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EU welcomes reopening of schools for Palestinian children

BRUSSELS, Aug 19 (KUNA) -- The EU has welcomed the announcement by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on Wednesday that schools are set to re-open for Palestinian children and refugees in neighbouring countries in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria in the coming weeks.
"This positive and encouraging news has been made possible thanks to EU support, as the largest donor to UNRWA, as well as important contributions from other partners and donor countries," said EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, EU Commissioner for Neighborhood policy, Johannes Hahn, and EU Commissioner for Humanitarian aid, Christos Stylianides, in a joint statement, "All children, no matter where they live in the world, should have access to schools and teachers. Universal access to education is indeed an investment in a better future for the next generation," underlined the statement.
EU overall funding in 2014 accounted for almost 40 percent of the total support to UNRWA. Since the year 2000, the EU has provided over 1.6 billion euro in support of UNRWA's work.
The EU is now, as a priority, looking into ways to continue this significant funding to ensure that schools can carry on their activities, added the statement. (end) nk.ibi