Published : 17-08-2018
At an extraordinary session of the UNRWA Advisory Commission, held on August 16 in Amman, the Commissioner-General Mr. Pierre Krähenbühl announced that the school-year for 526,000 Palestine refugee girls and boys will open on time in the West Bank, Occupied Jerusalem, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
Mr. Krähenbühl emphasized that students and teachers will be returning to the 711 schools on time “because it is crucial to protect the fundamental right to education for Palestine refugee girls and boys and the community’s unwavering attachment to learning and the development of skills”. He added that schools will open taking into account the fact that host countries have repeatedly drawn attention to the serious risks to regional stability if this were not the case.
The Commissioner-General also underlined the ongoing severe risks facing the Agency: “While announcing today the opening of the school year, I wish to be clear that UNRWA is by no stretch of the imagination out of the woods.”
“We currently only have funding to run the Agency’s services until the end of September. We need a further $217 M to ensure that our schools not only open but can be run until the end of the year. This requires the resolute continuation of the collective mobilization that has been underway since January,” he added.
The Commissioner-General called on all member states of the United Nations who have pledged but not yet transferred their contribution to do so as soon as possible, and other countries who are still considering providing additional money to join initiatives to preserve UNRWA’s vital services to a very anxious Palestine Refugee community.
Sometime earlier, UNRWA had expressed concern that it may not be able to start the school year on time due to its unprecedented financial crisis, which was exacerbated this year and reached a critical level after the United States, the largest donor to UNRWA decided to slash most of its aid to the refugee agency, a step the Palestinians fear is intended to dismantle the Agency as a prelude to ending the Palestinian refugee issue at pressure from Israel.
At an extraordinary session of the UNRWA Advisory Commission, held on August 16 in Amman, the Commissioner-General Mr. Pierre Krähenbühl announced that the school-year for 526,000 Palestine refugee girls and boys will open on time in the West Bank, Occupied Jerusalem, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
Mr. Krähenbühl emphasized that students and teachers will be returning to the 711 schools on time “because it is crucial to protect the fundamental right to education for Palestine refugee girls and boys and the community’s unwavering attachment to learning and the development of skills”. He added that schools will open taking into account the fact that host countries have repeatedly drawn attention to the serious risks to regional stability if this were not the case.
The Commissioner-General also underlined the ongoing severe risks facing the Agency: “While announcing today the opening of the school year, I wish to be clear that UNRWA is by no stretch of the imagination out of the woods.”
“We currently only have funding to run the Agency’s services until the end of September. We need a further $217 M to ensure that our schools not only open but can be run until the end of the year. This requires the resolute continuation of the collective mobilization that has been underway since January,” he added.
The Commissioner-General called on all member states of the United Nations who have pledged but not yet transferred their contribution to do so as soon as possible, and other countries who are still considering providing additional money to join initiatives to preserve UNRWA’s vital services to a very anxious Palestine Refugee community.
Sometime earlier, UNRWA had expressed concern that it may not be able to start the school year on time due to its unprecedented financial crisis, which was exacerbated this year and reached a critical level after the United States, the largest donor to UNRWA decided to slash most of its aid to the refugee agency, a step the Palestinians fear is intended to dismantle the Agency as a prelude to ending the Palestinian refugee issue at pressure from Israel.
