recognized as a specific class,8 and that they continue to receive protection and associated rights, until their position has been definitively settled in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly.9 This purpose is also reflected in the discussions regarding the drafting of the Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, in which it was emphasized that Palestinian refugees should continue to be granted special status.10 It was also recognized as essential that the continuity of protection be ensured11 for Palestinians as a sui generis class of refugees under the 1951 Convention. 7. The second purpose of Article 1D is to avoid duplicating and overlapping competencies between UNHCR and UNRWA. The responsibilities of the two agencies are intended to be complementary.12 In this regard, it is noted that while UNHCR’s mandate is global, its competence “shall not extend to a person … who continues to receive from other organs or agencies of the United Nations protection or assistance.”13 In contrast, UNRWA has competence in five geographical areas or ‘fields’ of operation: Jordan, Lebanon, the Syrian Arab Republic, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza.14 Taken together, these territories constitute 8 “The Article aims, fundamentally, to ensure continued protection of Palestinians as persons whose refugee character had already been established”. AD (Palestine), para.159, note 2 above. Article 1D was “intended for an existing category of refugees in respect of which the General Assembly had already taken certain action.” Takkenberg, note 5 above, 97. 9 See also, Mostafa Abed El Karem El Kott and Others v. Bevándorlási és Állampolgársági Hivatal, C364/11, European Union: Court of Justice of the European Union, 19 December 2012, (“El Kott”), http://www.refworld.org/cases,ECJ,50d2d7b42.html, para 62, where the CJEU affirmed that the objective of Article 1D was to “ensure that Palestinian refugees continue to receive protection, as Palestinian refugees, until their position has been definitely settled …”. 10 General Assembly, Fifth Session, Official Records, Third Committee, 328 th Meeting, 27 November 1950, paras 52, 55 (Mr. Baroody, Saudi Arabia), UN doc. A/C.3/SR.328, available through the UN Official Document System database at http://www.un.org/en/documents/index.html. Also cited in UNHCR’s intervention before the Court of Appeal of England and Wales in the case of El-Ali, http://www.refworld.org/docid/3d1c73c04.html (“UNHCR intervention in El-Ali”). 11 General Assembly, Fifth Session, Official Records, Third Committee, 344 th Meeting, 11 December 1950, paras 24-25 (Mr. Baroody, Saudi Arabia); para. 28 (Mr. Lesage, Canada); paras 29-30 (Mr. Davin, New Zealand); para. 39 (Mr. Noriega, Mexico); para. 42 (Mr. Raafat, Egypt), UN doc. A/C.3/SR.344, available through the UN Official Document System database at http://www.un.org/en/documents/index.html. Also cited in UNHCR intervention in El-Ali, note (10) above. 12 See Goodwin Gill and McAdam, note 5 above, 152. The importance of this complementarity is reflected in the current practice of the two agencies. Since 2005, UNHCR and UNRWA have held annual high-level meetings in order to address issues of common concern; and since 2010, a joint working group has been established which remains in regular contact and meets twice per year. 13 Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, (“Statute”), 14 December 1950, A/RES/428(V), http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3628.html, paragraphs 1 and 7(c). With regards to the differences between the language of the Statute (“continues to receive”) and that of Article 1D (“at present receiving”), UNHCR interprets the phrases as having the same meaning. “For reasons which are not clear (but which may have been dictated by time constraints), the draft Convention refugee definition was not amended to bring it into line with the UNHCR Statute before being sent on to the Conference of Plenipotentiaries.” Goodwin-Gill and McAdam, note 5 above, p. 154. See also on the issue of UNHCR’s Mandate, UNHCR, Note on the Mandate of the High Commissioner for Refugees and his Office, October 2013, http://www.refworld.org/docid/5268c9474.html. 14 See for example, General Assembly Resolution 58/95 of 17 December 2003 and, more recently, UNGA Resolution 71/91, Assistance to Palestine refugees: Resolution adopted by the General Assembly, 22 December 2016, A/RES/71/91: http://www.refworld.org/docid/586cbe334.html. 4