UNRWA: Textbooks

(asked on 16th February 2024) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the findings of the report published by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education entitled UNRWA Education: Textbooks and Terror, published in November 2023.


Answered by
Andrew Mitchell Portrait
Andrew Mitchell
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
This question was answered on 21st February 2024

We are aware of the findings of this report. We take any allegation of the promotion of racism and discrimination extremely seriously and have been clear that incitement to hatred or violence is unacceptable and should have no place in education. Any allegations of breaches of UN staff regulations and rules, including neutrality breaches, are reported to FCDO and investigated. We continue to urge all parties to condemn incitement wherever and whenever it occurs.

The UK-supported 2021 review of the Palestinian Authority (PA) curriculum found improvements in content, with previously flagged materials removed. What we really need to see is further curriculum reform from the PA and we continue to raise this with them regularly.

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