The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of Jordan, Ayman Safadi, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Ann Linde, and the Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, held a meeting by teleconference on Tuesday to discuss the importance of international and regional support to UNRWA.

The meeting comes as UNRWA faces increased financial and operational pressures compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic in its areas of operations.

The meeting was also attended by the Minister of International Development Cooperation of Sweden, Peter Eriksson, and former Acting Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Christian Saunders.

The meeting addressed the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on Palestine refugees and on the Agency’s budget and operations.

With the destabilising effect of COVID-19 worldwide, participants called on the international community to respond to the UNRWA flash appeal and emphasized the importance of the Agency’s work as a critical component for regional development, stability and security.

The trilateral discussions explored resource mobilisation efforts in support of the 5.6 million Palestinian refugees under the Agency’s mandate. To this end, participants discussed the preparations for convening the second Ministerial Strategic Dialogue on UNRWA in the near future, via telecommunication, with the aim to ensure sustainable political and financial support to UNRWA in 2020 and beyond.

The meeting explored ways to support UNRWA following the overwhelming international support to renew its mandate at the United Nations General Assembly in December 2019. In this regard, the participants stressed the need to translate the political support into financial support, to allow UNRWA to continue delivering its vital services to Palestinian refugees efficiently and without interruption.

Participants also acknowledged the role that UNRWA plays in situations of humanitarian emergencies, as well as its role in ensuring that Palestinian refugees continue to access basic rights such as the right to health, education and other human rights.

Participants of the teleconference underlined their strong political support for UNRWA and for it to continue to operate in fulfillment of its mandate until a durable and just solution of the question of the Palestine refugees is found in accordance with relevant UN resolutions, including UN General Assembly Resolution 194 and within the context of a comprehensive solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state solution.