Legal briefing on the rights of stateless Palestinians in the UK September 2025 protection due to the limitations of UNRWA and their exclusion from the Refugee Convention. Therefore, the CJEU held that access to protection or assistance will be considered to have ceased in circumstances where access to healthcare is not possible, which has the effect of exposing that person to a real risk of imminent death or decline in their state of health or life expectancy.74 In its most recent decision considering Article 1D, SN and LN, the CJEU considered a case concerning a stateless Palestinian mother and her child who fled Gaza in 2018 and sought protection in Bulgaria. The ruling was issued in June 2024 and addressed the dire conditions in Gaza and the impact of significant funding cuts to UNRWA which rendered the agency’s assistance inadequate to ensure decent living conditions. The CJEU considered that a situation of extreme poverty and general insecurity is sufficient to demonstrate the cessation of assistance by UNRWA. It held that the inclusion clause in Article 1D will be triggered where a Palestinian refugee, upon return to the area of UNRWA’s operation in which they habitually resided, would be found ‘in a personal state of serious insecurity [and where] UNRWA finds itself, for whatever reason, including by reason of the general situation prevailing in that sector, unable to ensure dignified living conditions and minimum security for that stateless person, taking into account, where applicable, the specific needs linked to his or her state of vulnerability’ (emphasis added).75 The CJEU also established that the applicant‘s vulnerability must be taken into account when assessing the standard of assistance expected, and recognised the specific needs of children in this context, relying on the prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the principle that the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration. It relied on UNHCR’s observations that the situation in Gaza (as of March 2022) amounted to an ‘objective reason’ for leaving UNRWA’s area of operation, and explicitly referred to the ‘unprecedented deterioration’ of living conditions and UNRWA’s inability to fulfil its mission ‘due to the consequences of the events of 7 October 2023’.76 In light of this judgment, applicants are not required to prove that they are specifically affected by the general situation. Once UNRWA fails to provide dignified living conditions and minimum security in a sector of its area of operations, particularly considering the applicant’s vulnerability, Palestinians who were habitually residing in that sector are to be recognised ipso facto (automatically) as refugees. The CJEU has also held that a claim must be assessed in relation to the circumstances and situation in UNRWA’s areas of operation not just at the time of the applicant’s departure from the area, but also ‘at the time when the competent administrative authorities consider an application for refugee status or the judicial authorities concerned rule on the appeal against a decision refusing to grant such status’.77 In addition, UNHCR is unequivocal in its assertion that the possibility to re-avail of UNRWA services should only be assessed in relation to an UNRWA area of operation in which the individual has previously resided; it cannot be assumed that a Palestinian refugee will be able to access UNRWA assistance in any area of operation.78 Furthermore, registration with UNRWA does 74 ibid, paras 42, 48. SN and LN (fn 53) para 78. See also ECRE, Legal Note On The Cessation Of International Protection And Review Of Protection Statuses In Europe (April 2025) p 17. 76 SN and LN (fn 53) paras 73, 78-79, 81-82. 77 CJEU, NB and AB, C-349/20 (3 March 2022), para 58. This was confirmed in SN and LN (fn 53) para 75. 78 UNHCR, Guidelines on Article 1D (fn 14) para 22(k). This is supported by the CJEU holding in El Kott (fn 55) (see para 77). However, it is regrettable that the CJEU has since departed from this stance in Serin Alheto (fn 68) (see paras 134, 140). 75 19