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The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) |
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UNRWA's Mandate The General Assembly accorded UNRWA a short-term mandate. It was expected that those refugees wishing to do so would soon be able to return to their homes in accordance with General Assembly Resolution 194(III). All relief and works operations were to be terminated by the middle of 1951. UNRWA’s mandate has been extended on a regular basis due to the lack of durable solutions for Palestinian refugees. All refugees have the right to return to their homes of origin and repossess their properties. Those not wishing to do so are entitled to resettlement assistance. Assistance to internally displaced Palestinians inside Israel was terminated in 1952 at the request of the Israeli government. Early programs aimed to increase the “practical alternatives” and thus encourage a more “realistic” view of the future. The United States, Europe and others hoped that economic development would encourage resettlement and lead to a “liquidation” of the Palestinian refugee problem. By the end of the 1950s, the United Nations had concluded that the economic development programs had failed to provide a solution to the refugee problem. Faced with high overhead costs, lack of regional cooperation, and beset by strong opposition among refugees to de facto resettlement, UNRWA shifted its humanitarian operations to the delivery of basic education, health and social assistance services. In 1967 the United Nations General Assembly – Resolution 2252(ES-V) – requested UNRWA to extend its services to Palestinian refugees displaced during the 1967 war. UNRWA currently provides education, health care, and social assistance to more than four million Palestinian refugees in five areas of operation - West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. Approximately one-third of the refugees live in 59 official refugee camps. UNRWA does not run refugee camps. This responsibility has always remained with the host countries and Israel. UNRWA continues to provide education, health, and social services to refugees in need due to the lack of a durable solution based on international law as affirmed in Resolution 194(III). Education, Health and Relief and Social Services UNRWA's education program is the largest of the Agency's programs. Refugee children registered with UNRWA have access to free elementary (6 years) and preparatory (3-4 years) education. In Lebanon, UNRWA also operates five secondary schools (since 1993) due to limited access to public secondary education and the high cost of private secondary schooling. The Agency offers special education for children with learning difficulties. UNRWA also operates eight vocational and technical training centers and a teacher education program. UNRWA health services include primary health care, nutrition and supplementary feeding, assistance with secondary health care, and environmental health. Primary health services cover medical care, family health, disease control and prevention, and health education. They are provided directly and at no cost to refugees registered with UNRWA. Refugees share costs for secondary care, tertiary care, prosthetic devises, specialized medical investigations and non-program life-saving medicines. Refugees in Lebanon are exempt from the co-payment system except for specialized life-saving treatment. UNRWA's relief program provides food support for special hardship case families, shelter rehabilitation, and selective cash assistance. Eligibility and registration for UNRWA services falls under the relief program. The social services program consists of five main sub-programs: development of community-based organizations, women in development, a disability program, youth activities, and a poverty alleviation program, which includes financial and non-financial services to individuals and groups for projects such as business start-ups and for training in technical and business skills. Emergency Relief and Refugee Protection UNRWA provides emergency medical assistance, remedial education, food and cash assistance, psychological counseling, post-injury rehabilitation, as well as repair and reconstruction of refugee shelters and Agency infrastructure during political and humanitarian crises. The Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the 1980s largely undid the Agency’s work of three decades in the country. Following the withdrawal of Israeli forces, UNRWA was left with the task of providing emergency care to the wounded as well as the families of the victims of some 3,000 refugees massacred by Israeli-allied Lebanese Phalangist militiamen in the Beirut camps of Sabra and Shatila and the reconstruction of camps and Agency infrastructure. UNRWA has provided similar services to Palestinian refugees in 1967 occupied Palestine in the context of the first and second Palestinian uprisings against Israel's military occupation. UNRWA does not have an explicit mandate to provide international protection to Palestinian refugees. The United Nations accorded a protection mandate for Palestinian refugees to UNRWA's "sister agency" - the UN Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP). The provision of services that guarantee basic economic, social and cultural rights may be considered as a type of protection - i.e., "relief protection". UNRWA has undertaken a limited protection role through intervention with relevant authorities through reports, warnings, and representations. During the first Palestinian intifada (uprising) in 1967 occupied Palestine that began in December 1987 the Agency recruited additional international staff to monitor, report, and make interventions with Israeli authorities. The Agency set up a similar, but scaled-down program during the second intifada that began in September 2000. © 1999-2004 www.badil.org unless otherwise noted. This page may be copied, distributed and reprinted for informational purposes. To republish material from the BADIL website please add the author's name where applicable and the following credit: "Reprinted with permission of BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights. For more information visit the BADIL website, www.badil.org." Please send us an email if you republish material from the BADIL website so we can more effectively monitor use and distribution of BADIL materials. BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and
Refugee Rights |
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