UNITED NATIONS, Mar 21 (APP): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has received the interim findings of an independent panel conducting an assessment of UNRWA, the UN agency that assists Palestinians, his office said Wednesday.
The review follows allegations regarding the alleged involvement of UNRWA staff in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, which are being investigated by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), a note to the press said.
The independent review group presented the interim report findings and recommendations to the Secretary-General on Tuesday.
“It has found that UNRWA has in place a significant number of mechanisms and procedures to ensure compliance with the Humanitarian Principle of neutrality, and the group has also identified critical areas that still need to be addressed,” the note to said.
The review group will now develop concrete and realistic recommendations on how to address these critical areas to strengthen and improve the agency, it said.
The final report will be presented on 20 April and will be made public.
The UN chief appointed the panel in February, in consultation with UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.
It is led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, working with three research organizations in Sweden, Norway and Denmark.