Ministry Statements & Speeches:
Tena koutou katoa, good afternoon everyone.
Mr President, thank you for convening this meeting.
Thank you also to the Secretary-General and UNRWA Commissioner-General for their frank and sober briefings.
Let me start by expressing New Zealand’s condolences for the loss of 197 UNRWA staff in the Israel-Hamas conflict. Such a loss of humanitarians is tragic and unacceptable. We also extend our appreciation to UNRWA’s staff, and other humanitarian responders, working under the most difficult of circumstances in Gaza and the West Bank.
New Zealand has consistently stressed the importance of upholding international law in the Israel-Hamas conflict. Protecting civilians, humanitarians, medical workers, and their facilities is paramount. It is an obligation of international humanitarian law that falls on all parties to the conflict.
This protection unequivocally applies to UNRWA’s staff and its installations.
UNRWA is delivering critical assistance for millions of Palestinians, especially those in Gaza. There is no other organisation that has the presence, systems and infrastructure required to support Palestinian refugees.
In this vein, respect for UNRWA’s mandate is critical. New Zealand is deeply concerned by Israeli constraints on UNRWA’s ability to operate in Gaza and the West Bank. We are also concerned by efforts to discredit UNRWA, including through the spread of dis and misinformation about UNRWA’s activities and role.
New Zealand acknowledges UNRWA has important internal reforms underway. We have received assurances from the UN that UNRWA will act on the outcomes of the Office of Internal Oversight Services investigation into the serious allegations that certain UNRWA staff participated in Hamas’ 7 October terrorist attacks against Israel. Relatedly, New Zealand is closely following UNRWA’s implementation of the recommendations of the Catherine Colonna external review. It is essential that UNRWA and its staff uphold humanitarian principles, including neutrality, and UN values.
New Zealand has supported UNRWA since its establishment in 1949, and has most recently joined the Shared Commitments for UNRWA. Under our current arrangement, we provide UNRWA with $1 million New Zealand dollars in untagged and flexible core funding annually. We have provided over $28 million New Zealand dollars in support over the past two decades.
Separately to our support for UNRWA, New Zealand has provided $22 million New Zealand dollars to support the humanitarian response in Gaza and the West Bank since October 7.
Our expectations of UNRWA are clear, as are our expectations of all parties to the Israel-Hamas conflict: compliance with international law, including international humanitarian law is non-negotiable, and we call on all parties to honour UNRWA’s General Assembly mandate.
Thank you.