Department of State (State) and United Nations relief and Works
Agency (UNRWA) Actions to Implement Section 301(c) of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 (17-NOV-03, GAO-04-276R).
Established in 1949 by the United Nations, UNRWA provides
assistance to Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. UNRWA
assistance is primarily education, health, and relief and social
services. More than 4 million Palestinian refugees are eligible
to receive these services in UNRWA's five areas of
operation--Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and Gaza. In
section 301(c) of the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act (PL 87-195) as
amended, Congress has directed that "No contributions by the
United States shall be made to [UNRWA] except on the condition
that [UNRWA] take all possible measures to assure that no part of
the United States contribution shall be used to furnish
assistance to any refugee who is receiving military training as a
member of the so-called Palestine Liberation Army or any other
guerrilla type organization or who has engaged in any act of
terrorism." To fulfill a legislative mandate, we are reporting on
State Department actions and UNRWA's implementation of procedures
to address section 301(c).
-------------------------Indexing Terms-------------------------
REPORTNUM: GAO-04-276R
ACCNO: A08883
TITLE: Department of State (State) and United Nations relief and
Works Agency (UNRWA) Actions to Implement Section 301(c) of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
DATE: 11/17/2003
SUBJECT: Aid to refugees
Foreign aid programs
Refugees
Relief agencies
Performance measures
Reporting requirements
Gaza
Jordan
Lebanon
Syria
West Bank
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GAO-04-276R
United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548
November 17, 2003
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Chairman
The Honorable Patrick Leahy
Ranking Minority Member
Subcommittee on Foreign Operations
Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate
The Honorable Jim Kolbe
Chairman
The Honorable Nita M. Lowey
Ranking Minority Member
Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs
Committee on Appropriations
House of Representatives
Subject: Department of State (State) and United Nations Relief and Works
Agency (UNRWA) Actions to Implement Section 301(c) of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961
Established in 1949 by the United Nations, UNRWA provides assistance to
Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. UNRWA assistance is primarily
education, health, and relief and social services. More than 4 million
Palestinian refugees are eligible to receive these services in UNRWA's
five areas of operation-Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and Gaza.
In section 301(c) of the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act (PL 87-195) as
amended, Congress has directed that "No contributions by the United States
shall be made to [UNRWA] except on the condition that [UNRWA] take all
possible measures to assure that no part of the United States contribution
shall be used to furnish assistance to any refugee who is receiving
military training as a member of the socalled Palestine Liberation Army or
any other guerrilla type organization or who has engaged in any act of
terrorism."
In 2003, Congress approved the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution,
2003 (PL 108-7), section 580, which required the General Accounting Office
(GAO) to report to the appropriations committees on State Department
compliance with section 301(c) of the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act and the
implementation of procedures established to meet State standards for
section 301(c). To fulfill this mandate, we
are reporting on State Department actions and UNRWA's implementation of
procedures to address section 301(c). As agreed, we briefed your staff on
our findings on November 6, 2003.1 Enclosure I documents the information
we presented to your staff. UNRWA and the Department of State provided
technical comments on a draft of this briefing, which we incorporated as
appropriate.
Background
UNRWA employs more than 24,000 staff. More than 90 percent of its staff
are Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mission does not involve administering
or policing refugee camps. Relevant civil authorities in each area of
operations are responsible for camp administration and security.
Approximately 1.3 million refugees live in such camps, while almost 2.8
million refugees do not live in camps.
In calendar 2000-2002, UNRWA spent about $1 billion. During this period,
the United States provided about $332 million to UNRWA. The State
Department provided about $300 million during this period, while the U.S.
Agency for International Development (USAID) granted UNRWA another $32
million.
Summary
State has taken actions to implement section 301(c). For example, State
requires UNRWA to certify that in accepting each contribution from the
United States, UNRWA is taking all possible measures to assure that U.S
funds do not benefit terrorists or refugees receiving military training
from guerrilla groups. State has also acted to improve monitoring by (1)
placing a Refugee Coordinator in Amman, Jordan, whose main duty is to
monitor UNRWA; (2) funding additional UNRWA international staff to inspect
facilities; and (3) requesting that UNRWA report regularly on 301(c)
compliance. State has also urged UNRWA to adopt a more formal monitoring
program. However, State has not defined key terms used in section 301(c).
UNRWA's implementation of procedures to address section 301(c) is
constrained by several factors. First, while it relies on host governments
to review local job applicants for UNRWA employment in Jordan, Syria, and
Lebanon, it does not have similar arrangements with authorities in the
West Bank and Gaza, where UNRWA also lacks access to data on arrests of
its local staff. Second, UNRWA uses international staff to inspect its
facilities and requires non-UNRWA groups to obtain permission before using
those facilities, but it has not been able to prevent armed incursions.
Finally, UNRWA is constrained in determining if its
1 Section 580 required GAO to report to the committees by November 1,
2003. Although we were prepared to present our findings by that date, we
agreed to your staff's request that we defer our briefing to accommodate
congressional deliberations on the supplemental appropriations bill.
beneficiaries meet section 301(c) criteria, owing to concerns for its
staff's safety and its inability to verify beneficiary responses.
Scope and Methodology
To describe State Department actions, we reviewed State and USAID records
for fiscal 1999-2003 and met with State and USAID officials in Washington,
D.C.; Jerusalem; Tel Aviv, Israel; and Amman, Jordan.
To describe UNRWA's implementation of procedures, we reviewed UNRWA,
State, and USAID documents. We also met with United States officials in
Washington, Amman, and Jerusalem. We met with UNRWA management (including
the directors of each of its five operating areas), staff, and
beneficiaries in Jerusalem; in Bethlehem and Ramallah, in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank; and in Amman, Jordan. In addition, we met with
Israeli officials in Washington and Jerusalem and with Jordanian officials
in Amman.
We performed our review from April 2003 through October 2003 in accordance
with generally accepted government auditing standards.
We are sending copies of this report to the Honorable Colin Powell,
Secretary of State, and to interested congressional committees. Copies
will be made available to others upon request. In addition, this report
will be available at no charge on our Web site at http://www.gao.gov.
If you or your staff have any further questions regarding this assessment,
please
contact me at (202) 512-3149. Cheryl Goodman, Pierre Toureille, and Ella
Mann
also made key contributions to this report.
David B. Gootnick
Director, International Affairs and Trade
Enclosure
Department of State and United Nations Relief and Works Agency Actions to
Implement Section 301(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
Source: GAO.
Date of Arrest Criminal Activity Status
Possessed explosives, shot Convicted on 5/27/03,
June 22, 2001 firearm, and threw firebombs at a sentenced to 7.5 years
public bus
Member of Islamic Jihad, Convicted on 8/11/03,
February 8, 2002 possessed materials that could be sentenced to 2.5 years
used for explosives
Member of Hamas, possessed Convicted on 8/31/03,
November 13, 2002 machine gun and transferred sentenced to 32 months
chemicals to assist bomb-maker
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