https://thefederalist.com/2019/08/05/shocking-ethics-report-proves-trump-right-defund-un-palestinian-refugee-agency/
In the past decade alone, the United States poured more than $3 billion into the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, which a new report tars for corruption.
The latest allegations of corruption and abuse at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, also known as UNRWA, prove the Trump administration was right to stop spending taxpayer dollars on the organization.
According to a confidential report by the UNRWA ethics office, its top management, including Commissioner General Pierre Krahenbuhl, allegedly “engaged in sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination, and other abuses of authority.” The allegations include of an improper relationship between Krahenbuhl and his senior adviser Maria Mohammedi that resulted in a “toxic environment,” causing “frequent embarrassment.” Mohammedi allegedly was also granted a “fast-track” to promotion to a position that Krahenbuhl created.
In the past decade alone, the United States poured more than $3 billion into UNRWA. The Trump administration cut funding in 2018, a decision U.S. Special Envoy Jason Greenblatt assured was “in part due to UNRWA’s unsustainable business model and fiscal practices.” Now, Greenblatt has called for the UNRWA ethics probe to be as transparent as possible in order to ensure the organization did not improperly use U.S. tax dollars.
Established in 1950, UNRWA was created to assist Palestinian refugees following the 1948 Arab-Israeli crisis. But since its inception, it has been an ineffective and corrupt mess.
As pointed out in a report by attorney Ran Ban-Yoshafat of Kohelet Policy Forum, an organization I have been working with this past summer, the UN violated its charter to treat all categories of people equally when it established UNRWA. While the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is tasked with assisting refugee groups across the globe, UNRWA was created explicitly to support only one group of refugees: Palestinians. Thus, in creating UNRWA, the UN unfairly discriminated in favor of Palestinian refugees.