largely fails to refer to the mandate and historical protection role of the UNCCP.184 This absence is reflected in national jurisprudence on Palestinian asylum cases. 6.2. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) UNRWA was established as a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly, by General Assembly Resolution 302 (IV) of 8 December 1949, “to carry out […] direct relief and works programmes”185 for ‘Palestine refugees’ in a context in which the General Assembly recognized that “continued assistance for the relief of Palestine refugees [was] necessary to prevent conditions of starvation and distress among them and to further conditions of peace and stability.”186 Palestine Refugees UNRWA’s definition of Palestine refugees encompasses Palestinians who fulfill the following criteria: any person whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948 and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict (UNRWA Consolidated Eligibility and Registration Instructions).187 UNRWA has explained the terms used in this definition: • “Palestine” refers to the territory that is currently the State of Israel according to the formal 1949 cease-fire lines;188 184 Most academics have not referred to the UNCCP in their interpretation of Article 1D. James C. Hathaway, The Law of Refugee Status (Butterworths, 1991), 205–209; Atle Grahl-Madsen, The Status of Refugees in International Law: Refugee Character (A. W. Sijthoff, 1966), 140: “At the time when the 1951 Refugee Convention was signed there were two ‘organs or agencies of the United Nations other than the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ which were providing assistance and/or protection for international refugees, namely the International Refugee Organization (IRO) and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA); and it was these ‘organs or agencies’ which the drafters of the Convention had in mind.” See also Takkenberg, The Status of Palestinian Refugees in International Law, 24ff: although early UNCCP protection activities are mentioned, these are not reflected in his interpretation of Article 1D. Guy Goodwin-Gill, on the other hand, has referred to UNCCP’s protection mandate: see Guy Goodwin-Gill and Jane McAdam, The Refugee in International Law, 3 edition (Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 221: “At the time, both protection and assistance for Palestinian refugees fell within institutional arrangements that included UNCCP and UNRWA;” and Ibid., 91: “This exclusion [Article 1D, first paragraph] also had a functional aspect and served to delimit the respective areas of responsibility of UNHCR, the UNRWA, and the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP).” 185 UN General Assembly, “Resolution 302(IV) - Assistance to Palestine Refugees,” December 8, 1949, para.7(a), UN Doc. A/RES/302(IV), http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/AF5F909791DE7FB08525 60E500687282. 186 Ibid., para. 5. 187 UNRWA, “Consolidated Eligibility and Registration Instructions (CERI),” January 1, 2009, 4, http:// unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/699C38781966419F8525773F00490262. See also United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNRWA: A Brief History, 1950-1982 (UN, 1983): “This UNRWA definition, which was developed for internal working purposes, has been tacitly accepted but not formally approved by the General Assembly. It is solely for the determination of eligibility for UNRWA assistance.” 188 UNRWA, “Consolidated Eligibility and Registration Instructions (CERI),” January 1, 2009, 4, point 3.12.BADIL has been informed by UNRWA that this definition, which first appeared in the Instructions in January 2002, was incorrect and not in accord with UNRWA's consistent practice, which had been to interpret the term "Palestine" to mean all of what had been Mandate Palestine under the pre-1948 British Mandate. The Instructions are being revised to correct this definition as this Handbook goes to press. The Palestinian Refugee Problem: An Overview 33