To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his (a) Canadian and (b) Australian counterpart on the investigations those countries are conducting into reports that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency has distributed educational material to Palestinian children reportedly promoting hatred of Israel to aid home-learning during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered on
5 February 2021
I met with the Canadian Minister for International Development to discuss how we can collectively ensure that the educational materials provided to Palestinian children for home-learning continue to remain in line with UN values and promote peace.
UNRWA has reported that these materials are no longer circulated and are not used in current lessons. The issue was rectified by November 2020. We continue to monitor the situation to ensure self-learning materials remain in line with UN values.