accorded to all other refugees and has been effectively defunct since
the early 1950s.10
The inactivity of UNCCP has forced UNRWA to incorporate some protection
activities within its mandate in order “to safeguard and advance the rights
of Palestine refugees under international law.”11 UNRWA first engaged in
‘passive’ protection with the promulgation of UN Resolution 37/120 of 1982.
Its limited ‘protection framework’ has since developed in response to a lack
of alternative mechanisms for the protection of Palestinian refugee rights.12
However, despite some progress in this area, UNRWA is not explicitly mandated
to seek the just and durable rights-based solution to which Palestinian
refugees are entitled. Moreover, in light of the growing refugee population
and increasing strain on services, the Agency lacks the funds to even fulfil
its mandated objectives: to provide essential services and implement key
programs for Palestinian refugees. For as long as UNRWA continues to be
financed almost entirely by voluntary contributions, outpaced by growing
demands, the essential needs and fundamental rights of Palestinian refugees
will remain unrealized.13
10 BADIL, “The United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, Protection, and a Durable Solution
for Palestinian Refugees,” June 2000, available at:
https://www.badil.org/phocadownload/Badil_docs/bulletins-and-briefs/Brief-No.5.pdf
11 UNRWA, “Protecting Palestine Refugees,” 2015, 4, available at:
https://www.unrwa.org/sites/default/files/content/resources/resource_26476_23321_1456388534.pdf
12 Harish Parvathaneni, “UNRWA’s Role in Protecting Palestine Refugees,” BADIL Working Paper No. 9,
December 2004, 16-17, available at:
http://www.badil.org/phocadownloadpap/Badil_docs/Working_Papers/WP-E-09.pdf
13 Harish Parvathaneni, “UNRWA’s Role in Protecting Palestine Refugees”; Asem Khalil, “The ‘Protection
Gap’ and the Palestinian Refugees of the Gaza Strip,” IALIIS-BZU Working Paper Series No. 2011/11,
133, 21 February 2011, available at:
https://fada.birzeit.edu/bitstream/20.500.11889/4477/1/Asem%20Khalil%20-%20protection%20gap.pdf
8
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