Philippe Lazzarini, general commissioner of the United Nations Rescue and Work Office for Palestine refugees in the Middle East, requests more financial engagement.
Interview by Laure Stephan (Beirut, Correspondence)
Passing to Beirut, Philippe Lazzarini, general commissioner of UNRWA, the United Nations agency responsible for 5.8 million Palestinian refugees in the Middle East, calls the international community to more political and financial engagement . Monday, November 28, he had to meet the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Paris, Catherine Colonna.
You alarmed yourself with “the austerity” that has been hitting UNRWA for almost ten years, because of its serious financial crisis. What are the reasons ? What are the consequences?
Since 2010-2012, our resources have started to stagnate, while we provide primary health care for more than 2 million Palestinian refugees and education of more than 500,000 students in the Middle East. This corresponds to the triggering of “Arab Spring” then of the crises which multiplied in the region, as well as at the time when the Israeli-Palestinian peace process began to get out of the priorities of the international community.
Today, when, for lack of resources, classes welcome up to fifty students, this has consequences on the quality of education. In terms of health, the time spent in consultation has decreased sharply. It is a miracle that we were able to maintain our centers open this year again. But we are in a permanent tense flow. Frustration rises among refugees. We live in the continual uncertainty of not being able to pay the salaries of our 30,000 employees. UNRWA has become associated with the financial crisis it is going through. You have to get out of the status quo, stop believing that the agency can manage this crisis: at one point, it will no longer be able to implement its mandate.
How to change the situation?
We deliver public services, but are funded as an NGO: this model no longer works. For the past two years, we are looking to reactivate the political interest of donors and to promote more sustainable funding. In September, in New York, the member states agreed to gradually increase resources from the ordinary United Nations budget – we receive very little and depend on voluntary contributions. But this agreement is less than our expectations: it does not change the situation.
We need a political will that ensures UNRWA the means of its mandate. In two years, we will mark the 75 years of an agency that should have been temporary. This longevity marks the collective failure of the international community to promote a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Its members must wonder: what is their involvement in the coming years for the rights of Palestinian refugees? It takes more political and financial commitment.
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