UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United Nations announced on Monday the creation of a working group on the internal functioning of its refugee agency (UNRWA), targeted by serious accusations over the alleged involvement of several of its agents in the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023 against Israel.
This group will be placed under the authority of former French Minister of Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna, specifies the UN in a press release.
He will work in collaboration with the Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Sweden), the Chr. Michelsen (Norway), and the Danish Institute for Human Rights.
Work will begin on February 14. The group will submit a progress report at the end of March to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Its conclusions are expected at the end of April and will be made public.
UNRWA’s procedures will be scrutinized in particular to ensure its “neutrality” and its risk management in this area, according to the press release.
This audit will complement the internal investigation carried out by the Commissioner General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, after the revelation at the end of January of Israeli information on the alleged participation of 12 agency employees in the deadly Hamas attacks.
Many donor countries have decided to suspend their funding to the UN agency, pending clarification.
UNRWA, founded in 1949 following the first Israeli-Palestinian war, helps Palestinian refugees with health, education, humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and in Liban.
Its role is decisive in assisting the populations of the Gaza Strip, under fire from the Israeli army since October 7. The agency employs 13,000 people in Gaza.
(Report by Michelle Nichols, French version by Sophie Louet, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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