England – British Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced yesterday, Friday, his government’s decision to resume funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
In a speech before the British House of Commons, he said that Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government had decided to resume funding UNRWA following a hiatus of regarding 7 months.
He added that his country’s annual funding for UNRWA, which amounts to 21 million pounds (regarding 27 million dollars), will include money directed towards “administrative reforms” recommended by the United Nations.
Describing the importance of UNRWA’s role in the region, Lamy said that “no other agency” is able to provide the assistance on the scale required to alleviate the “desperate” humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.
He added, “UNRWA feeds more than half of the region’s population, and will have a vital role in future reconstruction.”
Reverse the funding cut
On January 26, 18 countries and the European Union suspended their funding to UNRWA over Israeli allegations that agency employees were linked to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), but some of these parties and countries began reviewing their decisions regarding the UN agency in March and released funding for it.
The Israeli allegations once morest UNRWA come as it has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip since October 7, which has led to it appearing before the International Court of Justice on charges of committing “genocide,” following the war left more than 128,000 dead and wounded, most of them children and women, in addition to an unprecedented humanitarian disaster and massive destruction of infrastructure.
Tel Aviv continues this war, ignoring the UN Security Council resolutions to stop it immediately, and the International Court of Justice orders to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and to improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Strip.
UNRWA was established by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in 1949, and was mandated to provide assistance and protection to refugees in its five areas of operation: Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, until a just solution to their problem is reached.
Source: Anadolu Agency
#Foreign #Secretary #announces #resumption #UNRWA #funding
2024-07-20 15:27:54
