Press Releases

(20 June 2000) Available Now at BADIL: Information & Discussion Brief No. 5 (June 2000)

BADIL Resource Center
20 June 2000
For Immediate Release


 

Available Now

"The United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, Protection and a Durable Solution for Palestinian Refugees"
(Terry Rempel, Coordinator of Research and Information, BADIL Resource Center)

Brief No. 5 is one of a set of three BADIL Briefs (No. 5-7), which examine the special regime (outlined in Brief No. 1) established by the United Nations to provide protection and assistance for Palestinian refugees and promote a durable solution based on the provisions of UN Resolution 194 (III). Briefs 6 and 7 provide an overview of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 

This Brief examines the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP), established in 1948 by the UN General Assembly to facilitate a resolution of the conflict in Palestine, including the issue of Palestinian refugees. The Brief provides both a historical overview of the work of the Commission and a critical analysis concerning the failure of the UNCCP to provide international protection and promote a durable solution for Palestinian refugees. The author argues that the failure of the Commission to resolve the issue of Palestinian refugees according to the provisions of UN Resolution 194 (III) was related in large part to the internal contradiction of the UNCCP mandate. The Commission was accorded both a broad mandate to resolve the conflict and a specific mandate to facilitate repatriation of the refugees and payment of compensation. The Brief examines the experience of the UNCCP in the context of durable solutions for refugee flows.

Brief No. 5 is based on a larger paper prepared for the International Conference on Palestine Refugees, co-sponsored by the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the Arab League, and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, in Paris, 26-27 April 2000.

Also available at BADIL (in Arabic and English): 

  • Brief No. 1: "Reinterpreting Palestinian Refugee Rights Under International Law, and a Framework for Durable Solutions" (Susan Akram, February 2000); 
  • Brief No. 2: "Fora Available for Palestinian Refugee Restitution, Compensation and Related Claims" (Susan Akram, February 2000); 
  • Brief No. 3: "The Evolution of an Independent, Community Based Campaign for Palestinian Refugee Rights in Palestine" (Ingrid Jaradat Gassner, February 2000);
  • Brief No. 4: "Temporary Protection and its Applicability to the Palestinian Refugee Case" (Susan Akram, June 2000)