UNRWA Budget Hole Caused By US Funding Cut Successfully Filled By 40 Countries - Chief

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has succeeded in closing the budget gap after the United States cut its funding last year with the help of 40 countries and institutions, UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Kraehenbuehl told Sputnik in an interview

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th January, 2019) The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has succeeded in closing the budget gap after the United States cut its funding last year with the help of 40 countries and institutions, UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Kraehenbuehl told Sputnik in an interview.

In August, the administration of US President Donald Trump announced that it would stop contributing to UNRWA. The US State Department in a press release described the UNRWA as an "irredeemably flawed operation" with an unsustainable business model. The United States was traditionally the largest donor of the organization whose yearly budget amounts to about $1.2 billion.

"We had a historic shortfall. The US cut $300 million last year. Combined with our original budget deficit for last year, we suddenly had a deficit of $446 million, which is a huge amount ... We managed to close that shortfall, it didn't go without pain and we also had to go though some staff positions cuts ... but we did succeed in overcoming this historic shortfall," Kraehenbuehl said during his visit to Moscow.

The agency chief explained that the funding deficit was avoided owing to UNRWA saving $92 million with austerity measures and with the help of the increased funding from 40 countries, most notably the Gulf countries.

"We had a remarkable mobilization by the international community - 40 different countries and institutions increased their funding to UNRWA. For example, each of the Gulf countries - Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait- contributed $50 million, so $200 million came from the Gulf. We had many other countries that increased their contributions - the EU as an institution, Germany, the United Kingdom, Turkey, and others," he added.

However, the US decision to cut the agency's financial support resulted in UNRWA stopping certain activities in the Gaza Strip last year due to the lack of emergency funding.

"A certain number of activities could not be continued in the Gaza Strip, or at least not in the same way. If I take the example of Gaza, 118 staff members lost their jobs. We employ 12,500 people in Gaza ... This year we hope to at least preserve the same level of budget as last year," Kraehenbuehl said.

UNRWA was set up in 1949 to support Palestinian refugees living in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and Gaza, pending the resolution of their conflict with Israel. The agency operates schools and various humanitarian organizations.