UNWRA and Palestinian Refugees
Chapter 18 in The Oxford Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, ed. by Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Gil Loescher, Katy Long, and Nando Sigona, Oxford University Press, June 2014 ISBN: 978-0-19-965243-3.
Boston Univ. School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 14-29
Posted: 22 Jun 2014
Date Written: June 20, 2014
Abstract
The chapter (Chapter 18) explores the central role of the UN and its subsidiary agencies, particularly the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Palestinian refugee problem, especially on the right to durable solutions. The UN established a special regime comprising two agencies, the United Nations Conciliation Commission on Palestine (UNCCP) and UNRWA, with shared but distinct international obligations towards the displaced Palestinian population. Consequently, the UN decided to exclude Palestinians from the 'universal' refugee regime incorporated in the 1950 UNHCR Statute and the 1951 Refugee Convention. This chapter explores how the key protection of durable solutions has been severed from the refugee definition, and the consequences of relegating Palestinians to weak and widely disparate rights protections around the world.
Keywords: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), United Nations Conciliatin Commission on Palestine (UNCCP), Palestinian Refugees, 1950 UNHCR Statute, 1951 Refugee Convention.
JEL Classification: K33, K39
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation