UN Secretary-General Demands More Money for Palestinian Refugee Agency Over U.S. Objections

Despite strong objection by the United States, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has produced a report proposing an increase in mandatory funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). In 2016, UNRWA had an annual budget of $757,699,000, of which 47% or $359,498,574 came in the form of voluntary contributions by the United States. Currently, only $28 million dollars of the whole UNRWA budget comes from mandatory or "assessed" contributions by UN member states. The Secretary-General is seeking major changes to this formula and to force a significant increase in mandatory contributions.

Specifically, Guterres asks member states to increase mandatory funding of "the Agency's core operations" which he says amount to "up to $100 million of its annual expenditures." According to the UN's distribution of mandatory or assessed contributions, 22% of the increase would end up coming from U.S. taxpayers. Moreover, Guterres demands massive flexibility in deciding how the money should be spent. In his words, the increase of mandatory funding should "be done in a manner that is consistent with the broad discretionary powers vested in [UNRWA's] Commissioner-General."

The Secretary-General's proposal was discussed by the General Assembly on May 16, 2017. The U.S. representative said the proposal ran counter to America's efforts to cut costs at the UN, and threatened to cut voluntary contributions to UNRWA if the proposal to increase funding from the regular budget was adopted. Australia, Canada, and the U.K. voiced similar objections.

Backing the Secretary-General's proposal were Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Cuba, and Iceland on behalf of Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.

In the 2014 Gaza war, UNRWA facilities were used to store weapons. UNRWA staff have been repeatedly caught inciting violence. And an UNRWA official has recently been elected to a leadership position in the terrorist group HAMAS. None of that prevented UNRWA's Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl, from voicing his support for the funding increase to be dispensed at his discretion, with this claim: "UNRWA has developed the most structured and robust approach to managing neutrality across the UN family."