United Nations, Feb. 5 (EFE) – UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres announced Monday that an independent panel has been appointed to evaluate how the agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has guaranteed neutrality in its operations.<\/p>
Neutrality is one of the four core humanitarian principles, along with humanity, impartiality and independence, that the United Nations says should guide the work of all humanitarian agencies.<\/p>
Former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna will lead the panel, which will work with three Scandinavian research organizations: the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Norway, and the Danish Institute for Human Rights, and will deliver a preliminary report to Guterres in March 2024 and a final public report in April. <\/p>
The review was commissioned at the request of UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini in mid-January in response to allegations that Hamas was using UNRWA resources and facilities for military purposes, a week before Israel made the explosive accusation that UNRWA staff had been directly involved in the Oct. 7 massacre.<\/p>
Israel accused one UNRWA worker of kidnapping a woman, another of helping to remove the body of a soldier and distributing ammunition, a third of participating in the massacre at Kibbutz Beeri, and nine others of assisting Hamas during that day and in the days following the attack, in which more than 1,100 people – mostly civilians – were killed and 240 others kidnapped, according to the latest figures released by Israeli authorities. <\/p>
Guterres noted in a statement that the allegations “come at a time when UNRWA, the largest UN organization in the region, is working under extremely challenging conditions to deliver life-saving assistance to the 2 million people in the Gaza Strip who depend on it for their survival amidst one of the largest and most complex humanitarian crises in the world.” <\/p>
Israel’s accusations prompted 18 countries – including the United States, Japan, Germany and France – to announce the suspension of their contributions to the agency, which has said it will run out of funds before the end of the month.<\/p>
The panel’s task will be to “identify the mechanisms and procedures that the Agency currently has in place to ensure neutrality,” to find out whether or not these have been “implemented in practice,” to assess whether they are “fit for purpose,” and to “make recommendations for (their) improvement and strengthening, if necessary.” <\/p>
Throughout the review, the pale must take into account “the particular operational, political and security context in which the Agency works.”<\/p>
The investigation will be conducted in parallel with the probe by the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) into the 12 UNRWA staff members accused of involvement in the Oct. 7 attacks, which Guterres said could yield results within two to three weeks.<\/p>
“The cooperation of the Israeli authorities, who made these allegations, will be critical to the success of the investigation,” Guterres warned.EFE <\/p>
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