That aid to UNRWA is now being resumed is positive – but late, believes Morgan Johansson (S), the Social Democrats’ foreign policy spokesperson.
According to him, the recent reporting on the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza may have caused the government to turn around.
– I think the government has felt compelled to make this decision, he says.
The Swedish aid to the UN aid organization for Palestine refugees, Unrwa, is being resumed, the government announced on Saturday morning. In connection with that, Sweden has been promised more transparency and strengthened controls.
Paused after massacre allegations
The aid was suspended earlier this year following allegations that several employees of the UN agency were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October.
The decision not to pay out the aid was then welcomed by the moderate aid and foreign trade minister Johan Forssell (L).
But Johansson (S) believes that the payments should not have been stopped at all.
– It must be investigated against the individuals who were in some way involved in the massacre, of course. But to let it have such consequences risks breaking the entire aid organization into an acutely desperate situation for hundreds of thousands of people. It is completely irresponsibly handled, he says.
“At the very last moment”
That the government has now turned around and is resuming aid to the Palestinian refugees is positive but comes too late, according to the Social Democrats’ Morgan Johansson (S). He also believes that the strong worldwide reporting on the worsening situation may have contributed to the fact that the government now felt forced to make the change.
– As I said, it is very late. I also think there has been an internal conflict in the government regarding this. In the end, you have realized that you can and do not want to make yourself guilty of this disaster and then you make this very late decision, he says.
– But it really is at the very last moment.
According to him, the consequences of stopping aid have already worsened the suffering in Gaza.
– With each passing day, the situation worsens. But unfortunately, the action that Sweden has here
has contributed to worsening the situation.