The Broadening Protection Gap A Stateless Palestinians for whom it is Established that Return to a Country of Previous Habitual Residence is Impossible for Administrative Reasons (and Not due to a Fear of Persecution) ..................................................... 314 B Stateless Palestinians for whom Protection in Line with the UNHCR Handbook is Not Available in Another State ........................................... 314 Conclusion and Unanswered Questions................................................................ 315 INTRODUCTION Like the recent #StatelessJourneys project, 1 different reports 2 and academic publications 3 identify Palestinians among those who experience difficulties accessing protection and exercising other rights. Among other reasons cited in these works, this is because Palestinians may not be recognised as stateless and provided assistance accordingly. Specific challenges arise in applying the definition of a ‘stateless person’, as found in art 1 of the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (‘1954 Convention’), to Palestinians. 4 The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (‘UNHCR’) has not taken any formal position on the question of the 1 2 3 4 European Network on Statelessness and Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, ‘About the Initiative’, Stateless Journeys (Web Page, 2019) <https://statelessjourneys.org/about-theinitiative/>. From Syria to Europe: Experiences of Stateless Kurds and Palestinian Refugees from Syria Seeking Protection in Europe (Report, European Network on Statelessness January 2019) <https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/attachments/resources/ENSISI-From_Syria_to_Europe_Jan-2019.pdf>; The World’s Stateless (Report No 2, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion 2017) <http://www.worldsstateless.org/>; Susan Akram and Nidal Al-Azza (eds), Closing Protection Gaps: Handbook on Protection of Palestinian Refugees in States Signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention (2nd edn, BADIL Resource Centre February 2015) <http://www.badil.org/en/publication/handbook-on-protection.html> (‘BADIL Handbook’); Marjan Claes, NANSEN NOTE 2019/1 Palestijnse Vluchtelingen van Gaza — Toepassing Artikel 1D Vluchtelingenverdrag [Palestinian Refugees from Gaza Application of Article 1D of the Refugee Convention] (Report, NANSEN 5 April 2019) <https://nansen-refugee.be/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/NANSEN-NOTE-2019-1Beschermingsnood-Gaza.pdf> (‘NANSEN Note’); Addendum NANSEN Note 2019/1: Situatie in de Gazastrook tussen April en Augustus 2019 [Addendum NANSEN Note 2019/1: Situation in the Gaza Strip between April and August 2019] (Report, NANSEN 14 October 2019) <https://nansen-refugee.be/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Addendum-NANSEN-note2019_1_-final.pdf> (‘NANSEN Note Addendum’). Susan Akram, ‘The Search for Protection for Stateless Refugees in the Middle East, Palestinians and Kurds in Lebanon and Jordan’ (2018) 30(3) International Journal of Refugee Law 407; Susan Akram, ‘Self-Determination, Statehood, and the Refugee Question under International Law in Namibia, Palestine, Western Sahara, and Tibet’ in Susan Akram and Tom Syring (eds), Still Waiting for Tomorrow: The Law and Politics of Unresolved Refugee Crises (Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2014) 75; Victor Kattan, ‘The Nationality of Denationalized Palestinians’ (2005) 74(1) Nordic Journal of International Law 67; Annelieke Beversluis et al, ‘Forced to Leave But Nowhere to Return to: Rights of Non-Returnable Stateless Palestinians in the Netherlands’ (Expert Opinion, VU University Amsterdam April 2016) <https://migrationlawclinic.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/mlc_report-statelesspalestinians_final-april-20161.pdf>; Khalil Asem, Palestinian Nationality and Citizenship Current Challenges and Future Prospects (CARIM Research Reports No 7, 2007); Katia Bianchini, Protecting Stateless Persons: The Implementation of the Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons across EU States (Brill Nijhoff 2018). Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, opened for signature 28 September 1954, 360 UNTS 117 (entered into force 6 June 1960) art 1 (‘1954 Convention’). 301