Krähenbühl and Mneymneh Confirm Continuity of UNRWA Mandate

The Chairman of Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee, Former Minister Dr. Hassan Mneymneh, met at the Grand Serail, the General Commissioner of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Pierre Krähenbühl who is visiting Lebanon to check on the Agency’s work, in the light of the deficit it is undergoing due to lack of funding. 

 

Krähenbühl confirmed his continuous efforts to find a solution for this deficit, pointing out to the ongoing negotiations at the United Nations headquarters in New York with the Security Council Members in order to launch the Advisory Commission’s work suggested by Switzerland. “The Official Lebanese support for these negotiations is very important while the mandate matter is nowhere to be changed” said Krähenbühl. He added: “However, the core of the solution is to encourage all countries to provide voluntary assistance instead of looking for ways to decrease expenses. Efforts are still moving forward for receiving financial aids to rebuild Naher el-Bared Camp”. He stated: “We are working as well on giving the accreditation to Siblin Training Center”. 

 

Dr. Mneymneh stressed on the fact that no change shall be made to the mandate. “We believe that it is important for UN meetings to lead to more contributions in funding UNRWA, we are totally against decreasing expenses”. Mneymneh suggested that the Advisory Commission holds an extraordinary meeting to show the Europeans’ concern about this issue and he promised to study the accreditation matter with the competent institutions.