No other refugee group has its own UN agency

No other group of displaced people or refugees has its own UN aid agency. Not the more than 117 million forcibly displaced people worldwide — from Sudan, Venezuela, Syria, Afghanistan, nor Kurds, Druze or Uyghurs.

The Palestinians do: UNRWA serves almost 6 million registered Palestine refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) was established in December 1949, after the war that Arab states waged in 1948 against the newly founded Israel and lost (called the "Nakba" by Palestinians). It provides emergency aid, education and healthcare and runs hundreds of schools, clinics and social services.

Unlike most refugees worldwide, who fall under UNHCR, Palestinian refugee status passes to following generations for as long as the conflict remains unresolved. In this way the system keeps the refugee problem alive.

International criticism is growing. After the attack of 7 October 2023, nine UNRWA staff members were dismissed because they may have been involved in the massacre; several countries temporarily suspended their funding.

A new UN Watch report (September 2026) points to continuing close ties between Hamas and UNRWA. UNRWA says it has completed 41 of the 50 reforms from the Colonna Review; according to UN Watch, at most 13 have genuinely been carried out. The report finds there is still no proven system for screening staff for ties to Hamas, while external investigations keep exposing such ties — links the organisation's own oversight mechanisms failed to identify.

In education, too, the picture is unchanged: studies keep finding antisemitism and the glorification of terrorism in materials used in UNRWA schools. These are not technical or bureaucratic shortcomings. They raise fundamental questions about UNRWA's ability to stop Hamas infiltrating its systems and to ensure children are not taught content that promotes hatred and terror. If an organisation cannot guarantee that, there is no justification for funding it with public money — your taxes.

Financially, UNRWA is at a historic low with a structural shortfall, especially since the United States — long its largest donor — stopped its support. The Netherlands, following a 2024 parliamentary decision, began phasing its contribution down from 19 million euros to eventually 1 million in 2029. In March 2026 minister Sjoerdsma (D66) reversed that: the contribution returns to 19 million euros a year.

At the end of August, Finland announced that, like Sweden and the United States, it is ending its funding of UNRWA.

It is time for more countries to show the same responsibility: end funding for UNRWA and redirect humanitarian aid to organisations that are not compromised by ties to Hamas and can deliver aid transparently and accountably.

Because that is what the United Nations was founded for.