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UNRWA

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
AbbreviationUNRWA
Formation8 December 1949 (1949-12-08)
TypeUnited Nations Programme
PurposeProvide direct relief and works programmes for Palestinian refugees
HeadquartersAmman, Jordan and Gaza, Palestinian Authority
Region
Levant
ServicesEducation, health care, relief/social services, infrastructure/camp improvement, microfinancial assistance and emergency response[1]
FieldsHumanitarian aid
Commissioner-General
Philippe Lazzarini
Deputy Commissioner-General
Leni Stenseth
Parent organization
United Nations
Budget (2020)
US$806 million[2]
Staff
30,000
Websitewww.unrwa.org Edit this at Wikidata
UNRWA operations, as of 1 January 2017

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East[a] (UNRWA, pronounced /ˈʌnrə/ UN-rə)[b] is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians who fled or were expelled during the Nakba, the 1948 Palestine War, and subsequent conflicts, as well as their descendants,[3][4] including legally adopted children.[5] As of 2019, more than 5.6 million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA as refugees.[6]

UNRWA was established in 1949 by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to provide relief to all refugees resulting from the 1948 conflict. It also provided relief to Jewish and Arab Palestine refugees inside the State of Israel following the 1948 conflict until the Israeli government took over responsibility for them in 1952.[7][8][9] As a subsidiary body of the UNGA, UNRWA's mandate is subject to periodic renewal every three years; it has consistently been extended since its founding, most recently until 30 June 2026.[10]

UNRWA employs over 30,000 people, most of them Palestinian refugees, and a small number of international staff.[11] Originally intended to provide employment and direct relief, its mandate has broadened to include providing education, health care, and social services to its target population. UNRWA operates in five areas: Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem;[12] aid for Palestinian refugees outside these five areas is provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), established in 1950 as the main agency to aid all other refugees worldwide.[13] UNRWA is the only UN agency dedicated to helping refugees from a specific region or conflict.[14] Unlike UNRWA, UNHCR has a specific mandate to assist refugees in eliminating their refugee status by local integration in the current country, resettlement in a third country or repatriation when possible.[15]

In recent decades, UNRWA has been involved in controversial incidents connected to its role in the Gaza Strip, relationship with Hamas, and textbook content. The most recent controversy over the alleged (and uncorroborated) involvement of 12 of its employees in the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel prompted lay-offs, an investigation, and the temporary suspension of funding by United States, Germany, European Union, Sweden, Japan, France, Switzerland, Canada, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Austria, Finland, New Zealand, Iceland, Romania and Estonia.[16][17][18][19][20] Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Sweden and the European Union resumed funding since March 2024.[21]Following publication of the report, Germany announced that it would resume funding of UNRWA, following similar decisions made earlier other major donors, including Australia, Canada, Sweden and Japan.[22][23]

  1. ^ UNRWA (n.d.). "What We Do". UNRWA. United Nations. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  2. ^ UNRWA (August 2020). "HOW WE SPEND FUNDS". UNRWA. United Nations. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  3. ^ Dowty, Alan (2012), Israel/Palestine, Polity, p. 243, ISBN 9780745656113
  4. ^ UNRWA in Figures Archived 8 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ^ "Consolidated Eligibility and Registration Instructions" (PDF). UNRWA. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 September 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2022. Persons who meet UNRWA's Palestine Refugee criteria These are persons whose regular place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict. Palestine Refugees, and descendants of Palestine refugee males, including legally adopted children, are eligible to register for UNRWA services. The agency accepts new applications from persons who wish to be registered as Palestine Refugees. Once they are registered with UNRWA, persons in this category are referred to as Registered Refugees or as Registered Palestine Refugees.
  6. ^ "Frequently asked questions". UNRWA. Archived from the original on 10 February 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  7. ^ Bartolomeusz, Lance (2009). "The mandate of UNRWA at sixty". Refugee Survey Quarterly. 28 (2 & 3): 452–474. doi:10.1093/rsq/hdp033.
  8. ^ UN General Assembly, Annual Report of the Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, covering the period 1 July 1951 to 30 June 1952. Seventh Session, Supplement No. 13 (A/2171) 1952. "Late in June, an agreement was concluded with Israel whereby that Government assumed responsibility for the care of the remaining 19,000 refugees in that country as of 1 July 1952."
  9. ^ Howard Adelman, Elazar Barkan (28 June 2011). No Return, No Refuge: Rites and Rights in Minority Repatriation. Columbia University Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-231-15336-2. Archived from the original on 25 April 2024. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  10. ^ Heaney, Christopher. "UN General Assembly Renews UNRWA Mandate - Press Release". Question of Palestine. Archived from the original on 3 November 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  11. ^ "Working at UNRWA". UNRWA. Archived from the original on 21 September 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  12. ^ UNRWA & UNHCR 2007, p. 2,4.
  13. ^ UNRWA & UNHCR 2007, p. 3,11: "The vast majority of Palestinian refugees fall under the UNRWA mandate, but there is still a large number living in other countries of the region, such as the Gulf States, Egypt, Iraq or Yemen, or further afield in Australia, Europe and America."
  14. ^ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "UNHCR - The UN Refugee Agency". Archived from the original on 12 September 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
  15. ^ Miller, Elhanan (June 2012). "Palestinian Refugees and the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Negotiations" (PDF). International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 February 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2015. To use a trite image, while UNHCR strives to give its refugees fishing rods, UNRWA is busy distributing fish
  16. ^ Burke, Jason (26 January 2024). "UN agency investigates staff suspected of role in 7 October attack on Israel". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 26 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  17. ^ Salama, Vivian; Luhnow, David (26 January 2024). "U.S. Halts Funding for U.N. Agency Amid Claims Staff Took Part in Oct. 7 Attacks". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  18. ^ "Serious allegations against UNRWA staff in the Gaza Strip: Statement by Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General". UNRWA. 26 January 2024. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  19. ^ "UNRWA claims: UK halts aid to UN agency over allegation staff helped Hamas attack". 26 January 2024. Archived from the original on 26 January 2024. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  20. ^ Pelaez, Luis (29 January 2024). "UPDATED: List of Countries Suspending UNRWA Funding". UN Watch. Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  21. ^ Hadjicostis, Menelaos (9 March 2024). "Another top donor says it will resume funding the UN agency for Palestinians as Gaza hunger grows". AP News. AP. Archived from the original on 10 March 2024. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  22. ^ McVeigh, Karen (24 April 2024). "UK accused by Amnesty of 'deliberately destabilising' human rights globally" – via The Guardian.
  23. ^ Schuetze, Christopher F. (24 April 2024). "After U.N. Report, Germany Says It Will Resume Funding for UNRWA" – via NYTimes.com.


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