Leiden University Student Repository

Kirschbaum, Maurice (2019)

Repatriation, Resettlement or Assimilation: The Protection Gap Linked to the Status of Palestinian Refugees

Bachelor thesis | International Studies (BA)

The present Bachelor thesis looks at why refugees of Palestinian origin are treated differently from all other refugees and how this affects their rights. Palestinian refugees are the only group that has been specifically excluded from the protection and the rights stipulated in the 1951 Refugee Convention. Although their ongoing displacement clearly constitutes a protracted refugee situation, Palestinian refugees do not respond to three-step solution that the UNHCR pursues in such situations: assimilation, resettlement or repatriation. By resolution 194 the United Nations in 1948 enshrined the right of return for the Palestinian refugees and created a dedicated agency, the Conciliation Commission on Palestine (UNCCP), to assure the collective rights of Palestinians. The UNCCP has become obsolete over the years without being formally abandoned and the UNRWA, the Relief and Works Agency that is tasked with the delivery humanitarian assistance is facing increasing restrictions. Being...Show moreThe present Bachelor thesis looks at why refugees of Palestinian origin are treated differently from all other refugees and how this affects their rights. Palestinian refugees are the only group that has been specifically excluded from the protection and the rights stipulated in the 1951 Refugee Convention. Although their ongoing displacement clearly constitutes a protracted refugee situation, Palestinian refugees do not respond to three-step solution that the UNHCR pursues in such situations: assimilation, resettlement or repatriation. By resolution 194 the United Nations in 1948 enshrined the right of return for the Palestinian refugees and created a dedicated agency, the Conciliation Commission on Palestine (UNCCP), to assure the collective rights of Palestinians. The UNCCP has become obsolete over the years without being formally abandoned and the UNRWA, the Relief and Works Agency that is tasked with the delivery humanitarian assistance is facing increasing restrictions. Being tied to weak organisations that were meant to offer some sort of protection, many Palestinian refugees today have to face the dilemma that only collective rights, as stipulated in resolution 194, preserve their right of return. Upholding this collective claim means that they have to no access to individual rights and thus suffer from a protection gap that is ever growing.Show less

Palestine

refugee

migration

UNRWA

Protection Gap

UNCCP

Human Rights

Middle East

United Nations

Institutionalism

Author

Kirschbaum, Maurice

Note

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For their tireless support in working through seven versions: Shirly Piperno, Claudia Witte, Sophie Smith, Guido Lanfranchi, Abigail Montalvo, Marco Kirschbaum, Josephine Abdellatif. For helping early on though discussions on the topic: Zane De Ponte, Romain Herbreteau, Adrian Moftakhari, Zeineb Romdhane. For talking the time to check my findings: two un-named UNRWA staff of the Amman office and Ammar Hijazi from the Palestinian embassy

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Middle East

Supervisors

Ennis, Crystal

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en