{"id":224538,"date":"2019-11-16T13:40:05","date_gmt":"2019-11-16T18:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=224538"},"modified":"2019-11-19T13:42:27","modified_gmt":"2019-11-19T18:42:27","slug":"overwhelming-vote-to-extend-unrwa-mandate-at-un-fourth-committee-meeting-press-release","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/overwhelming-vote-to-extend-unrwa-mandate-at-un-fourth-committee-meeting-press-release\/","title":{"rendered":"Overwhelming Vote to Extend ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA Mandate at ±¬ÁÏÍø Fourth Committee Meeting – Press Release"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Arabic: \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0631\u0628\u064a\u0629<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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16 November 2019<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) of the United Nations General Assembly voted yesterday to extend the mandate of the ±¬ÁÏÍø Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (±¬ÁÏÍøRWA) until 2023. The ±¬ÁÏÍø General Assembly will vote in plenary session next month on the resolution adopted by the Fourth Committee.<\/p>\n

±¬ÁÏÍøRWA was established 70 years ago and provides essential services to Palestine refugees based on a mandate given to it by the General Assembly which is renewed every three years. ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA is experiencing the worst financial deficit in its 70 year history and is seeking to overcome a financial gap of nearly US$ 89 million before the end of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that 170 ±¬ÁÏÍø Member-States reaffirmed their trust in ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA and expressed support for it to continue providing its essential assistance for the next three years is a confirmation of the vital role that the Agency plays in supporting the needs of Palestine refugees,\u201d said Acting Commissioner- General, Christian Saunders.<\/p>\n

±¬ÁÏÍøRWA currently supports 5.5 million Palestine refugees in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The agency provides services in the fields of health, education, microfinance, protection and relief and social services, with over half a million girls and boys attending its 709 schools and some 8.5 million patient visits provided in 2018 alone in 22 health centers across the five fields of operations.<\/p>\n

The resolution approved on Friday affirms that Palestine refugees continue to have essential needs \u2013 that in the absence of a just and lasting solution to their plight \u2013 ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA continues to meet through its programmes and service delivery.<\/p>\n

The vote is also seen as a confirmation of the strong support Member States have for the robust measures being undertaken by the Agency to address the issues identified by the recent\u00a0investigation, as well as for the broader reforms underway to enhance the Agency\u2019s ability to respond to the needs of Palestine refugees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are extremely grateful to ±¬ÁÏÍø Member States, donors and partners for this overwhelming vote of confidence in the Agency\u201d said Mr. Saunders. \u201cWe will ensure that their trust and continued support are well placed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Background Information:<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

±¬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. ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA encourages all Member States to work collectively to exert all possible efforts to fully fund the Agency\u2019s programme budget. ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA emergency programmes and key projects, also operating with large shortfalls, are funded through separate funding portals.<\/p>\n

±¬ÁÏÍøRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and mandated to provide assistance and protection to some 5.4 million Palestine refugees registered with ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA across its five fields of operation. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank, including East Jerusalem 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>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Sami Mshasha<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Director of Communications, Arabic Language Spokesperson<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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+972 (0)54 216 8295<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Office:<\/div>\n
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+972 (0)258 90724<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Tamara Alrifai<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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±¬ÁÏÍøRWA Spokesperson<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Mobile:<\/div>\n
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+962 (0)79 090 0140<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Arabic: \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0631\u0628\u064a\u0629 16 November 2019 The Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) of the United Nations General Assembly voted yesterday to extend the mandate of the ±¬ÁÏÍø Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (±¬ÁÏÍøRWA) until 2023. The ±¬ÁÏÍø General Assembly will vote in plenary session next month on the […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"template-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[2437,1329],"document-source":[1817],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1945,1745],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6544,6542],"class_list":["post-224538","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","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-united-nations-system","document-language-arabic","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/224538","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\/224538\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=224538"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=224538"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=224538"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=224538"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=224538"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=224538"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=224538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}