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United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
(French version)
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is a relief and human development agency providing education, healthcare, social services, microfinance and emergency aid to up to 4.6 million refugees living in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, West Bank, and Gaza Strip.
UNRWA’s mandate
UNRWA was established by the General Assembly in 1949 and became operational in May 1950, to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestine refugees. UNRWA initially provided emergency relief in 1950 to some 750,000 Palestine refugees (127,000 of them in Lebanon) who had lost their homes and livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict.
Who is a Palestine Refugee?
A person and his direct descendants, who lived in Mandate Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who lost both home and livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, is considered a Palestine refugee.
UNRWA funding
UNRWA operations are mainly funded by contributions from donor states and entities. UNRWA requires $545 million per year for its General Fund to enable the continuation of its services in health, education and relief.
UNRWA in Lebanon
There were 422,188 registered Palestine refugees in Lebanon in December 2008. Of the total, 53 percent are registered in twelve camps spread across the country and 47 percent are registered outside the camps.
UNRWA in Lebanon employs 2,950 local staff.
UNRWA offers education in accordance with the needs, and cultural heritage of the Palestine refugees, whether registered or not registered with the Agency. In the 2007-2008 school year, 36,543 pupils (52,4% of whom are females) were enrolled in 83 schools including nine secondary schools. The Agency also runs two Training Centres offering Vocational and semi-professional courses. UNRWA is currently implementing an education project funded by the European Union (15 million Euro), aiming at improving educational facilities and skills for Palestine refugees in Lebanon.
UNRWA provides preventive and curative health care to the Palestine refugees through 28 health centres and secondary and tertiary hospital care through a network of contracted hospitals. Virtually all registered refugee children are fully immunized. UNRWA also provides environmental health services in the 12 camps;
UNRWA’s relief and social services, concentrates its efforts on the poorest of the poor, supporting them with food aid, shelter, and selective cash assistance among other services. The programme also works to promote self-reliance and poverty alleviation through community development projects. It offers financial and technical support to 9 women’s programme centers and one community rehabilitation centre in Lebanon, which provide skills training, childcare facilities, advice and other social services to the refugees.
The twelve official camps still occupy today the same area they occupied in the early 1950’s and, therefore, with the rise in population in those camps, they are overcrowded and amongst the most densely populated urban areas in the world. Living conditions are extremely poor and, due to the lack of improvements in camp infrastructure, environmental health conditions in some of the camps are also extremely poor.
In October 2005, the Government of Prime Minister Siniora and UNRWA commenced a Camp Improvement Initiative to address the problems in the camps, and a list of projects to the value of $50 million were identified, primarily in environmental health and shelter, out of which $16.4 were received and UNRWA has therefore commenced a programme of physical construction that will substantially improve the basic living conditions for Palestine refugees.
Emergency Operations
In June 2008, UNRWA has launched a special appeal for the reconstruction of Nahr el Bared camp and the surrounding areas. The amount appealed is $445 million through a multi-donor trust fund managed by the World Bank. It is anticipated that reconstruction works will commence in the coming months. UNRWA had also launched in September 2008, the Relief and Early Recovery Appeal for $43 million to continue to assist the displaced from Nahr el Bared until the reconstruction of the camp.
For more information about UNRWA programmes in Lebanon:
Mrs. Hoda Samra
UNRWA Public Information Officer
UNRWA Building (Opposite Sports City)
Bir Hassan, Beirut, Lebanon
P.O. Box 11-0947
Beirut 1107-2060 Lebanon
Telephone: 961-1-840490-5; 840461-5 Ext 314
Fax: 961-1-840468
e-mail: h.samra@unrwa.org
Updated in May 2009
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