WHAT WAS CLAIMED
The Australian government has sent $5 million to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
OUR VERDICT
False. The funding is given to UN aid agencies in Lebanon, not Hezbollah.
AAP FACTCHECK - Australia has not sent $5 million to Hezbollah in Lebanon, despite claims on social media.
The funding has been allocated to UN aid agencies that have safeguards in place to prevent it from directly reaching the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shia political and militant group.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced $5 million in Australian aid for Lebanon in a March 21 media release.
A popular post on Instagram claims this funding has been sent to Hezbollah.
"Penny Wong has just sent $5m more of Australian taxpayer money to Hezbollah," an image attached to the post reads.
Two other images attached to the post show a screenshot of Senator Wong's media release and a screenshot of another Facebook post criticising the Albanese government's humanitarian aid to Lebanon.
The government and experts say the humanitarian aid is not sent to Hezbollah and instead goes to two UN agencies: the World Food Program (WFP) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
The WFP will receive $3 million for "emergency food assistance", and UNICEF will get $2 million for "nutrition assistance, access to water and health services", Senator Wong's media release said.
The aid package was announced in response to Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, which the UN said on March 31 had displaced 1.1 million civilians.
Hezbollah is a Shia Muslim political party and militant group that holds seats in Lebanon's parliament and two cabinet positions.
The federal government lists the organisation as a proscribed terrorist group, as does the US government.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) says the claim that the aid money has been given to Hezbollah is "completely false".
"The Australian Government's humanitarian funding in Lebanon is delivered through established partners with robust fiduciary controls and procedures that comply with Australian counter-terrorism financing legislation," a department spokesperson told AAP FactCheck.
The DFAT spokesperson said there were strict counter-terrorism, anti-fraud and anti-corruption controls, which were subject to monitoring and review, to prevent Australian funds from flowing to terror groups.
Amra Lee, a humanitarian access expert at Australian National University, described the claim as "disinformation intended to undermine the legitimacy of the UN and the important role of humanitarian assistance in alleviating human suffering".
She said the WFP and UNICEF had strict controls to ensure their aid reached vulnerable civilians. This included the use of digital biometrics to validate their identities, Ms Lee told AAP FactCheck.
Reinoud Leenders, a Middle East expert at King's College London, agreed that UN humanitarian agencies had robust procedures to prevent funding going to non-state terrorist organisations.
Associate Professor Leenders said while UN agencies have faced criticism for funding and partnering with authoritarian regimes in countries such as Syria, their logic for doing so did not apply to non-state groups such as Hezbollah.
"Their funding of regime-affiliated entities didn't result from an oversight; it was informed by a reasoning that the UN respects and deals with sovereign states," he told AAP FactCheck.
"Such an overriding logic is irrelevant to non-state actors such as Hizbullah, especially when they are widely designated as terrorist organisations."
Assoc Prof Leenders also said it was highly unlikely that the UN would have inadvertently channelled money to Hezbollah's own charitable groups or non-governmental organisations.
"Quite the contrary, Hizbullah advertises its involvement in such aid organisations in its efforts to be viewed as taking care of the needs among its constituencies," he said.
"The onus of proof for a claim that UN agencies funded Hizbullah lies with those making that accusation."
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