The collapse of UNCCP protection, limited intervention by the UNHCR, non-implementation of recommendations of key UN human rights bodies, and inadequate protection by national authorities has resulted in severe gaps in international protection for Palestinian refugees and displaced persons. This is referred to as the ‘protection gap.’

Institutional Gaps

The international community currently recognizes no international agency as having an explicit mandate to provide comprehensive protection to all Palestinian refugees in need of such protection. The UN Conciliation Commission for Palestine ceased providing protection for Palestinian refugees in the early 1950s. It does not have a mandate to protect Palestinian refugees and others displaced after 1948. The UNHCR does not provide protection to those Palestinian refugees residing in UNRWA areas of operation - i.e., West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

Practically this anomaly means that some five million Palestinian refugees and displaced persons (excluding those who have acquired citizenship and effective national protection), or one-third of the world’s total refugee population, do not have access to systematic international protection. For many Palestinian refugees and displaced persons, it is unclear what rights are subject to international protection, under what conditions refugees and displaced persons may access international protection, and to whom to turn to for international protection.

Interpretation and Implementation of Standards

Application of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which delineates the rights of refugees and concomitant obligations of states generally, is partial and inconsistent and varies according to geographical area. Only nine members of the League of Arab States where the majority of Palestinian refugees reside in exile have ratified the Convention. Elsewhere, states do not apply Article 1D, do so but based on an incorrect interpretation, or only apply Article 1A to all groups of Palestinian refugees. Implementation of LAS regional standards is poor.

The protection gap is evident in all areas where Palestinian refugees and displaced persons reside in exile today, with the situation concerning protection of fundamental human rights and humanitarian norms most severe in Lebanon, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Iraq and Egypt. In many areas Palestinian refugees and displaced persons are denied basic economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights. In Lebanon, Palestinian refugees are barred from employment in some 70 professions. Palestinian refugees have also been denied physical protection. Refugee camps in 1967 occupied Palestine have come under repeated attack by Israeli military forces.

UN Initiatives

The United Nations has identified and expressed concern about the international protection gap for several decades. UN Security Council Resolution 605 called upon the Secretary General to submit recommendations on the “ways and means for ensuring the safety and protection of Palestinian civilians under Israeli occupation.” Palestinian refugees comprise half the population of 1967 occupied Palestine. The Secretary General recommended that UNRWA add additional international staff; consider the appointment of a UN ombudsman for the occupied territories; and, that the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Conventions use all means at their disposal to persuade Israel to respect the Convention in all circumstances.

Security Council Resolution 681 requested the Secretary General to monitor the situation of Palestinians under Israeli occupation and submit a report of the General Assembly every four months. The initiative was suspended in 1991 following interventions by the United States. The General Assembly has issued numerous resolutions calling for international protection for Palestinian refugees and for the cessation of attacks on Palestinian refugee camps. Between 1982 and 1993, the Assembly issued annual resolutions calling upon the UN Secretary General, in consultation with UNRWA “to undertake effective measures to guarantee the safety and security and the legal and human rights of the Palestinian refugees in the occupied territories.” From the early 1970s to the late 1980s the General Assembly also called for the protection of refugee camps.