International
After US aid cut, Belgium pledges $23m to UN refugees agency
Relief has come the way of refugees in want after Belgium pledged to donate 19million euro ($23m) to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, or UNRWA.
Alexander De Croo, the Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium made the pledge in a statement on Wednesday revealing that Brussels would allocate the funds over three years.
The first annual payment is being disbursed immediately “considering the financial difficulties that UNRWA currently faces”, the statement said.
Read also: 16-yr-old Palestinian activist charged for slapping Israeli police officer
“I have a lot of respect for UNRWA’s work, which has to operate in the most difficult and dangerous circumstances,” De Croo said in his statement.
“Living conditions in Gaza, Syria, the West Bank and elsewhere in the region are particularly tough,” he added.
“For a lot of Palestinian refugees the UNRWA is the last life buoy. With the help of UNRWA half a million of Palestine children are able to go to school. This prevents them from falling prey to radicalisation and extreme violence.”
The announcement came after Washington informed on Tuesday that it is withholding $65m out of the $125m aid package earmarked for UNRWA, which amounts to funding to the agency by half.
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