WASHINGTON, January 25, 2018 (WAFA) - The leaders of 21 international aid organizations sent a letter on Wednesday to top members of US President Donald Trump’s administration strongly protesting a US decision to slash $65 million in aid from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
“As leaders of organizations deeply involved in programs and advocacy surrounding international humanitarian response, we write to object in the strongest of terms to the decision to withhold $65 million of the planned United States contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA),” said the letter addressed to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster.
“We are deeply concerned about the humanitarian consequences of this decision on life-sustaining assistance to children, women and men in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” it said. “Whether it is emergency food aid, access to primary healthcare, access to primary education, or other critical support to vulnerable populations, there is no question that these cuts, if maintained, will have dire consequences.”
Even though US officials said the cut in aid was temporary until “reforms” are introduced to the UN refugee agency, Palestinians nevertheless accused the US of using the aid to extort political concessions from the Palestinian Authority on a settlement with Israel, a point the 21 leaders seem to agree with.
“We are particularly alarmed that this decision impacting humanitarian aid to civilians is not based on any assessment of need, but rather designed both to punish Palestinian political leaders and to force political concessions from them. This is simply unacceptable as a rationale for denying civilians humanitarian assistance, and a dangerous and striking departure from U.S. policy on international humanitarian assistance,” said the letter.
Eric Schwartz, president of Refugees International and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, said: “As reflected in comments by Ambassador Nikki Haley, this decision is aimed at punishing Palestinian political leaders and forcing them to make political concessions. But it is wrong to punish political leaders by denying life-sustaining aid to civilians. This is a dangerous and striking departure from U.S. policy on international humanitarian assistance which conflicts starkly with values that U.S. administrations and the American people have embraced. ”
Joel Charny, director of Norwegian Refugee Council in the USA and co-organizer of the letter with Refugees International, added: "It has been U.S. policy for decades that ‘a hungry child knows no politics,‘ as President Reagan stated to justify U.S. assistance to famine-affected Ethiopia in 1984. Aid to save lives and alleviate suffering should be provided solely on the basis of need and there is no justification for violating this principle in the case of Palestinians civilians."
The letter concluded by urging the Trump administration to “reconsider this unfortunate decision, which we believe undermines critically important values as well as U.S. leadership around the world.”
The letter was signed by leaders of American Friends Service Committee, Oxfam America, Mennonite Central Committee U.S., Church World Service, Catholic Relief Services, Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, Norwegian Refugee Council USA, Save the Children, Women’s Refugee Commission, International Rescue Committee, Zakat Foundation of America, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, HIAS, CARE USA, Amnesty International USA, Refugees International, American Relief Agency for the Horn of Africa, Global Communities, Mercy Corps, InterAction, and Islamic Relief U.S.
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