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Your Excellencies,?

I want to express my sincere gratitude to?each of?you for being with us today.

Your presence, as you have heard from the Secretary-General,?is a testimony of our shared commitment?to?preserve?the rights and human development of Palestine refugees.

I want to thank?in particular the?Deputy Prime Minister and?Foreign Minister of Jordan, Ayman Safadi, and the Foreign Minister of Sweden, Anne Linde, for their leadership in bringing us together today at this crucial time in UNRWA’s history.

Excellencies,

We are meeting today, at a time?when?UNRWA has an ambitious vision?which I am pleased to outline.

Our?vision?is to?deliver our services in line with?our?times.

It rests on the?commitment?to?“Leave no?Palestine refugee behind.”

It is about ensuring that?UNRWA services continue?to?accompany?all?refugees on their transformative journey towards self-reliance.

Our vision will ensure that Palestine refugees do not miss the train of global digital transformation.

In?our schools and in our vocational training centers?this?means?developing the?type of?digital literacy?that?will allow children and youth?to?fully engage in today’s technological revolution.

You may have heard of?Loay?Albasiony?–?who went from an UNRWA school in Gaza to being a successful engineer at NASA.

We want many more?Palestine refugee?youth to go from UNRWA to?NASA, or?from UNRWA to?medical research?or?from UNRWA?to any innovative start up?that?is?pushing the?boundaries of human possibilities.

This?wager on digital opportunities is?not a pipe dream:?from?an?UNRWA?IT hub in?Gaza Palestine refugees are?already?providing high quality IT services to a growing list of clients?worldwide.??And this was incubated in our offices in Gaza.

We also want to build on our pandemic response, when UNRWA was able to quickly switch to remote solutions and avoid significant interruptions of services.

We?want to expand?the use of?digital tools to complement and enrich face- to-face services.?That?way health?services, for example,?will be?safer,?faster?and easier to access through?digital platforms.

This?transformation?is?also?about?making our?management practices?more inclusive,?more?open?and receptive?to new voices from across our staff.

It means?breaking siloes across the Agency to better address?specific needs, namely?those related to?mental health,?disability?and sexual violence.

Modernization drives our efforts to seek new funding?relationships.

Modernization?underpins our digital fundraising ambitions?and efforts to broaden our donor base through global and regional financial institutions,?the private sector and?development banks.

Finally, in line with the times?as well as with past practices,we?will maintain?UNRWA’s recognized efficiency?and value for money?which has recently been?reaffirmed?by?UNHCR and the World Bank?when they assessed our education system.

Excellencies

To implement this vision, we must face?a moment of truth.

Financial and political threats?of?a truly?existential nature are?working against this vision.

If?these?threats?are?not addressed decisively,?they?will create?a vacuum and?a human?disaster?that?this region simply?can?not?afford.

As?you have just heard from the UN Secretary-General, the services?delivered by UNRWA?enable refugees to accomplish remarkable things, despite the challenges they face.

These achievements are widely known and recognized.

Yet,?the?almost unanimous?political support for?the?UNRWA?mandate is not translated into matching funding support.

Resources have stagnated since 2013?while:

• ?Multiple major crises have hit the region, and
• Needs and expectations for UNRWA to deliver have increased.

As a result,?financial?crises?have?increased?in?frequency and severity.

These crises?are causing immense distress amongst refugees and staff.

They are fueling a deep feeling of?abandonment?by the international community.

Despair and anger are boiling in the camps.

At the end of?last year,?UNRWA barely avoided a financial collapse.

And as?we convene?today,?I am faced?with the?same uncertainty?as I do not?know if?UNRWA?will?receive sufficient funding to keep all its services running?in November and December.

That means our entire operation?is?compromised.

Close to 400,000 Palestine refugees wonder when they will receive their cash assistance?without which they cannot?make ends meet.

Our health centers?are?unable to fill?their?stocks of medicine.

Unpaid internet and electricity bills risk undermining our basic capacity to work.

And?our staff must deal with frozen benefits?and delayed salaries?while being asked to continue to work.

I am painfully aware of the sacrifices they are asked to make.

Failure to maintain services?will?have a dramatic impact on the refugees.

Over 2 million poor and conflict-affected refugees?will?be left without food and cash assistance.

More than half?a million?girls and boys?will lose their right?to ?education.

COVID-19 vaccination rollout,?in the midst of?a pandemic,will?come to a halt.

Maternal and childcare?will?stop.

Long-standing human development gains?can?be reversed.

This?situation is neither fair nor sustainable.

Failing the rights, hopes and expectations?of ?Palestine?refugees should not be an option?for those interested in peace and stability.

Excellencies,

Our operations, a lifeline to Palestine refugees, can be maintained at a minimum of US$ 800 million per year, for several years to come, with an expected annual natural growth.

I also call today for a one-time capital injection of US$ 100 million to bring UNRWA and personnel back to their full capacity.

Austerity and cost reduction measures have depleted our assets and reduced our workforce to the bare minimum.

This has a severe impact on our service delivery.

Quality of learning is not the same when 25 children or up to 50 are in one classroom.

Health services are not the same when a doctor-patient visit lasts no more than three minutes.

And most of our IT assets are completely obsolete.

We can’t sustain further budget reductions.

Friends of UNRWA,

These?financial?threats?are closely connected to?the?vicious and increasingly frequent?political attacks?that UNRWA is facing.

We need to address these attacks for what they are.

Their objective?

To erase the rights of over 5.7 million registered Palestine refugees as?enshrined in international law and UN resolutions.

How?

By?weakening the?Agency,?through baseless accusations?of?politicization?and incitement.

This is both na?ve and dangerous.

Let me be clear: as Commissioner-General and?as a UN Agency, we have absolutely zero tolerance for any word or action that seeks to spread hatred,?discrimination?or violence towards any other individual, people or country.

And you will hear more about that in the next session from the Deputy Commissioner-General.

But there is nothing like?zero risk?when operating in?the context of the longest unresolved?conflict;?a highly divided and emotional environment.

No?Agency?invests?more?than?UNRWA?into?mitigating these risks.

These attacks will likely continue, and even grow in viciousness.

The lack of a political horizon and donor fatigue is no excuse to divert us from the imperative to protect the most vulnerable.

I hope everyone can agree:

• with the need to ensure every refugee, wherever she or he lives, has access to education to become active and positive citizens of the world;
• with the imperative of providing maternal care to a refugee in a camp in Lebanon;
• with?the necessity of humanitarian assistance to destitute refugee families in Gaza or in Syria.

That is?the?UNRWA mandate. It is what we?do, nothing more, nothing less.

And let?me?stress?an?obvious?but tragic reality: No one wants to be a refugee, from one?generaton?to another.

So together?we need to do more to counter these attacks,?to expose their?political agendas?and shield Palestine refugees?from the crippling impact?of these attacks.

Excellencies,

UNRWA is?both?a truly compelling story?of?global solidarity?in action?and a tragic example of?ineffective and insufficient financial support that pushes it to?the brink.

There is too much to lose.

If we fail to find real solutions now and for the future,?the institution will very soon?jump?over the brink.

This will?leave?an unstable vacuum in its wake.

And no environment likes?a?vaccum.

Something else?could emerge, something which could have lasting and definitive impact on?the aspirations of?Palestine refugees and more broadly on the region.

This can be prevented.

Today?I?ask?you, representatives?of?the?United Nations?Member States, to?translate?your?political support?into predictable, sufficient and sustainable resources?to UNRWA.

Your support?will?ensure that?UNRWA?continues to be?the irreplaceable and?trusted lifeline for Palestine refugees?until a fair and lasting political solution?is achieved.

Thank you