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LAS standards deal with
employment, residency and travel documents for Palestinian refugees in
League member states.
LAS resolutions provide for
family reunification and issuance of a standard travel document to
Palestinian refugees. The League of Arab States, however, has never
issued a uniform identity paper or travel document. Documents are issued
by individual member states. Resolutions also address other issues
relevant to the legal and political status of Palestinian refugees,
including acquisition of citizenship. The Casablanca Protocol provides a
set of guidelines in relation to employment, residency and travel
documents. Reservations by some states place limitations on the right
employment and residency status of Palestinian refugees.
LAS instruments are narrower in scope than
relevant international instruments.
They do not cover rights
to im/movable property, artistic rights, access to courts, education,
and labor markets. At the same time, LAS standards are wider in scope
than similar provisions in the
1951 Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees. For example, in the area of
self-employment and employment in the liberal professions the Protocol
provides for the same treatment as nationals whereas the 1951 Refugee
Convention only provides for as favorable treatment as possible and not
less than accorded to aliens.
LAS instruments do not
address the specific circumstances of those Palestinians displaced for
the first time in 1967, displaced Palestinians who are neither 1948 or
1967 refugees, and internally displaced Palestinians.
There is no regional refugee convention in
the Middle East. The 1992 Cairo Declaration
delineates principles for the protection of refugees and displaced
persons in the Arab world, but does not have the legal status of a
convention. The declaration emphasizes the need to ensure international
protection for Palestinian refugees, encourages Arab states that have
not done so to accede to the 1951 Refugee Convention, and calls upon
Arab states to provide the LAS with relevant information concerning the
status of Palestinian refugees in host countries. |
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Political considerations
and domestic law often trump the standards set forth in LAS resolutions
and the Casablanca Protocol. Despite the obligation to provide the same
treatment as nationals in the areas of employment, the right to leave
and enter, travel documents, and visas and residence, treatment accorded
to Palestinian refugees in Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Kuwait, and other Gulf
states is often similar to protection standards accorded to foreigners.
Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Syria, Algeria, and Morocco enjoyable
relatively favorable treatment by host country authorities.
Most Arab host states
have established separate agencies or directorates to administer affairs
of Palestinian refugees residing temporarily in their country. In
Lebanon, the Department for Palestinian Refugee Affairs within the
Interior Ministry handles Palestinian affairs. Palestinian refugee
affairs are handled in Jordan by the Department of Palestinian Affairs.
It is part of the Foreign Ministry and linked to the Prime Ministry. In
Syria, the General Authority for Palestine Refugees (GAPAR) administers
Palestinian affairs. Heads of these departments meet biannually to
discuss current issues facing Palestinian refugees in the region.
Investigations conducted by the Conference of Supervisors of Palestinian Affairs
have concluded that implementation of LAS standards for the treatment of
Palestinians in member states is poor. In 1991, in the aftermath of the
second Gulf War, the LAS adopted
Resolution 5093
authorizing member states to treat Palestinian refugees in
accordance with local norms in each host state rather than in accordance
with the provisions set forth in the Casablanca Protocol. The Arab League and
UNHCR have signed a cooperation agreement that provides for periodical consultation, mutual representation, exchange of
documents and information, and cooperation with UNRWA.
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