UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl visits Finland

Press release 71/2016
18 April 2016

Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Pierre Krähenbühl will visit Finland on 19 April to meet with Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Lenita Toivakka. The meeting will focus on the situation of the Palestine refugees in both the Palestinian territories and in Syria and its neighbouring countries.

Krähenbühl will also meet Foreign Minister Timo Soini and hold discussions on the agency's activities and the situation in the Middle East with senior officials at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Additionally, he will attend a session of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament and meet representatives of the Development Policy Committee, Members of Parliament and Finnish civil society organisations.

UNRWA remains an important stabilising factor in the Middle East. At present it takes care of the basic services for over five million Palestine refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. The Syria crisis and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza have further increased the need of assistance. If living conditions in the Gaza Strip cannot be improved, the area is expected to become uninhabitable in the next five years' time.

UNRWA works, for example, to ensure that nearly half a million children get education and offers health services to over three million Palestinians. In addition, 1.5 million Palestine refugees' housing conditions have been addressed by providing help to their camps or through reconstruction.  In Syria, 460,000 Palestine refugees live on UNRWA's contributions. The consequences of the Syria war also reflect in Jordania and Lebanon, where 2.5 million Palestine refugees live on support from the agency.

For Finland, UNRWA is an important actor in the area. Last year, Finland's total assistance to the agency was EUR 5.5 million, of which EUR 4.5 million was in the form of core funding directed to the agency's basic activities and the rest was emergency relief channelled to address the humanitarian needs in Gaza. This year, Finland's core funding to the agency is EUR 4.5 million.

Inquiries: Marja Koskela, Diplomatic Adviser to Minister Toivakka, tel. +358 295 350 633, Claus Jerker Lindroos, Director of the Unit for Humanitarian Assistance and Policy, tel. +358 295 351 234, Kirsi Pere, Communications Officer, tel. +358 50 462 6313 (requests for interviews)