New York-SANA
The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Philip Lazzarini, announced that the agency needs $1.6 billion to implement its programs and operations during the current year.
In a press statement published by the United Nations website, Lazzarini called for providing a more sustainable financing model according to which UNRWA would have a regular, long-term and predictable source of funding, especially since UNRWA relies almost entirely on voluntary contributions, warning that without this sustainable model, UNRWA will not be able to To play its role in supporting about six million Palestinian refugees.
Lazzarini explained that UNRWA continues to play an indispensable role in the lives of millions of Palestine refugees in all areas of its operations, noting that it is working to maintain the provision of basic services in a very difficult financial and political context, pointing out that Palestine refugees are one of the most disadvantaged communities in area, facing unprecedented challenges and increasingly dependent on UNRWA for basic services and sometimes simply for survival.
Lazzarini referred to the mounting pressures on the Agency posed by the multiple challenges of the past year, including funding shortfalls, conflicting global crises, inflation, supply chain disruptions, geopolitical changes, and the massive rise in levels of poverty and unemployment among Palestine refugees.
Lazzarini stressed the need for the agency not to remain in a state of continuous seeking to bring financial aid, to cover the expenses of its contribution to the promotion of human rights and stability.
On the seventeenth of this month, UNRWA announced the transfer of a large amount of its expenditures to the new fiscal year, warning of a severe shortage in funding for its activities. Mahmoud Khalaf, coordinator of the Joint Committee for Palestinian Refugees, stated that the current year is the most difficult in terms of the financial crisis facing UNRWA, as The agency left last year with a financial deficit of $80 million, which is the largest in decades.
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