20 mar 2014
Entry of aid supplies to Yarmouk refugee camp has been halted due to the outbreak of clashes between the Syrian opposition and armed groups belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command. Action Group for Palestinian Refugees in Syria said in a press release on Thursday that overcrowding and clashes prevented the aid supplies access to the besieged camp in southern Damascus.
For his part, director of the political department at the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Anwar Abdel Hadi said in a statement on Wednesday that they did not manage to distribute the food rations and to transfer the difficult humanitarian cases outside the camp due to the arrival of huge numbers from Tadamun and Hajar al-Aswad camps.
Abdul Hadi said that the gunmen did not facilitate the food distribution but rather they opened fire into the air in order to foil the initiative’s implementation.
Yarmouk refugee camp has been subjected to a tight siege for more than eight months.
In another development later Thursday, UNRWA said that it managed to distribute 465 food packages inside the camp and demanded safe and uninterrupted passage to the camp.
The European Wafa campaign, for its part, said that it managed to deliver 800 powder milk cans for babies and 22 boxes of medicine in the camp.
For his part, director of the political department at the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Anwar Abdel Hadi said in a statement on Wednesday that they did not manage to distribute the food rations and to transfer the difficult humanitarian cases outside the camp due to the arrival of huge numbers from Tadamun and Hajar al-Aswad camps.
Abdul Hadi said that the gunmen did not facilitate the food distribution but rather they opened fire into the air in order to foil the initiative’s implementation.
Yarmouk refugee camp has been subjected to a tight siege for more than eight months.
In another development later Thursday, UNRWA said that it managed to distribute 465 food packages inside the camp and demanded safe and uninterrupted passage to the camp.
The European Wafa campaign, for its part, said that it managed to deliver 800 powder milk cans for babies and 22 boxes of medicine in the camp.
19 mar 2014
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The UN Palestinian refugee agency on Tuesday resumed food distribution in the besieged Yarmouk camp in Damascus after a two-week halt.
UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said aid workers distributed 465 food parcels in addition to bread and jam, as well as 2,000 doses of polio vaccines and 800 small cartons of baby formula. The Palestinian refugee camp, a bustling built-up suburb of 170,000 before the war, is today home to 18,000 Palestinian refugees and thousands of Syrians, all of whom have been under a tight army siege since July 2013. Yarmouk was the scene of a widely-shared photo taken by UNRWA showing thousands of people packed into a destroyed street awaiting food aid. |
"Set against the substantial civilian needs and the protracted closure of Yarmouk, the modest supplies we have taken in are not enough," Gunness said.
"We require secure, substantial, and sustained humanitarian access as the Security Council has unanimously requested, and call on all concerned parties to ensure the establishment and maintenance of conditions that facilitate full access to Yarmouk."
Amnesty International last week said the Syrian army was using starvation as a "weapon of war" in its siege of Yarmouk, where it said nearly 200 people have died since the tightening of the siege, including 128 who starved to death.
It said Yarmouk was the deadliest of several blockades set up of civilian areas across the country, some by the army and some by Syrian rebels.
An estimated 146,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the start of Syria's uprising three years ago.
"We require secure, substantial, and sustained humanitarian access as the Security Council has unanimously requested, and call on all concerned parties to ensure the establishment and maintenance of conditions that facilitate full access to Yarmouk."
Amnesty International last week said the Syrian army was using starvation as a "weapon of war" in its siege of Yarmouk, where it said nearly 200 people have died since the tightening of the siege, including 128 who starved to death.
It said Yarmouk was the deadliest of several blockades set up of civilian areas across the country, some by the army and some by Syrian rebels.
An estimated 146,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the start of Syria's uprising three years ago.
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Three Palestinian refugees were killed in Syria over the past 24 hours including a young man who was tortured to death in Syrian jails.
The action group for Palestinians in Syria said in a statement on Wednesday that Bassam Al-Shafie, a resident of Homs, was held and cruelly tortured in Syrian jails since 14/10/2012. It added that they received news of his death only yesterday while he was dead since 15/3/2014. The group said that two other refugees, a man and a woman, were killed in the explosion of a shell in the vicinity of Jirmana refugee camp on Tuesday. It pointed out that some food aid packages were distributed in Yarmouk refugee camp south of Damascus on Tuesday along with polio vaccines |
for children and a number of other types of medicines. It added that a number of humanitarian cases were taken out of the camp.
Distribution of humanitarian assistance in the besieged refugee camp had stopped for the past 20 days.
related: 3 Palestinian refugees died in Syria
Distribution of humanitarian assistance in the besieged refugee camp had stopped for the past 20 days.
related: 3 Palestinian refugees died in Syria
18 mar 2014
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Four Palestinian refugees were killed and eight others suffered injuries during heavy projectile attacks at dawn Monday on Al-Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus. The action group for the Palestinians in Syria stated on Tuesday that the shelling happened on the same day the warring parties and mediators agreed on neutralizing the camp and ending all kinds of hostilities.
Humanitarian aid was supposed to be allowed into the camp on Monday according to the agreement, but nothing happened in this regard, the action group noted. |
The delegation of the Palestine liberation organization (PLO) to Syria held the militants inside the camp fully responsible for any delay in delivering aid to the residents of Al-Yarmouk camp.
Senior member of the delegation Ahmed Majdelani said that it was agreed with the militants on facilitating the entry of relief aid into the camp on Tuesday.
Senior member of the delegation Ahmed Majdelani said that it was agreed with the militants on facilitating the entry of relief aid into the camp on Tuesday.
17 mar 2014
The action group for the Palestinians in Syria said on Monday that the number of Palestinian refugees who died of hunger in Al-Yarmouk refugee camp rose to 133 victims after two elderly persons starved to death. Al-Yarmouk refugees in the camp appealed, through the action group, to all concerned parties to swiftly end the blockade imposed on the camp and consider the great suffering they endure every day.
Earlier, an elderly woman starved to death on Sunday in the same refugee camp.
According to the action group, a young refugee from the camp was killed yesterday during clashes between militants.
A child named Nouraddin Khalili also died of wounds he had sustained a few days ago when he was exposed to gunfire outside his school in Al-Aideen refugee camp in Homs.
Earlier, an elderly woman starved to death on Sunday in the same refugee camp.
According to the action group, a young refugee from the camp was killed yesterday during clashes between militants.
A child named Nouraddin Khalili also died of wounds he had sustained a few days ago when he was exposed to gunfire outside his school in Al-Aideen refugee camp in Homs.
16 mar 2014
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees faces a funding deficit of $65m for 2014
Thousands of Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip Sunday renewed the demand for the relief agency, the UNRWA, to stop the cuts to food programme amid the economic blockade.
Protesters gathered outside the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) offices in Gaza City, banging pots and pans and raising banners against the cuts.
In recent months, the organization reduced the number of families in Gaza receiving urgent food assistance by about 65 percent, Shukri al-Arouqi, a representative of the refugees' popular committees in the central Gaza Strip, told Al Jazeera.
The protesters also expressed anger at UNRWA's poverty survey, which reviews the status of food aid recipients and decides whether to keep or remove them from the list of beneficiaries.
"The budget for the survey programme is about $16m a year… Why don't they use that money for more [food] coupons instead?" al-Arouqi said.
UNRWA faces a funding deficit of $65m this year. In its 2014 emergency appeal, the organisation stated that it needed more than $300m to keep all its programmes running. Last year, UNRWA cut emergency cash assistance for some 11,000 families in the Gaza Strip.
UNRWA has registered approximately 1.2 million Palestinians in Gaza as refugees, out of the 1.7 million total inhabitants of the coastal enclave.
Source: Al Jazeera English
Thousands of Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip Sunday renewed the demand for the relief agency, the UNRWA, to stop the cuts to food programme amid the economic blockade.
Protesters gathered outside the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) offices in Gaza City, banging pots and pans and raising banners against the cuts.
In recent months, the organization reduced the number of families in Gaza receiving urgent food assistance by about 65 percent, Shukri al-Arouqi, a representative of the refugees' popular committees in the central Gaza Strip, told Al Jazeera.
The protesters also expressed anger at UNRWA's poverty survey, which reviews the status of food aid recipients and decides whether to keep or remove them from the list of beneficiaries.
"The budget for the survey programme is about $16m a year… Why don't they use that money for more [food] coupons instead?" al-Arouqi said.
UNRWA faces a funding deficit of $65m this year. In its 2014 emergency appeal, the organisation stated that it needed more than $300m to keep all its programmes running. Last year, UNRWA cut emergency cash assistance for some 11,000 families in the Gaza Strip.
UNRWA has registered approximately 1.2 million Palestinians in Gaza as refugees, out of the 1.7 million total inhabitants of the coastal enclave.
Source: Al Jazeera English
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Video: Mohassan died under torture 22 feb 2014
150 Palestinian refugees died under torture in Syrian prisons since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution, Action Group for Palestinians in Syria revealed. Action group stated on Sunday that two Palestinians were killed including a child on Saturday in Yarmouk and Aidin refugee camps. Daraa refugee camp has Saturday witnessed violent shelling and clashes between Syrian regime forces and Free Army Forces. A state of panic has prevailed among Palestinians in Daraa refugee camp |
due to the intensive presence of snipers who were shooting at everything moving in the camp.
Meanwhile, Yarmouk refugee camp is still subjected to tight siege for 245 days, which led to the martyrdom of 131 Palestinians out of starvation.
Meanwhile, an official in Palestinian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP - GC) - declared that the delegation of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) reached a new agreement with the Syrian regime to resolve Yarmouk crisis starting from Sunday.
The leader in PFLP - GC Hossam Arafat stated in a press statement that the new agreement includes a re-composition of the negotiation delegation dealing with armed groups, so that it reflects the Palestinian national consensus and consists of the coalition parties, the PLO, and Palestinian Embassy.
The new agreement will last for two weeks, he continued. Aid supplies will be distributed in Yarmouk refugee camp in concurrence with a campaign to vaccinate Palestinian children in the besieged camp in coordination with the Palestinian Red Crescent and Health Ministry.
The agreement states the implementation of the national initiative starting from the point it had stopped, and the re-composition of the negotiation delegation dealing with armed groups so that it reflects the Palestinian national consensus and consists of the coalition parties, the PLO, and Palestinian Embassy.
It also includes the formation of a follow-up committee to make contact with armed groups to withdraw from Yarmouk refugee camp, in addition to the deployment of Palestinian joint military force on the outskirts of the camp, and preparing a list of Palestinian armed elements' names in order to give up their weapons.
The agreement also included the entry of aid supplies, the return of deported refugees, in addition to preparing a joint committee to follow up the implementation of the agreement.
On the other hand, the European Al-Wafa campaign to support the victims of Syria declared its 8th aid convoy to Syria for the relief of Palestinian refugees in Syria and in asylum centers in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey.
Amin Abu Rashid, chairman of the campaign, revealed that the campaign will reach for the first time new areas outside Damascus, including Daraa, Aleppo, Hama and Latakia.
The European campaign will work on delivering humanitarian aid and medical supplies for about a month, he said, noting that Palestinian refugees fleeing from Syria suffer very difficult conditions.
Abu Rashid stated that preparations for the second phase of the campaign have been launched nine months ago for the relief of Yarmouk camp, where it managed during the first phase to deliver food and medicines in the camp, in which 131 Palestinians had starved to death.
We are working to save Palestinians who suffer very difficult humanitarian situation in Yarmouk camp, calling for ending their suffering and allowing their return to their houses after being deported due to the armed clashes.
The campaign is to be launched from Beirut accompanied with a European Asian delegation to visit Palestinian refugee camps and shelters starting from 24-03 up to 29-03.
Meanwhile, Yarmouk refugee camp is still subjected to tight siege for 245 days, which led to the martyrdom of 131 Palestinians out of starvation.
Meanwhile, an official in Palestinian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP - GC) - declared that the delegation of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) reached a new agreement with the Syrian regime to resolve Yarmouk crisis starting from Sunday.
The leader in PFLP - GC Hossam Arafat stated in a press statement that the new agreement includes a re-composition of the negotiation delegation dealing with armed groups, so that it reflects the Palestinian national consensus and consists of the coalition parties, the PLO, and Palestinian Embassy.
The new agreement will last for two weeks, he continued. Aid supplies will be distributed in Yarmouk refugee camp in concurrence with a campaign to vaccinate Palestinian children in the besieged camp in coordination with the Palestinian Red Crescent and Health Ministry.
The agreement states the implementation of the national initiative starting from the point it had stopped, and the re-composition of the negotiation delegation dealing with armed groups so that it reflects the Palestinian national consensus and consists of the coalition parties, the PLO, and Palestinian Embassy.
It also includes the formation of a follow-up committee to make contact with armed groups to withdraw from Yarmouk refugee camp, in addition to the deployment of Palestinian joint military force on the outskirts of the camp, and preparing a list of Palestinian armed elements' names in order to give up their weapons.
The agreement also included the entry of aid supplies, the return of deported refugees, in addition to preparing a joint committee to follow up the implementation of the agreement.
On the other hand, the European Al-Wafa campaign to support the victims of Syria declared its 8th aid convoy to Syria for the relief of Palestinian refugees in Syria and in asylum centers in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey.
Amin Abu Rashid, chairman of the campaign, revealed that the campaign will reach for the first time new areas outside Damascus, including Daraa, Aleppo, Hama and Latakia.
The European campaign will work on delivering humanitarian aid and medical supplies for about a month, he said, noting that Palestinian refugees fleeing from Syria suffer very difficult conditions.
Abu Rashid stated that preparations for the second phase of the campaign have been launched nine months ago for the relief of Yarmouk camp, where it managed during the first phase to deliver food and medicines in the camp, in which 131 Palestinians had starved to death.
We are working to save Palestinians who suffer very difficult humanitarian situation in Yarmouk camp, calling for ending their suffering and allowing their return to their houses after being deported due to the armed clashes.
The campaign is to be launched from Beirut accompanied with a European Asian delegation to visit Palestinian refugee camps and shelters starting from 24-03 up to 29-03.
Update 16 mar 2014
It is impossible not to be touched by the apocalyptic scenes emerging from the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in Damascus, besieged and cut off for months. The images are at once epic and personal. Row upon row of gaunt faces, serried ranks of grimy, raged figures; the delicate, hunger-ravaged features of children waiting in line for an UNRWA food parcel; the face of a mother creased in grief for a deceased child; tears of joy as a father is reunited with a long-lost daughter; these are the vignettes of inhumanity that have become the regular fare of nightly news bulletins.
While the cameras have followed the conflict as they ever do, aid budgets have followed the cameras. International funding abhors a news vacuum. Donors like their cash to be in the news headlines and so UNRWA's appeal to the international community to fund our emergency work in Syria to the tune of over 400 million U.S. dollars, has found a generous response among donor governments. That's the relatively good news and we are grateful.
The bad news is that UNRWA works in other places where, like Syria, there are emergencies that have become protracted, but from where, unlike Syria, the cameras have moved on. Gaza is one of those places.
In the last six months of 2013, the unemployment rate in Gaza went from just under 28 percent to over 38 percent -- in six months. For refugees the official unemployment rate is 41 percent, for youth 56 percent and for refugee women an astounding 88 percent. The criteria used for this data means that underemployment is not captured; persons aged 15 years and above who worked at least one hour per week are considered employed and so not included in these statistics. Imagine for a moment what that has meant for families in Gaza.
While there are no images from Gaza as compelling as those from Yarmouk -- nor is the situation that desperate -- the people here having been living under siege-like conditions for more than six years. It is this blockade which was imposed in earnest in June 2007 that destroyed Gaza's previously dynamic, productive and trade-oriented economy, along with its capacity to create jobs. The vast majority of the population has been pushed into food insecurity, with no other choice but reliance on assistance. Until the blockade is lifted and access to Gaza's traditional markets -- the West Bank and Israel -- is secured, any sustainable recovery of the local economy remains elusive. The vicious cycle of unemployment, food insecurity and aid dependency, and consequently the de-development of the Gaza Strip, will continue. A graph of economic volatility for Gaza's economy over the past decade looks like Liberia or Sierra Leone's.
The recent dramatic deterioration in the situation here was triggered by the changes in Egypt last year and the closure of the tunnels that linked Gaza and its Southern neighbor. These tunnels formed a necessary lifeline for Gaza given the poverty here -- goods are cheaper from Egypt, particularly fuel and basic foods -- and for items that Israel will not allow to freely enter, the most important being construction materials. Material for the private sector came through the tunnels at the rate of some 7,500 MT per day, fueling the only portion of the economy that was creating any jobs. The closure of the tunnels has meant the effective end of private sector construction.
UNRWA and other international actors could make up some of that job loss through our own construction projects but we have been limited in our ability to do so by Israel practices. In the third quarter of 2013 UNRWA construction projects generated over 5,000 jobs, but imports of construction materials were suspended in October 2013, and as of February 2014 only some of our projects were re-approved by the Israeli authorities and resumed. We have almost USD $40 million worth of projects Israel had already approved that are ready to go and an additional 38 projects worth over USD $111 million pending approval from Israeli authorities so we can import the necessary construction material. Given the opportunity we could put thousands of Gazans back to work and reduce reliance on aid to survive.
UNRWA is mandated to provide services to the Palestine refugees in Gaza, who make up more than 70 percent of the population of some 1.8 million. In trying to meet the humanitarian demands created by this manmade crisis, UNRWA provides food assistance to over 800,000 people; two out of every three refugees and almost half the overall population. In 2000, when the economy was functioning more normally, only 80,000 refugees required food assistance from us. We provide this assistance based on need, and vigorously target to ensure it gets to the neediest, but given the changes here over the past months we expect our food aid caseload to increase by 10 to 20 percent over the course of this year, to near one million people.
At a time when circumstances would dictate an expansion of aid we are facing a hole in our emergency budget of about $30 million USD. That's about a quarter of our overall budget, mainly for food aid. Should no additional, unexpected contributions materialize, UNRWA will be forced to significantly cut back its emergency operations in the Gaza Strip. We have already had to take very difficult decisions, including the suspension of our school feeding program, which provided one meal per day to the nearly quarter of a million UNRWA students in Gaza.
Donor fatigue is understandable. UNRWA would prefer to spend money on human development in Gaza, particularly our education program, as opposed to emergency aid to mitigate the impact of man-made policies such as the illegal blockade. But the Agency has no choice but to continue to assist those paying for the consequences of these unresolved political issues.
I end on a note of warning. We have repeatedly seen desperation in Gaza lead to violence. There are rockets which we in the UN repeatedly condemn, but there are many other forms of violence in Gazan society that are related directly and indirectly to the economic predicament of the people here. We in UNRWA have ourselves been the subject of violent attack because of perceived service cuts. At a time when the peace process is on everyone's lips it behooves us all to address the underlying causes of Gaza's violence, but barring the political will to accomplish this, we must ensure that basic humanitarian needs continue to be met.
It is impossible not to be touched by the apocalyptic scenes emerging from the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in Damascus, besieged and cut off for months. The images are at once epic and personal. Row upon row of gaunt faces, serried ranks of grimy, raged figures; the delicate, hunger-ravaged features of children waiting in line for an UNRWA food parcel; the face of a mother creased in grief for a deceased child; tears of joy as a father is reunited with a long-lost daughter; these are the vignettes of inhumanity that have become the regular fare of nightly news bulletins.
While the cameras have followed the conflict as they ever do, aid budgets have followed the cameras. International funding abhors a news vacuum. Donors like their cash to be in the news headlines and so UNRWA's appeal to the international community to fund our emergency work in Syria to the tune of over 400 million U.S. dollars, has found a generous response among donor governments. That's the relatively good news and we are grateful.
The bad news is that UNRWA works in other places where, like Syria, there are emergencies that have become protracted, but from where, unlike Syria, the cameras have moved on. Gaza is one of those places.
In the last six months of 2013, the unemployment rate in Gaza went from just under 28 percent to over 38 percent -- in six months. For refugees the official unemployment rate is 41 percent, for youth 56 percent and for refugee women an astounding 88 percent. The criteria used for this data means that underemployment is not captured; persons aged 15 years and above who worked at least one hour per week are considered employed and so not included in these statistics. Imagine for a moment what that has meant for families in Gaza.
While there are no images from Gaza as compelling as those from Yarmouk -- nor is the situation that desperate -- the people here having been living under siege-like conditions for more than six years. It is this blockade which was imposed in earnest in June 2007 that destroyed Gaza's previously dynamic, productive and trade-oriented economy, along with its capacity to create jobs. The vast majority of the population has been pushed into food insecurity, with no other choice but reliance on assistance. Until the blockade is lifted and access to Gaza's traditional markets -- the West Bank and Israel -- is secured, any sustainable recovery of the local economy remains elusive. The vicious cycle of unemployment, food insecurity and aid dependency, and consequently the de-development of the Gaza Strip, will continue. A graph of economic volatility for Gaza's economy over the past decade looks like Liberia or Sierra Leone's.
The recent dramatic deterioration in the situation here was triggered by the changes in Egypt last year and the closure of the tunnels that linked Gaza and its Southern neighbor. These tunnels formed a necessary lifeline for Gaza given the poverty here -- goods are cheaper from Egypt, particularly fuel and basic foods -- and for items that Israel will not allow to freely enter, the most important being construction materials. Material for the private sector came through the tunnels at the rate of some 7,500 MT per day, fueling the only portion of the economy that was creating any jobs. The closure of the tunnels has meant the effective end of private sector construction.
UNRWA and other international actors could make up some of that job loss through our own construction projects but we have been limited in our ability to do so by Israel practices. In the third quarter of 2013 UNRWA construction projects generated over 5,000 jobs, but imports of construction materials were suspended in October 2013, and as of February 2014 only some of our projects were re-approved by the Israeli authorities and resumed. We have almost USD $40 million worth of projects Israel had already approved that are ready to go and an additional 38 projects worth over USD $111 million pending approval from Israeli authorities so we can import the necessary construction material. Given the opportunity we could put thousands of Gazans back to work and reduce reliance on aid to survive.
UNRWA is mandated to provide services to the Palestine refugees in Gaza, who make up more than 70 percent of the population of some 1.8 million. In trying to meet the humanitarian demands created by this manmade crisis, UNRWA provides food assistance to over 800,000 people; two out of every three refugees and almost half the overall population. In 2000, when the economy was functioning more normally, only 80,000 refugees required food assistance from us. We provide this assistance based on need, and vigorously target to ensure it gets to the neediest, but given the changes here over the past months we expect our food aid caseload to increase by 10 to 20 percent over the course of this year, to near one million people.
At a time when circumstances would dictate an expansion of aid we are facing a hole in our emergency budget of about $30 million USD. That's about a quarter of our overall budget, mainly for food aid. Should no additional, unexpected contributions materialize, UNRWA will be forced to significantly cut back its emergency operations in the Gaza Strip. We have already had to take very difficult decisions, including the suspension of our school feeding program, which provided one meal per day to the nearly quarter of a million UNRWA students in Gaza.
Donor fatigue is understandable. UNRWA would prefer to spend money on human development in Gaza, particularly our education program, as opposed to emergency aid to mitigate the impact of man-made policies such as the illegal blockade. But the Agency has no choice but to continue to assist those paying for the consequences of these unresolved political issues.
I end on a note of warning. We have repeatedly seen desperation in Gaza lead to violence. There are rockets which we in the UN repeatedly condemn, but there are many other forms of violence in Gazan society that are related directly and indirectly to the economic predicament of the people here. We in UNRWA have ourselves been the subject of violent attack because of perceived service cuts. At a time when the peace process is on everyone's lips it behooves us all to address the underlying causes of Gaza's violence, but barring the political will to accomplish this, we must ensure that basic humanitarian needs continue to be met.
15 mar 2014
Robert Turner Director, United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza
By Robert Turner Director, United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza
It is impossible not to be touched by the apocalyptic scenes emerging from the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in Damascus, besieged and cut off for months. The images are at once epic and personal. Row upon row of gaunt faces, serried ranks of grimy, raged figures; the delicate, hunger-ravaged features of children waiting in line for an UNRWA food parcel; the face of a mother creased in grief for a deceased child; tears of joy as a father is reunited with a long-lost daughter; these are the vignettes of inhumanity that have become the regular fare of nightly news bulletins.
While the cameras have followed the conflict as they ever do, aid budgets have followed the cameras. International funding abhors a news vacuum. Donors like their cash to be in the news headlines and so UNRWA's appeal to the international community to fund our emergency work in Syria to the tune of over 400 million U.S. dollars, has found a generous response among donor governments. That's the relatively good news and we are grateful.
The bad news is that UNRWA works in other places where, like Syria, there are emergencies that have become protracted, but from where, unlike Syria, the cameras have moved on. Gaza is one of those places.
In the last six months of 2013, the unemployment rate in Gaza went from just under 28 percent to over 38 percent -- in six months. For refugees the official unemployment rate is 41 percent, for youth 56 percent and for refugee women an astounding 88 percent. The criteria used for this data means that underemployment is not captured; persons aged 15 years and above who worked at least one hour per week are considered employed and so not included in these statistics. Imagine for a moment what that has meant for families in Gaza.
While there are no images from Gaza as compelling as those from Yarmouk -- nor is the situation that desperate -- the people here having been living under siege-like conditions for more than six years. It is this blockade which was imposed in earnest in June 2007 that destroyed Gaza's previously dynamic, productive and trade-oriented economy, along with its capacity to create jobs. The vast majority of the population has been pushed into food insecurity, with no other choice but reliance on assistance. Until the blockade is lifted and access to Gaza's traditional markets -- the West Bank and Israel -- is secured, any sustainable recovery of the local economy remains elusive. The vicious cycle of unemployment, food insecurity and aid dependency, and consequently the de-development of the Gaza Strip, will continue. A graph of economic volatility for Gaza's economy over the past decade looks like Liberia or Sierra Leone's.
The recent dramatic deterioration in the situation here was triggered by the changes in Egypt last year and the closure of the tunnels that linked Gaza and its Southern neighbor. These tunnels formed a necessary lifeline for Gaza given the poverty here -- goods are cheaper from Egypt, particularly fuel and basic foods -- and for items that Israel will not allow to freely enter, the most important being construction materials. Material for the private sector came through the tunnels at the rate of some 7,500 MT per day, fueling the only portion of the economy that was creating any jobs. The closure of the tunnels has meant the effective end of private sector construction.
UNRWA and other international actors could make up some of that job loss through our own construction projects but we have been limited in our ability to do so by Israel practices. In the third quarter of 2013 UNRWA construction projects generated over 5,000 jobs, but imports of construction materials were suspended in October 2013, and as of February 2014 only some of our projects were re-approved by the Israeli authorities and resumed. We have almost USD $40 million worth of projects Israel had already approved that are ready to go and an additional 38 projects worth over USD $111 million pending approval from Israeli authorities so we can import the necessary construction material. Given the opportunity we could put thousands of Gazans back to work and reduce reliance on aid to survive.
Source: Huffington Post
UNRWA is mandated to provide services to the Palestine refugees in Gaza, who make up more than 70 percent of the population of some 1.8 million. In trying to meet the humanitarian demands created by this manmade crisis, UNRWA provides food assistance to over 800,000 people; two out of every three refugees and almost half the overall population. In 2000, when the economy was functioning more normally, only 80,000 refugees required food assistance from us. We provide this assistance based on need, and vigorously target to ensure it gets to the neediest, but given the changes here over the past months we expect our food aid caseload to increase by 10 to 20 percent over the course of this year, to near one million people.
At a time when circumstances would dictate an expansion of aid we are facing a hole in our emergency budget of about $30 million USD. That's about a quarter of our overall budget, mainly for food aid. Should no additional, unexpected contributions materialize, UNRWA will be forced to significantly cut back its emergency operations in the Gaza Strip. We have already had to take very difficult decisions, including the suspension of our school feeding program, which provided one meal per day to the nearly quarter of a million UNRWA students in Gaza.
Donor fatigue is understandable. UNRWA would prefer to spend money on human development in Gaza, particularly our education program, as opposed to emergency aid to mitigate the impact of man-made policies such as the illegal blockade. But the Agency has no choice but to continue to assist those paying for the consequences of these unresolved political issues.
I end on a note of warning. We have repeatedly seen desperation in Gaza lead to violence. There are rockets which we in the UN repeatedly condemn, but there are many other forms of violence in Gazan society that are related directly and indirectly to the economic predicament of the people here. We in UNRWA have ourselves been the subject of violent attack because of perceived service cuts. At a time when the peace process is on everyone's lips it behooves us all to address the underlying causes of Gaza's violence, but barring the political will to accomplish this, we must ensure that basic humanitarian needs continue to be met.
By Robert Turner Director, United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza
It is impossible not to be touched by the apocalyptic scenes emerging from the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in Damascus, besieged and cut off for months. The images are at once epic and personal. Row upon row of gaunt faces, serried ranks of grimy, raged figures; the delicate, hunger-ravaged features of children waiting in line for an UNRWA food parcel; the face of a mother creased in grief for a deceased child; tears of joy as a father is reunited with a long-lost daughter; these are the vignettes of inhumanity that have become the regular fare of nightly news bulletins.
While the cameras have followed the conflict as they ever do, aid budgets have followed the cameras. International funding abhors a news vacuum. Donors like their cash to be in the news headlines and so UNRWA's appeal to the international community to fund our emergency work in Syria to the tune of over 400 million U.S. dollars, has found a generous response among donor governments. That's the relatively good news and we are grateful.
The bad news is that UNRWA works in other places where, like Syria, there are emergencies that have become protracted, but from where, unlike Syria, the cameras have moved on. Gaza is one of those places.
In the last six months of 2013, the unemployment rate in Gaza went from just under 28 percent to over 38 percent -- in six months. For refugees the official unemployment rate is 41 percent, for youth 56 percent and for refugee women an astounding 88 percent. The criteria used for this data means that underemployment is not captured; persons aged 15 years and above who worked at least one hour per week are considered employed and so not included in these statistics. Imagine for a moment what that has meant for families in Gaza.
While there are no images from Gaza as compelling as those from Yarmouk -- nor is the situation that desperate -- the people here having been living under siege-like conditions for more than six years. It is this blockade which was imposed in earnest in June 2007 that destroyed Gaza's previously dynamic, productive and trade-oriented economy, along with its capacity to create jobs. The vast majority of the population has been pushed into food insecurity, with no other choice but reliance on assistance. Until the blockade is lifted and access to Gaza's traditional markets -- the West Bank and Israel -- is secured, any sustainable recovery of the local economy remains elusive. The vicious cycle of unemployment, food insecurity and aid dependency, and consequently the de-development of the Gaza Strip, will continue. A graph of economic volatility for Gaza's economy over the past decade looks like Liberia or Sierra Leone's.
The recent dramatic deterioration in the situation here was triggered by the changes in Egypt last year and the closure of the tunnels that linked Gaza and its Southern neighbor. These tunnels formed a necessary lifeline for Gaza given the poverty here -- goods are cheaper from Egypt, particularly fuel and basic foods -- and for items that Israel will not allow to freely enter, the most important being construction materials. Material for the private sector came through the tunnels at the rate of some 7,500 MT per day, fueling the only portion of the economy that was creating any jobs. The closure of the tunnels has meant the effective end of private sector construction.
UNRWA and other international actors could make up some of that job loss through our own construction projects but we have been limited in our ability to do so by Israel practices. In the third quarter of 2013 UNRWA construction projects generated over 5,000 jobs, but imports of construction materials were suspended in October 2013, and as of February 2014 only some of our projects were re-approved by the Israeli authorities and resumed. We have almost USD $40 million worth of projects Israel had already approved that are ready to go and an additional 38 projects worth over USD $111 million pending approval from Israeli authorities so we can import the necessary construction material. Given the opportunity we could put thousands of Gazans back to work and reduce reliance on aid to survive.
Source: Huffington Post
UNRWA is mandated to provide services to the Palestine refugees in Gaza, who make up more than 70 percent of the population of some 1.8 million. In trying to meet the humanitarian demands created by this manmade crisis, UNRWA provides food assistance to over 800,000 people; two out of every three refugees and almost half the overall population. In 2000, when the economy was functioning more normally, only 80,000 refugees required food assistance from us. We provide this assistance based on need, and vigorously target to ensure it gets to the neediest, but given the changes here over the past months we expect our food aid caseload to increase by 10 to 20 percent over the course of this year, to near one million people.
At a time when circumstances would dictate an expansion of aid we are facing a hole in our emergency budget of about $30 million USD. That's about a quarter of our overall budget, mainly for food aid. Should no additional, unexpected contributions materialize, UNRWA will be forced to significantly cut back its emergency operations in the Gaza Strip. We have already had to take very difficult decisions, including the suspension of our school feeding program, which provided one meal per day to the nearly quarter of a million UNRWA students in Gaza.
Donor fatigue is understandable. UNRWA would prefer to spend money on human development in Gaza, particularly our education program, as opposed to emergency aid to mitigate the impact of man-made policies such as the illegal blockade. But the Agency has no choice but to continue to assist those paying for the consequences of these unresolved political issues.
I end on a note of warning. We have repeatedly seen desperation in Gaza lead to violence. There are rockets which we in the UN repeatedly condemn, but there are many other forms of violence in Gazan society that are related directly and indirectly to the economic predicament of the people here. We in UNRWA have ourselves been the subject of violent attack because of perceived service cuts. At a time when the peace process is on everyone's lips it behooves us all to address the underlying causes of Gaza's violence, but barring the political will to accomplish this, we must ensure that basic humanitarian needs continue to be met.
