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UNRWA - the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East - was established by General Assembly Resolution 302 in December 1949 to deliver humanitarian assistance to some 750,000 Palestinians who became refugees as a consequence of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, and their direct descendants. Reporting directly to the General Assembly, UNRWA began operations on 1 May 1950. In the absence of a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem, the General Assembly has renewed the Agency�s mandate every three years, most recently extending it to 30 June 2005.

Today, UNRWA provides education, health care, relief and developmental social services to approximately 4 million refugees in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The Agency�s headquarters are located inGaza (the office of the Commissioner-General and support services) and Amman (programmes and operational technical services), and there are five field offices based in Gaza, Jerusalem, Beirut, Amman and Damascus. UNRWA employs some 23,600 locally-recruited staff, mainly Palestine refugees themselves, and around 130 international staff. The Agency depends almost entirely on voluntary funding from donor States.

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LATEST NEWS

UNRWA Opens Nimreen Children�s Music Centre in Yarmouk [English] [Arabic]
Syria, 14 November 2004
UNRWA Receives US$ 60,000 in Emergency Assistance from Syrians [English][Arabic]Syria, 23 May 2004
UNRWA Displays Accomplishments at Open Day [English] [Arabic]
Syria, 3 June 2004
UNRWA Commissioner-General Allocates $3 Million in Additional Funding for Palestine Refugees in Syria [English] [Arabic]
Syria, 10 July 2005

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MISSION STATEMENT

UNRWA was created as a temporary organization to provide direct relief and longer-term works� programmes to the Palestine refugees, in collaboration with the local host Governments, without prejudice to the rights of the refugees to repatriation or compensation. In the 1950s, over two-thirds of the budget was spent on direct relief. Today, developmental programmes � especially preventive health care, education and training � account for the bulk of expenditure. Capacity building and improvement of living conditions are key priorities. However, UNRWA has also been called upon to mount emergency operations repeatedly over the years. Since October 2000, the urgent needs for humanitarian relief and reconstruction in the West Bank and Gaza have made compelling claims on the Agency�s resources.

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COUNTRY STRATEGY

UNRWA provides services to over 401,000 Palestinian refugees in Syria: in Damascus city and the surrounding countryside and in and around Aleppo, Lattakia, Hama, Homs and Dera�a. Facilities include 111 schools, a vocational and technical education centre, 23 health centres, 15 women�s programme centres and five centres for community-based rehabilitation of refugees with disabilities. The annual budget for these services is over US$ 26 million. In early 2003, the Agency will also launch a multi-million dollar micro-credit and micro-finance project, beginning with the Yarmouk quarter of Damascus, to promote economic independence and improved living standards for thousands of Palestinian refugees.

Additionally, the Agency receives important funding for extra-budgetary projects from local and international donors, totalling over US$ 17 million over the past four years. These projects have included: new and upgraded courses at the Damascus Training Centre ( information systems technology and financial management); an additional school in Husseinieh; new health centres in Khan Dannoun and Muzeireeb; water supply and sewage networks in refugee camps; a Community Centre in Qabr Essit; and low-income housing and related infrastructure in Ein el Tal and Neirab.

The Syrian, Palestinian and expatriate public in Syria have donated US$ 2.9 million to date to UNRWA�s emergency appeals for humanitarian aid in the West Bank and Gaza � a unique expression of popular support for the Agency and the Palestine refugees.

PROJECTS

The Neirab Rehabilitation Project is an integrated rehabilitation and development effort to improve the living conditions of some 13,000 Palestine refugees in Neirab and the nearby camp of Ein el Tal.

For a summary overview of the project, please click on one of the links below (4 page project brief in .PDF format, March 2004; English and Arabic)

For detailed description of the project, please click on the link below (48 page project document in .PDF format, April 2003; English only)

[Detailed English .PDF]

For information about UNRWA's other projects in Syria, please contact the office at the details below.

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PUBLICATIONS

The Syria Field Office produces a quarterly newsletter, Hand in Hand, to keep UNRWA staff and the refugee community informed of news and developments in the Agency�s programmes and services.