United Nations Resident Coordinator joins Central Islamic Organization of Guyana in Zakaat donation to UN Relief & Works Agency (UNRWA) to assist Palestinian people in Gaza

The United Nations Resident Coordinator to Guyana, Ms. Yeşim Oruç, has joined Islamic organisations in Georgetown and H.E. Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, at a night of prayer for global peace, Guyana and Palestine.

The Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG), the Guyana Islamic Trust (GIT), the Muslim Youth Organisation of Guyana (MYO), and the Government of Guyana hosted the event at the National Ramadan Village on the occasion of Laylat al-Qadr, or the Night of Power, one of the holiest nights in the Islamic religious calendar.

A key component of the occasion was the facilitation of donations to the people of Palestine. Funds raised at the event will be donated to the United Nations Relief & Works Agency (UNRWA) to provide immediate humanitarian relief to people in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Speaking at the event, Ms. Oruç said: “I am humbled to be able to join you in making my own personal Zakaat al fitrah [charitable donation] on this night of reflection and prayer. And I am further honoured to have been asked by His Excellency the President, and Sheikh Moeen al-Hack, Director of CIOG, to facilitate this generous donation to UNRWA, from the people of Guyana, to help alleviate the appalling human suffering now occurring in Gaza.”

“UNRWA was established by a UN General Assembly Resolution. It is the backbone of the humanitarian operation in Gaza. No other entity has the capacity to deliver assistance at the scale and breadth that the people of Gaza urgently need. Professional humanitarian workers at UNRWA provide food, water, medicine and shelter to Palestinian people, and the organisation’s work now is more essential than ever.”

The UN Resident Coordinator further recalled that on 2nd February, the Government of Guyana made a voluntary contribution to UNRWA of GUY$31 million (US$150,000) at a time when a number of key donors have suspended funding. Ms. Oruç repeated the Secretary-General’s call for governments to resume funding of UNRWA, without which vital operations in Gaza cannot continue.

The UN Resident Coordinator reiterated the UN Secretary General’s calls for:

• Immediate and unconditional release of all hostages in Gaza;
• An immediate humanitarian ceasefire; 
• Safe and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid and humanitarian workers within Gaza so that aid can be delivered to people in need wherever they are;
• Full adherence to international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict.

About the UN in Guyana

The UN Country Team in Guyana comprises 10 Agencies with offices in Georgetown, and a further 15 Agencies based outside the country. The UN Resident Coordinator is the highest-ranking official of the UN in the country and leads the UN Country Team. The UN Resident Coordinator in Guyana is Ms. Yeşim Oruç.

About UNRWA

UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The United Nations General Assembly established UNRWA in 1949 with a mandate to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to registered Palestine refugees in the Agency’s area of operations pending a just and lasting solution to their plight. UNRWA operates in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, The Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Tens of thousands of Palestine refugees who lost their homes and livelihoods due to the 1948 conflict continue to be displaced and in need of support, nearly 75 years on. UNRWA helps Palestine Refugees through emergency assistance, and through services it provides in education, health care, relief and social services, protection, camp infrastructure and improvement, and microfinance.

Online donations to UNRWA can be made here: https://donate.unrwa.org/-landing-page/en_EN