UNRWA violates human rights laws that protect children
Will US citizens let US funded education for terror continue unabated?
By DAVID BEDEINPalestinian kids sit at UNRWA school 370(photo credit: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)
UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, shapes the mindset of a new generation of Palestinian youth, educating 492,000 students in 699 schools.The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 3.1 of the Convention, requires that "in all actions concerning children... the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration."Article 6 requires UN agencies to recognize "that every child has the inherent right to life," and, further, that UN agencies "shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child."Article 29 requires that such education be directed to "preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of the sexes, and friendship among all peoples...."In direct contradiction of the mandate of UN education, UNRWA uses new school books from the Palestinian Authority which violate sacred UN principles of peace,AS depicted in the film "Camp Jihad," produced by the Center for Near East Policy Research this past summer, UNRWA instructors openly incorporate virulent anti-Semitic teachings into the classroom, demonizing Jews as part of their UNRWA summer camp program, telling child campers that Jews are none other than "wolves" who chased their grandparents from their homes.UNRWA educational facilities are sites of indoctrination, exploiting the malleability of children's minds to breed hostility toward Israel and the West and to encourage violent homicide suicide attacks, effectively grooming pupils for recruitment by terrorist groups like Hamas, which controls the teacher's union in Gaza.Where is the accountability? With Islamic states that remain at war with Israel?The United States, the largest donor nation to UNRWA, contributes more than USD 275 million in 2013 alone, while the rest of the donors are spread among 38 democraticnations. The US continues unbridled funding of UNRWA, which results in theuse of US taxpayer dollars to teach Palestinian children to revere suicide-homicide bombings. Letters to USAID to condition funds to UNRWA on the cessation of such indoctrination have gone unanswered.At the same time, UNRWA openly hires teachers with ties to designated terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, ignoring US law which forbids aid to agencies hat hire terrorists. While UNRWA has agreements with Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon for the verification of criminal records by potential Agency employees. No such agreement exists between UNRWA and the Palestinian Authority, where 19 UNRWA camps function under Palestinian jurisdiction.Terror education abounds in the UNRWA schools. A fifth grade textbook taught in UNRWA schools known as Our Beautiful Language reads, "We shall return to the homes, to the valleys, to the mountains/Under the flag of glory, Jihad and struggle/With blood, sacrifice [fida’], fraternity and loyalty/We shall return."
An eighth PA school book goes even further: "O brother, the oppressors have exceeded all bounds and Jihad and sacrifice [fida’] are imperative...."A ninth grade PA textbook indoctrinates students into martyrdom. In an exercise where students are asked to connect two sentence, a correct answer links the phrase "Morning of glory and red redemption, nourished by the blood of Martyrs" with the concept of "hope for the liberation of Palestine."When UNRWA promotes such sentiments, UNRWA schools violate a child’s basic right to protection from harmful influence. The question remains: Will US citizens file complaints against UNRWA with Congress and with the courts, or will US citizens let this kind of US funded education for terror continue unabated?Applying his master's degree in community organization social work (Wurwzeiler School of Social Work, New York, 1980) David Bedein, who has produced a book, nine monographs and six movies about UNRWA, invokes the cardinal principles of social work to critique UNRWA, as a UN social work agency, which violates the most fundamental human rights of children. He is also the Bureau Chief of the Israel Resource News AgencyThe Lawfare Project, www.thelawfareproject.org provided the author of this article with research into appropriate sources of international law.
