Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomes UNESCO’s urgent response decision against the closure of UNRWA.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates welcomed the adoption by the UNESCO Executive Board, at its eighth extraordinary session, of a resolution on the importance of the role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and supporting the continuation of its work and mandate, especially in the field of education, which is one of the main axes of the work of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that this decision carries important dimensions related to the mandate of UNRWA and the areas of work of UNESCO in culture, education and science, which are values that Israel, the illegal occupying power, is constantly seeking to undermine, especially with regard to the rights of Palestinian refugees. The Ministry indicates that the illiteracy rate in Palestine is the lowest in the world, thanks to the efforts made by UNRWA in supporting education and providing educational opportunities for Palestinian children and youth and its refugees.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its deep appreciation to the countries that supported this resolution, whether by sponsoring it or voting in favor of it, and to the role of the sisterly Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, all Arab countries and friendly countries within UNESCO that held this extraordinary session, and to the tireless work and efforts made by our mission to UNESCO to negotiate the adoption of this resolution unanimously. Unfortunately, the positions of some countries prevented this consensus from being achieved, but the vote of 50 countries in favor of the resolution out of 58 countries is a new victory in support of the rights of Palestinian refugees and strengthening the role of UNRWA in this regard. It called on the countries that did not support the resolution, led by the United States, to reverse their positions and join the legal and moral majority supporting the work of the two organizations, UNRWA and UNESCO. In this context, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stresses that UNRWA cannot be replaced, reduced or prevented from working, as there is no entity that possesses the capabilities, expertise and institutional fabric that can replace UNRWA or compensate for its extensive knowledge and accumulated experience. The Ministry also calls on all countries and international actors to support and protect UNRWA’s mandate until the rights of Palestinian refugees are achieved and a just solution to their issue is reached, in accordance with international law and United Nations resolutions, especially Resolution 194, which guarantees the right of refugees to return to their homes from which they were forcibly displaced.