Press Releases

Bethlehem, September 2011 – BADIL Resource Center is pleased to announce the release of an update of our 2005 Handbook on Protection of Palestinian Refugees in State Signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention.

The Handbook Update, coordinated and lead authored by Elna Søndergaard, seeks to document developments of jurisprudence regarding Article 1D of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 Refugee Convention) in the five year period between 2005 and 2010. The research covers 17 of the 23 non-Arab countries (all signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention and/or the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons) that were included in the 2005 Handbook: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States.

The update builds on the 2005 Handbook which provides a history of the circumstances giving rise to the Palestinian exodus, and of the international institutional mechanisms set up to provide protection and assistance. It explains the “protection gaps” that have emerged in national practice, and makes practical, rule-based suggestions for bridging those gaps. Read together with the 2005 Handbook, they provide an essential source of information for lawyers of Palestinian refugees working in states which are signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention.

The relevant information is available on a new section of the BADIL website available here>>>

For ease of usage, the protection available at a national level has also been divided by country. Each country section contains a country overview from the 2005 Handbook and from the most recent update as well as all relevant, publicly available, case law. Country profiles can be accessed here>>>

Click on the links to download the 2005 Handbook and the 2005-2010 Update in full.