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Palestinian refugee agency still faces major challenges as situation in occupied territories worsens, Commissioner-General tells Fourth Committee; Presenting annual report, he cites Israeli military operations, funding shortfalls -- Part 2 of 2.

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M2 PRESSWIRE-31 October 2003-UN: Palestinian refugee agency still faces major challenges as situation in occupied territories worsens, Commissioner-General tells Fourth Committee; Presenting annual report, he cites Israeli military operations, funding shortfalls -- Part 2 of 2(C)1994-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

RDATE:10302003

PETER HANSEN, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, said that since September 2000, UNRWA had faced huge challenges in attempting to ameliorate the effects the intifada had had on the well-being of the Palestine refugees in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Agency had continued to provide services to Palestine refugees in all five fields of its operations, namely Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The UNRWA's regular programme of activities, he said, provided services to refugees in the education, health and social services. It also ran a self-sustaining microfinance and microenterprise programme. The UNRWA's education programme was its largest activity with 651 schools and 490,000 pupils. It also ran five secondary schools in Lebanon. The growing population required the Agency to build new schools each year.

Consistent under-funding had eroded its performance and the Agency was struggling to keep up with new requirements put into place by host countries to improve their curriculum, in particular through the compulsory introduction of computer science.

The UNRWA's health programme focused on the provision of primary health care, he continued. In attempting to do more with less, the Agency had implemented management reforms in areas regarding health information, hospital management and drug supply management. Cooperation with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society had improved the provision of cost-effective secondary health care in Lebanon. In Syria and Lebanon, major water and sewerage projects were under way to preserve a healthy environment for the refugees.

In the area of relief and social services, UNRWA attempted to address the needs of the most vulnerable among the refugee population, he said.

The Agency's special hardship programme was in increasing demand due to the difficult socio-economic situation in Jordan, continuing restrictions on employment of Palestine refugees in Lebanon and the crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory. The UNRWA's microfinance and microenterprise programme had been upgraded to a full Department and had expanded its activities into Jordan and Syria.

Concerning UNRWA emergency activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, he said the period covered by the report was characterized by a continuing decline in the economic situation in the occupied Palestinian territory. Real gross national income had declined by some 38 per cent since 1999, unemployment affected over 30 per cent of the working population, not including those who had abandoned the search for employment and were doing what the World Bank called "unpaid family labour". Some 200,000 jobs had been lost in Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territory. Approximately 60 per cent of the Palestinian population was living below the poverty line. "Macro statistics, bad as they are, do not do justice to the current plight of the Palestine refuges", he said.

The Agency had provided food aid, emergency employment, shelter repair and cash assistance, he said. Food distribution targeting some 127,000 families in the Gaza Strip and 90,000 in the West Bank had continued during the report period. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had been forced to...

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