Written question asked by Matthew Offord (Conservative) on Friday, 20 March 2015, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 24 March 2015. It was answered by Desmond Swayne (Conservative) on Wednesday, 25 March 2015 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

Palestinians

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what monitoring her Department undertakes of the content of UN Relief and Works Agency educational materials in Gaza and the West Bank.

Answer: We accompany our support for the UN Relief and Works Agency with stringent attention to their neutrality and values of peace. UNRWA continues to implement a human rights, conflict resolution and tolerance policy, which applies to all its schools in its five fields of operation, supplementing the host country curriculums. UNRWA has also developed a framework which establishes standard criteria for analysing and enhancing textbooks across all fields and includes tools to guide analysis of host country curricula, textbooks, and other learning material to ensure they reflect UN values. We take allegations of incitement very seriously and raise them with UNRWA whenever appropriate.

Secondary information