Press Releases

(13 December 2018) GPRN and Adaleh Coalition launch “UNRWA is Our Right until We Return” Campaign
(13 December 2018) GPRN and Adaleh Coalition launch “UNRWA is Our Right until We Return” Campaign

PR/EN/131218/37

In conjunction with 70 years since the UNGA Res. 194 in 1948, On 11 December 2018, the Global Palestinian Refugee Network (GPRN)[1] and the Palestinian Coalition for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Adaleh Coalition),[2] launched “UNRWA is Our Right until We Return” campaign through a grassroots initiative, attended by Palestinian refugees, activists and representatives of civil society organizations. The Palestinian-led campaign arose as a direct response to the recently exacerbated American and Israeli strategy designed to eliminate the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA).

UNRWA was created in 1949 as an expression of the will of the international community to ensure protection to Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons, through the provision of humanitarian aid and assistance until such a time when they would exercise their right of return. The attempts by the US and Israel to defund and malign the agency are not new, but an extension of their desire to eliminate UNRWA and thereby eliminate the core issue of the conflict: the issue of Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons without just and durable solutions.        

The “UNRWA is Our Right until Return” campaign designed and launched by the GPRN and Adaleh Coalition  aims to raise awareness about the destructive strategy targeting UNRWA, and to pressure national and international duty bearers to fulfill their obligations to take practical measures to protect Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons’ rights.

The launching event included multiple activities designed for youth and children that created a space for their participation and engagement in front of the UNRWA offices in Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem.
                                                                                                                                                                      
Additionally, the Adaleh Coalition and GPRN issued a statement detailing the demands of Palestinian civil society, particularly those who have been displaced, for measures to be taken by the international community to protect UNRWA as a mechanism of implementing one of the essential rights entitled to Palestinian refugees until durable solutions are implemented. This statement is endorsed by 110 Palestinian community-based organizations members of the GPRN and Adaleh Coalition throughout historic Palestine and the diaspora.

The GPRN and the Adaleh Coalition call on the international solidarity campaign and social justice movements to support this campaign to protect UNRWA and protect the rights of the Palestinian people.  

The statement is available in English and Arabic.  

For inquires on the campaign, to endorse the statement and/or support the campaign with solidarity initiatives, please contact Ahmad Hammash, via [email protected].

 

[1] Launched in 2014, the GPRN is network of Palestinian community-based organizations operating with or in service of Palestinian refugees and IDPs. Currently membership in the network is 45 organizations spanning mandatory Palestine and the diaspora.
[2] The Adaleh Coalition was established in 2017 as community initiative of 70 communities and grassroots movements that aim to promote social and economic justice.