{"id":197717,"date":"2016-05-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T17:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?p=197717"},"modified":"2019-03-12T17:27:49","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T17:27:49","slug":"auto-insert-197717","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/auto-insert-197717\/","title":{"rendered":"±¬ÁÏÍøRWA Commissioner-General concludes two-day mission to Italy – ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA press release"},"content":{"rendered":"
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±¬ÁÏÍøRWA COMMISSIONER-GENERAL CONCLUDES TWO-DAY MISSION TO ITALY<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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18 May 2016<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (±¬ÁÏÍøRWA), Pierre Krähenbühl, concluded a two-day mission to Italy on Tuesday. Over the course of the visit, he met with senior government officials, parliamentarians, representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and local media to deepen ties with Italian institutions and raise awareness about the work of ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA and the current situation facing Palestine refugees. <\/p><\/div>\n

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During the Commissioner-General’s visit, the Government of Italy confirmed its commitment to scale up its contribution to ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA in 2016 to EUR 10 million, particularly in support of the Agency’s core programmes and services. This presents a 12 per cent increase over the Italian contribution to ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA in 2015. <\/p><\/div>\n

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During the mission, Mr. Krähenbühl met with the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ambassador Elisabetta Belloni; the Director-General of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Giampaolo Cantini; the Director of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, Laura Frigenti;  the Counsellor of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Attorney Patrizia De Rose; the Diplomatic Counsellor of the Ministry of Health, Luigi Ferrari; the Director-General for Preventative Health Care of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Raniero Gueera; members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and Senate; and the Ambassador of Palestine in Italy, Mai al-Kaila.<\/p><\/div>\n

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During his visit, Mr. Krähenbühl also held a conference at the Institute for International Affairs (IAI) titled, ‘The Plight of Palestine Refugees in an Increasingly Unstable Middle East’, attended by participants from the Italian academic, non-profit and media sectors. <\/p><\/div>\n

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“At a time when widespread instability affects the Middle East and when Italy and the broader European continent are facing a major refugee crisis on its shores, ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA’s role as a provider of dignity and vital services to Palestine refugees is as critical as ever,” said the Commissioner-General. “This visit presented us with a welcome opportunity to deepen ties and foster conditions for a continued strategic cooperation between ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA and Italy. It is essential that the rights and needs of Palestine refugees throughout the region not be forgotten, and in this context I am very grateful for Italy’s growing support and strong trust.”<\/p><\/div>\n

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Italy has long been one of the Agency’s most reliable donors. In 2015, Italy contributed EUR 8.75 million (US$ 9.56 million) to ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA, including EUR 4.1 million (US$ 4.36 million) for the Agency’s core programmes and services. In 2015, the Government of Italy donated EUR 1 million (US$ 1.09 million) in support of the Agency’s humanitarian response to the Yarmouk emergency and EUR 2.18 million (US$ 2. 39 million) for food assistance in Gaza.<\/p><\/div>\n

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BACKGRO±¬ÁÏÍøD INFORMATION<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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±¬ÁÏÍøRWA is confronted with an increased demand for services resulting from a growth in the number of registered Palestine refugees, the extent of their vulnerability and their deepening poverty. ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions and financial support has been outpaced by the growth in needs. As a result, the ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA Programme Budget, which supports the delivery of core essential services, operates with a large shortfall,  projected for 2016 to stand at US$ 81 million. ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA emergency programmes and key projects, also operating with large shortfalls, are funded through separate funding portals.<\/p><\/div>\n

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±¬ÁÏÍøRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and mandated to provide assistance and protection to some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip achieve their full human development potential, pending a just and lasting solution to their plight. ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, protection and microfinance .<\/p><\/div>\n

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For more information, please contact:<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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Christopher Gunness<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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Spokesperson, Director of Advocacy & Strategic Communications<\/p><\/div>\n

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Mobile: <\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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+972 (0)54 240 2659<\/p><\/div>\n

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Office: <\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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+972 (0)2 589 0267<\/p><\/div>\n

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c.gunness@unrwa.org<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

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Sami Mshasha<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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Chief of Communications, Arabic Language Spokesperson<\/p><\/div>\n

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Mobile: <\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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+972 (0)54 216 8295<\/p><\/div>\n

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Office: <\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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+972 (0)2 589 0724<\/p><\/div>\n

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s.mshasha@unrwa.org<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

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http:\/\/www.unrwa.org\/newsroom\/press-releases\/unrwa-commissioner-general-concludes-two-day-mission-italy<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

±¬ÁÏÍøRWA COMMISSIONER-GENERAL CONCLUDES TWO-DAY MISSION TO ITALY 18 May 2016 The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (±¬ÁÏÍøRWA), Pierre Krähenbühl, concluded a two-day mission to Italy on Tuesday. Over the course of the visit, he met with senior government officials, parliamentarians, representatives from non-governmental organizations […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[900],"document-category":[2437,1329],"document-source":[1817],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1945,1745],"entity":[5343,1985,1729],"document-language":[6544,6542],"class_list":["post-197717","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-italy","document-category-arabic-text","document-category-press-release","document-source-united-nations-relief-and-works-agency-for-palestine-refugees-in-the-near-east-unrwa","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","entity-palestine-plo-palestinian-authority","entity-state","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-arabic","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/197717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/197717\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=197717"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=197717"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=197717"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=197717"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=197717"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=197717"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=197717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}