UNRWA Delegation Meets OIC Officials, Seeking Funding For Palestinians

Jeddah, 7 Jumadil Akhir 1438/6 March 2017 (MINA) – A delegation from the Advisory Commission of the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) held consultations with the senior officials of General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah on Saturday.

The consultations focused on finding possible ways to boost financial contributions to support UNRWA’s budget and mobilize enough financial resources to serve Palestinian refugees, IINA News reported.

During the meeting, OIC Assistant Secretary General for Palestine and Al-Quds Affairs Ambassador Samir Bakr emphasized the importance of UNRWA’s role as a demonstration of the humanitarian obligation as well as the political and legal responsibility of the international community toward the issue of Palestinian refugees.

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He also assured of OIC’s continued support for UNRWA to play its vital role, in line with the mandate given to it by the UN General Assembly to serve this large segment of Palestinians, and keep their vital issue alive and active, as part of UN’s responsibility until it is resolved in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions.

For his part, OIC Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian, Cultural and Social Affairs Ambassador Hesham Yousef assured of the Organization’s readiness to cooperate with UNRWA to organize some activities to boost member states’ response to the Agency’s growing needs by increasing their financial contributions to its budget, pursuant to the resolutions of the Islamic Summit and Council of Foreign Ministers.

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The UNRWA delegation gave a detailed explanation of the past role and efforts of the Advisory Commission.

The discussions also tackled several proposals that would be included in the report to be submitted by the Commission to the UN Secretary General in mid-March 2017.

The delegation was headed by Assistant Director General and Head of the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit (SHA) Ambassador Manuel Bessler, in partnership with Director General for Multilateral Political Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Turkish Ambassador Hasan Ulusoy, and Director of UNRWA operations in Gaza Bo Schack, in addition to several other officials.(T/R04/P2)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)