Refugee Assistance
In June 2001, UNRWA issued a third emergency appeal to cover
outstanding programs initiated to address increased refugee needs
since the beginning of the al-Aqsa intifada. Some 60% of
Palestinians surveyed in the second half of March 2001 reported
receiving assistance from UNRWA, followed by the PNA with 17.8%,
with the remaining assistance provide by al-Zakat Committees
(Charity), the Ministry of Social Affairs, other charity
institutions and political parties. (Impact of the Israeli Measures
on the Economic Conditions of PalestinianHouseholds, 10/3/2001
to
5/4/2001, PCBS).
Previous emergency appeals in November 2000 and February 2001
have been met with strong donor response [check and put percentage
of funds delivered]. The ongoing crisis, however, has
necessitated a third emergency appeal to cover the period between
June and December 2001.Emergency contributions to date have been
spent on emergency employment creation, food aid and smaller
amounts on cash assistance, physical rehabilitation and
community relief operations.
out of a total regular budget of $311 million for 2001.
| "UNRWA is the vehicle which carries and
delivers the humanitarian programmes. The crisis we face, however,
is that the vehicle cannot any longer be maintained adequately due
to the absence of resources to provide spare parts etc., to keep it going." "The message I wish to underscore today is that there is a real and serious crisis for the Agency's regular or general fund budget … we have already exhausted the scope for austerity measures." Peter Hansen, UNRWA Commissioner General |
Responding to the continued severe restrictions on freedom of
movement imposed by Israel on the entire Palestinian population
UNRWA remains actively involved in emergency job creation for
Palestinian refugees. In the West Bank, the emergency employment
creation scheme between UNRWA and Camp Committees had completed by
the end of March 2001 nearly 8,000 sq. meters of road asphalting,
41,500 sq. meters of pathways, and 5,650 meters of road drains.
At the end of April 2001, 19 Memoranda of Understanding between UNRWA and community organizations had been signed under which local committees hired unemployed refugees supporting more than six persons or those who have lost all sources of income. As of 30 April 2001 UNRWA had created 192,373 job opportunity days in Gaza representing 44.3% of the job opportunity days envisaged to be created in Gaza from 1 December 2000 to 31 May 2001 as well as some 9,000 job opportunity days in the West Bank.
The severe decline in employment and dramatic rise in the number of Palestinian households below the poverty line also means that UNRWA continues to provide emergency food assistance to refugee families. In the West Bank some 90,000 families were benefiting from food assistance by the end of March 2001. In Gaza some 365,849 food parcels had been delivered under the emergency program at the end of the same period. Between 8-30 April 2001 some 86,372 families in Gaza had received emergency rations. During the same period some 28,600-refugee families in the West Bank had received emergency food aid.
In addition, the Agency is continuing its selective cash assistance program. By the end of April 2001, UNRWA had issued US$789,564 in cash to 2,258 families in Gaza at an overall average of US$ 350 per family. This include families who had lost their breadwinner, families whose breadwinners sustained serious injuries; relocation fees to families who were forced to evacuate their homes due to Israeli military attacks; and, families with pressing emergency-related cash needs.
The Agency also continues to identify refugee shelters that
require rehabilitation due to Israeli military attacks. By the end
of April 2001 some 298 shelters in Gaza had been targeted for
urgent repair and reconstruction. In the West Bank, 763shelters
have been repaired with an additional 200 targeted for repair at an
estimated cost of some US$ 300,000. The Agency has also procured
over
100,000 blankets locally and on the international market for
emergency distribution along with nearly a thousand mattresses,
several hundred tents and 100 kitchen sets.
The large number of injured refugees and demand for emergency and rehabilitative health continues to tax UNRWA's health system. By the end of April 2001, some 55,000 persons, unable to reach UNRWA health centers, had benefited from the Agency's emergency mobile clinics. In the area ofrehabilitative health UNRWA has procured anadditional 700 wheelchairs and some 300 walkers for temporarily or permanently disabled refugees, some of who require extensive follow-up with artificial limbs.
The Agency continues to assist disabled refugees with modification of their homes and has organized group counseling sessions for families of disabled persons, recreational and awareness raising activities and individual counseling for vocational assessment and rehabilitation. A number of indicators illustrate the serious impact of Israel's military closure on the health of the Palestinian population. The data from each indicator is compared with data from the same period in 2000.
While statistics are not available on the possible increase in the rates of abortions and early miscarriages, there are good reasons to believe that they are on the increase due to psychological trauma and compromised nutrition. Restrictions imposed by Israel, however, continue to hamper UNRWA's service delivery. As of the middle of June 2001 UNRWA was still unable to transfer a x-ray machine procured in October 2000 from the West Bank to its Rafah health center in Gaza. Some 30 ten-tonne trucks of supplies still await transport from the West Bank to Gaza.
Food distribution programs have also been affected by delays. A number of international NGOs working in Gaza have scaled back or cancelled some operations because of their inability to get in essential supplies such as medicines. Over the past 6 months the patient load in Jerusalem hospitals has dropped by some 32% due to the fact that refugees from the West Bank are unable to enter Jerusalem.
St. John, the only opthamalic hospital available in the West Bank reported a drop in outpatient services of some 31%. The number of patients unable to participate in co-payment for hospitalization has increased dramatically, from 2-3% before the start of the intifada to some 22-29%, again placing further strain on UNRWA resources. The strict siege on villages and cities which has prevented refugees from reaching UNRWA contracted hospitals has obliged them to use services of non-contracted hospitals. Due to the closure of Qalqilya, for example, the number of infant deliveries at Nablus hospitals has increased by 184%, again placing further strain on UNRWA's limited financial resources.
In the area of education, test scores for students in UNRWA schools are beginning to show the impact of stress and trauma on refugee children. The unified examinations conducted by UNRWA's Education Department at the end of the first term showed a much lower-than-average achievement. In Arabic language, the percentage of success reached 38% while Mathematics reached 26% in various grades compared to test scores from the same period last year of 71% in Arabic language and 54% in Mathematics. Similar achievement reductions were noted in English and Science.
Approximately 9% of the Agency's teaching staff experienced difficulties or were completely unable to reach their workplace due to closures resulting in the cancellation of classes or expansion of existing classes. To ensure that children's health status will not be severely affected as a result of the prevailing economic hardship, 1.8 kg of whole milk was distributed to every pupil in all UNRWA schools in the West Bank. Once funding becomes available from the second emergency appeal a similar program will be initiated in Gaza.
UNRWA has also initiated programs for psychological health. This includes some 9 referral and counseling centers in the West Bank and a program of activities for children, including choirs, drawing, photography and painting workshops, theatrical performances and singing and comic performances.
The crisis has also negatively impacted UNRWA's successful micro-finance and micro-enterprise program. Entering the second quarter of 2001, the program could barely cover its expenses. The third emergency appeal issued by UNRWA in June 2001 covers the second half of 2001 and is earmarked to sustain continued nutritional and economic safety nets for Palestinian refugees through its emergency distribution of food aid, creation of employment opportunities for those who lost their jobs, provision of emergency medical services, and rendering other emergency relief services.
Funding from the third appeal, however, will also be used for a rapid data collection system to track the trends and nature of the needs of the population in any given area, with special attention to refugee communities living outside refugee camps.