Sweden pauses aid to UNRWA – redistributed

Published 2024-01-30 17.33

share-arrowDela

unsaveSpara

Sida pauses payments to the UN aid organization Unrwa.

SEK 31 million is now redistributed to other aid organizations active in the area.

– It is a very wise decision, says Johan Forssell (M).

The aid organization Sida is stopping support for the UN’s refugee agency Unrwa, Minister for Aid Johan Forssell (M) says for Aftonbladet.

– The background is the serious information that we as a government take seriously. There is a lot here that we need to get to the bottom of, says Johan Forssell.

– It is a very wise decision. The money must go to serious actors and not come close to terrorism.

expand-left

full screenJohan Forssell (M). Photo: Fredrik Sandberg / TT

SEK 31 million will instead be redistributed to other humanitarian organizations operating in the area. Forssell mentions examples of actors such as the World Food Program and the Red Cross, but does not want to say exactly which ones.

– It is possible to find humanitarian actors other than UNRWA.

The money is part of a humanitarian pot that the government previously decided on but that Sida itself distributes.

No planned payouts

In December, the government allocated SEK 400 million to the UN organization. Forssell states that no Swedish core support to the organization will be paid out in 2024.

– We will carefully analyze the investigations that the UN and UNRWA will carry out. We will then make a decision depending on what emerges from the investigation. But there are no planned payouts until then.

Twelve employees of the UN aid agency UNRWA were fired after they were suspected of involvement in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, the UN announced on Friday. Several countries have since withdrawn their aid to the body, including the US, UK, France, Japan and Germany, pending an investigation.

expand-left

full screen A Palestinian woman stands with her family after fleeing the Palestinian refugee camp and waiting to be relocated with the help of Unrwa (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees). Photo: Mohammad Zaatari / AP

“At risk of total collapse”

The announcement that several countries have withdrawn aid to UNRWA has sparked reactions among aid organisations. Norwegian refugee aid, NRC, warned as recently as yesterday that the cutting of aid is now putting Palestinian lives at risk.

“States withdrawing aid affects life-saving assistance for over two million civilians, more than half of whom are children. The population is at risk of starvation and disease outbreaks,” writes NRC i a press release.

Above all, it is pointed out that other organizations cannot replace the work that Unrwa does for the people of Gaza.

“Unrwa is the largest humanitarian actor in Gaza and the delivery of humanitarian aid cannot be replaced by other organizations. If the aid freeze continues, there is a risk of a total collapse of the already limited humanitarian aid in Gaza”.

Peace laureate Beatrice Fihn calls Sweden’s decision “unfathomable”.

“Now Sweden is helping to prevent food and aid,” she signs X.

FACT

To Unrwa

UNRWA is a UN humanitarian agency and was founded in 1948 to help the more than 750,000 Palestinians who were forced to flee after the outbreak of war at the creation of Israel.

Today, the agency assists approximately 5.9 million Palestinian refugees and works with education, health care, humanitarian aid, social services and emergency assistance during times of armed conflict.

UNRWA is funded almost entirely by UN member states. Most support has previously come from, among others, the USA, Germany, the EU, Sweden and Norway.

Read more