The UN Secretary General chief Antonio Guterres has appointed an independent review group “to respond to allegations of serious breaches when they are made” at UNRWA, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency.
It comes after the agency has sacked several staff members over allegations that 12 employees were involved in the 7 October Hamas attacks in Israel.
The review will be led by Catherine Colonna, the former French Minister of Foreign Affairs, and is expected to report in April. UNRWA said the review will “assess whether the agency is doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality”.
A number of countries including the UK, US, Canada and Germany have paused funding for the agency over the allegations.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that the UN agency had been “totally infiltrated” by Hamas.
Three European organisations will work with Colonna on the report – the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Norway, and the Danish Institute for Human Rights.
This assessment is separate from an internal probe launched last month by the UN.
