From Relief and Works to Human Development: UNRWA and Palestinian Refugees after 60 years

16 December 2010
 
December 2009 marked the 60th anniversary of UNRWA: an occasion for sober reflection but also an opportunity to assess the Agency's challenges and achievements during six decades of work alongside millions of Palestine refugees.

Within this framework, UNRWA and the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IFI) at the American University of Beirut (AUB) organised an international conference on October 8 and 9 2010. The conference assembled a critical body of academic and policy research around UNRWA's six-decade-long experience in supporting Palestine refugees.

Full conference programme (PDFs): English | Arabic

Conference day 1: Opening session | Panel 1 | Panel 2 | Panel 3

Conference day 2: Panel 1 | Panel 2 | Panel 3 | Panel 4

Read / download Full conference summary (PDF)

Media coverage (all PDFs): Al-Akhbar [1] | Al-Akhbar [2] | As-Safir | Daily Star | Mid East Monitor

Side events (all links are PDFs)

• Roundtable discussion: Palestinian refugees, host governments and UNRWA in 2010
  Roundtable summary | Participants list: English | Arabic
• Means to a common end: exploring potential for research partnerships between UNRWA, academic and research institutions
  Meeting summary | Participants list | UNRWA presentation

Opening session

(L-R) Karim Makdisi, Maya Majzoub, Abdullah Abdullah, Filippo Grandi

• Karim Makdisi, Associate Director, Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, AUB
• Sari Hanafi, Associate Professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, AUB
• Maya Majzoub, President, Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee (PDF)
• Abdullah Abdullah, Ambassador of Palestine to Lebanon
• Keynote speech: Filippo Grandi, Commissioner-General, UNRWA (PDF)

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Meeting challenges in programmes and service delivery

(L-R) Jihad Makhoul, Roger Davies, Mahmoud Hanafi, Ali Khader, Raja Deeb, Alex Pollock

Discussant: Jihad Makhoul, Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Community Health, AUB
Chair: Roger Davies, Deputy Director of UNRWA Affairs, Lebanon

• UNRWA Education Programme – Challenges and Lessons Learned
  Mohan Menon, Deputy Director, Department of Education, UNRWA
  Roger Hearn, Director of UNRWA Affairs, Syria
  paper | presentation (PDFs)
• The UNRWA Health Programme: Delivering Health Services Against All Odds (PDF)
  Ali Khader, Acting Director, Department of Health, UNRWA
• Realizing Self-Reliance: UNRWA’s Microfinance Department
  Alex Pollock, Director, Microfinance Programme, UNRWA
  paper | presentation (PDFs)
• Reflections on UNRWA’s Operations in Syria (PDF)
  Raja Deeb, Aidun Syria
• The Evolution of UNRWA’s Budget: From 1994-2010 (PDF)
  Mahmoud Hanafi, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (Shahed), Beirut

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Protection: from concept to practice

(L-R) Muhammad AbuBakr, Laurent Chapuis, Mark Brailsford, Chareen Stark, Elizabeth Ferris, Susan Akram, Lance Bartholomeusz

Discussant: Susan Akram, Clinical Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
Chair: Lance Bartholomeusz, Chief, International Law Division, Department of Legal Affairs, UNRWA

• Operationalizing Protection in UNRWA (PDF)
  Mark Brailsford, Senior Protection Coordinator, UNRWA
• Incorporating Protection into Humanitarian Action: Approaches and Limits (PDF)
  Elizabeth Ferris, Senior Fellow and Chareen Stark, Senior Research Assistant, The Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C.
• Operationalizing Child Protection in MENA: Challenges and Opportunities
  Laurent Chapuis, Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF Regional Office for Middle East and North Africa
  paper | presentation (PDF)

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Governance: the camps and UNRWA

(L-R) Anies Al Hroub, Kjersti Gravelsaeter Berg, Sari Hanafi, Wajeeh Azayzeh

Discussant: Jalal Al Husseini, Institut Francais du Proche Orient (IFPO), Amman
Chair: Anies Al Hroub, Assistant Professor, Department of Education, AUB

• The Politics of UNRWA Camp Construction (PDF)
  Kjersti Gravelsaeter Berg, PhD candidate, Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion, University of Bergen
• UNRWA and Governance Practices in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Palestinian Territory
  Sari Hanafi, Associate Professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, AUB
  paper | presentation (PDFs)
• Governance in Jordan Camps
  Ahmad Rawashdeh, Chief of studies section, Department of Palestinian Affairs, Amman
  paper | presentation (PDFs)

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Civic participation and community engagement

Discussant: Dawn Chatty, University Reader in Anthropology and Forced Migration and Deputy Director, Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford
Chair: Nasser Yassin, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, AUB

• UNRWA, Palestine Refugees and Community Participation (PDF)
  Terry Rempel, PhD Candidate in Politics, University of Exeter
• Community Participation and Human Rights Advocacy: Questions Arising from the Campaign about the Right to Work of Lebanon's Palestinian Refugees (PDF)
  Sergio Bianchi, PhD candidate, Graduate Institute of Geneva
• Implementing the Neirab Rehabilitation Project: The Political Implications of 'Sustainable Development' (PDF)
  Nell Gabiam, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture, University of Chicago

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Camp improvement / reconstruction and community development

(L-R) Phillip Misselwitz, Mona Budeiri, Fatima Al-Nammari, Lucas Oesch, Mona Fawaz, Rana Hassan

Discussant: Phillip Misselwitz, University of Stuttgart, Germany
Chair: Mona Fawaz, Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture and Design, AUB

• Overview of UNRWA’s Camp Improvement Programme and Examples in Jordan and West Bank
  Mona Budeiri, Head, Housing and Camp Improvement Unit, UNRWA
  paper | presentation (PDFs)
  Sandi Hilal, Project Manager, Housing and Camp Improvement Unit, UNRWA
  Fatima Al-Nammari, Project Manager, Housing and Camp Improvement Unit, UNRWA
  paper | presentation (PDFs)
• The Destruction and Reconstruction of the Nahr el-Bared Refugee Camp and its Extensions: Lessons Learned (PDF)
  Rana Hassan, MUPP Candidate, Department of Architecture and Design, AUB
• Strategies and Practices of Improvement in Al-Hussein Camp (PDF)
  Lucas Oesch, PhD candidate, Graduate Institute of Geneva

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Palestinian refugees and durable solutions: a role for UNRWA

(L-R) Rex Brynen, Robert Dann, Michael Dumper, Lex Takkenberg, Jaber Suleiman, Leila Hilal, Ali Mustafa

Discussant: Michael Dumper, Professor, University of Exeter
Chair: Lex Takkenberg, Chief, Ethics Office, Department of Internal Oversight Services, UNRWA

• Robert Dann, Chief, Regional Affairs Unit, Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process
• UNRWA as Avatar: Current Debates on the Agency and their Implications (PDF)
  Rex Brynen, Professor, McGill University, Canada
• UNRWA and Preparations for a Just Solution (PDF)
  Leila Hilal, Adviser, UNRWA
• Property Ownership in UNRWA Family Archives: Relevance for Reparations
  Jaber Suleiman, Independent Researcher/Consultant in Refugee Studies

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Reflections on the Palestinian refugee regime

(L-R) Jeff Crisp, Karen AbuZayd, Sari Hanafi, Filippo Grandi, Margot Ellis, Filippo Grandi

Chair: Karen AbuZayd, Former Commissioner General, UNRWA

• Jeff Crisp, Head, Evaluation and Policy Analysis Unit, UNHCR paper

Issam Fares Institute website

Special Refugee Survey Quarterly issue focuses on UNRWA