UN / UNRWA APPEAL

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) today launched an appeal for USD 500 million, following the decission of the United States to downscale its contribution to the Agency's fund. UNIFEED

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:08
• Production Date: 22 January 2018
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY FOR PALESTINE REFUGEES IN THE NEAR EAST - UNRWA
• Subject Topical: HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE; REFUGEES
• Geographic Subject: GAZA
• MAMS Id: 2079010
• Parent Id: 2079010
• Alternate Title: unifeed180122d

Description

STORY: UN / UNRWA APPEAL
TRT: 01:08
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTION: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 22 JANUARY 2018, NEW YORK CITY

Shotlist

RECENT – NEW YORK CITY

1. Exterior, United Nations Headquarters

22 JANUARY 2018, NEW YORK CITY

2. SOUNDBITE (English) UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl:
“You are aware that UNWRA has always faced financial circumstance, but there is no doubt that this one is unprecedented in scope and in nature.”
3. Wide shot, Krähenbühl talking via video conference
4. SOUNDBITE (English) UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl:
“The campaign we launched today “Dignity is Priceless” is a campaign that aims to mobilize 500 million dollars because we will really need a major shift in order to cover the grounds that needs to be covered this year.”
5. Wide shot, Krähenbühl talking via video conference
6. SOUNDBITE (English) UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl:
“It is very important to preserve humanitarian funding from political considerations. We fully accepted the sovereign decision of any country, including the United States to decide how much money will be contributed to a given humanitarian organizasion, to the UNWRA, but the principle of preserving it from political considerations should be established and we’ll certainly continue to follow that very closely.”
7.Wide shot, Krähenbühl talking via video conference

Storyline

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) today launched an appeal for USD 500 million, following the decission of the United States to downscale its contribution to the Agency's fund.

Speaking to reporters via videolink today (22 Jan) from Gaza, the Chief of UNRWA Pierre Krähenbühl said “UNWRA has always faced financial circumstance, but there is no doubt that this one is unprecedented in scope and in nature.”

He said the reason to launch the campaign “Dignity is Priceless” is because “we will really need a major shift in order to cover the grounds that needs to be covered this year.”

According to the United Nations, the funding crisis will put the education for 525, 000 students and access to health care and clinics at stake.

Asked about the US’s decision in cutting funding for his office, Krähenbühl said “it is very important to preserve humanitarian funding from political considerations,” adding that “we fully accepted the sovereign decision of any country, including the United States to decide how much money will be contributed to a given humanitarian organizasion, to the UNWRA, but the principle of preserving it from political considerations should be established and we’ll certainly continue to follow that very closely.”

The US administration recently announced its funding cutting for UNRWA from USD 360 million in 2017 to USD 60 million in 2018.