Philippe Lazzarini: UNRWA – The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees

Eva Nowotny in conversation with Philippe Lazzarini

UNRWA – The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees

Eva Nowotny and Philippe Lazzarini talk about UNRWA, what makes it so special within the UN, why it is essential and what needs to be done to ensure a sustainable future of the organization and its work. Within the broader UN-family, UNRWA is quite a unique agency. It is the only organization in the UN family to provide direct public services like education, primary health care and a social safety net to Palestinian refugees in the region. It has a humanitarian mandate but its tasks are political in their impact in providing perspectives for Palestinian refugees. However, UNRWA finds itself in a crisis  due to the unreliability of its main donors. The agency needs a proper debate with the member states regarding common duties and commitment vis à vis Palestinian refugees in the future in order to find ways out of its precarity.

Philippe Lazzarini is Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Prior to this position, he was Deputy Special Coordinator, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon in the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (2015-2020) and Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia (2013-2015). Philippe Lazzarini joined the United Nations in 2003 and has served the Organization in various capacities, including as Deputy Director, Coordination and Response Division of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Head of the OCHA Office for the occupied Palestinian territory, Somalia and Angola and as Area Coordinator for the OCHA Office in Iraq. Before joining the United Nations, he served for ten years with the International Committee of the Red Cross as the Deputy Head of Communication, Head of the ICRC Delegation in Rwanda, Angola and Sarajevo and as an ICRC delegate in Southern Sudan, Jordan, Gaza and Beirut.

Eva Nowotny, Board Member of Bruno Kreisky Forum, Ambassador ret.

Recorded on June 12, 2023 at the Bruno KreiskyForum.
Technical producton: Maximilian Hofko