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STORY: UN / UNRWA LAZZARINI PRESSER
TRT: 03:40
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 26 SEPTEMBER 2024, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
1. Wide shot, exterior flags outside UN Headquarters
2. Wide shot, press room dais
3. Med shot, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner general, UNRWA:
“We have today one million children below the age of 18, living in the rubble, deeply traumatised. Among them, we have 600,000 children of the age of primary and secondary school. They have already missed a full year.”
5. Med shot, journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner general, UNRWA:
“We should not make a mistake. These are not just attacks against UNRWA, they are attacks against the broader United Nations system, they are attacks against the broader international community. They aim first at stripping Palestinians from the refugee statue, but secondly also they aim at weakening or putting an end to the aspiration of the Palestinian for self-determination.”
7. Wide shot, press room dais
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner general, UNRWA:
“There are relentless efforts to outlaw UNRWA, to dismantle UNRWA, to eliminate UNRWA. We heard even at the beginning of the war that it became almost a war objective to get rid of UNRWA. Now, let's be clear. It has nothing to do with neutrality breaches. If there is neutrality breaches, they are here to be addressed.”
9. Med shot, journalist
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner general, UNRWA:
“The agency has a system which are much more robust than the average of any other agency operating in the region. But because of our footprint, because of the complex political environment, because of the emotional divide, also preventing in the region, much more needs to be undertaken and we have agreed on that. And today we are regularly reporting back to the donors.”
11. Med shot, journalists
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner general, UNRWA:
“If there is a will, we can make it happen. It was a complex operation, the polio campaign. Now, each of the partner had a different role to play. First, we had to bring the vaccine. We need the authorization of Israel. We have to make sure that the parties, fighters, whatever within Gaza, accept it be rolled out. We had UNICEF procuring the vaccine. We had the WHO providing the cold chain. But the one who administered the vaccine to the children below the age of ten, was primarily UNRWA.”
13. Wide shot, press room dais
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner general, UNRWA:
“I think it is shortsighted and naive to believe that if you get rid of UNRWA or dismantle UNRWA you will have no refugees anymore. UNRWA’s mandate is to provide these human development activities. Even if we stop providing these activities, even you should shut down all the school and all the and a primary health centre. You will still have Palestinian refugees. The provision of the services and the statute are two different issues.”
15. Wide shot, end of presser
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini today (26 Sep) said one million children below the age of 18 in Gaza are “living in the rubble, deeply traumatised,” among them, 600,000 school age children who “have already missed a full year” of education.
Lazzarini said, “we should not make a mistake. These are not just attacks against UNRWA, they are attacks against the broader United Nations system, they are attacks against the broader international community. They aim first at stripping Palestinians from the refugee statue, but secondly also they aim at weakening or putting an end to the aspiration of the Palestinian for self-determination.”
He said, “there are relentless efforts to outlaw UNRWA, to dismantle UNRWA, to eliminate UNRWA. We heard even at the beginning of the war that it became almost a war objective to get rid of UNRWA. Now, let's be clear. It has nothing to do with neutrality breaches.”
The Commissioner General explained that the agency “has a system which are much more robust than the average of any other agency operating in the region. But because of our footprint, because of the complex political environment, because of the emotional divide, also preventing in the region, much more needs to be undertaken and we have agreed on that. And today we are regularly reporting back to the donors.
On the polio vaccination campaign, coordinated with Israel, he said, “if there is a will, we can make it happen.”
The campaign, he said, “was a complex operation” involving the Israeli government and various UN agencies, “but the one who administered the vaccine to the children below the age of ten, was primarily UNRWA.
Lazzarini said, “I think it is shortsighted and naive to believe that if you get rid of UNRWA or dismantle UNRWA you will have no refugees anymore. UNRWA’s mandate is to provide these human development activities. Even if we stop providing these activities, even you should shut down all the school and all the and a primary health centre. You will still have Palestinian refugees. The provision of the services and the statute are two different issues.”
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