Palestinian Affairs Department convenes meeting on UNRWA

AMMAN — The Palestinian Affairs Department on Sunday convened a coordination meeting for representatives of countries hosting Palestinian refugees with delegations from Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and the Arab League.

Director General of the department Rafiq Khirfan highlighted the importance of holding the meeting at this time due to the dangerous and unprecedented challenges facing UNRWA, mainly financial difficulties which were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Khirfan said that these challenges reflected on the living conditions of Palestinian refugees and were deepened by UNRWA’s decision to pay the November and December salaries of its some 28,000 employees through instalments.

The virtual meeting went over decisions that represent the stance of the host countries and the Arab League, and which will be discussed during the meetings of the advisory committee of UNRWA, slated to be held on Monday and Tuesday.

The decisions include a “full rejection” of the agency’s salary disbursement in instalments and urging donor countries and institutions, including the Arab countries, to fulfil their financial pledges to UNRWA, according to Petra.

Attendees of the meeting also called on the agency to prepare its general budget in cooperation and consensus with the host countries, in a way that takes into consideration the actual needs of Palestinian refugees. 

The attendees stressed that the sustainability of the UNRWA services is a source of stability, security and development for the region and the entire world.

The participants highlighted the importance of adopting the Kingdom’s speech at the meetings of the UNRWA advisory committee, as a unified stance that represents host countries and the Arab League, in addition to support the outcomes of the Third Dialogue Conference that was held in October in Stockholm under joint Jordanian-Swedish sponsorship.