The Convention

relating to the status

of refugees
 THE PLAN:
 Introduction
 Chapter one: interpretation of the convention
 Part one: The preamble
 Part two: article 1 to 16 “general provisions and judicial
status”
 Part three: article 17 to 24 “Gainful employment and welfare”
 Part four: : article 25 to 37 “administrative measures and the
executary, transitory provisions”
 Part five : article 38 to 46 “Final clauses”
 Chapter two: a brief overview of the protocol
 Part one: The preamble
 Part two: main provisions of the 1967 protocol
 Part three: The difference between the convention and
protocol
 Chapter three: Dilemma of Palestinian refugees
 Part one: Historical background on the Palestinian Nakba
 Part two: the status of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
 Part three: The role of unrwa
 Conclusion
 bibliography
 Introduction:

T
he year 2009 will marks the 58th Anniversary of the United Nations Convention
relating to the Status of Refugees. The Convention was a landmark in the setting of
standards for the treatment of refugees. It incorporated the fundamental concepts of
the refugee protection regime and has continued to remain the cornerstone of that regime to
the present day.

On 28 July 1951, when the Convention was originally adopted, it was to deal with the
aftermath of World War II in Europe even as the Cold War set in. The inspiration for the
Convention was the strong global commitment to ensuring that the displacement and trauma
caused by the persecution and destruction of the war years would not be repeated. But during
the decades that followed, it globalised, and the 1967 Protocol expanded the scope of the
Convention as the problem of displacement spread around the world. In these origins lies the
Convention‟s avowedly humanitarian character which ensures that its fundamental concepts
remain intrinsically sound.

Basically, it is the responsibility of States to protect their citizens. When governments are
unwilling or unable to protect their citizens, individuals may suffer such serious violations of
their rights that they are forced to leave their homes, and often even their families, to seek
safety in another country. Since, by definition, the governments of their home countries no
longer protect the basic rights of refugees, the international community then steps in to ensure
that those basic rights are respected. In the aftermath of World War II, the United Nations
General Assembly created the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR). UNHCR is mandated to protect and find durable solutions for refugees. Its
activities are based on a framework of international law and standards that includes the 1948
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the four Geneva Conventions (1949) on
international humanitarian law, as well as an array of international and regional treaties and
declarations, both binding and nonbinding, that specifically address the needs of refugees.

The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees is the foundation of international refugee
law. The Refugee Convention defines the term “refugee and sets minimum standards for the
treatment of persons who are found to qualify for refugee status. Because the Convention was
drafted in the wake of World War II, its definition of a refugee focuses on persons who are
outside their country of origin and are refugees as a result of events occurring in Europe or
elsewhere before 1 January 1951. As new refugee crises emerged during the late 1950s and
early 1960s, it became necessary to widen both the temporal and geographical scope of the
Refugee Convention. Thus, a Protocol to the Convention was drafted and adopted ¹.

‫ـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ‬

1. K, Jastram, and M. Achiron, Refugee protection: a guide to international refugee law.

Geneva: the Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2001, p.p 1 - 8.
In essence, the Convention and the Protocol are the principal international instruments
established for the protection of refugees and their basic character has been widely recognized
internationally. The General Assembly has frequently called upon States to become parties to

These instruments. Accession has also been recommended by various regional organizations,
such as the Council of Europe, the African Union, and the Organization of American.²

And as a conclusion, The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees is an international

convention that defines who is a refugee, and sets out the rights of individuals who are
granted asylum and the responsibilities of nations that grant asylum. The convention also sets
out which people do not qualify as refugees, such as war criminals. The Convention also
provides for some visa-free travel for holders of travel documents issued under the
convention. Denmark was the first state to ratify the treaty (on 4 December 1952) and there
are now 147 signatories to either or both the Convention and Protocol.³

The research is divided into four sections. Part 1 concerns the evolving refugee definition and
some of its key conceptual elements, with chapters variously considering matters of theory as
well as jurisprudential and treaty law developments, both historical and current. Parts 2, 3 and
4 are concerned with asylum regimes, in particular the roles of key actors in the refugee
discourse, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),
nation states, and the embryonic regional asylum regime of the European Union. Permeating
the latter three parts is the relationship, and sometimes the gulf, between the reality of
institutional and state action and the rights of refugees.

And this research is an interpretation of the convention relating to the status of refugees and
the protocol, so it will answer these following questions: who is a refugee? Is there any
international protection for them? How is the protection under this threat? What is the legal
Framework of the International Refugee Protection System? Human rights law and refugee
law, how they are related? And what is the role of UNHCR?

____________________

2. Convention and protocol relating to the status of refugees, UNHCR, the UN refugee
agency.Geneva:2007, p.6. < www.unhcr.org/cgi
bin/texis/vtx/protect/opendoc.pdf?tbl=PROTECTION&id=3b66c2aa10 ->

3. Wikipedia, 2009[consulted on 15 April 2009], available on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_Relating_to_the_Status_of_Refugees.
Chapter one: interpretation of the convention
Part one: The preamble
The high contracting parties,

Considering that the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights approved on 10 December 1948 by the General Assembly have affirmed the principle
that human beings shall enjoy fundamental rights and freedoms without discrimination,

Considering that the United Nations has, on various occasions, manifested its profound
concern for refugees and endeavored to assure refugees the widest possible exercise of these
fundamental rights and freedoms, Considering that it is desirable to revise and consolidate
previous international agreements relating to the status of refugees and to extend the scope of
and protection accorded by such instruments by means of a new agreement,

Considering that the grant of asylum may place unduly heavy burdens on certain countries,
and that a satisfactory solution of a problem of which the United Nations has recognized the
international scope and nature cannot therefore be achieved without international co-
operation,

Expressing the wish that all States, recognizing the social and humanitarian nature of the
problem of refugees, will do everything within their power to prevent this problem from
becoming a cause of tension between States, Noting that the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees is charged with the task of supervising international conventions
providing for the protection of refugees, and recognizing that the effective co-ordination of
measures taken to deal with this problem will depend upon the co-operation of States with the
High Commissioner.¹ The Convention‟s Preamble states its aim as assuring „refugees the
widest possible exercise of … fundamental rights and freedoms‟. The Convention was to
establish practical but universal standards for the rights of refugees that went beyond the
lowest common denominator, „since [it was said] a convention would hardly be useful if it
contained only the minimum acceptable to everyone. Early General Assembly resolutions
support its underlying human rights basis, with an emphasis on assisting the most needy,
affirming basic principles relating to solutions, and recommending increased protection
activities.²

________________________

1. Convention and protocol relating to the status of refugees, UNHCR, the UN refugee
agency.Geneva:2007.p.15< www.unhcr.org/cgi
bin/texis/vtx/protect/opendoc.pdf?tbl=PROTECTION&id=3b66c2aa10 ->

2. J, McAdam. Human rights: the refugee convention as a blueprint for complementary

protection status, Paper presented at „Moving On: Forced Migration and Human Rights‟
Conference (NSW Parliament House, 22 November 2005), p.7-8
www.law.usyd.edu.au/scigl/Documents/McAdam.pdf.
In this Preamble, the Refugee Convention provides a reminder of the principle that all human
beings shall enjoy fundamental rights and freedoms without discrimination. It refers to the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Charter, and states that the UN “has, on
various occasions, manifested its profound concern for refugees and endeavoured to assure
refugees the widest possible exercise of these fundamental rights and freedoms”. The
achievement of “equitable” responsibility- and burden-sharing is one of the six goals of the
Agenda for Protection‟s programme of action. To share burdens and responsibilities “more
equitably” is not only a goal; it is also a cross-cutting theme of the Agenda for Protection.

Yet, whereas burden-sharing arguably can be derived from the Preamble to the 1951
Convention, the content of “responsibility” in the term „responsibility-sharing‟ is less clear.
The Preamble to the 1951 Convention provides guidance as to the content and basis of the
concept of burden-sharing when it speaks of the “unduly heavy burden” (emphasis added) that
granting asylum places on “certain countries” (emphasis added) and the need for states to
engage in international cooperation to relieve such a burden.

In order to ameliorate some of the conceptual imprecision surrounding the concept of

„responsibility-sharing‟, for the purposes of this paper, „responsibility‟ is taken to mean a
state‟s legal responsibility to admit and protect refugees. „Responsibility-sharing‟ is equated
with „burden-sharing‟. Amnesty International believes that it is important to make this
distinction because the legal character of states‟ responsibilities towards refugees is
necessarily different to the legal character of states‟ engagement with one another (in
international cooperation) for the purposes of sharing what the Refugee Convention describes
as „burdens‟. Necessarily, the latter obligation must maintain the centrality of refugee
protection and be exercised in a manner which is consistent with and indeed promotes state
responsibility to protect refugees.

Moreover, arrangements must be consistent with international protection and human rights
obligations of partners. Arrangements must be in accordance with the protection mandates
and human rights responsibilities of inter-governmental organizations, international agencies,
non-governmental organizations or other non-state actors. Arrangements should, as necessary,
establish mechanisms to allow individuals to submit complaints and seek remedies for human
rights abuses perpetrated by such actors.³

_________________________

3. UNHCR‟s Forum & Executive Committee Basic human rights principles

repository.forcedmigration.org/text/?pid=fmo:4224 - 14k -.
Part two: article 1 to16 “General provisions and the juridical
status of refugees”
Who is a refugee?

According to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is someone
who: Has a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her

- Race,

- Religion,

- Nationality,

- Membership in a particular social group, or Political opinion.

Is outside his/her country of origin; and is unable or unwilling to avail him/her of the
protection of that country, or to Return there, for fear of persecution.¹

The central question of what it means to be persecuted „for reasons of race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion‟ remains, however, a
contested one. What does it mean to be „persecuted‟ and that the persecution be „for reasons
of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion‟?
The article1 examines briefly the textual meaning and the drafting history of the refugee
definition. In short, much of the evidence from the drafting process is consistent with the
conclusion that the phrase „for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a
particular social group or political opinion‟ was believed to add meaning to, or indeed to
qualify, the concept of‟ persecution‟.²

The Convention recognizes in Article I, that a person falling under the terms of section A,
will be Not covered by the Convention in the event that: (1) He has voluntarily re-availed
himself of the protection of the country of his nationality; or (2) Having lost his nationality,
he has voluntarily reacquired it; or (3) He has acquired a new nationality, and enjoys the
protection of the country of his new nationality; or (4) He has voluntarily re-established
himself in the country which he left or outside which he remained owing to fear of
persecution; or (5) He can no longer, because the circumstances in connection with which he
has been recognized as a refugee have ceased to exist, continue to refuse to avail himself of
the protection of the country of his nationality.

__________________________

1. K, Jastram, and M. Achiron, Refugee protection: a guide to international refugee law.

Geneva: the Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2001, p.9.

2. F, Nicholson and P. Twomey, Refugee Rights and Realities Evolving International

Concepts and Regimes. New York : Cambridge University Press, 1999, p.18.
In addition, Being a person who has no nationality, because the circumstances in connection
with which he has been recognized as a refugee have ceased to exist, able to return to the
country of his former habitual residence; and . The Convention shall not apply either to
persons who are at present receiving from organs or agencies of the United Nations other than
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees protection or assistance. Besides the
person who is recognized by the competent authorities of the country in which he has taken
residence as having the rights and obligations which are attached to the possession of the
nationality of that country. And what is also clear is that this convention which we are
interpreting does not protect persons, to whom there are serious reasons for considering that :
He has committed a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity, as defined
in the international instruments drawn up to make provision in respect of such crimes; (b) He
has committed a serious non-political crime outside the country of refuge prior to his
admission to that country as a refugee; (c) He has been guilty of acts contrary to the purposes
and principles of the United Nations. (article 1 paragraph F).

What is binding on the refugee is that he has duties to the country in which he finds himself,
which require in particular that he conform to its laws and regulations as well as to measures
taken for the maintenance of public order, refugees are required to respect the laws and
regulations of their country of asylum, With regard to the protection and guaranteed by this
Convention to refugees is that the contracting states shall apply the provisions of this
Convention to refugees without discrimination as to race, religion or country of origin,
mentioned in article 3 .

And accord to refugees within their territories treatment at least as favourable as that accorded
to their nationals with respect to freedom to practise their religion and freedom as regards the
religious education of their children which mean the freedom of religion mentioned in article4
However, the contracting state, in a exceptionally time such as time of war and other grave
takes provisionally measures which it considers to be essential to the national security in the
case of a particular person, pending a determination by the Contracting State that that person
is in fact a refugee, and this is mentioned in article 9, and all refugees must be granted identity
papers and travel documents that allow them to travel outside the country mentioned in article
12.

Otherwise, the contracting state shall protect the industrial property such as inventions,
designs or models artistic and scientific works…etc, the same as it is accorded to the national
of that country, mentioned in article 14. ³

_____________________

3. Convention relating to the status of refugees,

<From/http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/o_c_ref.htm> (article1 and article 14).
The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees details refugees‟ rights. Although
some refugee rights may be restricted under certain circumstances, some of the important
rights set out in the Convention include : the right of association concerning non-political and
non-profit-making associations and trade unions and this is mentioned in article 15.

Besides, the refugee shall have free access to the court of law on the territory of all
contracting states including legal assistance. (Article 16).4

________________

4. Ibid., articles 15 and 16.

Part three: article 17 to 24 “Gainful employment and welfare”
In article 17 it is mentioned that a refugee has the right to work within the territory of the
contracting states and shall treat the refugees as the nationals of that states as regards the right
to engage in wage-earning employment.

1. The Contracting States shall accord to refugees lawfully staying in their territory the most
favourable treatment accorded to nationals of a foreign country in the same circumstances, as
regards the right to engage in wage-earning employment. . In any case, restrictive measures
imposed on the employment of aliens for the protection of the national labour market shall not
be applied to a refugee who was already exempt from them at the date of entry into force.

At the same time, the Contracting States shall ensure freedom of private and self-employment
to the refugees including the right to establish commercial and industrial companies.
moreover the refugees who hold diplomas recognized by the competent authorities of that
State, and who are desirous of practicing a liberal profession, treatment as favourable as
possible and, in any event, not less favourable than that accorded to aliens generally in the
same circumstances. according to the article 18 and 19.

2. The convention detailed the right to housing for refugees and the lawfully staying in their
territory of the contracting states as favourable as possible, according to article 21.

Besides the convention guaranteed the right to education mainly the same treatment as is
accorded to nationals with respect to elementary education. Other than elementary education
and, in particular, as regards access to studies, the recognition of foreign school certificates,
diplomas and degrees, the remission of fees and charges and the award of scholarships.
According to article 22.

The right to public relief and assistance which is noted in article 23 that accord to refugees
lawfully staying in the contracting states‟ territory the same treatment with respect to public
relief and assistance as is accorded to their nationals.

In article 24 it is mentioned that The Contracting States shall accord to refugees lawfully
staying in their territory the same treatment as is accorded to nationals in respect of the
following matters; (a) In so far as such matters are governed by laws or regulations or are
subject to the control of administrative authorities: remuneration, including family allowances
where these form part of remuneration, hours of work, overtime arrangements, holidays with
pay, restrictions on home work, minimum age of employment, apprenticeship and training,
women's work and the work of young persons, and the enjoyment of the benefits of collective
bargaining; (b) Social security (legal provisions in respect of employment injury, occupational
diseases, maternity, sickness, disability, old age, death, unemployment, family responsibilities
and any other contingency which, according to national laws or regulations, is covered by a
social security scheme), subject to the following limitations:

(i) There may be appropriate arrangements for the maintenance of acquired rights and rights
in course of acquisition;
(ii) National laws or regulations of the country of residence may prescribe special
arrangements concerning benefits or portions of benefits which are payable wholly out of
public funds, and concerning allowances paid to persons who do not fulfil the contribution
conditions prescribed for the award of a normal pension.

2. The right to compensation for the death of a refugee resulting from employment injury or
from occupational disease shall not be affected by the fact that the residence of the beneficiary
is outside the territory of the Contracting State. ¹

Which mean that Countries that have ratified the Refugee Convention are obliged to protect
refugees on their territory according to its terms.²

_______________________

1. Convention relating to the status of refugees,

<From/http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/o_c_ref.htm> (article 17 to 24).

2. K, Jastram, and M. Achiron, Refugee protection: a guide to international refugee law.

Geneva: the Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2001, p.11.
Part four: article 25 to 37 “administrative measures and
the executary, transitory provisions”
When the exercise of a right by a refugee would normally require the assistance of authorities
of a foreign country to whom he cannot have recourse, the Contracting States in whose
territory he is residing shall arrange that such assistance be afforded to him by their own
authorities or by an international authority. They shall deliver or cause to be delivered under
their supervision to refugees such documents or certifications as would normally be delivered
to aliens by or through their national authorities, as mentioned in article 25. This means that
every refugee has the right to an administrative assistance. In article 26 it says that every
refugee has a right of freedom of movement within the territory and to choose the place of
residence.

For the refugees that they do not have a travel document ,it is the responsibility of the
contracting states to issue to refugees a travel document for the purpose of travel outside their
territory, unless compelling reasons of national security or the public order, mentioned in
article 28.

In other way, contracting states shall not impose or require from refugees to pay taxes or to
impose duties of any description, other or higher than those which may be levied on their
nationals in similar circumstances, and this is according to article 29. For the properties of
refugees, the Contracting State shall, in conformity with its laws and regulations, permit
refugees to transfer assets which they have brought into its territory, to another country where
they have been admitted for the purposes of resettlement.(article 30). Obviously, the
juridical status of refugees especially when they are in an unlawfully situation, The
Contracting States shall not impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on
refugees who, coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened in
the sense of article 1, enter or are present in their territory without authorization, provided
they present themselves without delay to the authorities and show good cause for their illegal
entry or presence and shall not apply to the movements of such refugees restrictions other
than those which are necessary and such restrictions shall only be applied until their status in
the country is regularized or they obtain admission into another country or facilities to obtain
admission into another country.(article 31)

The right not to be expelled from a country [unless the refugee poses a threat to national
security or the public order]the refugee shall be allowed to submit evidence to clear himself,
and to be represented for the purpose before competent authority or a person or persons
specially designated by the competent authority. (Article 32).¹

________________________

1. Convention relating to the status of refugees,

<From/http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/o_c_ref.htm> (article 25 to 32).
The most important right detailed in the Convention is the right to be protected against
forcible return, or refoulement, to the territory from which the refugee had fled. The
Convention stipulates that...” No Contracting State shall expel or return (’refouler’) a
refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or
freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership
of a particular social group or political opinion “(Article 33).

Refoulement is also explicitly prohibited in a number of other documents, including the

United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment (Article 3), the United Nations Declaration on the Protection of All Persons
from Enforced Disappearance (Article 8), and the United Nations Principles on the Effective
Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions (Principle

In fact, it is widely accepted that the prohibition of refoulement is part of customary

international law. That means that all States must respect the principle of non-refoulement,
even if they are not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention.

However, if the refugee constitutes a danger to the community of that country or he/she has
been convicted by a final judgment of a serous crime. In that case the contracting state has the
right to expel the refugee.²

About the naturalization, the refugee has the right according to the article 34 mentioned in the
convention, to have a nationality in the contracting state which he finds himself in, and the
contracting states shall make every effort to expedite naturalization and to reduce as far as
possible the charges of such proceedings.

The contracting states should cooperate with the United Nations high commissioner for
refugees or any other agency of the United Nations, in order to exercise of its functions and to
facilitate its duty of supervising the application of the provisions of this convention, and to get
the statistical data requested concerning: the condition of refugees, the implementation of this
convention and laws, which are relating to refugees (article 35).

And to communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations the laws and regulations
which they may adopt to ensure the application of this Convention.(article 36)³.

______________________

2. Protecting Refugees: A Field Guide for NGOs, UNHCHR.

www.unhcr.or.jp/protect/pdf/ProtectingRefugees-FieldGuideforNGOs.pdf

3. ibid. (article 32 to 36).

Part five: article 38 to 46 “Final clauses”

About the settlement of disputes between Parties to this Convention relating to its
interpretation or application, which cannot be settled by other means, shall be referred to the
International Court of Justice at the request of any one of the parties to the dispute .besides the
measures of signature, ratification and accession, shall be open for signature on behalf of all
States Members of the United Nations, and also the accession shall be effected by the deposit
of an instrument of accession with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. (article 38 to
39).

On the other hand, Any State may, at the time of signature, ratification or accession, declare
that this Convention shall extend to all or any of the territories for the international relations
of which it is responsible. (Article 40).

In the case of a Federal or non-unitary State, the contracting start is bound to take legislative
action in order to ensure practice of the Federation and its constituent units in regard to any
particular provision of the Convention. (Article 41).

. At the time of signature, ratification or accession, any State may make reservations to
articles of the Convention other than to articles 1, 3, 4, 16 (1), 33, 36-46 inclusive. And any
State making a reservation in accordance with paragraph I of this article may at any time
withdraw the reservation by a communication to that effect addressed to the Secretary-
General of the United Nations. According to the article 42. This convention was entered to
force in: 22april 1954, in accordance with article 43. Which is detailed that For each State
ratifying or acceding to the Convention after the deposit of the sixth instrument of ratification
or accession, the Convention shall enter into force on the ninetieth day following the date of
deposit by such State of its instrument of ratification or accession.

Any Contracting State may denounce this Convention at any time by a notification addressed
to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and may request revision of this Convention
at any time by a notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations in
accordance with article 44 & 45. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall inform all
Members of the United Nations and non-member States referred to in article 39:

(a) Of declarations and notifications in accordance with section B of article 1;

(b) Of signatures, ratifications and accessions in accordance with article 39;

(c) Of declarations and notifications in accordance with article 40;

(d) Of reservations and withdrawals in accordance with article 42;

(e) Of the date on which this Convention will come into force in accordance with article 43;

(f) Of denunciations and notifications in accordance with article 44;

(g) Of requests for revision in accordance with article 45.

Which mean that the secretary general of the United Nations must notify the contracting states
about this procedures.¹

________________________

1. Convention relating to the status of refugees,

<From/http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/o_c_ref.htm>(article 38 to 46).
Chapter two: a brief overview of the protocol
Part one: the preamble
The Protocol was taken note of with approval by the Economic and Social Council in
resolution 1186 (XLI) of 18 November 1966 and was taken note of by the General Assembly
in resolution 2198 (XXI) of 16 December 1966. In the same resolution the General Assembly
requested the Secretary-General to transmit the text of the Protocol to the States mentioned in
article V thereof, with a view to enabling them to accede to the Protocol

entry into force 4 October 1967, in accordance with article VIII

The States Parties to the present Protocol,

Considering that the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees done at Geneva on 28 July
1951 (hereinafter referred as to Convention) covers only those persons who have become
refugees as a result of events occurring before the I January 1951,

Considering that new refugee situations have arisen since the Convention was adopted and
that the refugees concerned may therefore not fall within the scope of the Convention,

Considering that it is desirable that equal status should be enjoyed by all refugees covered by
the definition in the Convention irrespective of the dateline I January 1951¹.

This means that The 1967 Refugee Protocol is independent of, though integrally related to,
the 1951 Convention. The Protocol lifts the time and geographic limits found in the
Convention‟s refugee definition²

It removes the time limitations written into the original Convention under which for the most
part only Europeans involved in events occurring before 1 January 1951, could apply for
refugee status. As a result it turned the Convention into a truly universal instrument that could
benefit refugees everywhere. Three-quarters of the world‟s states have signed up to both the
1951 Convention and its Protocol.³

__________________________

1. Protocol relating to the status of refugees,

http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/o_p_ref.htm(preamble).

2. K, Jastram, and M. Achiron, Refugee protection: a guide to international refugee law.

Geneva: the Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2001,10.

3. the 1951 refugee convention(questions & answers),Geneva: published by UNHCR media

relations and public information service,2007,< www.unhcr.org>.
Part two: main provisions of the 1967 protocol
In article one on the protocol “general provisions” it is mentioned that the States Parties to the
Protocol undertake to apply articles 2 to 34 inclusive of the Convention to refugees as
hereinafter defined.

2. For the purpose of the Protocol, the term "refugee" shall, except as regards the application
of paragraph 3 of this article, mean any person within the definition of article I of the
Convention as if the words "As a result of events occurring before 1 January 1951 and..." and
the words "...as a result of such events", in article 1 A (2) were omitted.

3. The present Protocol shall be applied by the States Parties hereto without any geographic
limitation, save that existing declarations made by States already Parties to the Convention in
accordance with article I B (I) (a) of the Convention, shall, unless extended under article I B
(2) thereof, apply also under the present Protocol.

And this means that the refugee is not limited to a particular geographical area and it is
considered to be a refugee as defined in article I of the Convention and not according to a
specified date as it mentioned in the 1951 convention.

The Co-operation of the national authorities (contracting states) with the United Nations just
as the article 35 in the convention.

Information on national legislation mentioned in article 3 just the same as article 36 in the
convention.

Entry into Protocol by the states:

1. The present Protocol shall come into force on the day of deposit of the sixth instrument of
accession, according to the article 8.¹

_____________________

1. Protocol relating to the status of refugees,

http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/o_p_ref.htm (article 1 to 8).
Part three: the difference between the convention and
protocol
The 1967 Refugee Protocol is independent of, though integrally related to, the 1951
Convention. The Protocol lifts the time and geographic limits found in the Convention‟s
refugee definition.

Together, the Refugee Convention and Protocol cover three main subjects:

The basic refugee definition, along with terms for cessation of, and exclusion from, refugee
status The legal status of refugees in their country of asylum, their rights and obligations,
including the right to be protected against forcible return, or refoulement, to a territory where
their lives or freedom would be threatened ,States‟ obligations, including cooperating with
UNHCR in the exercise of its functions and facilitating its duty of supervising the application
of the Convention By acceding to the Protocol, States agree to apply most of the articles of
the Refugee Convention (Articles 2 through 34) to all persons covered by the Protocol‟s
refugee definition. Yet the vast majority of States have preferred to accede to both the
Convention and the Protocol In doing so, States reaffirm that both treaties are central to the
international refugee protection system. ¹

According to the general definition contained in the 1951 Convention, a refugee is a person
who: “As a result of events occurring before 1 January 1951 and owing to well-founded fear
of being persecuted ... is outside his country of nationality...” The 1951 dateline originated in
the wish of Governments, at the time the Convention was adopted, to limit their obligations to
refugee situations that were known to exist at that time or to those which might subsequently
arise from events that had already occurred. With the passage of time and the emergence of
new refugee situations, the need was increasingly felt to make the provisions of the 1951
Convention applicable to such new refugees. As a result, a Protocol relating to the Status of
Refugees was prepared. After consideration by the General Assembly of the United Nations,
it was opened for accession on 31 January 1967 and entered into force on 4 October 1967. By
accession to the 1967 Protocol, States undertake to apply the substantive provisions of the
1951 Convention to refugees as defined in the Convention, but without the 1951 dateline.
Although related to the Convention in this way, the Protocol is an independent instrument,
accession to which is not limited to States parties to the Convention².

________________________

1. K, Jastram, and M. Achiron, Refugee protection: a guide to international refugee law.

Geneva: the Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2001, p.10.

2. Handbook on procedures and criteria for determining refugee status under the 1951
Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the refugees,
<http://www.sheltercentre.org/library/Handbook+procedures+and+criteria+determining+refug
ee+status+under+1951+Convention+and+1967+P >.
The 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees has been described as an unnecessary
addendum to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. However, if the 1967
Protocol was superfluous, why did the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the
early 1960s insist on its development? the 1967 Protocol was originally intended to
encompass the broader concerns of African and Asian states concerning refugee populations
in their region. However, the political influence upon the development of international refugee
law radically altered the UNHCR's endeavour to make the 1951 Convention universally
accessible³

So. What is contained in the 1967 Protocol is that it removes the geographical and time
Limitations written into the original Convention under which for the most part only
Europeans involved in events occurring before 1 January 1951, could apply for refugee status.
As a result it turned the Convention into a truly universal instrument that could benefit
refugees everywhere. 4

___________________________

3. S. Davies, Redundant or Essential? How Politics Shaped the Outcome of the 1967
Protocol. February 16, 2008, < http://ijrl.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/eem068v1>

4. the 1951 refugee convention(questions & answers),Geneva: published by UNHCR media

relations and public information service,2007,< www.unhcr.org>.
Chapter three: the dilemma of Palestinian refugees
Part one: Historical background on the Palestinian Nakba
Every year Palestinians commemorate the Nakba ("the catastrophe"): the expulsion and
dispossession of hundreds of thousands Palestinians from their homes and land in 1948. In
1948 more than 60 percent of the total Palestinian population was expelled. More than 530
Palestinian villages were depopulated and completely destroyed. To date, Israel has prevented
the return of approximately six million Palestinian refugees, who have either been expelled or
displaced. Approximately 250,000 internally displaced Palestinian second-class citizens of
Israel are prevented from returning to their homes and villages¹

During the war, between 700,000 and 750,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from
the territories that were later known as Israel in 1949. They were not allowed to go back to
their home after the war and became refugees.

In 1948, Palestinians from the areas of the North of Palestine: Haifa, Acre, Safad and the
Galilee region, were forced to leave their homes, due to Israeli military forces attacks and
ethnic cleansing. Many villages were destroyed in that area and these Palestinians fled over
the border with Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt, Those who were economically well-off
travelled directly to the big cities, while the majority remained in the border areas. ²

By May 1, 1948, two weeks before the Israeli Declaration of Independence, nearly 175,000
Palestinians (approximately 25%) had already fled.[46] The fighting in these months was
concentrated in the Jerusalem – Tel Aviv area and most depopulations took place in Jewish
controlled areas, such as Tiberius, Haifa, Jaffa and the coastal region. The Deir Yassin
massacre in early April, and the exaggerated rumours that followed it, helped spread fear and
panic among the Palestinians. Even so, Palestinians fled the city of Haifa en masse, in one of
the most notable flights of this stage.

Israeli operations labeled Dani and Dekel that broke the truce was the start of the third phase
of expulsions. The largest single expulsion of the war began in Lydda and Ramla July 14
when 60,000 inhabitants (nearly 10% of the whole exodus) of the two cities were forcibly
expelled on the orders of Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Rabin.

In October 1948 – March 1949 This period of the exodus was characterized by Israeli military
accomplishments; Operation Yoav, in October, this cleared the road to the Negev,
culminating in the capture of Beersheba; Operation Hiram, at the end of October, resulted in
the capture of the Upper Galilee; Operation Horev in December 1948 and Operation Uvda in
March 1949, completed the capture of the Negev (the Negev had been allotted to the Jewish
State by the United Nations) these operations were met with resistance from the Palestinian
Arabs who were to become refugees. The Israeli military activities were confined to the
Galilee and the sparsely populated Negev desert. It was clear to the villages in the Galilee,
that if they left, return was far from imminent. Therefore far fewer villages spontaneously
depopulated than previously. Most of the Palestinian exodus was due to a clear, direct cause:
expulsion and deliberate harassment, as Morris writes 'commanders were clearly bent on
driving out the population in the area they were conquering'.³

_____________________________________

1. Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe (1948) [consulted on 19 April 2009],available on :

< http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/171.shtml> .

2. Sherifa Shafie, Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon,

<www.forcedmigration.org/guides/fmo018/fmo018.pdf >.

3. Wikipedia, 2009[consulted on 19 April 2009], available on:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Palestinian_exodus >.
Part two: the status of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
In 1948, Palestinians from the areas of the North of Palestine: Haifa, Acre, Safad and the
Galilee region, were forced to leave their homes, due to Israeli military forces attacks and
ethnic cleansing. Many villages were destroyed in that area and these Palestinians fled over
the border with Lebanon. They numbered around 100,000 (Peteet, 1997), which is about 14%
of the Palestinian refugees who fled Palestine in 1948. Those who were economically well-off
travelled directly to the big cities, while the majority remained in the border areas.

During the first months, the Palestinians were housed and given food by Lebanese farmers.
They were assisted at the beginning by the LRCS (International League of Red Cross
Societies), which provided tents, clothes and food. There was also some aid presented from
public and private sources. The Lebanese Government also offered assistance by offering the
LRCS free depots, warehouses, security, labour and transport. The Lebanese Authorities later
allocated certain area for the refugees to settle in. In 1949, the Lebanese Government tried to
send some of the Palestinian refugees to Syria, which consequently led to the closure of the
borders by the Syrian Government.

In 1949 UN Resolution 302 established the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) (EMHRN Mission, 2000: 11). In 1950
UNRWA began operations. In 1953, it was decided to exchange the tents with semi-
permanent shelters. UNRWA originally established 16 camps, of which 3 were destroyed
(Tel-El-Zaater, Nabatiyeh and Jisr-El-Basha) and 1 was evacuated (Gauroud) (UNRWA,
2002). UNRWA schools were established in the camps. Between 1948 – 1958, the Palestinian
refugees lived in relative harmony with their Lebanese hosts, with some freedom of
expression and political activity (Suleiman, 1999: 67).¹

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
(UNRWA) defines a Palestine refugee as “any person whose normal place of residence was
Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948 and who lost their home and means
of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict”. UNRWA's services are available to all those
living in its area of operations who meet this definition, who are registered with the Agency
and who need assistance. UNRWA's definition of a refugee also covers the descendants of
persons who became refugees in 1948. UNRWA‟s five field of operations are: Lebanon,
Syria, Jordan, Gaza and the West Bank.

________________________

1. Sherifa Shafie, Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon,

<www.forcedmigration.org/guides/fmo018/fmo018.pdf >.
, The Lebanese Government and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) estimate that
there are around 415,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon (Palestinian Human Rights
Organization: 2002) and these are divided into 3 categories:

1- Refugees registered with UNRWA and the Lebanese authorities.

The number of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon registered with the UNRWA in June 2006
was 406,342 (about 10% of the population of Lebanon). They are Palestinians who had fled
Palestine in 1948 (UNRWA).

2- Palestinian Refugees registered with the Lebanese authorities (non-registered Palestinian

refugees).

There are Palestinian refugees registered with the Lebanese authorities but not with UNRWA
and are estimated to number between 10,000 and 40,000, according to the European Union‟s
Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) (Amnesty International, 2003). UNRWA states that the
Lebanese Ministry of Interior has „unofficially‟ informed it that these refugees number 13000
(UNRWA, „The Latest Developments in the Living Conditions of Palestine Refugees in
Lebanon‟, 2006). Half of these refugees were registered by the Red Cross and later by the
Lebanese Government, and are also 1948 refugees, while the rest were registered under the
orders of former Interior Ministries in the period of 1969 – 1978 and are 1967 displaced
persons.

3- Non-ID Palestinien refugees.

The number non-ID Palestinian refugees in Lebanon is subject to controversy: the

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) in March 2003 issued a report estimating
there to be 10,000 of them; the US Committee for Refugees estimated 16,000 (World Refugee
Survey, 2003); and the Danish Refugee Council, who carried out a survey in 2005, estimated
the number at 3,000 people.

These refugees moved to Lebanon in the 1970s after the events of Black September in Jordan
or because of the civil war in Lebanon and did not consider it necessary at the time to register
themselves. However, after the PLO political military infrastructure in Lebanon was
disbanded and the redeployment of the Lebanese security over Lebanon, their lack of
documentation became a prominent issue. These refugees are residing in Lebanon without
papers, and thus cannot access education, work, health or travel etc. Some of these refugees
are actually registered with UNRWA in other fields of operation (UNRWA, „The Latest
Developments in the Living Conditions of Palestine Refugees in Lebanon‟, 2006).

However, these numbers do not accurately represent the number of Palestinian refugees in
Lebanon, since many refugees registered with UNRWA are currently residing in other
countries. It is estimated, that the number of Palestinian refugees actually residing in Lebanon
to be around 250,000 (Forced Migration Review, Issue 26, 2006). It is estimated that there
may be around 100,000 Palestinian refugees from Lebanon who, since the 1980s, have
emigrated to Arab Gulf countries and northern Europe, mainly to Germany, Denmark and
Sweden (Dorai, Palestinian Emigration from Lebanon to Northern Europe: Refugees,
Networks and

Transnational Practices). About 15,000 Palestinian refugees from Lebanon live in Sweden and
2,000 in Denmark.

The Violence in Lebanon:

While violence against the Palestinian refugees was one of the key features throughout the
war. Three periods particularly stand out:

The Israeli invasion of Lebanon, 1982

Israeli air strikes and artillery killed around 2,400 people in West Beirut (many in the camps
of Sabra and Shatila), 1,100 in the refugee camps of Sidon and 1,200 in the camps of Tyre. In
the camps of the South, the Israeli army later systematically destroyed houses that had
survived (USCR Report, 1999: 7). During the siege of West Beirut in the summer of 1982,
hundreds of Palestinians were killed in the refugee camps of Sabra, Shatila and Bourj-El-
Barajneh (USCR Report, 1999: 7).

Sabra and Shatila

After the PLO withdrawal from Beirut in August 1982, and the Israeli Army‟s occupation of
Beirut in September 1982, Christian Phalangist militias entered the camps of Sabra and
Shatila and massacred around 1000 Palestinian refugees and Lebanese civilians residing in the
camps, while the Israeli Army failed to intervene (USCR Report, 1999: 7).

The camps war, 1985 – 1987

Between 1985 and 1987, the Syrian backed Amal Movement, a major Shia militia, attacked
several Palestinian camps in Beirut and in the South in order to get rid of the remaining pro-
Arafat PLO combatants (Suleiman, 1999: 68). During periods of intense fighting many of the
camps were besieged, cut off from the outside and suffered from lack of food, clean water and
medical supplies (USCR, 1999: 8). However, the Amal movement was not able to seize
control of any of the camps. It is estimated that the fighting resulted in the destruction of 80%
of homes in Shatila camp (Beirut), 50% of homes in Burj El Barajneh camp (Beirut) and
Sabra (an informal settlement next to Shatila) was almost totally destroyed. An estimated
2,500 people were killed during this period (Khalidi, 2000: 7).

Conflict-induced displacement ;

Between 1975 and 1991, many Palestinian refugees were displaced, some of them many
times. The USCR‟s 1999 report on Palestinian refugees in Lebanon estimates the number of
internally displaced Palestinians at 20,000. It is reported that between 1972 – 1988, around
90% of Palestinian refugees have been displaced once, 66% displaced twice and 20% three
times or more (Khalidi, 2001: 10, Centre for Lebanese Studies, 1995).
Israel‟s 1982 invasion of Lebanon forced many refugees to flee their homes in the camps in
Beirut and in the south of the country and seek refuge in other camps. The Nahr El Bared
camp received more than 1000 Palestinian refugees who settled in an empty plot of land in the
north of the camp, which had been intended for the construction of a hospital. Subsequently,
the area has been incorporated within the camp and is known as „the place of the emigrants‟.
In 1987, as a result of Amal‟s siege of Shatila and the destruction of 80% of the camp, around
14,000 of its 17,000 inhabitants were displaced again (USCRI, 1999: 8).

The 2006 Conflict between Hezbollah and Israel :

The conflict between Hizbullah and Israel which began on 12/13 July 2006 and lasted for 34
days affected mostly Palestinian refugees in the South of Lebanon. The Palestinian refugees
in southern Lebanon live in Tyre, the villages around Tyre and near the Israeli border as well
as in the 3 refugee camps of the south: El Buss (1.5km from Tyre), Rashidiyeh (5km from
Tyre) and Borj Shemali (3km from Tyre). There are Palestinian refugees also in the informal
settlements around Tyre. Some of the camp residents lost their means of livelihood from the
start of the hostilities, while many refugees reliant on overseas remittances could not access
them due to bank closures (UNWRWA Report, August 2006). The camps in the South
became isolated and the camp inhabitants were unable to access supplies as leaving the camps
became dangerous. Many camp residents left the 3 camps and moved to the Sidon camps. On
August 9th 2006, Israeli Defence Forces air strikes hit Ain El Helweh refugee camp in Sidon,
killing 2 and injuring 10. It is estimated that 75% of the inhabitants of Wavel Camp in
Baalbeck left the camp (UNRWA, „The Latest Developments in the Living Conditions of
Palestine Refugees in Lebanon‟, 2006). About 47% of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon live
outside the camps and thus were in the same situation as the Lebanese people. Some
Palestinian refugees fled to Syria. UNRWA estimates that 16,000 Palestinian refugees were
displaced as a result of the hostilities between Hizbullah and Israel (IDMC, December 2006).

Every refugee has the right of having a nationality in the state which he finds himself in but
not the same advantage for the Palestinians refugees especially the TAWTEEN .

On the 18 April 2003, during the meeting of the newly formed Lebanese cabinet, President
Lahoud stressed that the government will not back down on its insistence that Israel complies
with the right of return of the Palestinian refugees, and that Lebanon rejects any plans for their
settlement in Lebanon (tawteen) (Al-Ahram, 19 April, 2003). At present, any resettlement
(tawteen) of Palestinian refugees is forbidden by the Lebanese constitution (International
Federation for Human Rights Report, 2003: 11).

Palestinians born in Lebanon, and even the children of Lebanese mothers and Palestinian
fathers who are considered Palestinian, and are not granted Lebanese citizenship. However,
Palestinian women who marry Lebanese men may obtain citizenship².

_________________

2. ibid. Refugees in Lebanon .

Part three: the role of UNRWA
Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, was established by United Nations General
Assembly resolution 302 (IV) of 8 December 1949 to carry out direct relief and works
programmes for Palestine refugees. The Agency began operations on 1 May 1950. In the
absence of a solution to the Palestine refugee problem, the General Assembly has repeatedly
renewed UNRWA's mandate, most recently extending it until 30 June 2011¹.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was formed
in 1950 as an emergency relief and works agency but over time, transformed into the provider
of basic education, health and social services to registered refugees. Despite lacking a political
mandate UNRWA became, for refugees and host governments alike, the embodiment of
international recognition and concern for the situation of Palestinian refugees.

Within the framework of the Middle East peace process, the refugees were defined as one of
several "permanent status" issues (along with questions of Jerusalem, settlements, water and
borders) that were deferred for negotiation by the parties until after conclusion of the interim
phase of agreements. Scheduled originally to begin no later than May 1996, action on the final
status talks was postponed indefinitely with prolonged deadlocks in the interim-phase
negotiations.

Thus, although the inception of the peace process in 1993 led to a scenario in which an end to
UNRWA's role could be envisaged, political discussions following the signing of the
Declaration of Principles involving all parties concerned with refugees reached a consensus
that UNRWA must continue providing basic services to refugees until the conclusion of
permanent status talks and a political resolution of the refugee problem is found.

Despite this agreement, the position of UNRWA and refugees has become increasingly
vulnerable. The factors leading to this situation may be to do with assumptions and
perceptions of the international community, notably in two regards;

i. the international community continued to operate within a paradigm of a successful peace

process under which the role of UNRWA was seen as being phased out, despite the deadlock
in the peace process since early 1997, and
ii. there has been a considerable increase in overall assistance to the Palestinian Territories
since 1993 and this has tended to disguise the fact that over the same period, assistance to
UNRWA has remained stagnant ²

____________________

2. The UN Relief and Works Agency and a Durable Solution for Palestinian Refugees,

http://www.badil.org/al-majdal/1999/1h.htm .
Education, Health and Relief and Social Services

UNRWA's education program is the largest of the Agency's programs. Refugee children
registered with UNRWA have access to free elementary (6 years) and preparatory (3-4 years)
education. In Lebanon, UNRWA also operates five secondary schools (since 1993) due to
limited access to public secondary education and the high cost of private secondary schooling.
The Agency offers special education for children with learning difficulties. UNRWA also
operates eight vocational and technical training centers and a teacher education program.

UNRWA health services include primary health care, nutrition and supplementary feeding,
assistance with secondary health care, and environmental health. Primary health services
cover medical care, family health, disease control and prevention, and health education. They
are provided directly and at no cost to refugees registered with UNRWA. Refugees share
costs for secondary care, tertiary care, prosthetic devises, specialized medical investigations
and non-program life-saving medicines. Refugees in Lebanon are exempt from the co-
payment system except for specialized life-saving treatment.

UNRWA's relief program provides food support for special hardship case families, shelter
rehabilitation, and selective cash assistance. Eligibility and registration for UNRWA services
falls under the relief program. The social services program consists of five main sub-
programs: development of community-based organizations, women in development, a
disability program, youth activities, and a poverty alleviation program, which includes
financial and non-financial services to individuals and groups for projects such as business
start-ups and for training in technical and business skills.

Emergency Relief and Refugee Protection

UNRWA provides emergency medical assistance, remedial education, food and cash
assistance, psychological counseling, post-injury rehabilitation, as well as repair and
reconstruction of refugee shelters and Agency infrastructure during political and humanitarian
crises. The Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the 1980s largely undid the Agency‟s work of three
decades in the country. Following the withdrawal of Israeli forces, UNRWA was left with the
task of providing emergency care to the wounded as well as the families of the victims of
some 3,000 refugees massacred by Israeli-allied Lebanese Phalangist militiamen in the Beirut
camps of Sabra and Shatila and the reconstruction of camps and Agency infrastructure.
UNRWA has provided similar services to Palestinian refugees in 1967 occupied Palestine in
the context of the first and second Palestinian uprisings against Israel's military occupation.

UNRWA does not have an explicit mandate to provide international protection to Palestinian
refugees. The United Nations accorded a protection mandate for Palestinian refugees to
UNRWA's "sister agency" - the UN Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP). The
provision of services that guarantee basic economic, social and cultural rights may be
considered as a type of protection - i.e., "relief protection". UNRWA has undertaken a limited
protection role through intervention with relevant authorities through reports, warnings, and
representations. During the first Palestinian intifada (uprising) in 1967 occupied Palestine that
began in December 1987 the Agency recruited additional international staff to monitor,
report, and make interventions with Israeli authorities. The Agency set up a similar, but
scaled-down program during the second intifada that began in September 2000. ³

it was decided to exchange the tents with semi-permanent shelters. UNRWA originally
established 16 camps, of which 3 were destroyed (Tel-El-Zaater, Nabatiyeh and Jisr-El-
Basha) and 1 was evacuated (Gauroud) (UNRWA, 2002). UNRWA schools were established
in the camps. Between 1948 – 1958, the Palestinian refugees lived in relative harmony with
their Lebanese hosts, with some freedom of expression and political activity 4 .

__________________

3.ibid. http://www.badil.org/al-majdal/1999/1h.htm .

4. Sherifa Shafie, Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon,

<www.forcedmigration.org/guides/fmo018/fmo018.pdf >.
 Conclusion:

W E all use the phrase refugee. It is so familiar that we tend to assume that its meaning

is understood and accepted. It is a useful phrase: it carries a certain moral force and

acts as a kind of „trump card‟ in arguments about moral behavior. But do we really

understand who the refugee is? And the basis on which their rights are founded?

Nowadays, many people in all over the world suffer from discrimination, war and

economic problems such as unemployment, refugees are dying by starvation in Africa and

Middle East. The important thing is to understand and believe refugee problem is a serious

one. There are so many people around the world who need so much help but there are just not

enough resources to help them all. Charities and organizations like UNHCR try to encourage

host governments to provide assistance but most of the host countries are struggling

themselves. Both the convention and the protocol ensure to refugees their rights and freedom

and protect them from the persecution under this convention.

But still, the world is closing its eye about the widespread human suffering of the refugees .¹

______________________

1. James Darcy, Human rights and international legal standards: what do relief workers
need to know, London; Relief and Rehabilitation Network, 1997, p.27.
 Bibliography:

1. . K, Jastram, and M. Achiron, Refugee protection: a guide to international refugee

law. Geneva: the Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2001,
2. . Convention and protocol relating to the status of refugees, UNHCR, the UN refugee
agency.Geneva:2007, p.6. < www.unhcr.org/cgi
bin/texis/vtx/protect/opendoc.pdf?tbl=PROTECTION&id=3b66c2aa10 ->
3. . Wikipedia, 2009[consulted on 15 April 2009], available on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_Relating_to_the_Status_of_Refugees
4. . J, McAdam. Human rights: the refugee convention as a blueprint for complementary
protection status, Paper presented at „Moving On: Forced Migration and Human
Rights‟ Conference (NSW Parliament House, 22 November 2005.
5. UNHCR‟s Forum & Executive Committee Basic human rights principles
repository.forcedmigration.org/text/?pid=fmo:4224 - 14k -.
6. . F, Nicholson and P. Twomey, Refugee Rights and Realities Evolving International
Concepts and Regimes. New York : Cambridge University Press, 1999,
7. Protecting Refugees: A Field Guide for NGOs, UNHCHR.
www.unhcr.or.jp/protect/pdf/ProtectingRefugees-FieldGuideforNGOs.pdf
8. . Protocol relating to the status of refugees,
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/o_p_ref.htm
9. Convention relating to the status of refugees,
<From/http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/o_c_ref.htm>
10. . the 1951 refugee convention(questions & answers),Geneva: published by UNHCR
media relations and public information service,2007,< www.unhcr.org>.
11. . Handbook on procedures and criteria for determining refugee status under the 1951
Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the refugees,
<http://www.sheltercentre.org/library/Handbook+procedures+and+criteria+determinin
g+refugee+status+under+1951+Convention+and+1967+P
12. . S. Davies, Redundant or Essential? How Politics Shaped the Outcome of the 1967
Protocol. February 16, 2008, <
http://ijrl.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/eem068v1
13. . Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe (1948) [consulted on 19 April 2009],available on :
< http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/171.shtml
14. Sherifa Shafie, Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon,
<www.forcedmigration.org/guides/fmo018/fmo018.pdf
15. Wikipedia, 2009[consulted on 19 April 2009], available on:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Palestinian_exodus

16. The UN Relief and Works Agency and a Durable Solution for Palestinian Refugees,
http://www.badil.org/al-majdal/1999/1h.htm .