Since Monday 23 January, West Bank staff of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has been on an open-ended strike, impacting the Agency’s ability to deliver core services.

Critical services to Palestine refugees in the West Bank, such as health, education and sanitation have stopped in response to the strike, while the situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem is escalating daily. UNRWA provides services to hundreds of thousands of people across 19 refugees camps and communities in the West Bank including East Jerusalem. 

The West Bank UNRWA staff union states that the strike comes in reaction to the lack of response by the UNRWA management to a requested salary increase in the face of high cost of living.

UNRWA said it respects the rights of staff to undertake industrial action. UNRWA has been engaging for months with the union to address these concerns in line with the Agency’s pay policy which closely matches salaries with the equivalent job among the comparator, which in this case is the Palestinian Authority.

“While I commend the health and sanitation staff in the northern West Bank who have put their differences with the Agency aside and provided critical immediate services to those in need in Jenin Camp, the strike remains in effect denying Palestine refugees much needed support”, said Adam Bouloukos, UNRWA Director of West Bank Affairs.

Bouloukos called on the union to end the strike and resume activities for the benefit of Palestine refugees, including to reopen the schools so that more than 45,000 girls and boys are afforded a safe space.

“The last place we would want these children to be is on the streets, unsupervised, during heightened violence. UNRWA is and remains committed to constructive dialogue with the West Bank Staff union”, he said.

UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The United Nations General Assembly established UNRWA in 1949 with a mandate to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to registered Palestine refugees in the Agency’s area of operations pending a just and lasting solution to their plight.

UNRWA operates in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Tens of thousands of Palestine refugees who lost their homes and livelihoods due to the 1948 conflict continue to be displaced and in need of support, nearly 75 years on.