Remarks by UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini, ministerial event co-hosted by Jordan and Sweden on the margins of the 78th un general assembly

UNRWA financial crisis deepens year after year.

I know it sounds like a broken record for many of you.

But my plea to you today is not to take our ability to muddle through should for granted.

It is not because we have not yet reached the inflection point that we won’t do so soon.

Too much is at stake for Palestine Refugees and the region if we do.

Meanwhile, we are beginning to see the cracks in some of our flagship programmes.  

Let us take our renowned education system as an example.  

It allowed us, over the last decades, to empower over two million girls and boys.

But the global pandemic, coupled with severe austerity measures, has deeply affected the learning outcomes.

Let me give you an example: last school year, only 20 per cent of fourth grade students achieved acceptable Arabic and mathematics levels. This is down from 60 per cent in 2015. This is a drastic decrease.

This is happening against a backdrop of increased violence across the region - from Gaza to Jenin camp in the West Bank, to the ongoing armed clashes in Ein El Hilweh camp in Lebanon.

Let’s be honest about the direction in which this is heading.

At the moment, Palestine Refugees see no political horizon for a just and lasting political solution.

Wherever I go, I meet with young refugees who share with me their frustration about the absence of any prospect for a better future.  

They feel hopeless, desperate and they feel betrayed and abandoned by the international community.

Disenfranchised youth are increasingly vulnerable to recruitment by violent actors.

We all know that this is a recipe for a full-scale humanitarian, security, and political disaster.

Excellencies,

As of today, UNRWA still needs between US$ 170-190 million to sustain its core services until the end of this year. This includes education, primary health and a social safety net.

On top, for our humanitarian response, we urgently need around US$ 100 million to sustain our life-saving food and cash assistance in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon.

Even if we somehow manage to avoid a disaster in the coming months, the snowballing deficit that we carry over from year to year means that a dramatic outcome is becoming more and more likely.

I keep reminding Member States that we are the only Agency, with 30,000 staff, which operates on a negative cashflow.

Some of you have asked UNRWA to have a more realistic budget.

My response is simple – our budget mirrors our mandate from the General Assembly.

Decreasing our budget would mean we cannot fulfill our mandate.

As a provider of government-like services, the Agency cannot simply scale down its programmes to match cashflow. 

The cost-efficiency of our services has been recognized by a number of partners, including the World Bank.

We have absolutely left no stone unturned to increase funding and expand the donor base and I hope that the plea of the Secretary-General today to expand the donor base will be heard.

We have relentlessly pursued expanding partnerships, sought more multi-year funding agreements, and tried to secure increased access to the UN regular budget.

Let me thank the Member States who supported an increase for UNRWA from the UN regular budget last year.

So far, none of these have been the game changer needed to build a sustainable and predictable UNRWA.

Excellencies,

The UNRWA model of providing government-like services based on voluntary funding has run its course.

We cannot remain in the status-quo we are locked in today.

Yet, Palestinians and Palestine Refugees are still waiting for a solution.

Next year we will commemorate the 75th year since the establishment of the Agency. This should be a time of reflection on ways to uphold our collective commitment to protect the rights of Palestine Refugees.

To this end, I will continue to engage you in the months to come, to shape a conversation aiming at addressing the sustainability of UNRWA.

The Palestine refugee issue has to be brought back on our collective political agenda.

Thank you.