UN Agency Pledges to Open Schools for Half a Million Palestinian Refugees
Friday, 21 August 2015 00:00 By Kanya D'Almeida, Inter Press Service |
Report
Schoolgirls play with each other in Gaza. Scores of Palestinian children
and refugees are dependent on the international humanitarian community for
their education needs. (Photo: Mohammed Omer/IPS)
United Nations - Overcoming a serious funding shortfall, and caught between
numerous regional conflicts, the United Nation's humanitarian agency for
Palestinian refugees announced on Aug. 19 that it would nevertheless open
schools on time for the roughly half-a-million children who rely on the
international community for their education.
In a statement released today, the cash-strapped UN Relief and Works Agency
for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) promised to start the school
year on schedule, allowing over 500,000 kids in Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon
and Syria to return to their classrooms between Aug. 24 and Sept. 13.
Established in 1949 to address the needs of some five million Palestinian
refugees, UNRWA runs 685 schools across Gaza, the West Bank and neighboring
Arab countries.
"It is on the benches and behind the desks of UNRWA classrooms that millions
of Palestine refugees, deprived for so long of a just and lasting solution,
have built the capabilities and shaped the determination that enabled them
to become actors of their own destinies," the agency said in a press release
issued Wednesday.
For months both UNRWA and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have stressed the
importance of uninterrupted schooling for Palestinian refugees, and warned
of the risks of allowing a generation of young people to be forgotten.
Congratulating UNRWA on its tireless efforts, Ban said in a statement
Wednesday, "This achievement cannot be underestimated at a time of rising
extremism in one of the world's most unstable regions," adding: "[For
Palestine refugees] education is a passport to dignity. We must stand by
them and the agency that serves them."
Ban thanked member states for their contributions to UNRWA's coffers, which
include a 19-million-dollar contribution from Saudi Arabia and 15 million
dollars each from Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
To date, the agency has received contributions amounting to 78.9 billion
dollars, or just over 75 percent of the 101-million-dollar deficit. The
money will go towards fulfilling UNRWA's mandate of providing health care,
relief and social services, camp improvement and education.
Numerous obstacles stand between Palestinian children and their classrooms.
In documenting some of these challenges, the United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF) lists such issues as military incursions; demolitions of schools
buildings; restrictions on movement or limited access to school premises;
and damage and destruction of school property.
A 2013 UNICEF report entitled Education Under Occupation revealed that 38
schools serving approximately 3,000 children in Area C of the West Bank and
East Jerusalem "have been issued either verbal and/or written stop-work or
demolition orders by the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA)."
In the 2011-2012 period, UNICEF recorded 63 instances of "denial of access"
to education in the Occupied Territories, which affected over 34,000
Palestinian students.
During the seven-week-long conflict in Gaza last summer some 327 schools
were partially or completely obliterated, according to a 2015 UNICEF update,
stripping thousands of kids of their only protective environment.
The situation is even more precarious for Palestinian refugees, who are
often closer to the frontlines of conflict and thereby face greater risks in
their quest to gain a decent education.
For instance in the besieged Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria, home to an
estimated 16,000 Palestinians, all 28 schools have been closed and the only
education opportunities exist in the form of informal classes conducted by
volunteer teachers in 10 "safe spaces," according to a report by the
Guardian.
Edited by Kitty Stapp.
Visit IPS news for fresh perspectives on development and globalization.
KANYA D'ALMEIDA
Kanya D'Almeida is the Asia-Pacific regional editor for IPS-Inter Press
Service, and a freelance journalist currently based at the United Nations.
She has reported from Mexico, Sri Lanka and the United States. She splits
her time between her native Sri Lanka and New York City.
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UN Agency Pledges to Open Schools for Half a Million Palestinian Refugees
Friday, 21 August 2015 00:00 By Kanya D'Almeida, Inter Press Service |
Report
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Schoolgirls play with each other in Gaza. Scores of Palestinian
children and refugees are dependent on the international humanitarian
community for their education needs. (Photo: Mohammed Omer/IPS)
United Nations - Overcoming a serious funding shortfall, and caught
between numerous regional conflicts, the United Nation's humanitarian agency
for Palestinian refugees announced on Aug. 19 that it would nevertheless
open schools on time for the roughly half-a-million children who rely on the
international community for their education.
In a statement released today, the cash-strapped UN Relief and Works Agency
for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) promised to start the school
year on schedule, allowing over 500,000 kids in Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon
and Syria to return to their classrooms between Aug. 24 and Sept. 13.
Established in 1949 to address the needs of some five million Palestinian
refugees, UNRWA runs 685 schools across Gaza, the West Bank and neighboring
Arab countries.
"It is on the benches and behind the desks of UNRWA classrooms that millions
of Palestine refugees, deprived for so long of a just and lasting solution,
have built the capabilities and shaped the determination that enabled them
to become actors of their own destinies," the agency said in a press release
issued Wednesday.
For months both UNRWA and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have stressed the
importance of uninterrupted schooling for Palestinian refugees, and warned
of the risks of allowing a generation of young people to be forgotten.
Congratulating UNRWA on its tireless efforts, Ban said in a statement
Wednesday, "This achievement cannot be underestimated at a time of rising
extremism in one of the world's most unstable regions," adding: "[For
Palestine refugees] education is a passport to dignity. We must stand by
them and the agency that serves them."
Ban thanked member states for their contributions to UNRWA's coffers, which
include a 19-million-dollar contribution from Saudi Arabia and 15 million
dollars each from Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
To date, the agency has received contributions amounting to 78.9 billion
dollars, or just over 75 percent of the 101-million-dollar deficit. The
money will go towards fulfilling UNRWA's mandate of providing health care,
relief and social services, camp improvement and education.
Numerous obstacles stand between Palestinian children and their classrooms.
In documenting some of these challenges, the United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF) lists such issues as military incursions; demolitions of schools
buildings; restrictions on movement or limited access to school premises;
and damage and destruction of school property.
A 2013 UNICEF report entitled Education Under Occupation revealed that 38
schools serving approximately 3,000 children in Area C of the West Bank and
East Jerusalem "have been issued either verbal and/or written stop-work or
demolition orders by the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA)."
In the 2011-2012 period, UNICEF recorded 63 instances of "denial of access"
to education in the Occupied Territories, which affected over 34,000
Palestinian students.
During the seven-week-long conflict in Gaza last summer some 327 schools
were partially or completely obliterated, according to a 2015 UNICEF update,
stripping thousands of kids of their only protective environment.
The situation is even more precarious for Palestinian refugees, who are
often closer to the frontlines of conflict and thereby face greater risks in
their quest to gain a decent education.
For instance in the besieged Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria, home to an
estimated 16,000 Palestinians, all 28 schools have been closed and the only
education opportunities exist in the form of informal classes conducted by
volunteer teachers in 10 "safe spaces," according to a report by the
Guardian.
Edited by Kitty Stapp.
Visit IPS news for fresh perspectives on development and globalization.
Kanya D'Almeida
Kanya D'Almeida is the Asia-Pacific regional editor for IPS-Inter Press
Service, and a freelance journalist currently based at the United Nations.
She has reported from Mexico, Sri Lanka and the United States. She splits
her time between her native Sri Lanka and New York City.
Related Stories
United Nations Fails to Accommodate Lakota Genocide Complaint, UN Sends
Security Chief Instead of Diplomat to Meet Lakota Delegation
By Staff, Lakota Grandmothers | Press Release United Nations Calls for an
End to Industrialized Farming
By Maryam Henein, Truthout | Op-EdUnited Nations Panel Slams US Record on
Police Brutality, Torture, Child Migrants and Guantánamo
By Juan González, Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! | Video Report
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