Signs of instability were apparent even decades before this, with a 12 percent decline in donor support during the 1990s.18 UNRWA’s current financial crisis is not a sudden or isolated phenomenon; it is inextricably linked to long-term shifts over the last few decades and rooted in circumstantial, structural and political obstacles within its funding structure. The circumstances in which UNRWA’s funding structure were designed to function have changed drastically and unpredictably during its 68 years of operation. Originally intended to be only temporary in nature, Israel’s denial of Palestinian refugees’ rights, in particular their right to return, and the absence of a solution to the Palestinian refugee question, have necessitated the repeated renewal of UNRWA’s mandate every three years, most recently extending it to 2020.19 While the Palestinian refugee population has increased more than five-fold in the period 1950-2014, the Agency’s funding structure remains unchanged.20 The result is an outdated financial system that fails to meet the growing needs of those for whom UNRWA is mandated to provide.21 The fundamental problem with UNRWA’s funding structure is its heavy reliance on donor States as a result of minimal input from the main UN budget: 96 percent of the Agency’s budget – equivalent to $1,194.18 million in 2016 – is dependent on voluntary contributions and grants from governments, intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations.22 18 Maya al-Orzza, “UNRWA has been in crisis since its inception,” The Arab Weekly, 4 February 2018, available at: https://thearabweekly.com/unrwa-has-been-crisis-its-inception [accessed 8 May 2018]; Colum Lynch and Emily Tamkin, “U.S Vows to Fund a U.N. Agency For Palestinian Refugees Israeli Leader Wants Shuttered,” Foreign Policy, 24 August 2017, available at: http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/24/u-s-vows-to-fund-a-u-n-agency-for-palestinian-refugeesisraeli-leader-wants-shuttered/ [accessed 8 May 2018]; Rex Brynen, “Donor Contributions to UNRWA,” Chapter 5 in Marzio Babille et. al. (eds), Finding Means: UNRWA’s Funding Crisis and Refugee Living Conditions, Fafo, 2003, 164, available at: http://almashriq.hiof.no/general/300/320/327/fafo/ reports/427-vol3.pdf#page=156 [accessed 8 May 2018]. 19 Riccardo Bocco, “UNRWA and the Palestinian refugees: a history within a history,” Refugee Survey Quarterly, 23, 2-3 (26 March 2010): 229-252, available at: https://academic.oup.com/rsq/article/28/2-3/229/1584825 20 Maya al-Orzza, “UNRWA has been in crisis since its inception”. 21 Rex Brynen, “Donor Contributions to UNRWA”; Annie Slemrod, “What you need to know now about cuts to the UN’s agency for Palestine refugees”; Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC), “Position Paper on the Current Funding Crisis of UNRWA, International Responsibility and a Framework of Short and Long-term International Interventions Necessary for Maintaining the Functioning of UNRWA, and Ensuring Fundamental Rights of Palestine Refugees,” 11 August 2015, available at: http://www.badil.org/phocadownloadpap/badil-new/resources/human-rights-org/phroc/PHROCPositionPaper-UNRWA-Crisis-eng.pdf 22 UN General Assembly, UNRWA Financial report and audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2016 and Report of the Board of Auditors, A/72/5/Add.4, 2017, 16, available at: https:// undocs.org/A/72/5/Add.4; PHROC, “Position Paper on the Current Funding Crisis of UNRWA”. 10