UNRWA’s Commissioner-General on Monday appealed for funds to tackle an unprecedented financial crisis caused by the US scrapping contributions.
“We still need $200 million to tackle the deficit this year” UNRWA commissioner general Pierre Krahenbuhl told a news conference in Cairo.
“While UNRWA has experienced many types of crisis since it was created… in financial terms… this is the worst crisis ever faced” he said.
He added he was hopeful China Japan India and European countries would also contribute funds.
“We are very determined to keep the schools open because you can’t go through an education process by opening one day and closing three weeks later” said Krahenbuhl.
“I can’t imagine going back to our students and saying we’ve failed.”
Krahenbuhl said he was hoping that other Gulf states would offer further contributions and back efforts to find new donors in other regions. The agency will seek to mobilize European partners in the coming weeks as well as campaigning for private donations.
The U.N. General Assembly had given UNRWA its mandate and approved the definition of Palestinian refugees he noted.
“It is not for an individual member state to define a change. This is a question that rests with the General Assembly and with nobody else.”
Krahenbuhl on Monday met Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit.
On Tuesday Arab League states will meet in Cairo for a summit — attended by Krahenbuhl — devoted largely to UNRWA.
The US State Department said last month it would no longer fund UNRWA because it was “irredeemably flawed” in a move warmly welcomed by Israel.
