Although UNHCR’s guidelines are not legally binding on national authorities
involved in refugee status determination, they may serve as “useful guidance for
decision-makers in asylum proceedings.”266 As such, UNHCR guidelines facilitate
implementation in good faith of the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol
by states signatories to these instruments.
In the introductions to the Notes, UNHCR emphasizes that Article 1D is intended
to avoid overlapping competencies between UNRWA and UNHCR and to ensure
the continuity of protection and assistance of Palestinian refugees at all times.267
Taken together, the Notes clarify UNHCR’s position on (i) scope and beneficiaries
of Article 1D; (ii) the application of Article 1D; and (iii) registration with UNRWA.
The first two positions can be summarized as follows:
•
•
•
Persons who fall within the scope of Article 1D are 1948 and 1967 Palestinian
refugees, defined on a group basis, provided Articles 1C, 1E or 1F are not
applicable;
Article 1D includes both an exclusion clause (first paragraph) and an inclusion
clause (second paragraph);
As Palestinian refugees falling under the inclusion clause are automatically
entitled to the benefits of the 1951 Refugee Convention, they do not need to
qualify as refugees under Article 1A(2).
The following sections detail UNHCR policy on the scope, and exclusion and
inclusion clauses of Article 1D of the 1951 Convention.
2.1.1. Scope
The scope of Article 1D includes the two groups of 1948 Palestine refugees and
1967 displaced persons.268 The 2013 UNHCR Note refers to the first group as:
Palestinians who are “Palestine refugees” within the sense of UN General
Assembly Resolution 194 (III) of 11 December 1948 and subsequent UN
General Assembly Resolutions, and who, as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli
conflict, were displaced from that part of Mandate Palestine which became
Israel[.]269
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 (III) refers to both Palestinians
who left Israel, and those who were forcibly displaced within Israel.270 Both are
266
See UNHCR, “2002 Note,” para. 14. See also UNHCR, “2009 Revised Statement,” 4, footnote 26.:
“UNHCR’s revised Note on Article 1D of October 2009 [… is] intended to provide guidance for
governments, legal practitioners, decision-makers and the judiciary, as well as UNHCR staff.”
267
UNHCR, “2013 Note,” 2, item 1; UNHCR, “2009 Revised Note,” para. 2, last sentence; UNHCR,
“2002 Note,” para. 2, last sentence.
268
The categories are based on the 1967 expansion of UNRWA’s mandate and the extension by the
1967 Protocol of the applicability of the 1951 Convention to persons who have become refugees as
a result of events occurring after 1 January 1951.
269
UNHCR, “2013 Note,” 2, item 2(a).
270
UNHCR supports this view; see UNHCR, “2002 Note,” endnote 2.
The 1951 Refugee Convention and Article 1D
51
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