Development Sweden #62 Why Sweden should resume the support to UNRWA
A newsletter on Swedish development cooperation and policy
Dear readers, Welcome to a new issue of Development Sweden. The Somali government’s decision to declare the counsellor and head of Swedish Development Cooperation Anna Saleem Högberg persona non grata has created quite a fuss and our news have circulated widely, both in Somalia and Sweden. We will get back to Somalia in upcoming issues of Development Sweden. In this issue Johan Schaar argues as why Sweden should restart the funding of UNRWA, the newly elected general secretary of Swedish Afghanistan Committee outlines the plans for the future and the Swedish government has (finally some might say) decided to put a break on the cooperation with state actors in Rwanda.
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Editor-in-Chief, Global Bar Magazine
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Editor, Development Sweden
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Our headlines
Opinion: Time for Sweden to change its mind on UNRWA
Rwanda: Sweden stops new agreements with the state
SAK: ”We continue to fight for the women of Afghanistan”
The Per Anger Prize to Ana Ruth García
Opinion: Time for Sweden to change its mind on UNRWA
Despite Israel's decision, UNRWA continues to operate. Everything indicates that resumed Swedish support to UNRWA will continue to be of great benefit, so I hope the government will reconsider its decision. So writes Johan Schaar, former head of Swedish aid to Palestine.
The situation for the civilian population in Gaza and the West Bank is catastrophic and getting worse. So, say the Palestinians I meet in Jerusalem and Ramallah. Dozens are killed every day in Israeli attacks in Gaza, news that is falling further and further down the headlines. In the West Bank, the Israeli military is systematically destroying homes, electricity, and water lines in refugee camps, rendering them uninhabitable, without any action from the outside world. Palestinians feel abandoned.
But life must go on, including the health care, education, and emergency aid on which the refugees depend and which, since 1949, has been provided by UNRWA on behalf of UN member states, despite attempts by the Israeli Knesset to stop its activities.
In an interview with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Benjamin Dousa, published in Aftonbladet on 6 April, he expressed legitimate outrage at Israel's unlawful cut-off of humanitarian aid to Gaza and the killing of Palestinian Red Crescent aid workers. His recent visit to Palestine has also led him to express his understanding that the Israeli occupation is the fundamental obstacle to the development of Palestine, which he also expressed from the floor of Parliament.
In the interview, he opens up for a reconsideration of the government's heavily criticised decision to cut off core support to UNRWA if circumstances change. A decision that was contrary to Sweden's explicit support for UNRWA in the UN and the EU. The aid minister's fear was that Swedish money would end up unused in a bank account because of Israel's actions against UNRWA. But no money is stuck in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, where UNRWA also works for Palestinian refugees.
Israel has ordered UNRWA schools to close in annexed East Jerusalem, but on Sunday I saw UNRWA clinics and schools open in Ramallah in the West Bank. Women packed for weeks of classes were entering the UNRWA Women's Vocational Training Centre, operating since 1962 as the first of its kind in Palestine.
UNRWA also continues to operate in Gaza. Other UN agencies are still dependent on UNRWA's logistics and infrastructure. The UN agencies to which Sweden has instead directed aid cannot replace UNRWA, as they themselves have declared, either in Gaza or elsewhere.
The accusations levelled by Israel against UNRWA were rejected by the independent investigation in which the Swedish Raoul Wallenberg Institute participated. It found that UNRWA has the most extensive procedures within the UN system to ensure its neutrality.
UNRWA's core activities cover areas prioritised in Swedish aid policy, such as women's health and education.
Israeli scholar Maya Rosenfeld recently wrote in Ha'aret's Hebrew edition that UNRWA must become a key player in rebuilding the education sector in Gaza. She argues that the attacks on UNRWA are part of Israel's strategy to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state. The generations of Palestinian refugees who have been educated in UNRWA schools – with recognised high-quality teaching – have been given a firm foundation to stand on, despite their vulnerability. The tens of thousands of teachers, engineers and doctors who got their start in UNRWA schools bear witness to this.
Much more than the vital emergency aid to Gaza is at stake when aid to UNRWA is cut. Thousands of Palestinian UNRWA employees must be paid for the work they do on our behalf. The circumstances are different from those cited by the government for ending aid. The decision should be reconsidered, everything indicates that resumed Swedish support to UNRWA will continue to be of great benefit, now and for a future Palestinian state.
Johan Schaar
Served at the Swedish Consulate General in Jerusalem 2013-17.