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Mr Philippe Lazzarini address at 2nd Plenary Session Global Refugee Forum 2023 (Source)
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Mr Philippe Lazzarini address at 2nd Plenary Session Global Refugee Forum 2023 (Source)
Shot in Palexpo, Geneva, Switzerland on 13 December 2023
- Plenary Session
Special remarks by Mr. Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General, United Nations United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Teleprompter
as announced this morning,
I will give the floor to
Philippe Lazzarini,
my colleague
and dear friend,
Commissioner General of UNRWA, the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
I don't need to introduce him. I think
I'm not so sure this is good, but
you hear about him and from him frequently in these dramatic days in Gaza. And
I thought it was very important, of course, to have UNRWA here as the other
United Nations refugee organisation.
But even more so even more particularly so at
this time at
this time of history that we have
already discussed this morning during various interventions,
this statement by the commissioner General will be
a special address.
Uh, that, uh, will inaugurate our afternoon session. So
without further ado, Philip, if I may ask you to take your place at the podium and, uh,
give us your address. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you very much, my dear friend. Uh, Filippo
Excellencies. Ladies and gentlemen,
I arrived in Geneva last night
straight from Gaza,
my third time since the devastating war started.
I have to say it is a living hell.
Most of Gaza's population has been forcibly displaced
largely into the southern part of the Strip. Rafa
Rafa
is now hosting well over a million people.
It is used to be home of 280,000 people.
It lacks
the infrastructure
and resources to support such a population.
Inside our own warehouses,
family live in tiny spaces
that are separated by blankets hung on thin wooden structures.
Out on the out.
In the open,
flimsy shelters have emerged everywhere.
Rafa
has become a tented
community.
The spaces around
UN's building are congested
with shelters
and desperate, hungry people.
Aid can no longer reach those who could not move to the south.
There is no more food to buy,
even for those who can pay.
In the shops,
the shelves are empty.
The sight of a truck carrying human
assistance now provokes chaos.
People are hungry.
They stop the truck and ask for food,
and they eat it
on the street.
I witnessed this firsthand when I entered into Gaza on Monday evening.
To call such scenes in Yemen
is an understatement.
Civil order is breaking down.
The people of Gaza are now crammed into less than one third of the original territory
near the Egyptian border.
It is unrealistic to think
that people will remain resilient in the face of unlivable condition
of such magnitude,
especially
when the border is so close.
Excellencies
I wrote to the president of the General Assembly last week,
warning
that
UN's ability to fulfil its mandate in Gaza
is severely limited.
The entire human response.
He
relies
on uns
capacity.
It is now on the verge of collapse,
still operating a health centre
out of 22
we are sheltering more than a million people in our school and other facilities.
Our social workers are supporting traumatised people
as best they can.
We are still distributing whatever food we manage to bring in.
But this is often as little as a bottle of water
and a can of tuna per day
per family,
often numbering six or seven people.
This operation reality
is not sustainable,
not for the population,
not for the agency.
More than 130 UN
staff
are confirmed killed
many of our staff who themselves displaced
take the Children to work with them to ensure
that they are safe together
or die together.
I asked one colleague
how we managed to remain composed
and offer help in a shelter,
he told me
is seeking looking
for a corner in the building
to go to cry
10 times a day,
Excellencies.
There is nowhere to feel safe in Gaza.
Civilian infrastructure and UN facilities
have not been spared by the SHEDDINGS.
I was horrified
by images yesterday
of an UN school being
blown up
in the north of Gaza.
The people of Gaza are running out of time
and options
as they face bombardment,
deprivation
and disease in an ever ever shrinking space.
They are facing
the darkest chapter of their history since
1948
and it has been a
painful history.
The events in Gaza are taking place against a backdrop of 75 years
of displacement,
75 years of failures to find a just and lasting solution
to the plight of Palestine refugees.
During this time,
they have been deprived of the basic
human rights and the right to self determination
throughout the region.
Many continue to live in overcrowded
refugee camps with substandard living condition,
generation after generation.
For the last 75 years,
the world has asked on what to uphold the rights of Palestinian refugees
and we have done so successfully
contributing to the development and to the
feeling of stability as much as possible.
Over 2 million students
have graduated from our schools
and half of them girls.
Health indicator amongst this refugee community exceed the
standard.
But today
and despite our successes,
UWA
suffers from chronic underfunding which impacts the quality of our services.
Upholding refugees rights
is not only the responsibility of humanitarian and development actors,
it is a responsibility shared with donors
and host countries.
I would like here to thank the countries who have ousted
for the last seven decades
million of Palestine refugees.
I also thank our partners and donors
for their support and trust.
But Palestine refugees
need a just solution,
not just aid.
Today
they feel abandoned by the international community.
They feel betrayed as the world fails to act in the
face of one of the worst humanitarian catastrophe of our time
in Gaza.
They now believe that human lives are not equal
and human rights are not universal.
This is a dangerous message
and it will have serious repercussions.
Excellencies,
the Global Refugee Forum represent the
political will of the international community
to affirm the human rights of all people fleeing wars
and other crises,
whether it is Syrian, Somali, Afghan
or Palestinian.
Addressing the plight of refugees
and upholding the rights require the political will
to tackle the root causes of the displacement.
Refugee often stay in that statue for far, far too long,
and this is not unique
to Palestine refugees.
All refugees
remain refugees until they receive a change of statue, acquire citizenship
or return to the country of origin.
Both unit
and un are the expression of a collective responsibility
of United Nations member states
towards refugees,
the people of Gaza, like all people,
long for safety, stability and fulfilment.
This is also the forum where I must raise
the alarm about
the dehumanisation that is rampant during this war.
The war in Gaza
heavily relies
on the media. War
de
dehumanising
and derogatory language
should not be normalised.
The lack of empathy
only fuels divide polarisation and hatred.
I am horrified
at the smear campaigns that target Palestinian
and all those who provide assistance
and protection to them.
Our partner present
here, our partner present here
must help us push back
against hatred
and debunk repeated vulgar
accusations.
It is disheartening
that some long standing partners are choosing to believe the barrage
of misinformation
and seeks to discredit the UN.
I urge our partners
to remain vigilant
and not to act upon distorted facts.
I have excellencies free calls today.
First,
we need an immediate re maintain ceasefire in Gaza
and an end to the siege to let
to let in
sufficient aid.
And I welcome here
the overwhelming support of 153 member states
at the General Assembly calling
for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
Second,
we must be able to rule out an assistance worthy of its names.
It needs to be meaningful.
The day after the war in Gaza
will be shaped by how we respond to the current crisis.
What can 100 trucks of so per day offer
to 2.2 million people?
The high level discussion about the number of trucks
per day have taken up so much time and energy
that I have no answer
to a father of five in Rafa
who asked me how he and his Children can survive on one can of beans for three days.
We are very far
from an adequate
response
and third
collectively
we need.
And we must ensure
that international
law is still the regulating framework of the conflict.
It cannot be selective
or be reinterpreted
to conclude
the Israel Palestine conflict has been neglected
for far too long.
The political process
needs to be revived
urgently.
There is absolutely no alternative to a genuine political process to end the cycle
of violence.
Israeli
and Palestinian must both enjoy statehood, peace and stability.
This will require dedicated efforts to help both society heal
and live side by side.
Thank you.