New Zealand has suspended funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), pending the release of the October report by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services surrounding allegations that the UN agency that assists Palestinians has engaged in "sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination and other abuses of authority, for personal gain, to suppress legitimate dissent, and to otherwise achieve their personal objectives," as previously reported by Al Jazeera.
"We expect UNRWA to cooperate fully with the investigation underway and to report back on the investigation's findings and recommendations," said the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in a statement.
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"The Ministry will review the findings of the UN OIOS report once the investigation is complete and, after that point, will provide advice to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on future funding."
New Zealand provided nearly $1.6 million to UNRWA between January and June.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl said that the organization needed $150 million in donations to keep it operating until the end of this year.
Krähenbühl said that Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Belgium had suspended their contributions to the organization while the UN investigation – on whose findings he promised to act – was underway.
"Our [2019] budget for all UNRWA operations in Gaza, the West Bank, east Jerusalem, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon is $1.2 billion. At this moment we have a remaining shortfall of $150 million," Krähenbühl said.
Last year the United States, UNRWA's biggest donor, said it was halting its aid of $360 million per year to what it called an "irredeemably flawed operation."
In May, US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt told the UN Security Council that UNRWA should be effectively dismantled. UNRWA's mandate, which has been repeatedly renewed by the UN General Assembly, runs until June 30, 2020.
"The vast majority of countries today are very clear about their support to UNRWA's mandate and their recognition that Palestinian refugees need to continue to be assisted, respected, and see their rights defended," said Krähenbühl.
Parts of this article were reprinted with permission from JNS.org.
