Refugee Protection
A Framework for Durable Solutions
"Putting the Principles into Action"
The first detailed public indication from thePalestinian leadership
of how the right of return, restitution, and compensation might
be
implemented was revealed in draft plan published in late summer
2001 by Le Monde Diplomatique. The draft plan, presented by
Palestinian negotiators at the talks in Taba, Egypt, in January
2001, essentially marks a transition from clarifying principles to
putting the principles into action.
The plan, which is based on international law and UN Resolution 194, addresses the issue of moral and legal responsibility for the forced displacement and dispossession of the Palestinian civilian population in 1948 and provides a broad and clear definition of those covered by the plan (i.e., who constitutes a Palestinian refugee). The plan calls for the creation of three mechanisms to implement return, restitution, and compensation and then outlines the modalities for the implementation of these three rights. Mechanisms include a Repatriation Commission, a Compensation Commission, and an International Fund.
Importantly, both Commissions include a dispute resolution
mechanism, and an appeals mechanism for refugees. In addition, the
plan emphasizes that UNRWA should continue to operate until the
plan is completed and its services are no longer required.
Several important principles governing durable solutions are
emphasized throughout the plan. These include: the principle of
voluntary informed choice; maintenance of the family unit; the
return of refugees in safety and dignity and post-return protection
if necessary; post-return assistance and rehabilitation; legal
reform to ensure that refugees enjoy full civil and social rights,
including citizenship; restitution of properties; material and
non-material compensation; individual claims for compensation
unless property is collectively owned; and, compensation for
host countries.
The full details of the plan are reprinted in the Documents section. This plan of action is similar, in many respects, to a UN schematic plan drafted in 1976 by the Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. A link to the UN plan is available on the BADIL website.
UN and International Protection
Despite growing awareness of the urgent need for international
protection for the Palestinian people, in general, and Palestinian
refugees, in particular, the international community has yet to
follow through on recent recommendations by several international
human rights NGOs, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and
the UN Commission of Inquiry, on the creation of an international
protection mechanism. Local and international NGO's have provided
UN bodies and states with a range of options to effect
international protection for the Palestinian people in the occupied
territories and for refugees. Recommendations by NGOs have included
an international protection presence;
reactivation of the UN Secretary General's (every four months) reporting requirement under Security Council Resolution 681 (1990), temporarily suspended at the beginning of the Oslo process; convening of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to ensure Israel's compliance with the convention; and studies by relevant UN bodies concerning the most effective form of international protection. The call for international protection forces was reiterated by both Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) in early July.
To see the full press release from AI /HRW on international protection forces, As regards specific protection for Palestinian refugees, including both short-term economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights, as well as long-term rights related to durable solutions - i.e., return, restitution, and compensation - recommendations have included a study to identify protection gaps (short and long-term); a study on the root causes of the conflict, including massdisplacement and dispossession; clarification of the legal status of Palestinian refugees under the 1951 Refugee Convention (Article 1D); and, inter-agency consultations regarding the most effective protection mechanism for Palestinian refugees.
The urgent need for international protection for Palestinian refugees was underlined by the content of the 2000 report of the UN Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP), the body originally mandated to provide protection for Palestinian refugees. The report is self-explanatory and reproduced below. Despite sustained lobbying efforts by local and international NGOs, the United Nations and its member states have exhibited an alarming ineffectiveness regarding international protection for both the Palestinian people and Palestinian refugees. The Economic and Social Council failed to even discuss the issue. Efforts by the Non- Aligned movement, Arab states and others to press the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution establishing an international protection force in the occupied Palestinian territories was blocked for the third time in August by the United States.
Complete Text of the Fifty-fourth
report of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for
Palestine, A/55/329, 31 August 2001 1. In paragraph 2 of its resolution 54/69 of 6 December 1999, the General Assembly requested the Commission to report to the Assembly as appropriate, but no later than 1 September 2000. The Commission notes its report of 10 September 1999 (A/54/338, annex) and observes that it has nothing new to report since its submission. 2. The Commission also notes that the project to preserve and modernize its records, carried out by a contractor in accordance with General Assembly resolution 51/129 of 13 December 1996, has been completed. |
After one year of the al-Aqsa intifada, the response of the international community appears to confirm local perceptions conveyed to both the Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Territories and the UN Commissioner for Human Rights in the early months of the uprising, that the continual violation of the human rights of the Palestinian people was as much the fault of the Israeli government, as it was of the failure of the international community to intervene to uphold basic principles of international law.
Impact of the Lack of International Protection:
"Palestinian Refugees & One Year of the al-Aqsa Intifada"
The losses sustained by the Palestinian people in the occupied
territories over the last 12 months are staggering. More than 700
Palestinians (including Palestinians inside Israel) have been
killed and some16,000 injured over the past 12 months. According to
al-Mezan, damage to property includes over 450 completely destroyed
homes, over 5,500 partially destroyed homes, and tens of thousands
of dunums of land, which has been bulldozed.
The Health Development Information Policy Institute reports that some 30 mosques, 12 churches and several cemeteries have been damaged. Based on figures from the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Occupied Territories (UNSCO) for the first nine months of the intifada, it is estimated that direct aggregate income losses between September 2000-2001 are in the range of 2.5 to 3.3 billion US dollars. (These estimates combine external economic losses caused by the decrease of income from Palestinian workers in Israel with ranged estimates of economic losses due to domestic production decline). This does not include damage to persons, property and associated increases in health, social services, and other expenditures.
The following sections provide a balance sheet summarizing the impact of the lack of international protection, specifically on Palestinian efugees, who are particularly vulnerable due to the temporary/ makeshift structure of refugee camps; the presence of Israeli military installations, settlements, and bypass roads near refugee camps; the large percentage of unskilled but 'employable' labor force with a relative lack of accumulated savings and thus no safety net to protect them from a high dependency on wage labor; the lack of access to land-based forms of subsistence; and, the large number of dependents per family prevalent in camp populations.