Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium announced this week that they have frozen funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, after leaked details from an ethics report revealed alleged mismanagement and abuse of authority at the agency’s highest levels.
Sigrid Kaag, the Dutch minister of development cooperation, said the Dutch contribution of $14.5 million to UNRWA would be placed “on hold until we have received a satisfactory response from the UN in New York”.
The Swiss foreign ministry said it had already made its annual contribution of $22.5m to UNRWA, but that it was “suspending any additional contributions” to the agency, pending the findings of UN investigators examining the ethics report.
Belgium’s Minister of Development Alexander De Croo told Belgian new magazine Knack on Thursday that it is suspending its funding to the organisation, referring to an additional contribution of $5.35 million.
A leaked internal report by UNRWA’s own ethics department includes allegations of sexual misconduct, nepotism and discrimination. Media reports suggest the head of the agency, Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl is at the centre of the allegations.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon said the report was “alarming, but not surprising”. He said the international community: “Must immediately suspend the budgets assigned to the agency. The aid money should be gradually transferred to the UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees), instead of helping the UNRWA leadership continue engaging in a series of ethical offences”.
