of protection because they relate to securing the basic rights of the refugees.216 At its core, UNRWA’s mandate continues to provide essential humanitarian services until there is a just solution to the refugee problem.217 UNRWA’s minimal protection role does not include the full panoply of international protection. The task of seeking full protection, including the implementation of durable solutions commonly afforded to refugees, was initially mandated to the UNCCP.218 6.3. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) UNHCR’s core obligation is to provide international protection to and search for durable solutions for refugees worldwide. Under its Statute and subsequent General Assembly and ECOSOC resolutions, and consistent with the 1951 Refugee Convention, UNHCR’s responsibilities relate primarily to several groups of people known collectively as “persons of concern to UNHCR.” UNHCR’s mandate is not limited to refugees under the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, but also covers refugees defined in the Cartagena Declaration and OAU Convention,219 returnees, stateless persons and internally displaced persons.220 Under UNHCR’s mandate, a refugee is any person who is outside his or her country of origin or habitual residence and is unable or unwilling to return there owing to: • A well-founded fear of persecution for one of the reasons set out in the 1951 Refugee Convention; • Serious and indiscriminate threats to life, physical integrity or freedom resulting from generalized violence or events seriously disturbing public order. Of particular relevance to the case of Palestinian refugees are paragraph 7(c) of UNHCR’s Statute and Article 1D of the 1951 Refugee Convention. Paragraph 7(c) of UNHCR’s Statute provides that the competence of the High Commissioner for 216 38 Note that some of UNRWA’s main assistance activities also aim at securing some of the refugees’ basic rights, including the right to education (Article 22 of the 1951 Refugee Convention) and the right to housing (Article 21 of the 1951 Refugee Convention). Parvathaneni, “UNRWA’s Role in Protecting Palestine Refugees.” See also UN General Assembly, Report of the CommissionerGeneral of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for the Palestine Refugees in the Near East, 1 Jan - 31 Dec 2011. 217 Peter Hansen, “Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Address to the American University of Cairo: From Humanitarian Crisis to Human Development - The Evolution of UNRWA’s Mandate to the Palestine Refugees” (UNRWA, September 21, 2003), http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/3C8910 69FF7A368985256DC8007058DD. 218 BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Survey, 2010-2012, vol. VII, chap. 2. 219 Colloquium on the International Protection of Refugees in Central America, Mexico and Panama, “Cartagena Declaration on Refugees,” November 22, 1984, OAS Doc. OEA/Ser.L/II.66, Doc. 10, Rev. 1, at 190-193, http://www.unhcr.org/45dc19084.html. 220 Kate Jastram and Marilyn Achiron, Refugee Protection: A Guide to International Refugee Law (Handbook for Parliamentarians) (Geneva, Switzerland: UNHCR, 2001), 23, http://www.unhcr. org/3d4aba564.html. Handbook on Protection of Palestinian Refugees