Your Excellencies,
Foreign Diplomatic Missions in Lebanon,
Urgent Appeal
UNRWA,
the UN Agency for Relief and Works Agency, has lately started to reduce the level
of services provided for Palestinian refugees in its five areas of operation.This
includes cancelling shelter aid provided to Palestinian refugees displaced from
Syria and will be followed by halting clothes and food aid by the end of September.
A decision is being mulled which might impact the education sector where UNRWA General-Commissioner,
Mr. Pierre Krenpol, has announced that harsh steps might be taken at UNRWA
schools thus affecting 35,000 Palestinian students during the academic year
2015-2016.Mr. Krenpol has also declared that UNRWA might be obliged to close all
UNRWA schools and reduce services in other sectors, including health and relief,due
to a financial deficit estimated at $101 million.
This
fact is extremely dangerous as it threatens about 43,000 Palestinians displaced
from Syria, who have become homeless and without relief assistance as they have
to suffer harsh humanitarian conditions. It also threatens basic services for Palestinian
refugees in Lebanon including health and aid services.
The
responsibility of financing UNRWA to continue its role towards the refugees
rests basically on the international community and the United Nations in
addition to the countries hosting refugees.
By
failing to provide UNRWA with financial support necessary to cover essential services
for Palestinian refugees, the international community might be changing
refugees into time bombs that would reflect negatively on world peace and
security.
We,
at the Palestinian Association for Human Rights "Witness," address
you to intervene urgently to support the following:
1. Serious efforts are needed to safeguard sources of funding to meet the
urgent deficit in the UNRWA budget.
2. UNRWA is responsible for the relief of Palestine Refugees as well as for
seeking sources of funding and launching relevant urgent appeals.
3. The international community should shoulder its responsibilities towards
refugees either by opening the borders for them to return to their homeland, or
by providing financial support for UNRWA to provide a full range of services
for refugees until their case is resolved.
4.
Host countries should exercise
pressure on the international community to continue its financial support for UNRWA in
order to avoid the negative repercussions of their human and social conditions
on the countries hosting them.
Beirut,31/07/2015
The Palestinian Association for Human Rights
"Witness"