São Paulo – Last week, the deputy commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Margo Ellis, stated that the organization needs another US$ 300 million to go on aiding roughly five million Palestinians. According to Margo, 80% of the funds will go into ensuring food security, financial aid and job creation.
The funds will also be allocated to protecting refugees’ rights, increasing access to emergency healthcare, providing access to water, sanitation, education and shelter. According to Margo, the UNRWA has a US$ 667 million plan for Gaza Strip and West Bank refugees, comprising projets which are already underway. However, the commissioner claims that “dozens of schools and hundreds of houses” need to be built.
The UNRWA offers protection, social and legal assistance to refugees in the occupied Palestinian territories, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. In late 2011, Brazil announced a US$ 7.5 million donation to the organization, and early this year the United States committed to providing US$ 55 million.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
