UNGA79: FOURTH COMMITTEE – UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY FOR PALESTINE REFUGEES IN THE NEAR EAST (ITEM 49)
STATEMENT DELIVERED BY ALICE VOLKOV, POLITICAL ADVISER, AUSTRALIAN PERMANENT MISSION TO THE UNITED NATIONS
15 November 2024
Thank you Chair,
Let me start by thanking Commissioner-General Lazzarini for briefing the committee on Wednesday.
UNRWA does vital, life-saving work.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic.
Only UNRWA has the mandate and infrastructure to receive and distribute aid at the scale needed.
That is why successive Australian governments have funded UNRWA since 1951.
It is why we doubled our contribution to UNRWA in 2022.
It is why we voted in favour of General Assembly resolution 77/123 renewing UNRWA’s mandate until 2026.
And it is why Australia joined with Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom to express our opposition to the Israeli Knesset’s plans to prohibit UNRWA’s presence in Israel.
We also associate ourselves with the 30 October UN Security Council statement expressing grave concern over the legislation adopted by the Israeli Knesset, and urging Israel to abide by its international obligations.
Chair,
The allegations regarding UNRWA staff involvement in October 7 were grave and warranted an immediate and appropriate response, which is why Australia paused funding.
Australia resumed our funding based on the steps taken to strengthen the integrity of UNRWA operations.
This included the OIOS investigation, and decision to terminate the employment of individuals where evidence found they may have been involved in the abhorrent 7 October terror attacks.
And the Colonna review, which found that UNRWA was 'indispensable' and had robust principles and processes to safeguard neutrality.
Australia, alongside partners, continues to push the UN and UNRWA to implement reforms and recommendations from the two investigations.
UNRWA must continue to do all it can to ensure the highest standards of governance and accountability are met.
We once again condemn in the strongest possible terms the brutal and unjustified terror attacks by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Yet Palestinian civilians cannot be made to pay the price of defeating Hamas.
It is crucial that UNRWA and other UN organizations and agencies be fully able to deliver humanitarian aid and their assistance to those who need it most, fulfilling their mandates effectively.
Thank you.