{"id":215322,"date":"2019-06-25T16:15:30","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T20:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=215322"},"modified":"2019-06-27T16:18:45","modified_gmt":"2019-06-27T20:18:45","slug":"addressing-pledging-conference-for-palestine-refugee-agency-secretary-general-urges-donors-maintain-their-support-at-2018-levels","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/addressing-pledging-conference-for-palestine-refugee-agency-secretary-general-urges-donors-maintain-their-support-at-2018-levels\/","title":{"rendered":"Addressing Pledging Conference for Palestine Refugee Agency, Secretary-General Urges Donors Maintain Their Support at 2018 Levels"},"content":{"rendered":"

SG\/SM\/19643-GA\/12156-PAL\/2231
\n25 J±¬ÁÏÍøE 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

video<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

video<\/a>\u00a0(media stakeout)<\/p>\n

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Following are ±¬ÁÏÍø Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres\u2019 remarks to the pledging conference for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East\u00a0(±¬ÁÏÍøRWA), in New York today:<\/p>\n

I am pleased to join you again for this year\u2019s pledging conference for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.<\/p>\n

When we gathered last year at this meeting, we feared the worst \u2014 ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA schools not opening, food for refugees running out, clinics closing.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, that did not happen because, in\u00a02018, many of you stepped up to assert that Palestine refugees deserved the assistance, dignity and hope that ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA provides.\u00a0 You spoke forcefully of how supporting ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA meant maintaining regional stability, protecting humanitarian space and preserving global solidarity regarding one of the world\u2019s most difficult situations.\u00a0 And together, through your generosity and ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA\u2019s hard work, we lived up to the United Nations values of supporting those in need and leaving no one behind.<\/p>\n

For nearly seven decades, ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA has faithfully and effectively fulfilled its mandate to assist Palestine refugees until a just and lasting solution is found.<\/p>\n

It is tragic that a political solution has not yet been reached that satisfies the needs and aspirations of both Palestinians and Israelis.\u00a0 I reiterate the importance of continuing to pursue peace efforts to realize the vision of two States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.\u00a0 In the meantime, the continued work of ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA should be viewed not only as our common responsibility, but as our common success.<\/p>\n

Millions of children have benefitted from an ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA education.\u00a0 When I visited ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA schools in Gaza and Jordan, I was struck by the positive energy and attitudes of the children, who learn United Nations values of human rights and tolerance, and who want to be positive citizens of this world.<\/p>\n

At this meeting today, you will hear yourself from two students, as the President of the General Assembly already mentioned, Hanan and Hatem, who represent ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA\u2019s student parliament in the West Bank and Gaza, and who practise democracy and conflict resolution every day in their work.<\/p>\n

±¬ÁÏÍøRWA\u2019s innovative health-care services maintain high standards and are remarkably cost-effective.\u00a0 Its emergency and social services address the fundamental needs of millions.\u00a0 In Gaza alone, 1\u00a0million Palestine refugees depend on ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA for food.<\/p>\n

If we are proud of these accomplishments, we need to support them in concrete ways.\u00a0 ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA has maintained its operations through nearly half of\u00a02019 thanks to generous contributions from Member States and others.\u00a0 By the end of this month, however, ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA faces its first funding shortfall, which will continue to grow unless you act soon.<\/p>\n

Let me stress that ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA has taken extraordinary reform and cost-control measures to reduce inefficient spending.\u00a0 Over the past five years, ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA has saved $500\u00a0million through these internal measures.\u00a0 At the same time, it has diversified its donor base.\u00a0 This includes significant efforts to ensure individual and institutional charitable funding.<\/p>\n

In March, the Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation\u00a0(OIC) decided to launch an endowment fund for ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA at the Islamic Development Bank.<\/p>\n

I applaud this decision that will contribute for ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA to count on solid and predictable financial support.\u00a0 However, many of these new efforts will still take several years to show significant financial results.\u00a0 Therefore, at the present moment, we still depend on Member States to provide the bulk of the funding.<\/p>\n

Today, I humbly ask all donors to maintain their support for ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA at last year\u2019s level.\u00a0 We know what is at risk: \u00a0education for a half million children; 8\u00a0million health\u2011care visits a year; emergency relief for 1.5\u00a0million.<\/p>\n

From our experience in\u00a02018, we also know that it is possible to find the resources to keep ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA operational.<\/p>\n

So, today, given what is at stake at the human level, at the political and security level, and at the multilateral level, we must rise to the challenge and empower ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA to continue its important and impressive work.<\/p>\n

Listen to the Palestine refugee students, Hanan and Hatem.\u00a0 Their dreams and determination should be our inspiration.<\/p>\n

Let us pledge today to keep them and their fellow ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA students in school through the year and well beyond.\u00a0 They are the future and they deserve our support.<\/p>\n

For information media. Not an official record.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SG\/SM\/19643-GA\/12156-PAL\/2231 25 J±¬ÁÏÍøE 2019 video video\u00a0(media stakeout) Following are ±¬ÁÏÍø Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres\u2019 remarks to the pledging conference for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East\u00a0(±¬ÁÏÍøRWA), in New York today: I am pleased to join you again for this year\u2019s pledging conference for the United Nations Relief and […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"template-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[2637,2805,4389],"document-source":[5352,1897,1817],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1945,1745],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-215322","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-remarks","document-category-video","document-category-webcast","document-source-secretary-general","document-source-united-nations-department-of-public-information-dpi","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-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/215322","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\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/215322\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=215322"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=215322"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=215322"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=215322"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=215322"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=215322"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=215322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}