UN Watch report: UNRWA overstated reform implementation

A new investigation by the NGO UN Watch, released on Monday, found that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) overstated its implementation of reforms promised to donor governments. Following revelations that UNRWA employees participated in the October 7, 2023, massacre, the agency publicly claimed it had completed 41 of 50 recommendations from the Colonna Review. However, UN Watch documented that many reforms were implemented "on paper only," leaving systemic terror-screening and curriculum flaws unaddressed. Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, stated, "UNRWA has graded its own homework and awarded itself high marks." Key issues included UNRWA's terror-screening tool not listing Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and educational reforms being measured by administrative procedures rather than actual curriculum content. The Colonna Review was commissioned after donors suspended funding due to the involvement of UNRWA employees in the October 7 attacks.