The news that fell last Friday is catastrophic on all levels. On the one hand, learning that workers from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) are allegedly involved in the October 7 attacks by Hamas in Israel is very serious and extremely shocking. On the other hand, the suspension of funding for this agency by 15 Western countries even though the International Court of Justice declares that it is plausible that the right of Palestinians in Gaza to be protected against acts of genocide is being violated does not Isn’t it just as much?
Is depriving UNRWA of three quarters of its budget, in the midst of the war in Gaza, really a fair remedy?
UNRWA is one of the humanitarian organizations affiliated with the UN currently working to alleviate the suffering of the Gazan population in the intense and indiscriminate war they have suffered since October 2023. It even constitutes, according to some, the authority of de facto in Gaza regarding the provision of essential services and humanitarian assistance to civilians. Thus, they are dependent on what UNRWA manages to provide them. As such, a partial reallocation of funds to other humanitarian organizations, as announced by Canada, is unsatisfactory.
As soon as they were raised, the allegations against 12 of the 28,000 UNRWA workers were taken very seriously by the United Nations. The Commissioner General of the Office, Philippe Lazzarini, traveled to New York on Friday to meet the Secretary General of the United Nations in person. This means that this crisis is not being taken lightly. Nine of those suspected were immediately terminated, and an investigation into the allegations by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services is underway. From an organizational perspective, an independent review of UNRWA as a whole has also been commissioned.
Since Friday, and despite the measures taken by UNRWA, the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Finland, Iceland, Romania and Estonia have decided to suspend their funding to this agency while waiting for light to be shed on this matter. That’s the equivalent of about $850 million less in food, water and humanitarian staff in Gaza.
Without this funding, UNRWA activities in Gaza simply cannot continue; they will cease by the end of February. The consequences of the decisions of these 15 countries, obviously denounced by the humanitarian organizations present in Gaza and the UN Secretary General, are therefore direct, immediate and dramatic.
Meanwhile, the days pass, but the war in Gaza is still ongoing, and the situation is getting worse every day. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, as of January 29, 2024, nearly 27,000 civilians have been killed, not counting the thousands who remain under the rubble, uncounted. In addition, more than 65,000 civilians have been injured, in a territory where the health system is collapsed, under attack, almost without medicines and medical equipment — 22 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are completely out of service. It is reported that 65% of homes are damaged and 75% of the population is displaced, moreover in overcrowded areas.
UNRWA tents, which house a significant proportion of the population, currently accommodate four times more people than their maximum capacity allows. Worst of all, the entire population is at imminent risk of starvation.
Now is not the time to cut already largely insufficient humanitarian assistance. Let’s not pursue justice, let’s not engage in politics at the expense of the Gazan population. In the name of the most basic considerations of humanity, Canada and other Western countries must restore their funding of UNRWA, imperatively and without delay.