East every day”, Saunders said. “In 2020, Palestine refugees in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria will continue to face a range of daunting human development and protection challenges. Central to these pressures is the ongoing occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the blockade of Gaza, the continuing conflict in Syria, the political crisis in Lebanon and the growing economic needs in Jordan, all of which continue to dramatically impact the lives of Palestine refugees”.
Of the required US$ 1.4 billion, the Agency will use US$ 806 million for essential core services. UNRWA will be able to provide education to over half a million girls and boys in some 700 schools across the region, and enable 8.5 million patient visits in its health facilities, like it did in 2019.
UNRWA has faced severe funding difficulties after President Trump’s decision in 2018 to suspend entirely the US contribution to the agency’s budget, cutting nearly one third of the entire budget.
“In 2018, UNRWA’s largest donor at that time, the United States, stopped funding us, cutting nearly one third of our budget. The repercussions on our finances and plans were huge, but the support we received from our member states and partners was phenomenal, and a true testament to the continued international commitment to Palestine refugee. This incredible support allowed us to continue to provide vital services and protection to Palestine refugees, despite the potential implications of this loss of funding”.
Since 1949 UNRWA has been mandated by the UN General Assembly to provide protection and essential services to Palestinian refugees until there is a just and lasting solution based on international law and relevant UN resolutions.
UNRWA’s humanitarian services encompass primary and vocational training, primary health care, infrastructure and camp improvement to Palestinian refugees.
- Exterior, Palais des Nations
- Wide shot, press briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Christian Saunders, UNRWA Acting Commissioner-General: “The plan that was released this week is extremely unsettling for the Palestine refugees living under occupation, under blockade, and through conflict after conflict and crisis after crisis, hoping for justice and human rights, and with the constant fear that the international community will one day abandon them. Today, more than ever there is a need for stability and today the international community must send a clear message to Palestine refugees and to the world at large that the international community stands firmly behind them”.
- Wide shot, journalists
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Christian Saunders, UNRWA Acting Commissioner-General: “A lot of people, a lot of Palestininas, are in a state of shock at this point in time, in a state of disbelief over the Trump Peace plan, the US Peace plan. The coming days, the coming weeks and months will see how they respond to that”.
- Medium shot, podium
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Christian Saunders, UNRWA Acting Commissioner-General: “We are stretched to our limits under our shrinking budgets and the growing needs of Palestine refugees who are impacted by the same volatility and unpredictability that people face in the Middle East every day. In 2020, Palestine refugees in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria will continue to face a range of daunting human development and protection challenges. Central to these pressures is the ongoing occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the blockade of Gaza, the continuing conflict in Syria, the political crisis in Lebanon and the growing economic needs in Jordan, all of which continue to dramatically impact the lives of Palestine refugees”.
- Medium shot, journalists
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Christian Saunders, UNRWA Acting Commissioner-General: “In 2018, UNRWA’s largest donor at that time, the United States, stopped funding us, cutting nearly one third of our budget. The repercussions on our finances and plans were huge, but the support we received from our member states and partners was phenomenal, and a true testament to the continued international commitment to Palestine refugee. This incredible support allowed us to continue to provide vital services and protection to Palestine refugees, despite the potential implications of this loss of funding”.
- Wide shot, podium
- Medium shot, photographers
- Medium shot, press room
- Medium shot, photographers
- Two shot, journalists
- Close up, journalist
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk addressed the Human Rights Council during a meeting on the Israeli strike on negotiators in Qatar on Tuesday. “Israel’s strike on negotiators in Doha on 9 September was a shocking breach of international law, an assault on regional peace and stability, and a blow against the integrity of mediation and negotiating processes around the world,” he said.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Gaza: Thirsty and starving, war-battered families face ‘inhumane’ evacuation
As bombs continue to fall on Gaza City as part of the intensifying Israeli military operation, families with starving children are being pushed southwards from one “hellscape” to another, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
New UN Human Rights report finds 10 years of increased suffering repression and fear
The UN Human Rights Office on Friday published a report on the human rights situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) since 2014.
1
1
2
Edited News | UNICEF , UNHCR
The ongoing humanitarian response to the devastating Afghanistan earthquake disaster continued on Friday, although essential services have been cut for operational reasons following reinforced Taliban restrictions on women working with the UN, the global body said.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Un nouveau rapport du Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies aux droits de l'homme sur la République démocratique du Congo évoque le spectre de crimes de guerre et de crimes contre l'humanité dans le Nord et le Sud-Kivu.,
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | HRC
A high-level independent rights probe into the Sudan crisis on Tuesday condemned the many grave crimes committed against civilians by all parties to the war, citing disturbing evidence indicating that they had been “deliberately targeted, displaced and starved”.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Ukraine: ‘Relentless’ attacks rattle health system as winter approaches: WHO
Ambulances attacked, chronically ill patients lacking care and no peace in sight: for millions of Ukrainians, the run-up to another winter of war is just the latest life-or-death challenge they face, the UN health agency (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday delivered his report on Sri Lanka to the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday delivered his global update to the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
A UN report on the Democratic Republic of Congo raises specter of war crimes and crimes against humanity in North and South Kivu, according to UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.
1
1
1
Edited News | WMO
As billions of people continue to breathe polluted air that causes more than 4.5 million premature deaths every year, UN climate experts on Friday highlighted how damaging microscopic smoke particles from wildfires play their part, travelling half-way across the world.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence made the following comment on the on-going presidential election process in Cameroon at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.