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