Refugee Assistance
The heavy demand on UNRWA services in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, including emergency services, comes at a time when the Agency continues to face chronic deficit problems that affect all areas of its operations. In February 2001, the Agency warned that it expected its regular budget to be around $65 million for 2000. In 1999- 2000, seven of the top 13 donor countries who account for over 90 percent of the Agency's budget (regular & project) in 1999 met the 5 percent annual increase necessary to keep pace with the expanding refugee population. If one uses 1950 as the standard base for the 5 percent increase per annum, however, none of UNRWA's donor countries have kept pace with necessary annual increases.
emergency appeals by UNRWA to the international community totaling more than a quarter of the Agency's regular 2000 budget and two thirds of the entire regular budget for the West Bank and Gaza Strip for the same period.To date, UNRWA has requested an additional $80 million from the international community. The largest individual donor to date is the Netherlands which contributed more than US $13 million to the November Emergency Appeal, nearly US $3 million more than the Netherlands' regular and project budget contributions in 1999.
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"I do not think that [the] question [of the number of
refugees who are willing to go or to come back or not willing to
come back] can reasonably be asked to the refugees, unless the
refugees have a real choice. If you are asked whether you would
give up your rights, I think the answer is very predictable: you
will say no. If you are faced with a real choice, maybe you have
something to think about. But as long as there is no real choice
for refugees, nobody should expect to have a precise answer to that
question." |
The European Union has contributed a similar amount. Emergency donations, however, have not only come from international donors. Palestinian refugees in Syria and Syrian nationals have raised substantial funds for UNRWA's emergency assistance program. In October 2000, shortly after the outbreak of the al-Aqsa intifada, Palestinian staff at UNRWA operations in Syria decided to donate a day of their salary to help refugees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, leading to the development of the "Hand in Hand Initiative."
In January 2001 proceeds totaling some $500,000 were presented to UNRWA at the Agency's Sarafand school in Yarmouk Damascus. In addition to cash, donations included an inlaid Damascene box containing two gold bracelets and a gold necklace, prayer beads, two bonbons given by a small child, and four wedding rings. Emergency funds have been used to cover emergency food assistance comprising basic food commodities such as flour, rice, lentils, sugar, whole milk and cooking oil. As of 7 January 2001, 85 percent of the refugee population the West Bank and Gaza Strip were receiving emergency food assistance from UNRWA. This includes some 127,500 families in Gaza and 120,000 families in the West Bank but excludes families registered with the Agency as Special Hardship Cases, those having at least one family member employed by UNRWA, refugee women married to local residents and families with members in high-ranking positions in the Palestinian Authority.
In the latter part of January 2001 UNRWA reported that rations were also being distributed to refugee women married to non-refugee spouses. It is not clear whether this is a change in policy or a temporary ad hoc measure. Funds have also been used for medical supplies, equipment, and services such as mobile medical teams, physiotherapy and prosthetic devices. For the first time UNRWA is also providing psychological support and counseling services for traumatized Palestinian refugee children. In the West Bank it is estimated that UNRWA will have to assist some 1,500 permanently injured refugees with rehabilitation.
By the spring of 2001 Refugees' demand fordrugs and emergency
supplies in the West Bank increased by some 45% over normal
conditions.
Four mobile medical clinics have provided services to over 22,000
refugees unable to reach UNRWA facilities due to Israel's military
closure.
In Gaza two mobile teams have treated 1,200 injured refugees since
October 2000. UNRWA also hopes to develop selflearning material and
distance learning modules in addition to offering additional
classes to compensate for lost time at school due to restrictions
on freedom of movement. More than 80 UNRWA schools have been
provided with first aid kits.
The Agency has further provided emergency cash assistance to compensate refugee families who lost their income or whose shelters were bulldozed or destroyed by Israeli shelling. Since the beginning of the crisis UNRWA has distributed selective cash assistance to compensation for lost income to 822 families in Gaza. This includes 98 families who lost their breadwinner, 75 families whose breadwinners sustained serious injuries, relocation fees to 610 families forced to vacate their homes as a result of shelling, 39 families with pressing emergency cash requirements. Emergency appeals have also been used to cover temporary job creation programs.
Implementation of UNRWA's emergency assistance program, however, continues to be delayed and obstructed by Israeli restrictions on the entry of humanitarian goods into Gaza while closure and roadblocks have hindered the movement of UNRWA personnel. UNRWA has been unable to transport medical supplies including an x-ray machine, 13 steam sterilizers, 182 sphygmomanometers, physiotherapy equipment, spare parts and instruments, 4 fetal heart detectors, and 6 wheel stretchers from the West Bank to Gaza. Agency supplies and goods passing through Karni checkpoint between Israel and Gaza have been stopped for a prolonged period, as the Israeli government has insisted that UNRWA's humanitarian goods are subject to fees and security checks in violation of UN privileges and immunities.
The denial of humanitarian access has always prevented UNRWA staff from carrying out their responsibilities. On 15 January alone 769 UNRWA staff were turned back at Israeli roadblocks in Gaza and could not report to work. During the first two weeks in January some 176 UNRWA staff in the West Bank were turned back at checkpoints and unable to report to work.
On 14 January, 410 UNRWA teachers as well as 45 UNRWA instructors could not reach the Agency's schools and in the West Bank 20 teachers were prevented from reaching the Agency's school in Nablus for three days (7-9 January) leaving 680 students unable to sit for their mid-year exam.
* This report is based on UNRWA Emergency Progress reports available on the UNRWA website.
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Example of Losses Due to Denial of Humanitarian Access Some 73 containers of flour for Gaza were delayed in Ashdod port for over one month, at a cost of US$ 61,000 in storage fees; Some 25 containers of rice for Gaza were delayed for 1.5 month at Ashdod port at a cost of US$ 38,000; An additional 7 containers of whole milk were delayed due to prolonged security checks, at a cost of US$5,500; And 51 containers of flour for the West Bank were delayed at Ashdod port at a cost of US$43,000. |