Why UNHCR Assist all Refugee around the world and UNRWA, Organization also assist only Palestine refugees ? ? ? UNRWA Created in December 1949, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is a relief and human development agency, originally intended to provide jobs on public works projects and direct relief for 652,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes during the fighting that followed the end of the British mandate over the region of Palestine. It also provided relief to Jewish and Arab Palestine refugees inside the state of Israel following the 1948 conflict until the Israeli government took over responsibility for Jewish refugees in 1952. In the absence of a solution to the Palestine refugee problem, the General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWAs mandate, most recently extending it until 30 June 2017. Today, UNRWA provides education, health care and social services to the 5 million registered Palestinian refugees, including survivors from the 1948 and 1967 wars and their descendants. Aid is provided to Palestinian refugees living in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, as well as those in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It is the only agency dedicated to helping refugees from a specific region or conflict, and is separate from UNHCR, (1950), the UN Refugee Agency, which is the only other UN agency aiding refugees, responsible for aiding all other refugees in the world. History and mandate[edit] UNRWA was established following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War by the United Nations General Assembly under Resolution 302(IV) of 8 December 1949. This resolution also reaffirmed paragraph 11, concerning refugees, of UN General Assembly Resolution 194 (1948), adopted and passed unopposed, supported by Israel and the Arab states, with only the Soviet bloc and South Africa abstaining. UNRWA is a subsidiary organ of the United Nations General Assembly and its mandate is renewed every three years. UNRWA has had to develop a working definition of refugee to allow it to provide humanitarian assistance. Its definition does not cover final status. Palestine refugees are defined as “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict.” UNRWA services are available to all those living in its area of operations who meet this definition, who are registered with the Agency and who need assistance. The descendants of Palestine refugee males, including adopted children, are also eligible for registration as refugees. When the Agency began operations in 1950, it was responding to the needs of about 750,000 Palestine refugees. Today, some 5 million Palestine refugees are registered as eligible for UNRWA services. UNRWA provides facilities in 59 recognized refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and in other areas where large numbers of registered Palestine refugees live outside of recognized camps. For a camp to be recognized by UNRWA, there must be an agreement between the host government and UNRWA governing use of the camp. UNRWA does not itself run camps, has no police powers or administrative role, but simply provides services in the camp. Refugee camps, which developed from tent cities to settlements indistinguishable from their urban surroundings, house around one third of all registered Palestine refugees. Organisation[edit] UNRWA is the largest agency of the United Nations, employing over 25,000 staff, 99% of which are locally recruited Palestinians. UNRWAs headquarters are divided between the Gaza Strip and Amman, Jordan. Its operations are organised into five fields – Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, West Bank and Gaza. UNRWAs Commissioner-General is Swiss national, Pierre Krähenbühl, who succeeded Italian national Filippo Grandi on 1 April 2014. The Commissioner-General is responsible for managing UNRWAs overall activities. In each area where UNRWA operates there is a Director in charge of distributing humanitarian aid and overseeing general UNRWA operations. The public face of UNRWA is spokesman Chris Gunness. Funding[edit] Most of UNRWAs funding comes from European countries and the United States. In 2009, UNRWA’s total budget was US$1.2 billion, for which the agency received US$948 million. In 2009, the retiring Commissioner General spoke of a $200 million shortfall in UNRWAs budgets. Officials in 2009 spoke of a dire financial crisis. In 2010, the biggest donors for its regular budget were the United States and the European Commission with $248 million and $165 million respectively. Sweden ($47m), the United Kingdom ($45m), Norway ($40m) and the Netherlands ($29m) are also important donors. In addition to its regular budget, UNRWA receives funding for emergency activities and special projects. In 2011, the United States was the largest single donor with a total contribution of over $239 million, followed by the European Commission’s $175 million contribution. According to World Bank data, for all countries receiving more than $2 billion international aid in 2012, Gaza and the West Bank received a per capita aid budget over double the next largest recipient, at a rate of $495. In 2013, of the total of $1.1 billion was donated to UNRWA, $294 million was contributed by the United States. Operations[edit] Services provided by UNRWA include health care, education, relief and social services and micro-credit loan programmes. In the following, UNRWAs own descriptions of itself are summarized. Education programme[edit] UNRWA operates one of the largest school systems in the Middle East. It has been the main provider of basic education to Palestinian refugee children since 1950. The education programme is UNRWAs largest area of activity, accounting for half of its regular budget and 70 per cent of its staff. Basic education is available to all registered refugee children free of charge up to around the age of 15. In the 1960s UNRWA schools became the first in the region to achieve full gender equality. Half the Palestine refugee population is under 25. Overcrowded classrooms containing 40 or even 50 pupils are common. Almost three quarters run on a double-shift system – where two separate groups of pupils and teachers share the same buildings, thus reducing teaching time. The school year is often interrupted by conflicts and children are often marked by trauma. In the face of these challenges, there are some remarkable achievements. Key 2014 figures 476,323 students 703 schools 50% female students 23,366 educational staff US$755 annual cost per student UNRWA also operates nine vocational and technical training colleges, two educational science faculties and two teacher-training institutes. UNRWA schools follow the curriculum of their host countries. This allows UNRWA pupils to progress to further education or employment holding locally recognised qualifications and fits with the sovereignty requirements of countries hosting refugees. Wherever possible, UNRWA students take national exams conducted by the host governments. Pupils at UNRWA schools often out-perform government school pupils in these state exams. Not all refugee children attend UNRWA schools. In Jordan and Syria children have full access to government schools and many attend those because they are close to where they live. Relief and social services programme[edit] In Palestinian refugee society, families without a male bread winner are often very vulnerable. Those headed by a widow, a divorcee or a disabled father often live in dire poverty. These families are considered hardship cases, and constitute less than 6% of the people served by UNRWA. UNRWA provides food aid, cash assistance and help with shelter repairs to these families. In addition children from special hardship case families are given preferential access to the Agencys vocational training centres, while women in such families are encouraged to join UNRWAs womens programme centres. In these centres, training, advice and childcare are available to encourage female refugees’ social development. UNRWA has created community-based organizations (CBOs) to target women, refugees with disabilities and to look after the needs of children. The CBOs now have their own management committees staffed by volunteers from the community. UNRWA provides them with technical and small amounts of targeted financial assistance, but many have made links of their own with local and international NGOs. Health programme [edit] Since 1950, UNRWA has been the main healthcare provider for the Palestinian refugee population. Basic health needs are met through a network of primary care clinics, providing access to secondary treatment in hospitals, food aid to vulnerable groups and environmental health in refugee camps. Key figures 2014 139 primary health facilities based in or near UNRWA settlements/camps 3,107 health staff 3,134,732 refugees accessing health services 9,290,197 annual patient visits The health of Palestine refugees has long resembled that of many populations in transition from developing world to developed world status. However, there is now a demographic transition. People are living longer and developing different needs, particularly those related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and chronic conditions that require lifelong care, such as diabetes, hypertension and cancer. A healthy life is a continuum of phases from infancy to old age, each of which has unique, specific needs, and our programme therefore takes a ‘life-cycle approach’ to providing its package of preventive and curative health services. To address the changing needs of Palestine refugees, we undertook a major reform initiative in 2011. We introduced the Family Health Team (FHT) approach, based on the World Health Organization-indicated values of primary health care, in our primary health facilities (PHFs). The FHT offers comprehensive primary health care services based on holistic care of the entire family, emphasizing long-term provider-patient relationships and ensuring person-centeredness, comprehensiveness and continuity. Moreover, the FHT helps address cross-cutting issues that impact health, such as diet and physical activity, education, gender-based violence, child protection, poverty and community development. Medical services include outpatient care, dental treatment and rehabilitation for the physically disabled. Maternal and child healthcare (MCH) is a priority for UNRWAs health programme. School health teams and camp medical officers visit UNRWA schools to examine new pupils to aid early detection of childhood diseases. All UNRWA clinics offer family planning services with counselling that emphasises the importance of birth spacing as a factor in maternal and child health. Agency clinics also supervise the provision of food aid to nursing and pregnant mothers who need it and six clinics in the Gaza Strip have their own maternity units. Infant mortality rates have for some time been lower among refugees than the World Health Organisations benchmark for the developing world. UNRWA provides refugees with assistance in meeting the costs of hospitalisation either by partially reimbursing them, or by negotiating contracts with government, NGO and private hospitals. Environmental health services The UNRWA Environmental Health programme controls the quality of drinking water, provides sanitation and carries out vector and rodent control in refugee camps, thus reducing the risk of epidemics. UNRWA Microfinance Department[edit] UNRWAs Microfinance Department (MD) aims to alleviate poverty and support economic development in the refugee community by providing capital investment and working capital loans at commercial rates. The programme seeks to be as close to self-supporting as possible. It has a strong record of creating employment, generating income and empowering refugees. The Microfinance Department is an autonomous financial unit within UNRWA, established in 1991 to provide microfinance services to Palestine refugees, as well as poor or marginal groups living and working in close proximity to them. With operations in three countries, the MD currently has the broadest regional coverage of any microfinance institution in the Middle East. Having begun its operations in the oPt, it remains the largest non-bank financial intermediary in the West Bank and Gaza. Key Figures - cumulative as of 2014: 324,994 Number of Loans Awarded 368.1M USD Value of Loans Awarded 33% Youth Outreach 38% Women Outreach Emergency operations[edit] UNRWA takes a wide variety of action to mitigate the effects of emergencies on the lives of Palestine refugees. Particularly in the West Bank and Gaza (occupied Palestinian territory (oPt)) there has been ongoing intervention made necessary by e.g. the 1967 war as well as the first and second intifadas, and - not least - the 2014 Gaza war. Up until this point, the reconstruction work at Nahr el-Bared Palestine refugee camp in Lebanon has been the largest reconstruction project ever undertaken by UNRWA. This work started in 2009, and was made necessary when the camp was destroyed in the fighting between the Lebanese Armed Forces and Fatah al-Islam in 2007. UNRWA evaluates the ongoing conflict in Syria as one of the most serious challenges ever. UNRWA supports Palestine both refugees displaced within Syria and those who have fled to neighbouring countries within the UNRWA areas of operations. By Mohamed Jama 14 Nov 2014 at 2:33 am
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 23:33:14 +0000
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