EU Commission requests ‘urgent’ audit of UN Palestine refugee agency

The European Commission said on Monday (29 January) it will request the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA) to allow EU experts to audit the body, following Israeli allegations that some staff had participated in Hamas’s October 7 attack.

The European Commission “expects UNRWA to agree to carry out an audit of the Agency by EU-appointed independent external experts”, said the press release published on Monday (29 January).

Their role would be “reviewing (…) focusing specifically on the control systems needed to prevent the possible involvement of its staff in terrorist activities”, it added.

The EU executive also said it expected a review of “all” UNRWA staff to be launched “soonest to confirm that they did not participate in the attacks”.

The EU’s funding is not yet impacted, the press release said, as no payment was planned before the end of February.

The EU is one of UNRWA’s largest donors, ranking third place after the US and Germany in 2022.

UNRWA launched an investigation on Friday (26 January) it announced after Israel alleged that employees of the Agency were involved in the Hamas-led terrorist attacks against Israel on 7 October.

Several EU countries have launched reviews or paused funding to UNRWA, such as France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Finland, and Austria, they announced over the weekend. The United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Switzerland did the same.

UNRWA was set up in the wake of the first 1948 Arab-Israeli war to support Palestinian refugees in all occupied territories. Financed by UN member states, its budget stood at approximately $1.18 billion in 2022.

The EU’s Neighbourhood Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi wrote on X that the EU executive is requesting an “audit of UNRWA’s control systems by EU-appointed independent external experts”, and a “review of UNRWA’s pillar assessment that ensures the protection of EU funding”.

The European Commission also requested that the Agency review its “entire staff and strengthen[s] its internal investigations department”, Várhelyi said.

European Commission’s spokesperson Eric Mamer said on Monday the audit should be led by European Commission-appointed experts and be conducted alongside a UN investigation into the claims.

When the EU’s executive works with an agency, it is a standard procedure to have control mechanisms in place, and [the Commission] can request an audit”, he added.

“It is a different audit than the investigation [launched by UNRWA]: It is broader, it concerns the pillar assessment, which is the understanding under which [the Commission] works with UNRWA and how it controls its activities to ensure its staff is not involved in terrorist activities,” Mamer added.

This review would be “more systemic” than the UNRWA-led investigation, he explained.

Even if “no additional funding to UNRWA is foreseen until the end of February”, the European Commission “will determine upcoming funding decisions for UNRWA in light of the very serious allegations made on 24 January relating to the involvement of UNRWA staff in the heinous 7 October attacks,” the Commission also wrote.

It is however unclear if the EU contribution to the UN agency could be impacted.

“I can’t say what the timeline will be for the audit requested [by the Commission] and if it will be finished by the time when payment is due,” Mamer told reporters on Monday.

“Those actions are urgent and are important and would be launched without any delay,” he added.

“In the meantime, we are asking first of all the organisation to carry out the investigation it has itself announced and agree to an audit carried out by independent experts selected by the Commission”, Mamer repeated.

[Edited by Alexandra Brzozowski/Zoran Radosavljevic]

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