Palestine: EU announces €261 million in support of UNRWA’s operations

The European Union confirmed today its role as a long-standing, predictable and reliable partner of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and one of its largest donors.

The European Commission adopted €261 million as the multiannual contribution that will allow to secure predictable financial resources to the Agency for the provision of essential services to Palestine refugees. In line with the EU-UNRWA Joint Declaration 2021-2024, it includes the EU’s three-year funding for UNRWA for a total of €246 million, coupled with an additional €15 million from the Food and Resilience Facility to address food insecurity and mitigate the impact of the Ukraine war.

Since 1971, the strategic partnership between the European Union and UNRWA has been based on the shared objective of supporting human development, humanitarian and protection needs of Palestine refugees and of promoting stability in the Middle East.

There is an urgent need for UNRWA to reform and to identify innovative ways to maintain the provision of services to refugees. The EU supports UNRWA in taking forward these internal reform efforts to secure a sound and sustainable financial basis, which includes focusing on core services for the most vulnerable. In addition to that, the EU continues to do its utmost to reach out to existing and potential donors to put the Agency on a sustainable fiscal model and to ensure fairer contribution sharing.

Source: European Commission