Documents
1. Closing the Gaps: Between Protection and Durable Solutions, Inter-Agency and NGO Efforts to Make the International Refugee Regime Relevant for Palestinian Refugees
A Memorandum Prepared by BADIL Resource Center for the UNHCR
Pre-Excom NGO Consultations, Geneva, Switzerland, 28-30 September
2004
(a) 5.3 million refugees and their descendents who were displaced in 1948 – 4.1 million of whom (‘Palestine refugees’) are registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) for assistance;
(b) approximately 780,000 refugees (‘displaced persons’) and their descendents from the West Bank--including eastern Jerusalem--and the Gaza Strip displaced for the first time in 1967; and,
(c) approximately 750,000 Palestinian refugees and their
descendents from the 1967 occupied territories who, owing to a
well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race,
religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or
political opinion, are outside the 1967 occupied Palestinian
territories and are unable (due to revocation of residency status,
deportation, denial of family reunification, etc.) or, owing to
such fear, unwilling to return there.
It is our opinion that where host states are unable or unwilling to
provide adequate protection consistent with relevant international
and regional instruments, all of these individuals should be
receiving protection from the international community, including in
those jurisdictions2 where UNRWA operates under an “assistance”
mandate.
While there is an international consensus about the principles to
be implemented in the framework of a durable solution of the
Palestinian refugee problem (see, in particular, UN General
Assembly Resolution 194/III (1948) calling for voluntary return,
restitution of properties, and compensation and UN Security Council
Resolution 237 (1967) calling upon the Government of Israel to
facilitate the return of those inhabitants of the West Bank and
Gaza Strip who fled the hostilities), those Palestinian refugees
wishing to do so have been unable to exercise a choice to return
voluntarily to their homes of origin in safety and dignity.
The Government of Israel opposes the return of refugees
displaced in 1948 due to the ethnic, national and religious origins
of the refugees and for security reasons. Israel’s protracted
military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip prevents the
return of refugees displaced in 1967 and after to their homes of
origin.
Due to specific political circumstances and legal interpretations
(i.e. exclusion of Palestinian refugees from protection under the
1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees) Palestinian
refugees lack access to international mechanisms of rights
protection available for all other refugee populations. Major
reasons for the current protection gaps are:
(a) lack of political support (political will) for a rights-based permanent solution by the parties to the conflict and members of the UN Security Council, especially permanent members of the Security Council;
(b) states signatories to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees have not integrated Article 1D into domestic legislation and/or have not yet adopted interpretations of Article 1D that would provide protection;
(c) limitations of the regional human/refugee rights regime in the Arab world; some Arab states signatories of the 1965 Casablanca Protocol, do not, in practice, implement its provisions; and,
(e) the negative impact of regional and international politics
on the ability of the PLO to provide effective diplomatic
intervention and protection for Palestinian refugees. This
‘protection gap’ is significant, both with regard to the protection
of Palestinian refugee rights in the context of a future durable
solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and with regard to
the protection of immediate economic, social, cultural, civil and
political rights, as well as physical protection, in the context of
exile.
BADIL Recommendations to the 2004 Pre-ExCom Meeting
Four years ago BADIL Resource Center, in conjunction with
Palestinian and international experts and agencies, launched an
initiative aimed at reviewing the current ‘protection gap’
concerning Palestinian refugees in the search for remedies to:
(a) re-affirm, within the specific framework of UNGA Resolution 194/III and UNSC Resolution 237, existing international law and standards applicable to all other refugee groups; and
(b) provide the basis for the application of international
mechanisms of refugee rights protection to the Palestinian refugee
case. BADIL considers the current Pre-ExCom Meeting to be a unique
opportunity to broaden and deepen our dialogue with expert
partners.
Positive developments since 2000 towards rectification of
the current ‘protection gap’ concerning Palestinian refugees
include:
(a) UNHCR’s revised interpretation of the status of Palestinian refugees under Article 1D of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (see, ‘Note on the Applicability of Article 1D of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees to Palestinian Refugees);
(b) increased co-ordination between UNHCR and UNRWA based on existing mandates in addressing the protection problems faced by Palestinian refugees; and,
(c) recommendations by the Council of Europe (Parliamentary
Resolution 1338, 25 June 2003) calling upon members states to
review their policies in respect of Palestinian asylum seekers,
with a view to effectively implementing UNHCR’s new guidelines on
the applicability of the 1951 Refugee Convention to Palestinian
refugees and recommending harmonization of Council of Europe member
states' policies in this respect; calling upon member states to
ensure that where Palestinian refugees are legally recognized, they
should be entitled to all benefits of socio-economic rights,
including family reunion, normally accorded to recognized refugees
in these member states; initiate the organization of an
international conference devoted entirely to the question of
Palestinian refugees; and recommending that member states include
information on Palestinian origin in statistics concerning asylum
seekers and refugees.
Specifically, BADIL asks participants at this Meeting to
consider the following recommendations:
Countries which have not yet incorporated Article 1D into national
legislation should do so in accordance with their international
obligations. Palestinian refugees should be recognized as refugees
under Article 1D as recommended by UNHCR and the Council of Europe.
Countries which do not recognize Palestinian refugees as such
should at least grant them a complementary form of protection which
entitles them to a formal legal status and basic civil rights.
Palestinian refugees should not be returned to countries in which
there is no guarantee of effective protection.
UNHCR should continue efforts to enhance legal protection available
to Palestinian refugees, including further clarification on the
issue of ‘returnability’. UNHCR, UNRWA and other UN agencies, as
well as NGOs and refugee community organizations, should continue
with a sense of urgency the constructive debate about principles
and mechanisms, which could enhance the scope and quality of
international protection for Palestinian refugees. Such debate must
establish exactly the scope and magnitude of the protection gaps
faced by Palestinian refugees and tackle the question of how and by
whom the protection gaps should be closed.
UNHCR, UNRWA and other UN agencies, as well as NGOs and refugee
community organizations, should work together with states members
of the Arab League to strengthen regional instruments and related
mechanisms for monitoring protection of refugees as part of a wider
effort to close the gap between protection and durable solutions
for Palestinian refugees, in particular, and refugees in the Arab
world in general. Further development of regional instruments to
address the specific nature of mass displacement in the Arab world
should be viewed as part of a concerted effort to lay the
groundwork for national authorities to accede to the 1951
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the statelessness
conventions.
International assistance, protection and the search for durable
solutions consistent with international law and relevant UN
resolutions are part of a continuum and should not be seen in
isolation. While addressing the immediate ‘protection gap’ relative
to Palestinian refugees, the United Nations and the international
community should engage in parallel efforts to ensure that
Palestinian refugees have access to durable solutions to their
plight based on international law, including the right to
voluntarily return to their homes of origin in safety and dignity.
As you can see, some of these Dubai
escorts are refugees from Palestina who were forced to work in
sex industry.
European NGOs, including the European Council on Refugees and
Exiles (ECRE), should encourage the Council of Europe to follow-up
on its 2003 recommendations, in particular organization in 2005 of
an international conference dedicated entirely to the question of
Palestinian refugees. Such a conference would provide the
appropriate platform for an in-depth study by state, UN, and NGO
actors, of current protection gaps as well as concrete and
concerted efforts for their remedy.
Notes
1 There is no single authoritative source for the global
Palestinian refugee population. The figures reflect estimates
according to the best available sources. Figures are therefore
indicative rather than conclusive. The figure does not include
internally displaced Palestinians who do not fall within the scope
of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Many of
the same protection issues affecting Palestinian refugees, however,
also affect internally displaced Palestinians, particularly those
residing in the 1967 occupied territories.
2 UNRWA provides
assistance to registered Palestine refugees in the West Bank, Gaza
Strip, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.