UNRWA.

• Position: United Nations Relief and Works Agency

UNRWA

United Nations aid to Palestine refugees began in 1948 when the General Assembly established the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine. The Assembly established the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in 1949. Since May 1950, the Agency, supported by voluntary contributions, has provided relief, education, training and other services to Arab refugees from Palestine. In 1967 UNRWA's functions were expanded to include humanitarian assistance, as far as practicable, on an emergency basis and as a temporary measure, to other displaced persons in serious need of immediate assistance as a result of hostilities.

The Special Political Committee considered a number of reports on UNRWA's activities, among them, the annual Report of the Commissioner-General of UNRWA (document A/38/13). In it, Commissioner-General Olof Rydbeck reviews Agency activities between 1 July 1982-30 June 1983, a period marked by intense relief efforts in Lebanon following the invasion of that country by Israel in June 1982.

He reports that the situation in Lebanon had necessitated an emergency relief and reconstruction operation to meet the needs of some 177,500 Palestine refugees and to restore the Agency's own infrastructure, which was damaged or destroyed during the fighting.

Shortly after the invasion, the Commissioner-General issued an appeal to Governments and non-governmental organizations for contributions for emergency relief. The estimated cost from June 1982 to July 1983 for such relief was $52.7 million. Generous donations from Governments, the European Community, United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations, and the drawing-down of existing UNRWA stocks of foodstuffs and materials enabled the Agency to almost cover the expenditure, the report states. The balance of some $1 million was to be provided from the regular Agency income.

Contributions strictly applicable to the year's programmes were significantly below those of 1982 at the time the Commissioner-General prepared the report. However, since cash had been received against pledges from previous years, a major financial crisis that could have threatened the continuation of priority programmes had not occurred.

Regarding UNRWA's emergency operation in Lebanon, Mr. Rydbeck reports that the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June 1982 and its consequences "largely undid the Agency's work of 30 years in Lebanon and transformed the...