UNRWA: Establishment and Cooperation

The 1948 war displaced large numbers of Palestinians. The UN Economic Survey Mission for the Middle East's first interim report in 1949 recalled earlier UN responses to mediator Folke Bernadotte's appeal and successor Ralph Bunche's reports. Secretary-General Trygve Lie sought national contributions for clothing, food and temporary shelter. Relief eased the disaster but short-term donations alone could not resolve continued loss of livelihoods.

Gordon Clapp chaired the survey mission sent by the Palestine Conciliation Commission. Its report, signed in Beirut on November 6, 1949, proposed involving refugees able to work in useful public works while continuing relief for those in need. It also explicitly acknowledged that economic measures alone could not bring peace. This parallel approach to relief and employment became the policy basis for the later agency's name.

References: [1]

On December 8, 1949, General Assembly Resolution 302 (IV) established the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, commonly abbreviated UNRWA. It was to implement relief and works programs with local governments and consult on measures needed after international assistance ceased. Legal creation and practical takeover of field responsibilities therefore occurred at different dates.

The resolution established an Advisory Commission representing France, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States to assist the director, with provision for additional donor-country representatives within specified limits. The Secretary-General appointed the director after consulting these governments; the director implemented programs and reported to the assembly. Project selection, planning and construction required consultation with the relevant Near Eastern governments. This was a UN agency with defined authority and reporting duties, not a charity run by one donor country.

References: [2]

First director Howard Kennedy's interim report recorded the agency assuming field responsibilities on May 1, 1950. Work previously carried out by UN Relief for Palestine Refugees, the International Committee of the Red Cross, League of Red Cross Societies and American Friends Service Committee had to be combined into more uniform transport, financial and administrative procedures. The agency did not begin with a blank organizational chart.

Headquarters occupied part of the UNESCO building in Beirut provided by Lebanon's government. The director and Advisory Commission visited relevant governments to establish liaison. Jordan and Syria formed technical committees headed by their public works ministers, while Egypt appointed a liaison officer. Turning political consent into specific offices able to communicate, approve and implement projects was an important part of initial cooperation.

References: [3]

The 1951 report recalled that the initial emergency-relief budget had not treated education as a regular item. Early school funding came partly from selling empty containers and partly from money raised by UNESCO and others, with support from local governments and private schools. This reflected an initial expectation of temporary displacement and the reality that children's continuing exclusion from school forced relief work to expand.

After operations began, UNRWA agreed with UNESCO to expand teaching, with UNESCO providing technical guidance. UNRWA initially allocated $25,000 monthly to primary education and subsequently increased support. The 1951 report recorded regular-budget support for 114 schools and subsidies for 84 others. Funding, teachers and educational guidance combined to make schooling a continuing service rather than an adjunct indefinitely postponable while awaiting a political settlement.

References: [4]

Initial projects emphasized roads and afforestation that could absorb workers relatively quickly. The report dated September 15, 1950 listed a 26-kilometer road project from Hebron to Yatta and Samu employing 1,100 refugees, canal construction in Syria, and roads and afforestation in Lebanon. Technical inspections, agency and government approval, and delivery of tools, materials and personnel required multiple concrete procedures.

These jobs were not equivalent to secure long-term livelihoods. The same report acknowledged that a late start, lengthy consultation, inadequate funding and limited projects kept employment below original expectations. Workers initially remained on ration rolls, with the cost of basic relief for themselves and some dependents deducted from wages. This connection between wages and relief showed that working on a project and becoming entirely independent of aid were different conditions.

References: [3]

The founding resolution estimated $33.7 million for direct relief and works in 1950: $20.2 million for relief and $13.5 million for works. These were projected needs, not donations already received. It called for voluntary cash or in-kind contributions from UN members and nonmembers and authorized specified working-capital advances and loan arrangements. The implementing agency had work objectives but also had to obtain resources in time.

Riccardo Bocco's institutional history stresses that humanitarian action and political questions were intertwined from the outset. Promoting self-support through works could be understood as permanent settlement outside refugees' places of origin; concerns about return and compensation among refugees and host countries did not disappear with employment projects. Resolution 302 also retained reference to relevant provisions of Resolution 194 (III). Early cooperation should be evaluated through actual services and projects, not portrayed as having settled refugees' ultimate future.

References: [2] [5]