Action Group for Palestinians of Syria (AGPS) submitted a paper to the UN Human Rights Council, warning of the serious humanitarian and human rights repercussions of the continued funding cuts to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and the direct impact this could have on Palestinian refugees, particularly those from Syria.<\/p>\n
The paper was submitted during the 61st session of the Human Rights Council and was registered as an official UN document under Item 3, concerning the promotion and protection of all human rights, under reference A\/HRC\/61\/NGO\/171. In its paper, the APS explained that Palestinian refugees in Syria are facing extremely difficult humanitarian conditions after more than thirteen years of conflict, resulting in widespread displacement and the destruction of several major camps, including Yarmouk, Daraa, and Ein al-Tal, in addition to a severe economic downturn and a decline in the level of international aid provided to them.<\/p>\n
The group noted in the document that more than 90% of the remaining Palestinian refugees in Syria live below the poverty line and rely heavily on humanitarian aid to meet their basic needs.<\/p>\n
Action Group warned that reducing UNRWA services, including cash assistance, health, and education, could push thousands of refugee families to the brink of starvation and homelessness, exacerbate food insecurity and debt, and further hinder access to medical treatment and healthcare.<\/p>\n
The group emphasized that UNRWA services are not merely voluntary humanitarian aid but represent an international obligation stemming from the international community’s responsibility towards the Palestinian refugee issue, based on UN General Assembly Resolution 302 of 1949, as well as relevant international human rights conventions.<\/p>\n
The group also expressed concern about attempts to politicize UNRWA funding or link it to conditions that affect educational curricula or Palestinian national identity, considering such practices to be an infringement on the cultural rights of the Palestinian people.<\/p>\n
The Action Group called on the Human Rights Council to urge donor countries to resume suspended funding to UNRWA and to work towards providing sustainable and predictable funding for the agency’s programs. It also called for the launch of a special humanitarian response for Palestinian refugees from Syria, including support for housing, livelihoods, and the reconstruction of damaged camps.<\/p>\n
The group concluded its paper by emphasizing that Palestinian refugees are not merely recipients of humanitarian aid, but rather rights holders guaranteed by international law, stressing that supporting and ensuring the continuation of UNRWA’s work is a legal and moral obligation towards them.<\/p>\n
It is worth noting that Action Group for Palestinians of Syria has submitted 36 documents to the UN Human Rights Council over the past years, which have been adopted as official documents of the Council. These documents address the situation of Palestinian detainees in Syrian prisons and the violations and suffering they endure, through written and oral interventions and statements presented by the group during the Council’s proceedings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Action Group – London Action Group for Palestinians of Syria (AGPS) submitted a paper to the UN Human Rights Council, warning of the serious humanitarian and human rights repercussions of the continued funding cuts to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and the direct impact this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":113145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[161],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-113144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-our-papers-at-the-united-states"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.org.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.org.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.org.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.org.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.org.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113144"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.org.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113146,"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.org.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113144\/revisions\/113146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.org.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.org.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.org.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.org.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}