eventual local integration or third country resettlement of all or a proportion
of a mass influx in the State of first refuge, acting in concert with others and
pursuant to principles of international solidarity and equitable burden-sharing.
Secondly, the concept provides a platform upon which to build principles of
protection for refugees pending a durable solution, whereby minimum rights
and standards of treatment may be secured […] ’Non-refoulement through time
is nonetheless the core element both promoting admission and protection, and
simultaneously emphasizing the responsibility of nations at large to find the
solutions. Thus, in admitting large numbers of persons in need of protection
and in scrupulously observing non-refoulement, the State of first admission
can be seen as acting on behalf of the international community.’244
In line with the above, it can be argued that Palestinian refugees who are not
granted permanent protection in the country of asylum are, at least, entitled to a
recognized legal status and certain minimum rights (i.e., temporary protection).
This idea has been developed by Susan Akram and Terry Rempel, who argue for
the establishment of a global unified temporary protection regime for Palestinian
refugees:
Granting temporary protection would be consistent with Article 1D of the
Refugee Convention as a mechanism toward implementing the appropriate
UN General Assembly-mandated durable solution for refugee protection. The
right of return called for in UN General Assembly Resolutions would be to the
refugees’ place of origin.
Temporary protection would provide Palestinian refugees in Arab states, as
well as other states of the Palestinian diaspora, a recognized legal status.
Consistent with the parameters of temporary protection in Europe or in the
United States, temporary protection for Palestinian refugees should afford
them the basic protection rights of other persons who are granted such status
when fleeing emergency situations, whether Convention-defined refugees or
not. Temporary protection specifically addresses the real needs of Palestinian
refugees: the need to work, to travel freely, to live where they choose within
the temporary protection state, to reunite with family members, and to travel
outside and return. Temporary protection also specifically addresses the fears
of both Arab and other states that they would either have to grant asylum or
some more permanent type of status to the refugees, or else expel them.245
1.1.2. Return – Deportation
Return to the country of origin is regulated by the principle of non-refoulement
in Article 33 of the 1951 Refugee Convention. Expulsion to another country of a
refugee “lawfully in [the] territory” of a particular state is regulated by Article 32
244
46
245
Goodwin-Gill and McAdam, The Refugee in International Law, 343–344.
Akram and Rempel, “Temporary Protection as an Instrument for Implementing the Right of Return
for Palestinian Refugees,” 161.
Handbook on Protection of Palestinian Refugees
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