The International Ministerial Conference on UNRWA – sustaining the rights and human development of Palestine refugees

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Government of Sweden are convening an international ministerial conference on UNRWA in Brussels, Belgium, on 16 November 2021.

The purpose of the conference is to strengthen the mutual responsibility of UNRWA and the international community to protect the rights and enhance the human development of the Palestine refugees, by providing the Agency with the financial stability and predictability of funding it requires to fully and effectively implement its United Nations General Assembly mandate.

In particular, the conference will provide a high-level platform to:

• Reaffirm the political commitment and solidarity towards the Palestine refugees;
• Present the Agency’s strategic vision for the period 2023–2028, including lessons learned from the covid response, to ensure the delivery of high quality and cost-effective services to Palestine refugees through modernized programming and management approaches;
• Mobilize international support and advocacy for the Agency’s work and unrelenting commitment to humanitarian principles, including neutrality, against political attacks;
• Address the Agency’s funding situation and sustain momentum for an on-going process to yield sufficient, predictable and sustained funding, and avoid recurrent funding crises.

The conference will also include a pledging component. In line with the objective of taking steps towards a sufficient, predictable, and sustainable funding of UNRWA, Member States are strongly encouraged to announce additional resources to the Agency at the conference, especially multi-year commitments. Given the urgency to address this year’s urgent financial needs, short-term funding to secure the UNRWA operations until the end of the year will also be very much welcomed.

For Member States who can provide additional funding support, please download pledging forms (in Arabic and English) at the following links:

Member States can submit these forms to the following email address: Show Email

* This page will be updated regularly with further information (logistics, detailed agenda, etc.)