UNRWA mandate being changed to resettle Palestine refugees in host countries, rights group warns

There are plans to transform the work of UNRWA to serve Western agendas aimed at resettling Palestinian refugees in their host countries, Association 302 to Defend Refugees’ Rights warned yesterday.

The Lebanon-based group’s remarks came after a UN committee released its findings into Israel’s allegations that 12 UNRWA staff had taken part in the Palestinian resistance’s infiltration into the towns around Gaza on 7 October.

Association 302 said the report “establishes a new strategic phase in UNRWA future, which major countries have been working on for years… and which aims to separate the political dimension from the agency’s work which is linked to the return of [Palestinian] refugees, and strengthening the agency’s development role at the expense of the relief role in the camps of host countries, in preparation for the resettlement of refugees.”

The report on UNRWA’s performance was submitted by a committee headed by former French Foreign Minister, Catherine Colonna, and supported by three research centres from Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Among its recommendations, the report called for the formation of an international executive body outside UNRWA to supervise the agency’s work.

However, Association 302 warned this paves the way for the removal of the UN General Assembly’s legal and political responsibility towards Palestine refugees, and obstructs the work of UNRWA’s advisory committee, which consists of 28 countries and three observer member states.

READ: Red Cross: We will not replace UNRWA in Gaza