Podcast: UNWRA and the Palestinians

CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie interviews Matthias Burchard, the Representative to the EU of the UN Relief & Works Agency (UNRWA), about the critical role played by the Agency in looking after 5.8 million Palestinian refugees.

Mr Burchard explains the vital work of the UNRWA which provides, health, education and social care services across the region for Palestinian refugees. In response to CMEC questions on the content of UNWRA school text-books, he robustly defends the Agency against what he says has been a malicious campaign conducted against it over the years. 

UNRWA has faced many funding challenges, not least when Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew funding from UNRWA in August 2018 - a move since reversed by the Biden White House.