AMMAN:The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Tuesday it was unable to pay its 28,000 employees on time this month because of a major funding crisis, warning of potential cuts in vital services to millions of people amid a global pandemic.
UNRWA runs schools, clinics and food distribution programs for millions of registered Palestinian refugees across the Middle East, mainly the descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation.
The 5.7 million refugees mostly live in camps that have been transformed into built-up but often impoverished residential areas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza, as well as Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini told reporters in Jordan that the resumption of US support for the agency this year — which had been halted by the Trump administration — was offset by a reduction in funding by other donors.
The agency also went through a management crisis in 2019, when its previous head resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct, nepotism and other abuses of authority at the agency.
Staff went on strike Monday after being informed last week that salaries would be delayed, but halted the action following mediation, Lazzarini said.
“If UNRWA health services are compromised in the middle of a global pandemic, COVID-19 vaccination rollout will come to an end. Maternal and childcare will stop, half a million girls and boys not knowing if they can continue learning, and over two million of the poorest Palestinian refugees will not get cash and food assistance,” he said.
“The humanitarian needs of Palestinian refugees keep increasing while funding to the agency has stagnated since 2013.”
Lazzarini said the agency raised enough donations at a recent conference in Brussels to cover up to 48 percent of its budget in 2022 and 2023. It also generated $60 million toward a $100 million shortfall until the end of the year to keep services running.
“I’m still not yet in a position to say when the November salaries will be paid,” he said.
Critics of UNRWA, including Israel, accuse it of perpetuating the 73-year refugee crisis and say host nations should shoulder the burden of absorbing them.
The Palestinians say the refugees and their descendants have a “right of return” to their homes in what is now Israel, a position supported by host countries. Israel rejects that, noting that if such a right were fully implemented it would leave the country with a Palestinian majority.
UN agency for Palestinian refugees faces funding crisis
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UN agency for Palestinian refugees faces funding crisis
Iran war chokes aid corridors, obstructing global relief efforts
- “People in dire need of assistance will have to wait longer for food,” said Bauer
- Tents, tarpaulins and lamps destined for Gaza and the West Bank have become stuck in the supply chain, the IOM said
GENEVA: Key humanitarian air, sea and land routes are being constricted by disruption from the war in the Middle East, delaying life-saving shipments to some of the world’s worst crises, 10 aid officials have told Reuters.
The US–Israeli war on Iran entered its seventh day on Friday, convulsing global markets and disrupting supply chains with airspace closures and the halt of shipping through the critical Strait of Hormuz.
Aid to Gaza and Sudan is grinding to a halt and costs are soaring for help to the hundreds of millions suffering hunger crises around the world.
“People in dire need of assistance will have to wait longer for food,” said Jean-Martin Bauer, Director of Food Security at the World Food Programme.
Already, tents, tarpaulins and lamps destined for the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank have become stuck in the supply chain, the International Organization for Migration said.
DUBAI AID HUB HOBBLED BY AIR AND SEA RESTRICTIONS
Aid groups say higher operational costs are straining budgets already facing massive donor cuts. The IOM said shipping firms were demanding emergency surcharges of approximately $3,000 per container.
Humanitarian groups stocking goods for rapid regional deployment at warehouses in Dubai’s Humanitarian Hub face challenges moving supplies onto transit routes.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies cannot move trauma kits to help the Iranian Red Crescent with search and rescue from its Dubai hub, where they sit in a estimated 1 million Swiss franc ($1.28 million) pre-positioned emergency stockpile, said Cecile Terraz, a director at the IFRC.
The group cannot move stock through Jebel Ali port — the region’s largest container terminal, which was set on fire by the debris of an intercepted missile — from where cargo normally moves onto planes or into the Strait of Hormuz.
The World Health Organization’s Dubai hub operations are also frozen, regional director Hanan Balkhy said, obstructing 50 emergency requests from 25 countries and hampering operations such as polio vaccination.
Ripple effects farther afield are also likely.
Famine-struck Sudan is particularly exposed due to additional restrictions since February 28 on the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, the UNHCR said.
“We are particularly concerned about Africa,” said a spokeswoman, adding that some cargoes were being sent around the Cape of Good Hope. The route takes up to three weeks longer.
Costs for fuel, transportation and insurance are also rising, and Terraz said the IFRC may have to cut deliveries to the Iranian Red Crescent.
Emma Maspero, senior manager in Copenhagen of the supply division of the UN children’s body UNICEF, said she hoped flights carrying perishable humanitarian goods such as vaccines could be prioritized amid the airspace restrictions.
