Press Releases

Report: BADIL Expert Forum, Ghent (Belgium) Political will Needed to Solve Palestinian Refugee Issue

BADIL Resource Center
19 September 2003
For Immediate Release


Report: BADIL Expert Forum, Ghent (Belgium)

POLITICAL WILL NEEDED to SOLVE PALESTINIAN REFUGEE ISSUE

Lack of political will is the key problem preventing development of durable solutions for Palestinian refugees under international law and UN Resolution 194, say participants in an international seminar on The Role of International Law in Peacemaking and Crafting Durable Solutions for Refugees.   

Four papers presented at the seminar held in Ghent, Belgium 22-23 May 2003 have been published by BADIL.  It was one of a series of Expert Forums organized by BADIL.  The next is scheduled for Geneva , 2-5 October (see below). 

The Ghent seminar brought together 33 legal experts, researchers and human rights activists from academia, the UN and NGOs plus representatives from the PLO, the Government of Canada and the European Union at the University of Ghent Department of Third World Studies. 

Participants looked at a decade of failed Middle East peacemaking efforts and the role of law and politics in crafting durable solutions for refugees in general, and Palestinian refugees in particular.  They agreed that the degree to which international law is incorporated into the peacemaking process, particularly in the Palestinian-Israeli case, depends on the political will of the dominant participants, in this case the United States, Israel and Europe. 

The final session formulated suggestions for action on Palestinian refugees:

  • raise international public awareness in a systematic way;

  • build stronger and broader alliances with media, political leaders and anti-colonial movements;

  • intensify the intra-Palestinian debate on the right of return among refugees and non-refugees, stressing the active involvement of Palestinian exiles;

  • highlight the discriminatory character of Israel as a “Jewish state”;

  • engage Israeli society in a debate about the creation of the Palestinian refugee issue and the requirements for a durable solution; and

  • develop research and information dissemination tools to advance a rights-based solution for Palestinian refugees.                                              

The findings of the Ghent seminar are available on BADIL’s web site.  As well, print copies of four key papers presented at the seminar are available from BADIL:

“The Role of International Law and Human Rights in Peacemaking and Crafting Durable Solutions for Refugees: Comparative Comments” by Lynn Welchman, Director, Center of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law, SOAS, University of London

“Justice Against Perpetrators, the Role of Prosecution in Peacemaking and Reconciliation” by Alejandra Vicente, Asst. Legal Officer, International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

“The Right to Housing and Property Restitution in Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Case Study” by Paul Prettitore, Legal Advisor, OSCE, Bosnia-Herzegovina

“Popular Sovereignty, Collective Rights, Participation and Crafting Durable Solutions for Palestinian Refugees” by Karma Nabulsi, Nuffield College, University of Oxford

As follow up to the Ghent Seminar, the second BADIL Expert Forum. will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, 2-5 October.   Co-organized with the Graduate Institute for Development Studies (IUED), University of Geneva, it will examine law and mechanisms available for housing and property restitution in the case of Palestinian refugees.  For more information about the upcoming seminar, contact: [email protected] or [email protected].

Print copies of the individual Ghent papers are available for US$5 per paper from [email protected].  The Summary of Proceedings/Ghent Seminar, as well as additional working papers from the meeting are on BADIL’s web site: www.badil.org/Campaign/Expert_Forum.htm.