Poland supports UNRWA
26.11.2021
This year, Poland has actively increased aid to Palestinians through UNRWA
For many years, Poland has been actively supporting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for the Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). UNRWA is a specialized agency of the United Nations system that provides assistance to Palestinian refugees, many of whom live in refugee camps in Palestine, but also abroad: in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. The problem of Palestinian refugees, which number over 5.5 million people, remains one of the most important challenges for the international community. The Agency implements numerous programs in the field of primary health care, education, social assistance, infrastructure development, development and crisis response. Educational programs generate more than half the cost of UNRWA’s budget. Over the years, the agency has built the largest school system in the Middle East, which includes over 700 schools. Access to basic education in UNRWA schools is free for Palestinian refugees.
For 15 years, Poland has been providing support to UNRWA in education, health care, and humanitarian aid for Palestinian refugees. Polish Aid has contributed almost PLN 19 m to this initiative, including PLN 1 m this year only. This year’s contribution went to Nuseirat Elementary School in the
Gaza Strip as part of the measure titled “Updated humanitarian and early recovery appeal - hostilities in Gaza and mounting tensions in the West Bank.” The appeal was issued to provide for the most urgent humanitarian needs of the population of the Gaza Strip and the Western Bank, which arose in the wake of the escalating conflict in these territories in spring 2021. In November 2021, Undersecretary of State at the MFA Paweł Jabłoński participated in a conference “Sustaining the Rights and Human Development of Palestinian Refugees”, convened by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Kingdom of Sweden to enhance international commitment and solidarity with Palestinian refugees. During the conference, Deputy Minister Paweł Jabłoński pledged an additional contribution of PLN 1 m to Agency’s budget still this year.
More on this subject on the website of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
