UNRWA Chief: UN to hold emergency meeting to discuss financial crisis

Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is seen during his visit to Gaza on 22 January, 2018 [Middle East Monitor/Mohammad Asad]

UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl said the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will call for an emergency meeting to discuss the NGO’s financial situation later this month.

Speaking during a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Cairo yesterday, Krähenbühl stressed that the agency’s financial situation had deteriorated as a result of the reduction in donations from certain states which he did not name.

UNRWA is looking for alternatives to bridge the funding gap, he added.

Shoukry stressed Egypt’s keenness to coordinate efforts in the hopes of providing the necessary support to alleviate the worsening economic and social situation in the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip.

On 23 January the US informed UNRWA that it is withholding $65 million in aid until a review is undertaken of the agency’s work.

Read: Leading humanitarian groups urge US to rethink cuts to UNRWA

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