Trump to target UN Rights body and Palestinian Relief Agency

US President Donald Trump is expected, on Tuesday, to stop US engagement with the United Nations Human Rights Council and continue a halt to funding for the UN Palestinian Relief Agency, UNRWA, a White House official said on Monday, Reuters reports.

Israel bans UNRWA’s operations – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]

An UNRWA spokesperson declined to comment on an order that has not yet been issued, describing the Agency’s financial situation as already “very, very bad”.

UN Human Rights Council acting spokesperson, Pascal Sim, said he was unaware of any communication from Washington, but that no formal process existed since the US is not currently a voting member.

During Trump’s first term in office, from 2017-2021, he also cut off funding for UNRWA, questioning its value, saying that Palestinians needed to agree to renew peace talks with Israel, and calling for unspecified reforms.

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The first Trump administration also quit the 47-member Human Rights Council halfway through a three-year term over what it called chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform. The US is not currently a member of the Geneva-based body. Under Democratic former President Joe Biden, the US was re-elected and served a 2022-2024 term.

Biden’s envoy to the Council previously urged Trump to stay active, partly to counter China’s “dangerous” influence.

A Human Rights Council working group is due to review the US human rights record later this year, a process all countries undergo every few years. While the Council has no legally binding power, its debates carry political weight and criticism can raise global pressure on governments to change course.

Since taking office for a second term on 20 January, Trump has ordered that the US withdraw from the World Health Organisation and from the Paris climate agreement – also steps he took during his first term in office.

Israel vs. UNRWA 

Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, on Monday praised the expected moves by Trump, accusing the Human Rights Council of “aggressively promoting extreme anti-Semitism”.

“At the same time, UNRWA has long lost its status as an independent humanitarian organisation, and has turned into a terrorist authority controlled by Hamas under the guise of a humanitarian agency,” he said.

Israel has repeatedly equated UNRWA staff with Hamas members in efforts to discredit them, providing no proof of the claims, while lobbying hard to have UNRWA closed as it is the only UN agency to have a specific mandate to look after the basic needs of Palestinian refugees. If the agency no longer exists, argues Israel, then the refugee issue must no longer exist, and the legitimate right for Palestinian refugees to return to their land will be unnecessary. Israel has denied that right of return since the late 1940s, even though its own membership of the UN was made conditional upon Palestinian refugees being allowed to return to their homes and land.

UNRWA Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, said last week that the Agency has been the target of a “fierce disinformation campaign” to “portray the Agency as a terrorist organisation.”

The US was UNRWA’s biggest donor – providing $300 million-$400 million a year – but Biden paused funding in January 2024 after Israel accused about a dozen UNRWA staff of taking part in the deadly 7 October, 2023, attack on Israel by Palestinian Hamas that triggered the war in Gaza.

The US Congress then formally suspended contributions to UNRWA until at least March 2025. UNRWA provides aid, health and education services to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

The United Nations has said that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the 7 October, 2023, attack and were fired. A Hamas commander in Lebanon – killed in September by Israel – was also found to have had a UNRWA job. The UN has vowed to investigate all accusations made and repeatedly asked Israel for evidence, which it says has not been provided.

An Israeli ban went into effect on 30 January that prohibits UNRWA from operating on its territory or communicating with Israeli authorities. UNRWA has said operations in Gaza and West Bank will also suffer.

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