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Indonesia reaffirms support for UN body advocating for Palestinian refugees: Minister
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Palestinians, whose houses were destroyed during the 2014 war, sit at a United Nations-run school to protest against the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East’s (UNRWA) decision to stop paying rents in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday. The United States, which was the biggest donor, stopped its funding of the UNRWA in August. (Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)
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s a long-standing advocate for Palestine, Indonesia has reaffirmed its support for Palestinians by assisting the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) – a UN agency taking care of Palestinian refugees.
Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said in a briefing on Thursday that she had a virtual conversation with UNRWA commissioner general Philippe Lazarini on Tuesday, during which the latter appreciated the continued support of Indonesia toward the agency, both political and financial.
“Aside from congratulating him on his new appointment as commissioner general, I reaffirmed Indonesia’s support for the continued work of the UNRWA to better address the refugees’ humanitarian situation,” Retno said.
In this regard, the two counterparts spoke about the need to build a more effective and efficient UNRWA as well as efforts to revitalize the organization through system-wide reform and improved management transparency.
“I reaffirmed Indonesia’s commitment to continue [Indonesia's] funding for the UNWRA,” Retno said, adding that several Indonesian humanitarian NGOs and philanthropists had also extended their financial support to the body.
Read also: Love for the motherland: Homesick Palestinians extol Indonesian support
Retno said she also confirmed Indonesia’s participation in the upcoming UNRWA Extraordinary Virtual Ministerial Pledging Conference later this month.
Founded in 1949, the UNRWA was created to support the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. Its definition of "refugee" covers Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1948 Palestine War, 1967 Six-Day War and their patrilineal descendants.
Currently, the organization provides wide-ranging advocacies including in education, health care and other social services to more than 5 million Palestinian refugees spread across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Indonesia has been consistently vocal in helping Palestine. Recently, Retno sent letters to at least 30 of her counterparts around the world, urging them to reject the Israeli government’s plan to annex a large part of the West Bank.
In Thursday’s briefing, Retno said that, on top of the financial support to the UNRWA, Indonesia was also committed to extending financial assistance to Palestine and humanitarian institutions, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
