Skip to main content

Palestinian refugees feel sting of U.S. funding cuts to United Nations program

By

Earlier this month, the United Nations Relief and Works agency for Palestinian refugees in the near-east (UNRWA) warned that it’d have no choice but to make deep cuts to its programs, due to a funding freeze enacted by the United States Government. Last week, in light of a 217 million dollar funding shortfall, UNRWA lowered the boom: employees for a number of vital programs, including housing assistance, medical and mental health support, education and employment programs have either been given drastic pay cuts or told that they no longer have jobs. According to The Washington Post, UNRWA dismissed 154 of its employees, 125 of which are located in Gaza, and downgraded another 580 to contract workers. The head of UNRWA’s Palestinian employees union, Amir al-Miss’hal stated that in addition to this, UNRWA has also canceled an additional 1,000 jobs by ordering a hiring freeze of employees destined to fill in for UNRWA workers approaching retirement. Unsurprisingly, shit is now going down: hundreds of UNRWA declared a sit-in, this past Monday, with threats from the UNRWA employee’s union of a strike that could throw Gaza into chaos. One UNRWA was so unhinged by losing his to job that he attempted to set himself on fire, this past Wednesday. From The Washington Post:
Earlier this year, the U.S. cut around $300 million in funding to UNRWA, resulting in a $217 million budget shortfall. U.N. officials say the cuts are “the largest ever reduction in funding UNRWA has faced.” Of the five areas in which the agency operates, Gaza is the most vulnerable given its dire living conditions and devastated economy after more than a decade under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade. More than two-thirds of Gaza’s population of 2 million are refugees or their descendants. Chris Gunness, an UNRWA spokesman, said the organization “is prioritizing food security support to the most vulnerable refugees by continuing its emergency food program to nearly 1 million refugees” in Gaza.
The 300 million dollars that the United States has decided to withhold from United Nations programming amounts to roughly 30% of UNRWA’s annual budget. While food aid is still flowing to the Palestinians, for the time being, there’s no telling how long the crisis will continue or what could happen as the ire of the UNRWA’s employee union continues to grow. Image via Flickr, courtesy of sanjitbakshi

from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2Lx12UR
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Nintendo Switch has been the US’s bestselling console for 23 straight months

By
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge It’s been a good two years for the Nintendo Switch. According to Nintendo, the gaming tablet has been the bestselling console in the US for 23 straight months. And according to data from the NPD Group, it just had its best October ever, moving 735,926 units of both the Switch and Switch Lite in the US. The company says that represents a 136 percent increase compared to last year. To date, the Switch has sold 22.5 million units in the US, and last week Nintendo revealed that more than 68 million units have been sold globally . “We’re excited about our momentum,” says Nick Chavez, Nintendo of America’s SVP of sales and marketing. Chavez puts the company’s big October down to two main factors. One is a better supply of stock; this year in particular, it’s often been hard to find a Switch on store shelves. This has only been exacerbated by increased demand due to a combination of the pandemic and the breakout success of Animal Crossing: New Horizons . ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Instagram accidentally reinstated Pornhub’s banned account

By
After years of on-and-off temporary suspensions, Instagram permanently banned Pornhub’s account in September. Then, for a short period of time this weekend, the account was reinstated. By Tuesday, it was permanently banned again. “This was done in error,” an Instagram spokesperson told TechCrunch. “As we’ve said previously, we permanently disabled this Instagram account for repeatedly violating our policies.” Instagram’s content guidelines prohibit  nudity and sexual solicitation . A Pornhub spokesperson told TechCrunch, though, that they believe the adult streaming platform’s account did not violate any guidelines. Instagram has not commented on the exact reasoning for the ban, or which policies the account violated. It’s worrying from a moderation perspective if a permanently banned Instagram account can accidentally get switched back on. Pornhub told TechCrunch that its account even received a notice from Instagram, stating that its ban had been a mistake (that message itse...
Post a Comment
Read more

Marvel teases Zodiac spy thriller. Heres what fans are theorizing.

By
Marvel's whiplash New York Comic Con announcements have brought fans disappointing cancellation news, sneak previews, and, of course, more secrecy. Taking to the stage Oct. 8, Marvel execs announced the end of Daredevil: Born Again , which will conclude with its third season next year. The team also gave attendees a taste of the upcoming third season of X-Men '97 and VisionQuest , the last installment of the Scarlet Witch's television saga. But the online buzz is all about its mysterious new show, Zodiac , set to debut in 2028. SEE ALSO: What's new to streaming this week? (Oct. 9, 2026) Flashing the new logo on the big screen, Marvel Television head Brad Winderbaum wouldn't say much about the show's plot or characters — perhaps some meta marketing for what is being dubbed a Marvel universe spy drama — but he did hint there was more than meets the eye. "If you're a fan of the comics, there is a ...
Post a Comment
Read more