UN Hopes US Changes Decision To Cut Aid For Palestinian Refugees - Human Rights Officer

Fakhir Rizvi Published December 12, 2018 | 01:21 AM

NEW YORK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th December, 2018) The United Nations hopes the United States changes its decision to cut funding to the agency that provides relief for Palestinian refugees, UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) Senior Human Rights Officer Edward Flynn told Sputnik.

"I think some other countries, hopefully, are going to increase their support, and I hope that US policy does not remain this way," Flynn said. "I think we will be able to find alternative funding."

In August, the Trump administration announced that it would stop contributing to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees. The State Department in a press release described the UNRWA as an "irredeemably flawed operation" with an unsustainable business model.

Flynn said the US policy to cut aid to the agency is counterproductive and "victimizes people who are already suffering" in Palestine.

In November, UNRWA Gaza Director Matthias Schmale told Sputnik that the US decision to cut funding has negatively affected the delivery of food aid to Palestinians along with jobs and mental healthcare programs. However, Schmale also said the international community has stepped up to fill the funding gap left by the US reduction.

US annual contributions had amounted to about $350 million out of the $1.2 billion fund the UNRWA administers yearly.

The US government has offered to intensify dialogue with the United Nations about new approaches to delivering aid to Palestinian refugees including direct bilateral assistance, according to the State Department.

The UNRWA has been operating since 1950 to assist Palestinians who lost their homes over the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.