Part One Historical and Legal Foundations, II Palestinian Refugees: A Distinctive Normative and Institutional Regime

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albanese Francesca P ◽  
Takkenberg Lex
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Palestinian Refugees ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
The World ◽  
Legal Foundations ◽  
Durable Solutions ◽  
Palestinian Refugee ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Set Up

This chapter examines the foundation of Palestinian refugees’ status in international law, as well as the characteristics of their distinctive institutional and normative regime compared to other refugees around the world. This distinctiveness stems from special arrangements the United Nations (UN) has made for them. This includes ad hoc UN agencies mandated to protect and assist Palestinian refugees, namely the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP) and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) as well as, under certain circumstances, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The chapter then considers both the genesis and meaning of Article 1D of the 1951 Refugee Convention, the provision specifically included with the Palestinian refugees in mind, including its recent interpretation and application, and various defintions of Palestine/Palestinian refugee offered for various purposes (i.e. assistance and relief, protection and durable solutions). It shows how the special arrangements for this group of refugees, put in place due to the circumstances of their displacement, were meant to ensure continuity of protection and how, the lack of durable solutions has made the arrangements set up for them, inclreasingly looking as an anomaly.

Part Three Protection and Solutions, VIII The Quest for Durable Solutions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albanese Francesca P ◽  
Takkenberg Lex
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
United Nations ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Palestinian Refugees ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Peace Initiatives ◽  
Bilateral Approach ◽  
Durable Solutions ◽  
Palestinian Refugee ◽  
The United Nations

This concluding chapter focuses on the quest for just and durable solutions, exploring the challenges and opportunities that have emerged through the various attempts at resolving the Palestinian refugee question. Solutions for Palestinian refugees have been sought since May of 1948. The work of the General Assembly; the UN Mediator for Palestine; the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP); the Security Council in the aftermath of the Six Day War; the various peace initiatives and negotiations since the Madrid peace conference in 1991, have all included attempts to find solutions to the plight of the refugees. However, decades of Arab–Israel and Israeli–Palestinian peace efforts have not succeeded in bringing a resolution of the Palestinian refugee issue within reach. The chapter argues that a fundamental paradigm shift is necessary to advance solutions for Palestinian refugees. Moving the question from the essentially bilateral approach of the last decades back to the multilateral arena of the United Nations; ensuring respect for the international law governing the resolution of refugee problems, as informed by international practice; and moving beyond the ‘politics of suffering’ that dominate the Palestinian refugee discourse are key elements to progress towards just and durable solutions for Palestinian refugees. The New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants, which called for the development of a Global Compact on Refugees, offers an opportunity to pursue solutions for Palestinian refugees.

The UN Group of Governmental Experts on International Co-Operation to Avert New Flows of Refugees

1984 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 480-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke T. Lee
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Nobel Peace Prize ◽  
Palestinian Refugees ◽  
United Nations High Commissioner ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
The World ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Source Countries ◽  
Political Character

Since its founding in 1950, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has rendered invaluable services and assistance to millions of refugees throughout the world. Indeed, in recognition of its services, it has twice been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. However, the “entirely non-political character” of its work has been interpreted as precluding it from actively seeking solutions to the generation of refugees, particularly when the responsibilities of source countries are involved. The UNHCR is debarred altogether from concerning itself with the Palestinian refugees, even though the role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which was created specifically to aid them, is considerably narrower than that of the UNHCR vis-à-vis other refugees.

The Repatriation and Resettlement of the Southern Sudanese

1972 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 23-26
Author(s):  
Louise W. Holborn
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
Refugee Population ◽  
United Nations High Commissioner ◽  
The Past ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
The World ◽  
The United Nations

While the world press has focused over the past year on problems surrounding the creation of still another refugee population in Africa — that of Uganda's Asians — far too little attention has been directed to the remarkable though still fragile process of repatriation and resettlement of hundreds of thousands of Southern Sudanese. This population of displaced persons includes both refugees who fled to other countries and large numbers of homeless who hid in the bush during the civil war that wracked the Sudan for seventeen years, from 1955 through the first months of 1972. Responding to the initiatives of President Gaafar al-Nimeiry of the Sudan, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (HCR), under an explicit mandate from the Secretary- General of the United Nations, has been raising funds, organizing activities on behalf of the most pressing needs and working closely with all local interests to meet overwhelming problems.

United Nations Peacekeeping Intelligence

2010 ◽  
pp. 274-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Walter Dorn
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
World Order ◽  
Human Intelligence ◽  
Conflict Zones ◽  
Intelligence Gathering ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
The World ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Monitoring Technologies

This article discusses the United Nations and its peacekeeping intelligence. The United Nations has become a player in the global intelligence game. Given the inability of the UN to live up to its peace and security ideals, the disinclination of nations to share intelligence with it, the ad hoc nature of its responses to global crises, and its reluctance to consider itself as an intelligence-gathering organization, the UN's increasing involvement in the global intelligence came as a surprise. However, the UN has privileged access to many of the world's conflict zones, through its peacekeeping operations (PKOs). Its uniformed and civilian personnel serve as the eyes and the ears of the world in many hotspots. They report the latest developments at the frontiers of the world order and in the midst of civil war. In previous years, the UN relied heavily on overt surveillance through overt human intelligence. It employed direct monitoring and direct observation. Although human intelligence has helped resolved conflicts, overt human intelligence is not sufficient. With the new mandate and the difficult and dangerous environment of many PKOs during the Cold War, the United Nations was forced to change and reform its approach to intelligence. The UN is now including imagery intelligence (IMINT) and signals intelligence (SIGINT) in their approach to intelligence and is currently developing intelligence structures within its missions. Topics discussed in this article include: case studies of peacekeeping operations of the UN in countries with conflict such as Korea, Namibia, and Congo; monitoring technologies of the institution; and intelligence cycle of UN.

Palestine at the UN: The PLO and UNRWA in the 1970s

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Irfan
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Near East ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Palestine Liberation Organization ◽  
Palestinian Refugees ◽  
Palestinian Refugee ◽  
International Issue ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This article examines the relationship of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) during the 1970s, the period when the PLO reached the zenith of its power in Palestinian refugee camps throughout the Levant. Based on archival United Nations (UN) and UNRWA documents, as well as the PLO's own communications and publications, the article argues that the organization approached its relationship with UNRWA as part of a broader strategy to gain international legitimacy at the UN. That approach resulted in a complex set of tensions, specifically over which of the two institutions truly served and represented Palestinian refugees. In exploring these tensions, this article also demonstrates how the “question of Palestine” was in many ways an international issue.

Part One Historical and Legal Foundations, I A Historical Overview of the Palestinian Refugee Question

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albanese Francesca P ◽  
Takkenberg Lex
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Arab Population ◽  
Defining Moments ◽  
History Of ◽  
Legal Foundations ◽  
Mass Displacement ◽  
Palestinian Refugee ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Palestinian Territory

This chapter traces the history of the Palestinian refugee question and discusses the main events that created the conditions that enabled the mass displacement of most of the Arab population of Mandate Palestine. The events that befell Palestine between 1947 and 1948, i.e. the decision of the United Nations to partition Palestine and the resultant war, are defining moments of the Palestinian refugee question. Its roots, however, are to be found in the events that preceded and enabled it–starting with the socio-political and economic transformation that occurred in Palestine during the Ottoman Empire (1808–1917) and intensified during the thirty years of the British control over Palestine (1918–1948). It can also be found in the way the League of Nations first, and the United Nations after, attempted to resolve the dispute over Palestine. This historical account is crucial to understanding how international law was central to early attempts at resolving the refugee issue, and how it subsequently became effectively side-lined. The chapter also identifies some elements of continuity between the original displacement (in 1948 and 1967) and the current situation of Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) and beyond.

Part Three Protection and Solutions, VII Protection of Palestinian Refugees

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albanese Francesca P ◽  
Takkenberg Lex
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Protection ◽  
Palestinian Refugees ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
Global Regime ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Human Rights Norms

This chapter examines the protection dimension of the distinctive regime set up for Palestinian refugees in an historical and comparative fashion. It then addresses the need for international protection of Palestinian refugees. As Palestinian refugees in need of protection have spread outside UNRWA’s area of operations, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) became increasingly involved. Since the mid-2000s, cooperation between UNHCR and UNRWA has become more structured. As awareness of the protection needs of Palestinians has increased, so have the contributions of others, including UN agencies and human rights mechanisms, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the Palestinians’ own embassies. These developments reflect a profound change: a shift from treating protection of Palestinians as something exceptional and separate from the global regime for refugees to a recognition that their protection is and should be treated as an integral, albeit distinct, part of that regime. Ultimately, a major improvement in the protection of Palestinian refugees would occur if states and regional bodies fully honoured their commitments and obligations under international law, and, for those state parties to the international refugee regime, the obligations stemming from it. For this to happen and to ensure continuity of protection, the partnership between UNRWA and UNHCR should be upgraded through a comprehensive approach aimed at ensuring that practices fully align with the provisions of relevant UN resolutions, Article 1D of the 1951 Convention and human rights norms.

THE UNITED NATION’S ‘BEIRUT DECLARATION AND ITS 18 COMMITMENTS ON FAITH FOR RIGHTS’: A CRITIQUE FROM AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-112
Author(s):  
Fajri Matahati Muhammadin
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Islamic Perspective ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
The United Nations

In March 2017, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN OHCHR) launched a “Faith for Rights” initiative. This initiative aims to gather the adherents of various religions around the world and show that they support human rights as part of their religion. This Faith for Rights initiative hosted a workshop in Beirut, which resulted in a document titled “the Beirut Declaration and the 18 Commitments on Faith for Rights” which is the centre of this article. Islam is one of the faiths claimed to be represented in this initiative. However, is Islam truly represented properly? Did this initiative properly accommodate Islamic teachings? First, this article notes that Islam does believe in human rights and has its own concept of it. Second, this article continues by examining the Beirut Declaration and its 18 Commitments on Faith for Rights and seeing whether the points agreed are consistent with Islamic principles. It is found that this document does not accommodate Islam properly. It is not suggested that Islam does not recognize human rights. However, the concept of human rights agreed by this document does not represent and even breaches the teachings of Islam. This article, therefore, recommends that Muslims should not accept “the Beirut Declaration and the 18 Commitments on Faith for Rights”, and instead they should accept the concept of human rights which are properly prescribed in the noble teachings of Islam. This article emphasizes that in the future, Muslim representatives to human rights initiatives must be weary and never agree on any declaration that might contravene any Islamic teachings or which could lead to such possibilities such as this.

Protection by Action

1988 ◽  
Vol 28 (265) ◽  
pp. 325-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Pierre Hocké
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Main Function ◽  
World War ◽  
United Nations High Commissioner ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Refugee Problem ◽  
Second World

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was set up in 1951 with the main function of providing protection for refugees. This mandate corresponded to the task immediately confronting it, that of solving the refugee problem affecting Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War.

The United Nations Creates a Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

1991 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-715
Author(s):  
Reed Brody
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Gulf War ◽  
Recent History ◽  
World Conference ◽  
The World ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Set Up

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which met from January 28 to March 8, 1991, in the shadow of the gulf war, nevertheless completed what many observers considered its most productive session in recent history. The Commission took action on a record of nineteen country situations—creating new rapporteurs on Iraq and Iraqi-occupied Kuwait—began plans for a 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, and set up an intersessional working group to complete a draft declaration on disappearances. The most important long-term accomplishment of the Commission, however, was the creation of a five-member working group to investigate cases of arbitrary detention throughout the world.

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