The decisions by nearly a dozen UN member states to suspend their funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) comes at a critical time in the UN funding calendar and in the midst of a violent conflict that has set the world on edge. While the immediate impact of the funding suspension will be limited over the next few weeks, as some national contributions have already been made and others are not scheduled for some weeks or months to come, the actual long-term effect could soon take a much greater toll on the aid pipeline, and have a broader impact on a season when many countries make their financial contributions to UN agencies.
As of January 29, eleven countries have announced a suspension of their funding, while others, including UN Secretary-General Gutteres and UNRWA Commission-General Lazzarini, along with several member states have sounded an alarm and urged funding flows continue. Countries withholding their funding have cited charges by the Israeli government of the involvement of UNRWA employees in the October 7 Hamas attacks against Israel. Many have conditioned a resumption of financial support on the results of an expected investigation into Israel’s allegations.
Most of the nations suspending their funding have pledged a temporary cessation of future payments, rather than demanding a refund of funds already transferred. Many of these future payments were not due or expected until later in the year so the immediate operational impact is minimal. Some have already made their annual regular payment, such as the Netherlands, which has transferred €19 million from its 2024 development budget, but announced it would freeze any further “funding until the investigation is concluded, not even in response to new requests…” Others are moving even faster, with Australia’s FM Wong, for example, indicating her country would “temporarily pause disbursement of recent funding.” A few key funders, including the EU, are reviewing their funding but have not yet cut it off.
Representing $688 million of UNRWA’s 2022 funding (the latest year for which figures are available), the eleven that have suspended funding comprise 59% of UNRWA’s total income and 62% of money received from nations. A total of 64 countries contributed to UNRWA in 2022, ranging from $344 million from the U.S., the largest donor, to $5,000 from the Maldives. Russia contributed $2 million and China $1 million. Public support organizations, faith-based institutions, other UN organizations, philanthropies, and private sector groups made up approximately 5% of its funding, with another 3% coming from assessments on UN member states via the UN regular budget.
2022 UNRWA Funding Levels
| Donor | Funding Amounts (USD) |
| USA | $343,937,718 |
| Germany | $202,054,285 |
| Japan | $30,152,202 |
| France | $28,909,838 |
| Canada | $23,713,560 |
| Netherlands | $21,189,038 |
| UK | $21,158,281 |
| Italy | $18,033,970 |
| Australia | $13,797,995 |
| Austria | $8,091,406 |
| Finland | $7,807,565 |
| Total Funding Suspensions | $718,845,858 |
| UNRWA 2022 Funding | $1,174,647,272 |
National payments to UNRWA, as for other UN agencies, generally arrives in discrete batches so the practical impact of a funding suspension will take some time to have a real effect on operations. However, much of UNRWA’s humanitarian and other work relies on a dependable pipeline of expected funding. A funding freeze from those and other donors lasting more than a few weeks won’t take long to impact the confidence of suppliers and contractors that they will be paid for dangerous and risky work. Commission-General Lazzarini has indicated that a frozen funding pipeline from major donors that extends to the end of February would start to have a serious detrimental impact on UNRWA’s ability to provide humanitarian aid.
UNRWA is no stranger to threats or outright suspensions of funding. Although a common tool employed by member states to signal concern or prompt a policy change that many UN agencies have experienced, UNRWA has had more than its share due to its mandate, geography and resulting politicization, often at the urging of Israel. The most notable recent example was the 2018 decision by the U.S. to eliminate, not suspend, its funding to UNRWA; annual funding which the year before amounted to $360 million. The Biden Administration restored the funding, and the U.S. resumed its spot as the top donor.
Now, the United States was the first country to indicate it would suspend its funding to UNRWA and others quickly followed suit. As the largest single donor and the country that has most at stake with Israel, the U.S. will need to press for a thorough but timely investigation of Israel’s claims about UNRWA employees, while also signaling an acceptable threshold of UNRWA accountability to allow a resumption of U.S. funding. In addition, Washington should outline future guardrails for UNRWA, some of which it has already indicated it is implementing. Just as with the suspensions, other nations will be looking to the U.S. to resume their own funding.
UNRWA Funding Pause: A Critical Moment
By Andrew Hyde
International & Regional Organizations
The decisions by nearly a dozen UN member states to suspend their funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) comes at a critical time in the UN funding calendar and in the midst of a violent conflict that has set the world on edge. While the immediate impact of the funding suspension will be limited over the next few weeks, as some national contributions have already been made and others are not scheduled for some weeks or months to come, the actual long-term effect could soon take a much greater toll on the aid pipeline, and have a broader impact on a season when many countries make their financial contributions to UN agencies.
As of January 29, eleven countries have announced a suspension of their funding, while others, including UN Secretary-General Gutteres and UNRWA Commission-General Lazzarini, along with several member states have sounded an alarm and urged funding flows continue. Countries withholding their funding have cited charges by the Israeli government of the involvement of UNRWA employees in the October 7 Hamas attacks against Israel. Many have conditioned a resumption of financial support on the results of an expected investigation into Israel’s allegations.
Most of the nations suspending their funding have pledged a temporary cessation of future payments, rather than demanding a refund of funds already transferred. Many of these future payments were not due or expected until later in the year so the immediate operational impact is minimal. Some have already made their annual regular payment, such as the Netherlands, which has transferred €19 million from its 2024 development budget, but announced it would freeze any further “funding until the investigation is concluded, not even in response to new requests…” Others are moving even faster, with Australia’s FM Wong, for example, indicating her country would “temporarily pause disbursement of recent funding.” A few key funders, including the EU, are reviewing their funding but have not yet cut it off.
Representing $688 million of UNRWA’s 2022 funding (the latest year for which figures are available), the eleven that have suspended funding comprise 59% of UNRWA’s total income and 62% of money received from nations. A total of 64 countries contributed to UNRWA in 2022, ranging from $344 million from the U.S., the largest donor, to $5,000 from the Maldives. Russia contributed $2 million and China $1 million. Public support organizations, faith-based institutions, other UN organizations, philanthropies, and private sector groups made up approximately 5% of its funding, with another 3% coming from assessments on UN member states via the UN regular budget.
2022 UNRWA Funding Levels
National payments to UNRWA, as for other UN agencies, generally arrives in discrete batches so the practical impact of a funding suspension will take some time to have a real effect on operations. However, much of UNRWA’s humanitarian and other work relies on a dependable pipeline of expected funding. A funding freeze from those and other donors lasting more than a few weeks won’t take long to impact the confidence of suppliers and contractors that they will be paid for dangerous and risky work. Commission-General Lazzarini has indicated that a frozen funding pipeline from major donors that extends to the end of February would start to have a serious detrimental impact on UNRWA’s ability to provide humanitarian aid.
UNRWA is no stranger to threats or outright suspensions of funding. Although a common tool employed by member states to signal concern or prompt a policy change that many UN agencies have experienced, UNRWA has had more than its share due to its mandate, geography and resulting politicization, often at the urging of Israel. The most notable recent example was the 2018 decision by the U.S. to eliminate, not suspend, its funding to UNRWA; annual funding which the year before amounted to $360 million. The Biden Administration restored the funding, and the U.S. resumed its spot as the top donor.
Now, the United States was the first country to indicate it would suspend its funding to UNRWA and others quickly followed suit. As the largest single donor and the country that has most at stake with Israel, the U.S. will need to press for a thorough but timely investigation of Israel’s claims about UNRWA employees, while also signaling an acceptable threshold of UNRWA accountability to allow a resumption of U.S. funding. In addition, Washington should outline future guardrails for UNRWA, some of which it has already indicated it is implementing. Just as with the suspensions, other nations will be looking to the U.S. to resume their own funding.
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