The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has warned that it is on the verge of collapse, calling for an amendment of its funding model to make up a severe shortage in funding over the last few years.
The UNRWA Commissioner-General Philip Lazzarini stressed, according to what was quoted by the British newspaper "The Guardian" on Friday, that his agency is going through an "existential crisis", not only because of a $100 million gap in its budget this year but also because the funding model becomes outdated.
The long-range funding model has proven unsustainable and inadequate in the future.
Lazzarini pointed out that the "UNRWA" is forced to take severe austerity measures in order to continue to perform its mission.
He called for the transfer of the Agency's core budget of $800 million to a "more predictable basis."
The Commissioner-General of the confirmed that a special conference will be held in Brussels, the capital city of Belgium, this month, where international donors will be offered to abandon the UNRWA funding model through annual contributions.
Lazzarini touched on the decision of Britain, which in 2020 was the third-largest donor to the agency, to reduce its contributions to its budget by more than two times this year.
He warned that this decision directly affected the UNRWA budget.
He said that the vanishing of funds had a negative humanitarian impact which leaves devastating consequences on human development, and according to the agency's estimates, this funding cut is equivalent to educating millions of boys and girls in schools.
As for the Arab Gulf states, their contributions to the Agency’s budget have witnessed a gradual decline in recent years, from $200 million in 2018 to $87 million in 2019, 37 million in 2020, and only $20 million so far year.
The Guardian explained that Lazzarini arrived in London in an effort to persuade the British government to review its decision to reduce its funding to the agency.
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