UNHCR Archives - UN Watch

U.N.'s Own Audit Found UNRWA Vulnerable to "Graft and Corruption"

unwatch — Wed, 10 Jan 2018 12:58:45 +0000

A Palestinian woman takes part in a protest against possible reductions of the services and aid offered by United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), in front of UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City August 16, 2015.. (photo credit: REUTERS/MOHAMMED SALEM)

A flurry of statements and articles by Sweden, the New York Times, and Foreign Policy, want us to believe that a U.S. reduction in its $360 million annual funding of UNRWA would bring humanitarian disaster and threaten international peace and stability. But according to a little-known internal audit, the United Nations itself found that UNRWA was particularly vulnerable to “misappropriation, graft and corruption” in its “procurement, partner selection, food and cash distribution, hiring and promotions, and other areas.” The U.N. audit also found that UNRWA’s oversight arrangements were deficient.
The audit expressly criticized the lack of “periodic, unannounced direct inspections of UNRWA shelters and facilities, food distribution centres, schools, and clinics.”
Recent reports of UNRWA filling high level positions with senior Hamas members, such as Suhail al-Hindi, and Hamas terrorist rockets being stored in UNRWA schools, demonstrate that UNRWA’s lack of oversight continues to be a problem.
This might explain the latest scandal over UNRWA being found to have drastically inflated its count of Palesitinian refugees in Lebanon.
While UNRWA puts the number of refugees there at 450,000, a new census by the Lebanese government finds that the actual number is less than half —only 175,000.
The Lebanese census calls into question the accuracy of UNRWA’s refugee count across the region. Donors should demand a thorough audit and overhaul of UNRWA’s refugee rosters.
The U.S. is right to question UNRWA funding for other reasons, too.
Indeed, the majority of UNRWA’s 5 million refugees would not be considered refugees at all under UNHCR standards. Take for example the more than 2 million UNRWA refugees in Jordan most of whom, according to UNRWA, have full Jordanian citizenship. Or the 2.1 million UNRWA refugees in the West Bank and Gaza who enjoy exactly the same rights and privileges as non-refugee Palestinians residing in those areas. Former UNRWA General Counsel James Lindsay sharply criticized UNRWA’s practice of treating these people as refugees.
Significantly, of the original 750,000 Palestine refugees (using UNRWA’s numbers), only about 20,000 remain. The rest of UNRWA’s refugees are descendants of the original refugees, entitled to Palestine refugee status under UNRWA’s special rules (which are not the same as those of UNHCR). Contrast the mushrooming of Palestinian refugees under UNRWA’s policy—backed by Arab host countries (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt)—of keeping the Palestinians in a perpetual state of refugeehood with the fate of the Jewish refugees from that same conflict. Some 850,000 Jews became refugees as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict after they were expelled from Arab countries and Iran, but they were resettled in Israel and the West and are no longer refugees.
It is through UNRWA’s policies of refusing to resettle Palestinian refugees in host countries, extending refugee status to the descendants of the original refugees forever, and it’s active promotion of the refugees’ so-called “right of return,” that UNRWA engages as an active player in the conflict violating its neutrality and, contrary to the purposes of the UN Charter, ensures that the conflict will continue forever.
UNRWA’s Spokesman Chris Gunness reinforced UNRWA’s position on the “right of return” in a 2011 article in which he argued that folding UNRWA into the UNHCR would not eliminate the right of return for Palestinian refugees because they “are entitled to a just and lasting solution to their plight,” and in the absence of such a solution “their status as refugees will remain.”
Consistent with its anti-peace narrative, UNRWA is currently running a major campaign under the hashtag #stillrefugees devoted exclusively to blaming Israel for injustices suffered by Palestinian refugees.
Leading UNRWA scholar Einat Wilf has criticized the West’s funding of UNRWA for these very reasons.

UN Watch has also been a leading critic of UNRWA, particularly the lack of neutrality of its staff in violation of the UN Charter and UN Staff Rules of Conduct. Last year, UN Watch published two reports detailing more than 60 examples of incitement by UNRWA educational staff—one in February 2017 and one in April 2017. UNRWA has ignored the issue by teaching its staff what not to post on social media, instead of refraining from hiring anti-Semitic staff in the first place and training its staff to promote peace rather than conflict.

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Issue 73: Conference on the 1951 Convention on Refugees

unwatch — Wed, 19 Dec 2001 08:49:02 +0000

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) convened a conference last week of signatories to the 1951 Convention on Refugees. The resulting Declaration recognized the continued relevance of the Convention and renewed the commitment of the signatories to implement the Convention in full. Held just seven days after the contentious and counterproductive meeting on the Fourth Geneva Convention, the UNHCR conference offers a positive example of the affirmation of international law.

Analysis: The 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1948 Fourth Geneva Convention are cornerstones of international refugee and humanitarian law. Both conventions were reactions to the horrors of the Second World War, and are still relevant today in light of the numerous armed conflicts worldwide. The Refugee Convention defines who has refugee status, and delineates the rights and obligations of refugees within and to the state providing asylum. The Fourth Geneva Convention recalls the protections that civilians enjoy in times of war, and regulates the use of force against uniformed and non-uniformed combatants. A comparison of the two recent conferences on these conventions demonstrates the harmful effects of the politicization of international law.

Both of these conferences represented the first reconvening of signatories in fifty years. The UNHCR conference was part of a year-long Agenda for the Global Consultations on Refugee Protection. This campaign by High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers sought to create a forum for the discussion of pressing refugee issues, such as the distinction between refugees and economic migrants and the risk of terrorists posing as refugees. These questions about the optimal balance between national security and humanitarian interests concern all states. In contrast to the UNHCR meeting with its universal themes, the Fourth Geneva Convention conference was requested by the Arab League and targeted Israel specifically. The lack of neutrality or impartiality demeaned the Convention itself.

The levels of participation at the two conferences reflected the international community’s distaste for the politicization of international law. The UNHCR conference gathered nearly 90% of the signatories to the Refugee Convention, while only 60% of the signatories to the Fourth Geneva Convention attended that meeting. The level of representation demonstrated an even greater contrast. Seventy ministers attended the UNHCR meeting. The Jordanian Foreign Minister was the sole minister to attend the Fourth Geneva Convention conference.

A comparison of the conference results also reveals the harm caused by the abuse of international conventions. In the run-up to the UNHCR conference, three countries – Belarus, Moldova and Saint Kitts and Nevis – acceded to the Refugee Convention, strengthening it. Before the Fourth Geneva Convention meeting, three signatories publicly boycotted it, further weakening the legitimacy of its Declaration.

The UNHCR conference revitalized an important international convention and focused the efforts of the international community towards a common goal of universal humane treatment of refugees. States which have an interest in effective international legal regimes and good multilateral governance should work together to promote such constructive conferences and to prevent harmful politicized meetings.

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Issue 60: Ruud Lubbers Succeeds Sadako Ogata as UN High Commissioner for Refugees

unwatch — Wed, 17 Jan 2001 08:07:38 +0000

News: Ruud Lubbers, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, recently succeeded Sadako Ogata as High Commissioner for Refugees.

Analysis: This transition takes place during the 50th anniversary of the UNHCR, and perhaps the jubilee year is an appropriate time to reflect on the accomplishments of and challenges facing the agency.

Mrs. Ogata will prove to be a difficult act to follow. She has very successfully managed one of the most immense and demanding operations in the UN system, as the voice of some 22.4 million asylum-seeking people whose “country of origin has proved itself unable or unwilling to protect” their basic rights. The UNHCR is confronted with a daunting task, yet it has done remarkably well in minimizing the human toll of displacement.

As international conflicts become less common in our era, supplanted by internal ones (civil wars, ethnic strife, etc.) with the many refugees they create, the UNHCR finds its responsibilities ballooning. Simultaneously, its budget has been reduced in recent years (from more than $1 billion in 1998 to $824.7 million in 2000). The agency has nevertheless maintained its high level of performance, even while its personnel have been physically attacked in some countries.

The UNHCR came under fire in 1998, following a series of criticisms published in a prominent newspaper, alleging that the agency had mismanaged funds and lost its sense of purpose. However, UNHCR spokespeople provided pointed and effective counter-arguments, proving the accusations to be both alarmist and lacking in perspective. The overwhelming support of the UNHCR by Member States during the affair attests to the high esteem in which they hold the agency.

Mr. Lubbers, also president of the World Wildlife Fund, has a long history of humanitarian involvement. He will face many challenges as High Commissioner, including increasing numbers of refugees from the complex conflict in Africa’s Great Lakes region, the resettling of Tajik refugees in neighboring states, and raids on UNHCR supplies in Guinea.

He should also examine issues sometimes overlooked, including internally displaced persons, some 6 million of whom fall under UNHCR’s mandate; environmental degradation caused by the concentration of people in refugee camps; improvement in the security of UNHCR personnel in the field; and problems specific to women and children, who compose three-quarters of refugee populations worldwide.

If Mr. Lubbers follows the high standards of efficiency, integrity and competence as set by Mrs. Ogata, then the UNHCR will continue to be a cornerstone of the UN’s humanitarian efforts.

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