UNRWA — Executive Briefing Mr. Philippe Lazzarini, U.N. Under-Secretary-General and Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Geneva, Tuesday 24 January 2023

On behalf of the Per­ma­nent Observ­er Mis­sion of the Order of Mal­ta, Michel Veuthey, with Mr. Yan­nick Galeazzi, Mrs. Sil­via Van­di and Mr. Emanuele Pilu­so, par­tic­i­pat­ed in the Exec­u­tive Brief­ing of the Com­mis­sion­er-Gen­er­al of UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Pales­tin­ian Refugees in the Near East) at the Palais des Nations in Gene­va, on the 24th of Jan­u­ary 2023. He thanked Mr. Philippe Laz­zari­ni, a for­mer col­league at the ICRC, for his com­pre­hen­sive overview of UNRWA’s activ­i­ties, under­stand­ing the chal­lenges he faces. Michel Veuthey men­tioned that the Order of Mal­ta runs a num­ber of human­i­tar­i­an, medico-social and eco­nom­ic projects in sup­port of Pales­tin­ian refugees, in Pales­tine, Jor­dan, Syr­ia and Lebanon. Of note is the Holy Fam­i­ly Hos­pi­tal in Beth­le­hem, a mater­ni­ty and crit­i­cal care facil­i­ty cov­er­ingthe South of Pales­tine, serv­ing all with­out regard to creed or need. It employs direct­ly or indi­rect­ly 200 Pales­tin­ian staff. It also aims at pro­mot­ing the val­ues of pre­serv­ing life, fos­ter­ing peace, and offer­ing hope to those with­out a voice. This Jan­u­ary, the Hos­pi­tal cel­e­brat­ed the deliv­ery of its 100’000th baby. The Order of Mal­ta remains con­cerned about the secu­ri­ty sit­u­a­tion and the grow­ing pover­ty in the sec­ondary towns and rur­al areas. Secu­ri­ty issues impede growth and inhibits access to essen­tial ser­vices, includ­ing health­care. wel­come the launch of the new 6‑year Strate­gic Plan and would like to con­tin­ue and fur­ther our col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Unit­ed Nations in the region.