Refugee Assistance
Israel’s military reoccupation, attacks, and siege of the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories (OPTs) continues to place severe strains on the ability of UNRWA to provide for the basic, let alone emergency, needs of Palestinian refugees. In November 2002, UNRWA announced that it was planning the region’s largest ever food aid program in order to stop the advance of malnutrition in the 1967 OPTs. During the first half of 2003, UNRWA plans to distribute food parcels to 222,000 families, or some 1.3 million people, an increase of 20-fold over the period just prior to the beginning of the second intifada in September 2000.
2003 Emergency
Appeal
In December 2002, UNRWA issued yet
another appeal to the international community to fund emergency
operations in the 1967 OPTs for the first 6 months of 2003. The
appeal covers emergency food, medical, health, and social
assistance aid, job creation, and housing reconstruction and
repair.
As already mentioned, UNRWA
expects to provide food assistance to some 1.3 million refugees.
Based on previous experience, the Agency expects that the average
number of dwellings requiring repair in the Gaza Strip will be 45
per month. In the Gaza Strip an average of 38 refugee shelters per
month have been completely demolished or damaged beyond repair
since January 2002. If the Israeli military maintain the same
policies, UNRWA predicts that by the end of June 2003, 304 houses
will have been destroyed. Some 5,500 refugee shelters have been
destroyed by Israeli military forces since the beginning of the
second intifada.
Additional emergency assistance is
required for medical care and education. There has been a 61
percent increase in the number of home deliveries and a 35 percent
drop in the proportion of infants below six months of age
completing immunization programs in the period from 2000 to 2002.
The number of miscarriages has increased by 135 percent.
Approximately 20 percent of patients are curtailing their stay in
hospital, because they can not afford the cost.
Additional funding is required for
lost teacher and student days due to curfew and closure. In the
occupied West Bank, 72,571 teacher days were lost in the last
school year, almost 14 times as many as the year before, while in
the Gaza Strip 162,175 teacher days were lost since the beginning
of the second intifada. Emergency funds are also required
for psychosocial support. Of 531 students in UNRWA’s West Bank
schools who were given counseling, for example, 99 exhibited
aggressive behaviour, 55 others complained of fear and anxiety
attacks, 40 were excessively agitated, 21 stuttered and 28
complained of bedwetting.
UNRWA Emergency Appeal, January-June 2003 [Convert to
Figure]
Emergency Food Aid
|
32,489,362
|
Emergency Job Creation
|
29,258,302
|
Emergency Shelter Reconstruction and
Repair
|
12,901,392
|
Emergency Health
|
3,071,976
|
Emergency Education
|
4,288,008
|
Emergency Social Assistance
|
10,146,080
|
|
1,559,097
|
Total
|
93,714,217
|
Source: UNRWA Emergency Appeal Fact Sheet, 10 December
2002.
Funding
Despite overwhelming needs among
the refugee population, UNRWA continues to face severe funding
shortfalls. These shortfalls are particularly disturbing given the
massive amount of resources that is being marshaled to wage a new
war against Iraq, which will likely lead to greater refugee flows
in the region.
In February 2003, UNRWA
Commissioner-General Peter Hansen warned that the Agency’s
emergency activities in the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories
would run out of resources at the end of March unless donations
were received immediately from the international community. As of
mid-February UNRWA had yet to receive donations towards the US$94
emergency appeal for the first 6 months of 2003. By mid-March,
however, the Agency announced that it had received contributions
that would enable it to continue essential food assistance, but
other emergency needs, including shelter reconstruction, emergency
health services, and psychosocial support services remain badly
under funded.
Due to the lack of resources, UNRWA
has been forced to cut the size of rations, lay off 1,600 emergency
staff, and stop payments for refugee hospitalization. UNRWA also
warned that other urgent humanitarian operations, including
re-housing refugees whose homes have been destroyed by the Israeli
military, will also have to be cancelled.
“We are scraping the bottom of every
barrel and stretching every dollar we have, but without immediate
donations our emergency operations are going to grind to a halt.
The cutbacks come at a time when the uncertain regional situation
makes it ever-more imperative that we maintain a lifeline to the
refugees in the territories. And yet the paradox is that our
emergency funding for the year may be threatened because donors are
holding back to see what is needed in Iraq.”
Peter Hansen, UNRWA Commissioner
General
UNRWA Press Release, HQ/G/01/2003, 10
February 2003
Top 13
Donors to UNRWA Regular and Project Budgets,
2001
Donor Country
|
2001 Contributions
(US$)
|
United States
|
114,781,440
|
UK and Northern Ireland
|
41,754,577
|
Sweden
|
21,365,899
|
Netherlands
|
21,284,298
|
Japan
|
16,535,138
|
France
|
16,235,388
|
Denmark
|
13,922,300
|
Norway
|
12,476,060
|
Germany
|
10,992,530
|
Italy
|
10,960,719
|
Germany
|
9,157,751
|
Spain
|
8,988,555
|
Canada
|
8,835,800
|
Switzerland
|
7,743,640
|
Source: Derived from UNRWA (Includes
contributions to the regular budget and projects budget. EU
contributions are included with individual EU member state
contributions).
Top 13 Donors to UNRWA Emergency Appeals as
of 31 October 2002, Emergency Funds include 4 October 2000 Flash
Appeal, 8 November 2000 Emergency Appeal, February 2001 Emergency
Appeal, June 2001 Emergency Appeal, 2002 Emergency Appeal and
Supplementary Appeal. Includes value of in-kind
contributions.
Donor Country
|
Confirmed contributions
(US$)
|
US
|
66,302,259
|
UK
|
31,440,794
|
UAE Red Crescent
|
27,000,000
|
Netherlands
|
22,947,567
|
Italy
|
6,995,218
|
Germany
|
6,276,724
|
Sweden
|
5,471,797
|
Switzerland
|
5,329,273
|
Denmark
|
5,273,748
|
Belgium
|
5,242,125
|
France
|
5,095,186
|
Islamic Development Bank
|
5,000,000
|
Norway
|
4,934,078
|
Source: UNRWA (Figures are for confirmed donor
contributions. ECHO contribution is included in individual European
state contributions. US contribution includes USAID).
For more information on UNRWA
emergency programs and UNRWA funding see the UNRWA website,
www.unrwa.org
Online donations to UNRWA can
also be made through the UNRWA website.