Qatar Expresses Rejection of Any Attempts to Terminate, Reduce UNRWA Role
Geneva| December 03, 2024
The State of Qatar has called on the international community to diligently work to provide all kinds of ample support for humanitarian response's plans and operations for the Palestinian refugees and displaced people so as to mitigate their suffering and ensure they receive adequate support that helps them live a dignified life, in addition to enabling the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to undertake its mandate, In addition, the State of Qatar expressed its rejection of any attempts to either terminate or reduce the role of UNRWA, strip Palestinians of their refugee status, or liquidate their cause.
This came in the State of Qatar's statement delivered by the Third Secretary of the permanent delegation of the State of Qatar in Geneva, Abdulaziz Mohammed Al Mansoori, during the annual Pledging Conference of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva.
Al Mansoori underscored that the State of Qatar is committed to being one of the key backers of the United Nations' efforts and its agencies to assist refugees and displaced people in various territories of the world without any discrimination, stemming from its belief in humanitarian responsibility and spirit of international solidarity and engagement in sharing the burden.
He pointed out that the UNHCR's Global Appeal for 2025 highlighted the scale and severity of the crisis faced by refugees and displaced people around the world today, along with their increasing number to roughly 140 million people and the degeneration of their humanitarian situation due to the new conflicts and the failure to resolve long-term crises, thereby prompting the international community to steadfastly proceed with its joint coordination, share the burden, provide essential support for humanitarian and development response's efforts to refugees, as well as the countries and communities hosting them, in addition to working towards resolving and ending conflicts and finding enduring solutions.
Al Mansoori expressed the State of Qatar's condemnation of the aggression, attacks, and brutal crimes being perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces against the rights of the Palestinian people, including their deliberate targeting of refugee and displaced persons' camps, UNRWA-run schools, and civil facilities that shelter them.
He stressed that the continuation of these assaults will trigger crises, anarchy and instability in the region and ultimately exposes the region to further tensions with massive regional and global consequences, pointing out that last week the State of Qatar launched the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Legacy Fund, with funding of $50 million, alongside FIFA, with the aim of implementing a series of community programs in collaboration with UNHCR, World Health Organization and World Trade Organization.
The fund will back programs that provide support for million refugees and displaced people due to wars, conflicts and persecution, reinforce their capabilities to navigate challenges and achieve self-sufficiency, in addition to providing them with essential services, and helping them rebuild their life to be able to live in peace and dignity, enhance their social inclusion and support relevant local communities, Al Mansoori outlined.
He added that Qatar Fund For Development (QFFD) and UNHCR co-signed a multi-year agreement in April worth $8 million in the form of flexible funding to support UNHCR's global humanitarian response, especially in emergency situations and neglected displacement crises due to a lack of funding, in addition to backing many projects that are still under study and signing between QFFD and UNHCR, foremost of which is a program to support referrals for healthcare for Syrian refugees in the Zaatari and Azraq camps in Jordan, worth over $4 million, along with a grant agreement to support Syrian refugee families in Lebanon and alleviate the pressure on the host community, worth $4 million.
Furthermore, Al Mansoori noted that QFFD is poised to sign a grant agreement with UNHCR for an amount of $5 million to improve housing conditions, public infrastructure, and community facilities in Ukraine, in pursuit of enhancing the living conditions of affected Ukrainians and providing access to essential services, highlighting that the Education Above All Foundation is currently reviewing a project worth over $26 million to provide education to over 221,000 out-of-school refugee children in Mauritania, Chad, Kenya, Uganda, and Pakistan.
Al Mansoori reiterated the State of Qatar's commitment to consistently providing all essential support for UNHCR's efforts to carry out its humanitarian programs activities worldwide, in addition to bolstering its capabilities of responding to the mounting humanitarian needs arising from the waves of refugee influx and forced displacement.