Kuwait reiterates importance of UNRWA, urges mandate renewal

Kuwait reiterates importance of UNRWA, urges mandate renewal

NEW YORK/AMMAN: Kuwait has called on the international community anew to provide funding for the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA in order to help protect Palestinians from poverty and unemployment, as well as provide basic needs. Supporting UNRWA will guarantee sustainable development for Palestinian refugees, Attache Mohammad Al-Sawwagh said, by investing in sectors of health and education as well as giving Palestinian refugees a chance to have a better future and decent life.

Sawwagh, addressing the UN General Assembly’s fourth committee late Tuesday to discuss UNRWA, reaffirmed Kuwait’s firm support for the UN agency and the Palestinian people. “The Palestinian cause is still at the centerstage of the Arab and Islamic worlds, and the question of Palestinian refugees is at its top,” he said, underlining the importance of the right of the Palestinians in line with UN General Assembly resolution 194 and the Arab peace initiative.

Sawwagh commended UNRWA workers who have been functioning in “difficult and extraordinary circumstances” to provide services to more than 5.7 million Palestinian refugees in its five operation zones. He rejected undermining the mandate of UNRWA or transferring its authorities to another agency. Sawwagh expressed concern over the “difficult conditions” in the Palestinian refugee camps, specially in