On 15 February 2023, the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Middle East Centre together with the NCHS and the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) hosted a conversation about the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and its political and financial challenges.

You can now listen to a recording of the seminar below or here.

UNRWA has provided humanitarian support to Palestinian refugees (currently numbering 5.9 million), as they wait for a political solution. After decades of conflict, such a solution has failed to materialise and UNRWA continues to need to exist. Despite this, it has struggled with persistent underfunding even though humanitarian needs are immense.

This seminar features a conversation with Leni Stenseth, the Deputy Commissioner General for UNRWA,  Kjersti Berg (CMI) and Jørgen Jensehaugen (PRIO). The seminar was moderated by Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert (PRIO and NCHS Co-Director).

You can access a copy of the report by Berg and Jensehaugen “UNRWA, funding crisis and the way forward” here.