PGA Remarks at the UNRWA Pledging Conference

Remarks by H.E. Annalena Baerbock
President of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
at the UNRWA Pledging Conference
Trusteeship Council Chamber, UN HQ, New York

30 June 2026

[As Delivered]

Excellencies,

Distinguished delegates,

Last week, we commemorated the signing of the Charter of our United Nations.

That Charter was born from the atrocities of our past, and from humanity's determination to build a better future-including, just a few years later, the international community's vision of Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace, security, and dignity, each in their own state.

And yet we know that we have not fully lived up to those commitments.

We have not fulfilled the Charter's call to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.

Nor have we secured the conditions in which Palestinians can live in freedom, dignity, security, and self-determination, alongside Israel, in their own state.

It was against this unresolved reality that the General Assembly established UNRWA through resolution 302 (IV) in 1949, to carry out direct relief and works programmes for Palestine refugees.

The Agency began operations on 1 May 1950. It was planned only for a couple of months.

Because let us be clear: UNRWA was never meant to be permanent.

Because its work is rooted in the promise of a lasting political settlement - the two-state solution.

And it was never meant to serve what has now become three generations of Palestine refugees, with millions depending on its assistance, protection, and essential services every day.

And it was never meant to become a substitute for the public institutions of a State.

Yet that is the reality we face.

Today, nearly 5.9 million registered Palestine refugees fall under UNRWA's mandate across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza.

That number includes women, children, persons with disabilities, and families whose daily lives depend on services provided by the UN.

It includes 543,000 students receiving education across 706 schools, supported by nearly 19,000 education staff.

It includes more than 7 million patient visits each year across 140 UNRWA primary health-care facilities.

It includes entire communities relying on clean water, sanitation, waste collection, emergency learning, and psychosocial support, provided by this unique UN agency.

Across its five fields of operation, UNRWA remains one of the largest providers of these essential services, offering hope where so little remains.

Meanwhile, as we all know, their work comes with immense risks.

In recent years over three hundred and ninety-two UNRWA colleagues have been killed, among the most devastating losses of United Nations staff in any conflict in our history.

Despite the loss of its staff and the destruction of its facilities, the Agency continues to uphold the dignity and rights of those it serves.

But that lifeline is fraying, as underlined by the Secretary General.

UNRWA faces immense financial, political, and operational pressure,

even as simultaneously, the Agency continues to strengthen how it delivers its mandate by strengthening neutrality, accountability, and trust through the implementation of the Colonna report and the Strategic Assessment under UN80 - and I think we are very happy to hear also today about the further steps in this regard.

But reform and resilience cannot substitute for resources.

Nor can they keep schools open, health centres functioning, or emergency services running if the mandate itself is starved of funding.

To survive, the Agency has already cut service hours by 20 per cent, with corresponding salary reductions for most of its Palestinian staff.

And still, it confronts an unprecedented cash-flow deficit of 100 million dollars for 2026.

The math is stark.

In 2025, UNRWA received 829 million dollars in contributions, including 76 million from the United Nations regular budget.

Yet against needs of 3.3 billion dollars, that funding covered roughly 27 per cent of what the Agency required.

So today, we all make here at the podium a direct appeal: to governments-especially regional governments-to philanthropic foundations, to the private sector, and to individuals.

Urgently increase your contributions.

Sustain UNRWA's schools.

Help rebuild those that have been destroyed, especially in Gaza.

Keep this lifeline intact-and with it, hope for 500,000 Palestinian children.

Let me close by reiterating the call I made at the UNRWA Ministerial Meeting last September: that every Member State must do everything in its power to fund this Agency.

For the truth is plain: if UNRWA cannot deliver, who will instead?

Without schools, without health care, without clean water, sanitation, and basic services, the pursuit of a just and lasting peace-grounded in international law, the United Nations Charter, and the resolutions of this body-becomes harder, if not impossible.

Financial support is not enough; but it is a Band-Aid on a larger issue.

We need a real and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, respect for international law, and unhindered humanitarian access.

And we need concrete steps toward the two-state solution, as affirmed last year by many of you in September in the New York Declaration and in Security Council Resolution 2803 of 2025.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not be resolved by endless war, by permanent occupation, or by recurrent terror.

It will end only when Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side-in peace, in security, and in dignity-within their own sovereign and independent states.

A Palestinian state would mean that UNRWA is no longer needed. Until that day comes, let us never stop working for the two-state solution. And let us never stop supporting UNRWA.

Thank you.