JUDGMENT OF 13. 1. 2021 – CASE C-507/19 BUNDESREPUBLIK DEUTSCHLAND (REFUGEE STATUS OF A STATELESS PERSON OF PALESTINIAN ORIGIN) 45 In order to answer those questions, it must be noted that, according to the first sentence of Article 12(1)(a) of Directive 2011/95, a third-country national or a stateless person is excluded from being a refugee ‘if he or she falls within the scope of Article 1(D) of the Geneva Convention, relating to protection or assistance from organs or agencies of the United Nations other than the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’. 46 The first paragraph of Article 1(D) of the Geneva Convention provides that the convention does not apply to persons who ‘are at present receiving’ protection or assistance ‘from organs or agencies of the United Nations other than the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’. 47 UNRWA, a United Nations agency other than the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, was established to protect and assist Palestinians who are ‘Palestine refugees’. Its mandate, which, as noted by the Advocate General in point 4 of his Opinion, has been renewed until 30 June 2023, extends over its area of operations which consists of five fields, namely the Gaza Strip, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. 48 Thus, any person, such as XT, who is registered with UNRWA, is eligible to receive protection and assistance from that agency in the interests of his or her well-being as a refugee (see, to that effect, judgment of 25 July 2018, Alheto, C-585/16, EU:C:2018:584, paragraph 84). 49 On account of that specific refugee status established in those territories of the Near East for Palestinians, persons registered with UNRWA are, in principle, by virtue of the first sentence of Article 12(1)(a) of Directive 2011/95, which corresponds to the first paragraph of Article 1(D) of the Geneva Convention, excluded from refugee status in the European Union (judgment of 25 July 2018, Alheto, C-585/16, EU:C:2018:584, paragraph 85). 50 That said, it follows from the second sentence of Article 12(1)(a) of Directive 2011/95, which corresponds to the second paragraph of Article 1(D) of the Geneva Convention, that, when an applicant for international protection in the European Union no longer receives protection or assistance from UNRWA, that exclusion ceases to apply (judgment of 25 July 2018, Alheto, C-585/16, EU:C:2018:584, paragraph 85). 51 As the Court has held, the second sentence of Article 12(1)(a) of Directive 2011/95 applies where it becomes evident, based on an assessment, on an individual basis, of all the relevant evidence, that the personal safety of the stateless person of Palestinian origin concerned is at serious risk and that it is impossible for UNRWA, whose assistance was requested by that person, to guarantee that the living conditions of that individual would be compatible with its mission, and that person is forced to leave the UNRWA area of operations owing to circumstances beyond his control. In that case, that stateless person may – unless he or she falls within the scope of any of the grounds for exclusion set out in Article 12(1)(b), Article 12(2) and Article 12(3) of that directive – ipso facto be entitled to the benefits of that directive, without necessarily having to demonstrate a well-founded fear of being persecuted, within the meaning of Article 2(d) of that directive (see, to that effect, judgment of 25 July 2018, Alheto, C-585/16, EU:C:2018:584, paragraph 86 and the case-law cited). 52 As the Advocate General noted, in essence, in point 36 of his Opinion, neither Article 12(1)(a) of Directive 2011/95 nor Article 1(D) of the Geneva Convention refer to the residence of the person concerned; those provisions merely refer to whether the person is receiving assistance or protection from UNRWA, or whether that protection or assistance has ceased. 53 Accordingly, it follows from the very wording of those provisions that they require that account be taken of the possibility for the person concerned to receive protection or assistance from UNRWA throughout the territory covered by that agency’s mandate, namely UNRWA’s area of operations, composed of five fields, referred to in paragraph 6 above. ECLI:EU:C:2021:3 11