Advocacy Briefing: Palestinians and the search for protection as refugees and stateless persons in Europe • • • Problematic interpretations of Article 1D by government decision-makers and judges (for example, requiring that a person has left UNRWA’s area of operation recently or involuntarily) Uncertainty and divergent practices as to whether a person that is not excluded under Article 1D is automatically entitled to refugee status Lack of awareness and knowledge about statelessness and the correct application of Article 1D among legal practitioners advising Palestinians However, there has also been relative progress in some countries, including recognition that adequate UNRWA assistance has ceased in some of UNRWA’s fields of operation, and discussions of the concept of human dignity, which should be expanded upon in future cases. In Belgium, for example, recent jurisprudence has concluded that because of the financial difficulties faced by UNRWA, the agency was no longer able to provide adequate assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and Lebanon, considering that UNRWA assistance had therefore ceased for the purposes of Article 1D. In the Netherlands, courts have focused in recent cases on whether applicants can actually access protection or assistance from UNRWA. Issue 4: Gaps and developments in 1954 Convention jurisprudence and approaches The 1954 Convention contains a similar but not identical clause to Article 1D of the 1951 Convention, which excludes from its scope of application people who are at present receiving protection or assistance from UN organs or agencies other than UNHCR, and implicitly includes people to whom the clause does not apply. Both progress and inconsistencies can also be identified in recent 1954 Convention jurisprudence and approaches in European domestic jurisdictions with respect to whether Palestinians are stateless and therefore entitled to protection on this basis. In addition to similar divergences as those seen in Article 1D jurisprudence, key challenges include: • • • • • • Inconsistent approaches as to whether Palestinians are stateless Divergent approaches to the recognition of Palestine as a State, which impacts on recognition of Palestinians as stateless persons Laws and policies that do not fully comply with the 1954 Convention Government failure to provide applicants with adequate information about statelessness determination procedures Poor legal advice relating to statelessness Mis-recording of statelessness in civil registration procedures, data collection, or birth certificates Issue 5: Palestinians’ lack of access to resettlement to some countries UNRWA does not currently make referrals for resettlement; and UNHCR does not have a mandate to assist or protect Palestinians in UNRWA’s area of operations. This means that Palestinians physically present in UNRWA’s area of operations generally have no access to resettlement to third countries that only accept resettlement referrals from UNHCR, even if the Palestinian concerned otherwise meets resettlement criteria. This has a clearly discriminatory impact.