Luxembourg Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Jean Asselborn will travel to Rome this Thursday 15 March 2018 to attend the extraordinary ministerial conference of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
While the agency is experiencing the worst financial crisis in its history, following the budget cuts decided by the US administration, the extraordinary conference, co-chaired by the foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt and Sweden will aim to re-mobilise the international community around the protection of the rights and dignity of Palestinian refugees.
In the presence of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, the exchange of views will be an opportunity to recall the importance of funding the agency, as well as the predictability, flexibility and sustainability of its resources.
The agency's serious budget deficit - aimed at meeting the basic needs of Palestinian refugees in terms of health, education, humanitarian aid, and social services - may result in the closure of more than 700 UNRWA schools in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, depriving nearly 525,000 children of education. It may also deprive 3.5 million Palestinian refugees of their health services.
In addition to the conference, Jean Asselborn will use the opportunity offered by the presence of numerous counterparts to multiply bilateral talks and take stock of current regional and international political events.
