Finland froze its support to the UN organization in January, when UNRWA employees were suspected of involvement in the Hamas terrorist attack.
Finland continues to pay subsidies to UNRWA, the aid organization for Palestinian refugees under the UN.
Finland announced the suspension of funding at the end of January. At that time, Finland and fifteen other countries stopped paying subsidies to the aid organization. The reason was suspicions about UNRWA’s connections with the extremist organization Hamas.
Sufficient information has been obtained from the ongoing investigations to continue the support, said the Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio (ps.) at a press conference today.
– UNRWA has significant deficiencies in supervision. However, we have discussed the matter with UNRWA and considered that from the point of view of risk management, supervision can be brought to a sufficient level so that Finland’s support can be continued, Tavio said.
– We are still waiting for explanations about the alleged links between UNRWA and Hamas. The investigations are taking longer than expected, and UNRWA cannot be thought of as being replaced in the short term. Therefore, the support will be continued with the new policy that 10 percent of the support will be used to monitor that the support does not end up with Hamas.
Finland’s support to UNRWA is five million euros per year. This year, Finland paid a similar amount due to the freezing of UNRWA support through the International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Food Programme.
Tavio said that Finland received information about UNRWA’s activities from two UN reports. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also commissioned its own report. Based on the information received, there have been shortcomings in UNRWA’s operations, which have been related to, for example, the management of assets and facilities.
The support of the United States is crucial for the organization
Finland and 15 other countries froze their support to UNRWA after Israel accused 12 UNRWA employees of participating in or interfering with Hamas’ attack on Israel in October. The organization fired its suspected employees.
The payment of support has been suspended by, for example, the United States, Great Britain, Germany and Japan. The United States is the largest supporter of UNRWA. And although, for example, Saudi Arabia has increased its support for UNRWA, no country has been able to replace the funding frozen by the United States.
Sweden, Canada and Australia first suspended their support, but have since resumed it
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNRWA has given Finland a bilateral assurance that abuses will be tackled more effectively than before. The organization has also previously agreed on something similar with Sweden.
According to Tavio, the improvement of risk management promised by UNRWA means increasing the monitoring of operations.
– It concretely means that UNRWA’s people and facilities can be subject to impartial external monitoring, in order to see that they are not acting to benefit Hamas. In practice, of course, it is realized through UNRWA’s own risk management mechanisms and cooperation between all parties.
Tavio indirectly admits that UNRWA’s activities in Gaza are impossible without any kind of contact with Hamas.
– Now, however, we are talking about slightly different things than the simplest cooperation between UNRWA and Hamas. When these suspicions are clarified, direct connections to terrorist activities are clarified. It’s a bit different than daily cooperation in some hospitals or otherwise.
According to the director, UNRWA is at breaking point
UNRWA is a key organization in helping Gaza’s civilians. It has 13,000 employees in Gaza.
During the war, the organization has been responsible for food distribution, refugee accommodation and health care in Gaza. UNRWA has warned that the food to be distributed is running out. There is a threat of famine in Gaza.
Director of UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini has said that the organization’s activities are at breaking point due to the freezing of funding.
Efforts are being made to get the aid transports by sea to Gaza properly started. In addition, the pressure to significantly increase land transport is increasing. At the moment, far too few aid trucks reach Gaza compared to the need, and airdrops of aid are insufficient.