Qatar stresses support from global community, donors to UNRWA

Qatar stressed on the importance of supporting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) by the international community along with donors, reaffirming its constant support to help UNRWA perform its mandate which is indispensable in light of this critical circumstance in the history of the Palestinian cause, QNA reported from New York.This came during the statement delivered by member of Qatar's delegation Ali al-Kubaisi in the 77th session of the UN General Assembly before the Special Political and Decolonisation Committee (Fourth Committee) on the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.Al-Kubaisi stressed there is a unanimity pertaining to the fact that there is neither viable, nor practical alternative for UNRWA in light of the current complex regional and international circumstances, pointing out that UNRWA effectively contributes to alleviating the suffering of millions of Palestinian refugees.He called on the UN General Assembly to renew UNRWA's mandate to undertake it role, despite shortage of resources, for attainment of just, comprehensive and permanent settlement to the Palestinian cause represented in the two-state solution, under which the state of Palestine is established within the borders of June 4,1967, with Eastern Jerusalem as its capital, and including the right of the refugees to return, in accordance with the international law and the relevant UN resolutions, especially the resolution of the General Assembly No 194 of 1948.He pointed out that UNRWA faces an existential dilemma, because it suffers from a chronic shortage of the volunteering funding from the member states due to lack of international will, which rendered UNRWA incapable of predicting the majority of funding it should obtain that affects the programmed budget for the agency and threatens its operational activities and the essential service effectiveness, notwithstanding the measures enforced to rationalise the expenditure, to raise the efficiency and to optimise the utilisation of available resources.He said that Qatar has recently raised the level of its donation for the essential resources of the agency, and indicated that Qatar was the first Arab country that had signed a multi-year agreement with UNRWA to support its key resources in 2018. He noted the announcement of Qatar Fund For Development (QFFD) last November of a total donation of $18mn in support of UNRWA's essential resources for two years.It also contributed $7mn for the UNRWA emergency programme in Syria, including cash assistance, education, health and vocational training.In this context, he reminded that Qatar joined the membership of the UNRWA Advisory Commission since 2018 under the resolution 73/92, stemming from its keenness to effectively contribute to providing multiple support to the Palestinian people and in supporting UNRWA which is one of the largest and oldest UN agencies.The member of Qatar's delegation expressed the state's commendation for the efforts exerted by UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini and his team for the service rendered to the Palestinian refugees.