Global Ministries among organizations supporting restoration of US support for Palestine Refugees and UNRWA
On Thursday, Feb. 17, eighteen major civil society organizations, led by UNRWA USA National Committee (UNRWA USA), sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken thanking the Biden administration for restoring humanitarian assistance to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
“We were delighted by the strong show of support for UNRWA from across the entire spectrum of civil society actors,” stated Mara Kronenfeld, Executive Director of UNRWA USA. “Our letter serves as a counterpoint to specific members of Congress who continue a long-established pattern of inaccurate and unfounded criticisms of UNRWA. As the letter notes: respected outside organizations including the World Bank and UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), British Council, and the Multilateral Organization Performance Assessment Network, have validated both the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of UNRWA’s programs.”
The groups also praised the administration for reinforcing the importance of the UN-led multilateral system, ensuring that US humanitarian assistance is provided on the basis of need alone and not politics, and contributing to regional stability and security. The organizations expressed concern that the “goal of some of the Agency’s most vocal critics is to deny the very status of Palestinian refugees, and thereby limit the horizon of hope for a just and durable solution to their plight, the prerequisite for ending the UNRWA mission.”