Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies UNRWA and Palestinian Refugees International humanitarian assistance and international protection are also distinct but overlapping concepts; the former encompasses relief services undertaken by government and non-government agencies, while the latter relates to a broader range of human and civil rights normally provided by the state of nationality. In many ways the distinction between these concepts has become blurred as a general matter, and specifically in relation to UNRWA. At the general level, this is due to the evolution of humanitarian assistance work ‘mainstreaming’ human rights protection norms, and with regard to UNRWA, to the expansion of its activities into areas once considered international protection. For refugees and displaced persons, the core ‘protection’ right is to a durable solution, involving the right to return home or to a choice among available host country absorption or resettlement options; restitution of properties and compensation for losses; and increasingly, restorative and retributive justice (Badil, 2012: 90). Their recognition as refugees is tied directly to an international commitment that these durable solutions are to be realised for them. For the majority of the world’s refugees, UNHCR is entrusted to carry out this commitment. Thus, refugee status recognition is the essential and necessary element that triggers international protection in the form of the right to durable solutions. 19