Chloe Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chloe Smith on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her Department’s policies on funding the UN Relief and Works Agency of the use of funding from that agency by a Palestinian NGO to organise a tree-planting ceremony honouring people including Palestinian terrorists.

Mr Desmond Swayne

We have raised this allegation with the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) who have confirmed that UNRWA has no present relationship with the NGO in question, Union of Agriculture Workers Committees (UAWC). In monitoring DFID support for UNRWA, we pay stringent attention to their neutrality policy and values of peace. We maintain a close dialogue with UNRWA on neutrality issues, and we take allegations of incitement very seriously indeed, raising them whenever appropriate.