US shuts schoolhouse door on refugees

Nointernational institution has done as much for children’s schooling onthe ground for as long as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency forPalestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). And yet, no internationalorganisation has suffered an overnight funding cut as devastating as theone UNRWA now faces, after 70 years of serving the displaced and thedesolate.Today, some 60% of elementary- and middle-school childrenin Gaza attend UNRWA schools, their only schooling alternative beingmadrassas. Since Palestinian refugees do not enjoy legal protections oraccess to basic services under the Refugee Convention of 1951, thoseliving elsewhere also rely on UNRWA schools. More than half of the525,000 Palestinian refugees UNRWA supports live in Lebanon, Syria, andJordan.Yet the United States has now decided to withhold more thanhalf of its planned funding for UNRWA – $65mn of $125mn, which isalready far less than the $364mn delivered last year. The move will deala powerful blow to efforts to confront the education emergency theworld currently faces.Already, there are some 75mn children inconflict and emergency zones who have had their education disrupted.Another 30mn children – 10mn of whom are refugees – have been displaced,with most of them denied education. Add to that the 260mn school-agechildren who are not in school for other reasons, and the scale of theproblem is massive. Cutting UNRWA’s funding deepens this globaleducation crisis.And it is not just education that is at stake. Whenit was established in 1949, UNRWA offered a range of additionalservices, from food to healthcare, to some 750,000 Palestinians who hadbeen expelled from their homes and lands when Israel was established theprevious year. Over the last seven decades, the agency has helped morethan 5mn people, by running schools, staffing clinics, leadingsanitation efforts, and providing shelter for men, women, and childrenscattered across Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the occupied West Bank, and theGaza Strip.Even today, while schools account for more than half ofUNRWA’s programme budget, the agency provides other important servicesfor children and families, including humanitarian assistance andhealthcare, which accounts for 17% of its total budget. In 2016, itsclinics had 9mn patient visits.Thus, emergency assistance for 1.5mnPalestinians in Gaza and Syria is also at risk, as a result of thefunding cut. So, too, are the livelihoods of 60,000 Palestinianscurrently participating in UNRWA’s “Cash for Work” programme in the WestBank.Those who receive loans through the agency’s microfinancedepartment, which supports small local businesses, will also suffer, aswill the Palestinian refugees who comprise more than 95% of UNRWA’sroughly 30,000 employees, many of whom work to the limits of theirendurance. No one should take for granted the sacrifice UNRWA staffmake. In Syria, for example, 20 employees have lost their lives, andsome 25 others have gone (and remain) missing since the beginning of thewar in 2011.UNRWA now faces the gravest financial crisis in its70-year history, with a potential deficit this year as high as $446mn.While the agency receives contributions from more than 100 donors, 80%of UNRWA’s funding – a total income of nearly $1.25bn in 2016 – comesfrom just ten donors, with the US having long been the largestcontributor. The European Union is the second largest, contributing$143mn, and Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom are next, eachcontributing more than $60mn. But it would be difficult for thesecountries to fill the multi-million-dollar gap that the US cut creates.Allowingup to a half-million schoolchildren to be relegated to the streetswould mean creating a lost generation of children and exacerbatinginstability in the region. After all, beyond providing knowledge, UNRWAschools encourage civic engagement among young people, while helping toprevent child marriage, child labour, and child trafficking. Morefundamentally, they give children hope.Hope dies when boats capsizeat sea, when families freeze to death on hazardous mountain journeysinto exile, or when food convoys fail to make it to beleaguered townsand villages. But hope also dies when children find school gates locked,denying them the chance they deserve to plan and prepare for a future.Worsthit, both financially and in terms of service provision, would be therefugee community in Gaza, where the agency provides aid to nearly 75%of the population and accounts for one-sixth of gross domesticexpenditure. But in Syria, too, a half-million Palestinian refugees willlose some of the help on which they relied.To be sure, somecountries have already stepped up to the plate. Denmark, Finland,Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia,Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK have all agreed to front-load theirannual contributions. Several other countries are considering doing thesame. And, in order to maintain quality education for Palestinianrefugees, the Education Cannot Wait fund, established in 2016 to helpchildren displaced in emergencies, will seek to deepen its co-operationwith UNRWA.Yet measures like frontloading can take us only so far.If UNRWA does not receive additional bridge funding, it will run out ofmoney in the next few months.Pierre Krahenbuhl, UNRWA’scommissioner-general, is determined to continue UNRWA’s life-savingwork. Under the banner “Dignity is Priceless,” he is now asking all withthe means to provide the additional funding. One hopes that his callwill be heeded at this month’s planned ministerial roundtable in Rome,with countries advancing next year’s contributions, as we await a changeof heart by the US. Failure to bridge the funding gap would haveserious consequences not just for the Palestinian children who depend onUNRWA, but also for peace and stability in the region. – ProjectSyndicate* Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister and Chancellor ofthe Exchequer of the United Kingdom, is United Nations Special Envoy forGlobal Education and Chair of the International Commission on FinancingGlobal Education Opportunity. He chairs the Advisory Board of theCatalyst Foundation.