UN establishes ‘independent’ review group to review UNRWA

Tel Aviv [Israel], February 6 (ANI/TPS): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has established an “independent” Review Group to look into how UNRWA (UN Relief Workers Agency for the Palestinian areas) workers took part in the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7.

Guterres said the group will “assess” whether UNWRA is doing “everything within its power to ensure neutrality and to respond to allegations of serious breaches when they are made.”

The review will be led by Catherine Colonna, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of France, who will work with three research organizations: the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Norway, and the Danish Institute for Human Rights.

The Review Group will begin its work on February 14, 2024 and is expected to submit an interim report to the Secretary-General late March 2024, with a final report expected to be completed by late April 2024. The final report will be made public.

The Review Group will determine what, if any, “mechanisms and procedures” that UNWRA has in place to “ensure neutrality,” if they have been implemented and assess the “adequacy” of those mechanisms and procedures and whether they are fit for purpose, including in relation to the management of risks and taking into account the particular operational, political and security context in which the Agency works.

It will also make recommendations for the” improvement and strengthening, if necessary,” of the mechanisms and procedures that are currently in place or for the creation of new and alternative mechanisms and procedures that “would be better fit for purpose.”