Gaza refugee committee alarmed over service, staff cut in UN agency for Palestinian refugees

A refugee committee in the Gaza Strip warned Friday that cuts and restructuring by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) could undermine essential services, Anadolu reports.

It urged an end to measures affecting refugees and staff.

The Joint Refugee Committee said in a statement that it is following “with deep concern” recent developments within UNRWA, including staff terminations and cuts affecting employees and programs.

It said the measures involve the agency’s Microfinance and Development Department.

“The financial crisis facing UNRWA must not be turned into a crisis of services and rights for which employees and Palestinian refugees pay the price,” said the committee.

It warned that continued restructuring and reductions without transparency or consultation with representatives of employees and refugees “threaten the agency’s ability to carry out its mandate.”

The committee said any cuts in Gaza come at a time when services need to expand rather than be reduced, particularly in education, healthcare, relief and protection.

It urged an immediate halt to reductions affecting essential services or job security and said it wants UNRWA to guarantee the rights of employees whose contracts are terminated under applicable regulations and laws.

The committee also urged the agency to publicly disclose its restructuring plan, including criteria, stages and effects on staff and services, and to involve representatives of employees and refugees in decisions concerning UNRWA’s future.

READ: Ben-Gvir says Israel is ‘making history’ by expelling UNRWA

It stressed the need to retain qualified personnel and urged the UN and donor countries to assume their political and financial responsibilities by providing sustainable funding for the agency.

The committee said UNRWA “is not merely a service institution,” but a UN agency whose mandate is directly linked to the Palestinian refugee issue.

It cited UN General Assembly Resolution 80/78, which extended UNRWA’s mandate until June 30, 2029, and urged donor countries to strengthen efforts to provide the agency with the funding it needs.

The committee said UNRWA’s financial difficulties should not be addressed by cutting staff and programs at the expense of refugees.

It added that Palestinian refugees’ commitment to UNRWA “is not an alternative to the right of return,” but reflects support for its international mandate until a just and lasting solution to the refugee issue is reached under relevant UN resolutions, including Resolution 194.

The committee urged preserving “a strong, funded UNRWA capable of carrying out its mandate” and rejected making employees and refugees bear the consequences of the agency’s financial crisis.

UNRWA provides education, health, relief and social services to registered Palestinian refugees in its five areas of operation — Gaza, the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

The warning comes amid growing pressure over the agency’s future role in Gaza.

On July 1, the Board of Peace said that “there is no place for UNRWA in the new Gaza,” claiming that it aimed to end what it described as continued dependence on aid.

That drew Palestinian and Arab criticism and warnings that excluding UNRWA would undermine its UN mandate, the Palestinian refugee issue and the right of return.

The Board of Peace, chaired by US President Donald Trump, oversees implementation of a transitional plan for Gaza.

BLOG: The EU’s complicity with Israel renders support for UNRWA negligible