Germany has announced new multi-year project funds of up to EUR 69 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The announcement was made during a meeting of UNRWA’s Advisory Commission, held in Jordan on 25-26 November, to discuss the challenges UNRWA faces in providing services to millions of Palestine refugees in the Gaza Strip and West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

EUR 25 million of the newly-announced contribution will be disbursed in 2019. Germany also pledged a further EUR 2.5 million for the UNRWA Emergency Appeal in Syria, also to be disbursed in 2019. The same evening, the European Union announced that it would release EUR 21 million in support.

“UNRWA is a remarkably resilient agency that is undergoing the worst financial crisis in its history and requires the urgent attention and support of the international community,” said UNRWA’s Acting Commissioner-General, Christian Saunders.

“The future of Palestine refugees is in your hands,” Saunders told donor countries, as he appealed for increasing funds to the UN refugee agency.

UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and mandated to provide assistance and protection to some 5.4 million Palestine refugees registered with UNRWA across its five fields of operation. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip achieve their full human development potential, pending a just and lasting solution to their plight. UNRWA services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, protection and microfinance.