On Wednesday 7 June, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy Johannes Hahn and the Commissioner-General from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Pierre Krähenbühl, signed a joint statement on the EU's support for UNRWA for the 2017-2020 period.
The statement is aimed at strengthening the political nature of the EU-UNRWA partnership, reaffirming the EU's financial support to UNRWA. "It's a sort of political and institutional framework of the relationship between the EU and the UNRWA. It's a commitment (...) from the EU to the refugee situation and UNRWA, and a message to the refugees themselves, at a time of there being a risk that this community might be neglected in a context of countless crises. This is a very good time to express the renewal of this commitment", Krähenbühl told EUROPE.
The EU also officially announced €82 million in aid for UNRWA for 2017, which will cover the agency's services on education and health care, and social services. This support will help pay the salaries of 32,000 local UNRWA employees, most of whom are themselves Palestinian refugees. It will also help contribute to the running costs of nearly 700 UNRWA schools and 140 UNRWA healthcare centres. The EU and its member states contribute up to 42% of the agency's budget.
For 2017, the budget for UNRWA's activities (including education, health services and micro-finance) is €750 million. "In terms of projection, there is a shortfall of €120 million, which is very significant", Krähenbühl stated. For emergency operations, UNRWA has launched an appeal for €400 million, and €100 to €150 million is reportedly needed for reconstruction projects or for building schools and clinics. "Over the last 10 years, there has been a rate of increase in contributions of around 1% per year – but demand has increased by more than 1%", he said.
In their joint statement, the EU commits in particular to continuing its support to UNRWA in obtaining the financial resources to enable it to support refugees in Palestine. UNRWA, meanwhile, is trying to diversify its sources of income – the objective being to spend less time in plugging the budget deficit, Krähenbühl stated. This should come about through a greater contribution from the UN budget, the diversification of financing on the bilateral level (especially from small contributor countries or non-contributors), and the exploration of trust fund forums at the level of the World Bank or the Islamic Development Bank – discussions for which are already underway. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)