As Philippe Lazzarini prepares to conclude his tenure as commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), he issues a stark warning about the agency's precarious future. In a powerful statement, Lazzarini describes how UNRWA has endured more than two years of relentless physical, political, and legal attacks, primarily in Palestine, pushing it to breaking point.
Unprecedented Violence Against UN Personnel
Lazzarini reveals shocking statistics about the violence targeting UNRWA staff. In December 2023, he reported 130 personnel killed in Gaza, a number that has since tripled to more than 390 deaths. Many others have sustained life-changing injuries, been arbitrarily detained, or tortured. Hundreds of UNRWA premises in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, while the agency's headquarters in East Jerusalem was seized, looted, and set on fire.
Systematic Campaign to Eliminate UNRWA
The Israeli parliament has adopted legislation to end UNRWA's presence in occupied East Jerusalem, forcibly shutting schools and health clinics while cutting off water and electricity to agency premises. Lazzarini describes a well-orchestrated disinformation campaign by the Israeli government alleging agency-wide neutrality breaches, despite UNRWA remaining a major provider of primary healthcare, education, clean water, sanitation, and hygiene services in Palestine.
"It is incomprehensible that a UN entity has been allowed to be crushed as UNRWA has, in violation of international law, with total impunity," Lazzarini states, emphasizing that staff and Palestinian communities are paying an unacceptable price.
Broader Implications for Regional Stability
Lazzarini warns that eliminating UNRWA has become an explicit objective of the war in Gaza because the agency's registration of refugees and archives documenting their historical displacement are intrinsic to protecting Palestinian rights in final status determinations. He urges UN member states to leverage UNRWA's workforce and expertise to avoid repeating the disastrous mistake of removing the entire civil administration in Iraq in 2003.
Dire Consequences of Agency Collapse
Without immediate and robust political and financial support, UNRWA will soon reach the end of its viability. A disorderly collapse would fuel insecurity, placing full responsibility for delivering services to Palestinian refugees on Israel as the occupying power while foisting an enormous burden on Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan as host countries.
"The suffering of Palestinian refugees, who have endured generations of displacement and destitution, would be compounded," Lazzarini emphasizes.
Failure of International Community
Lazzarini expresses dismay that despite UNRWA's crucial role, the agency has not been adequately protected by the international community. Instead, it has become a proxy battleground in the Israel-Palestine conflict, pronounced guilty until proven innocent. He argues that the abject failure to muster an effective multilateral and international law-based response in Gaza has normalized disdain for the rules-based international order.
The outgoing commissioner-general concludes with an urgent call to action: "We must act – not belatedly, but now – to mobilize a broad coalition determined to uphold international law and to defend multilateralism." He warns that UNRWA's potential collapse would have devastating consequences not only for millions of refugees but for regional peace and stability, and for the rights-based international framework that has been painstakingly built over decades.
