UN agency appeals for $330 million to fund operations aiding Palestinian refugees

The head of the United Nations agency aiding Palestinian refugees appealed today for more than $300 million to fund its operations for 2002, stressing that the international community had a humanitarian responsibility to join the assistance effort.

"This responsibility calls for great resolve on the part of the international community," Peter Hansen, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said in a statement to the agency's annual pledging conference at UN Headquarters in New York.

"Resolve that is essential if the refugees are to feel assured that the commitment of the international community to their well-being remains firm," he said, adding that it was especially important following the tragedy of 11 September and the "dramatic" developments in Afghanistan.

Although the $330.7 million budget for 2002 was $19 million more than this year's, Mr. Hansen stressed, it represented an actual decline when inflation and the rapidly growing refugee population -expected to surpass the four million mark next year - were taken into account.

"Years of austerity and funding shortfalls have taken a toll on the Agency's service infrastructure and operational capacity," he said. "The Agency's schools, training centres, health centres and other installations are all showing the strain of limited expenditures on maintenance."

The Commissioner-General did express relief and satisfaction at the improvement in the level of contributions to UNRWA's regular budget in the closing months of this year. At the end of November, the Agency's estimate for the current year's funding was $285 million, as against a budget of $311 million.

"This welcome development should assist us in coping with the continuously increasing demand for our services," Mr. Hansen said. "It is my sincere hope that this development is indicative of a trend to be sustained in coming years."