Sharjah, UAE
UNRWA’s Deputy Commissioner-General, Margot Ellis, highlighted the dire situation of Palestine refugee children and youth region-wide. “Already vulnerable as refugees, occupation and conflict increasingly deprive Palestine youth of basic rights and protection”, she said.
She was speaking as part of a high-level panel of ‘Investing In the Future,’ the first conference on protecting refugee children in the Middle East and North Africa, co-hosted by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, and Antonio Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It also featured Queen Rania of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and Nabil al-Araby of the Arab League.
Ms. Ellis cited UNRWA’s 65 years of experience as contributing to protection, explaining that its focus on maintaining the stability of families through regular services, such as education and health, as critical to the well-being and protection of children, particularly during conflict. Despite enormous challenges posed by conflict, UNRWA has largely maintained education services across war-torn Syria and Gaza, including through the use of innovative distance learning materials and satellite television programming for children who are unable to reach schools.
“Ensuring that youth have the space to define their own lives” is a powerful way to promote protection, she emphasized. “Their voice and vision transcend political agendas, silencing senseless violence and destruction.” UNRWA’s new youth voice and education project, ‘My Voice My School’, which links conflict-affected youth in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan with their peers in the United Kingdom, helps students understand the impact their voice has on their own lives.
The ‘Investing In the Future’ conference aimed to raise awareness of the acute state of child protection in the Middle East and North Africa and seek practical solutions to these problems.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, and microfinance.
Financial support to UNRWA has not kept pace with an increased demand for services caused by growing numbers of registered refugees, expanding need, and deepening poverty. As a result, the Agency's General Fund (GF), supporting UNRWA’s core activities and 97 per cent reliant on voluntary contributions, has begun each year with a large projected deficit. Currently the deficit stands at US$ 56 million.
For more information, please contact:
Christopher Gunness
UNRWA Spokesperson
Mobile: +972 (0)54 240 2659
Office: +972 (0)2 589 0267
c.gunness@unrwa.org
Sami Mshasha
UNRWA Arabic Spokesperson
Mobile: +972 (0)54 216 8295
Office: +972 (0)2 589 0724
s.mshasha@unrwa.org