Agencies-Gaza post
EU delegation visits Baqa’a refugee camp in Jordan, calls to support UNRWA
High-level representatives from the European Union, guided by Carl Hallergard, Deputy Managing Director in the Middle East and North Africa Department of the European External Action Service, attended by Maria Hadjitheodosiou, European Union (EU) Ambassador to Jordan, visited Baqa’a refugee camp in Jordan on 4 June, where at least 130,000 recorded Palestine refugees live.
The commission was informed by staff and legatees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and called for support for the UN agency. The commission also included members from the office of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs.
Components of the delegation were greeted by the Director of UNRWA Affairs in Jordan, Marta Lorenzo, on behalf of the UNRWA Commissioner-General, Phillipe Lazzarini, and were reported on the Agency’s education program, highlighting the need for Palestine refugee scholars to keep up with technological outcomes and digitalization in education. The commission met with students from the UNRWA student parliament and had a lively exchange with them with questions focused on the most recent changes in education and the learning process.
The delegation then visited the UNRWA health center where they were informed about the Agency’s health schedule, its achievements, and challenges and met with beneficiaries. The commission toured the camp and was briefed on the Agency’s vital services, including solid waste management and environmental challenges. The meeting also included a visit to one of the shelters where some members met with a family registered in the UNRWA Social Safety Net and exchanged conversations on the needs of vulnerable families, most importantly the rehabilitation of their zinc-roof shelters.
Lorenzo communicated her appreciation of the historical partnership between the EU and UNRWA, as well as the support developed for Palestine refugees. She called for the international donor community to fund UNRWA so that it could continue with its vital services to Palestine refugees in the region while highlighting the EU’s newly declared proposal for a three-year multiyear contribution of EUR 246 million to the Agency.
The European Union’s representatives highlighted the significance of continuing to fund the vital services UNRWA provides to around 5.8 million Palestine refugees in the Agency’s five fields of operations in Jordan, and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Gaza, and Lebanon, and Syria.
The EU commission came to Jordan in the context of the Association Council to establish new Partnerships Priorities between the EU and Jordan in which the two groups emphasized the crucial role of UNRWA for security and strength in the region, in accordance with its UN mandate, and said their commitment to resume supporting the Agency. In this regard, the EU recognized the EU and UNRWA Joint Declaration of 17 November 2021.
Source: WAFA
