UNRWA / Gaza - the Final Report of the Independent Review

Click here to download the report or see below:

See also:

Report says Israel has not presented evidence - Washington Post

The purpose of the Group

The Group was formed to evaluate UNRWA's efforts in maintaining neutrality and addressing allegations of serious neutrality violations, particularly in Gaza. This came after Israel's government claimed in January 2024 that some UNRWA staff may have been involved in the terror attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023. The UN Secretary-General also initiated a separate investigation by the UN's OIOS to verify these allegations, which, if proven true, would be both horrifying and a severe breach of their duties to the Organization.

The report's main conclusions and recommendations

Based on the provided excerpt from the UN independent panel's report on UNRWA, the main recommendations are:

1. Improve engagement and transparency with donors through regular financial updates and briefings on neutrality issues.

2. Strengthen governance by having the Advisory Commission fulfill its advisory role more effectively and explore additional governance arrangements.

3. Enhance internal oversight capacity, especially the Department of Internal Oversight Services (DIOS) and Ethics Office, through measures like staff secondments, expanding their field presence, facilitating external audits, and updating the Code of Ethics.

4. Ensure neutrality in project decisions through a donor framework on project management, third-party monitoring of sensitive projects, and safeguards aligning projects with UNRWA objectives.

5. Address challenges to staff neutrality by updating the Neutrality Framework, providing training, implementing screening and vetting procedures, monitoring social media, and strengthening disciplinary processes.

6. Prevent misuse of UNRWA installations through staff training, community awareness, increased monitoring, collaboration with host countries/Israel, and transparent donor reporting.

7. Uphold neutrality in education by reviewing and banning hate speech and antisemitic references in textbooks, empowering women in education management, classroom inspections, digitizing content, and neutrality training for educators.

8. Reform staff unions to address their politicization by aligning statutes with UN regulations, ensuring representativity, implementing vetting, and exploring alternative representation options.

9. Enhance cooperation with other UN agencies to sustain humanitarian operations in Gaza during the ongoing crisis.