How did UNRWA's mandate evolve to this date?
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A 2022 report by Badil Resource Center and the European Network on Statelessness describes the limits of UNRWA’s mandate especially regarding the agency’s means to protect Palestine refugees:
“The UN established UNRWA in 1949, with a mandate to assist Palestine refugees. UNRWA is primarily a humanitarian relief institution, operating with a limited geographical remit. Its mandate has subsequently been extended to include some protection activities; however, as discussed below, these are limited and do not include seeking durable solutions for Palestinians.
[...] Although UNRWA’s role is mainly humanitarian assistance, the Agency engages in some work it designates as protection work and adopted a protection policy in 2012.
[...] UNRWA clarified its mandate and the services it provides in a letter to UNHCR in September 2021, stating that UNRWA services consist mainly of education; primary healthcare; relief and social services; infrastructure and camp improvement; microcredit; and emergency assistance, including in situations of armed conflict. This letter further states that UNRWA ‘contributes to the protection of Palestine refugees both through its service delivery and by advocating for their rights with relevant stakeholders.’ It further confirms, however, that:
‘UNRWA does not have a mandate to seek durable solutions for Palestine refugees. UNRWA does not manage
refugee camps and is not responsible for protecting the physical safety or security of Palestine refugees or maintaining law and order [UNRWA] cannot guarantee any individual’s physical security. Registration with
UNRWA does not confer any legal status, nor does it operate as a form of personal identification, proof of
nationality or lack thereof. (p. 3)’”
(Source: Badil Resource Center and European Network on Statelessness: “Palestinians and the Search for Protection as Refugees and Stateless Persons”, June 2022, p. 6)
In a joint report published in 2022, the Badil Resource Center and the European Network on Statelessness wrote about the history of UNRWA:
“While UNRWA’s protective work has evolved over the years, as noted above, UNRWA does not have a mandate to work towards durable solutions nor does it provide a protective legal status (such as refugee status) to the refugees it serves. Thus, UNRWA does not offer protection in the sense in which that term is normally used in international refugee law. This means that Palestinian refugees who are excluded from the benefits of the 1951 Convention under Article 1D are less protected than refugees who fall within UNHCR’s mandate, which includes granting refugee status, advising governments on the correct way to determine refugee status, monitoring cessation, cancellation and revocation of refugee status, referring for resettlement, facilitating local integration, and/or facilitating repatriation.”
(Source: Badil Resource Center and European Network on Statelessness: “Palestinians and the Search for Protection as Refugees and Stateless Persons”, June 2022, p. 6)
In a chapter of the book ‘Refugee Law’, authored by Colin Yeo, a specialist immigration and asylum barrister, the history of how UNRWA came to be established is briefly summarised:
“In 1948, the conflict in Palestine and the foundation of the state of Israel caused the displacement of around 750, 000 Palestinian Arabs. The United Nations, having precipitated the crisis with a plan for partition of the territory, appointed an official mediator and then recognizing that the displaced Palestinians were refugees, created a temporary
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The United Nations formed the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP) in December 1948 to safeguard Palestine refugees and to provide protection and promote a durable solution. UNGA Resolution 194 (III), Palestine- Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator, 11 December 1948, A/RES/194, para. 11. By 1951, the UNCCP had informed the General Assembly, and began noting on an annual basis, that it was unable to find a means of achieving progress in the implementation of paragraph 11 of Resolution 194 (III). UNHCR, Guidelines on International Protection No. 13: Applicability of Article 1D of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees to Palestinian Refugees. December 2017, p. 2
relief agency, the United Nations Relief for Palestinian Refugees (UNRPR) [...] This was followed by UN Resolution 194, which resolved that ‘refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date’ and created the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP) ‘to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees and payment of compensation’ [...] The temporary relief agency was replaced in 1949 by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) [...] The function of this new body was to carry out ‘direct relief and works programmes’ in order to ‘prevent conditions of starvation and distress … and to further conditions of peace and stability’. UNCCP remained responsible for achieving what is now commonly referred to as a ‘durable solution’ for the refugees. But it became increasingly clear that repatriation was not going to happen and funding for UNCCP was eventually terminated.”
(Source: Colin Yeo, “Refugee Law”, 26 April 2022, chapter 6, p. 194)
In this letter dated 22 September 2021 addressed to UNHCR, UNRWA described the UNRWA mandate and services:
“[…] UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) was established on 8 December 1949 by resolution 302 (IV) of the United Nations General Assembly to carry out direct relief and works programmes for Palestine refugees following their displacement and dispossession as a result of the 1948 Arab- Israeli conflict. In the absence of a just and durable solution to their plight, the General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA’s mandate, most recently by resolution 74/83 “Assistance to Palestine refugees” of 13 December 2019 extending it until June 2023.
While UNRWA’s mandate focuses on Palestine refugees, it also extends to other persons of concern to UNRWA who are ELIGIBLE TO REGISTER WITH THE Agency for the receipt of services as per the Agency regulatory framework and eligibility criteria contained in the UNRWA Consolidated Eligibility and Registration Instructions (“CERI”) of 2009, including, among others, “non-registered persons displaced as a result of the 1967 and subsequent hostilities’’. Today, approximately 5.7 million women, children and men are registered with the Agency as Palestine refugees. A further approximately 700,000 persons are also registered with the Agency as eligible to receive services only.
UNRWA’s field operations are Jordan, Syria, West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza. The Agency does not have a mandate to operate outside of its five fields, and therefore, other than maintaining regional representative offices, does not have offices anywhere else. UNRWA pursues its mission within its five fields of operations through the provision of humanitarian assistance and mandated services.
UNRWA mandate services are concerned with:
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Basic education,
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Primary health care,
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Relief and social services,
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Infrastructure and camp improvement, and microcredit, and,
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Emergency assistance, including in situations of armed conflict.
UNRWA basic education and primary health services are available on a principle of universality, whilst eligible criteria are applied to other types of assistance, including vocational and technical training, hospitalisation, social safety net programmes, and emergency relief. […]
The Agency contributes to the protection of Palestine refugees both through its service delivery and by advocating for their rights with relevant stakeholders. UNRWA does not have a mandate to seek durable solutions for Palestine refugees.
UNRWA does not manage refugee camps and is not responsible for protecting the physical safety or security of Palestine refugees or maintaining law and order in UNRWA’s five fields of operations. The Agency cannot guarantee any individual’s physical security. Ensuring the physical security of Palestine refugees residing in any of UNRWA’s five fields is the responsibility of the respective host state or authority.
[…] Registrations with UNRWA based on the CERI criteria does not confer any legal status, nor does it operate as a form of personal identification, proof of nationality or lack thereof. […]
Operating within a resource-constrained environment, and reliant on voluntary funding, UNRWA allocates its limited resources among the services provided to Palestine refugees, prioritizing the needs of the most vulnerable. The level of services that UNRWA is able to provide depends on the Agency’s funding situation, which is largely dependent on voluntary contributions by States, and may not correspond to the needs of Palestine refugees. The Agency’s funding
situation, which has steadily deteriorated over the past several years, reached a critical point in 2020. UNRWA received US$ 940 million, US$ 649 million short of total requirements and US$ 60 million less than in 2019. The Agency’s financial situation remains uncertain with a shortfall of US$ 100 million as at mid-September 2021.
(Source: UNRWA: “Letter to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees”, 22 September 2021)
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In its annual report for the year 2021, published May 2022, UNRWA’s department of health gave a summary of its primary mission:
“UNRWA
The UNRWA primary mission is to assist Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and the West Bank to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services (RSS), camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions. UNRWA has its headquarters (HQ) in Amman, Jerusalem and Gaza.”
(Source: UNRWA, “UNRWA Department of Health, Annual Report 2021”, 24 May 2022, p. 8)
This UNRWA map, published in January 2020 provides information on the number of registered Palestine refugees, official camps, UNRWA schools, health centres and other facilities.
31 (Source: UNRWA, “Fields of Operations Map”, 1 January 2020)
31 Green text box in the image reads: 538,692 registered persons, 12 official camps, 66 schools, 1 vocational and technical training centre, 27 primary health-care facilities, 8 women’s programme centres, 1 community rehabilitation centre.
In a 2009 UNRWA report containing eligibility and registration instructions, UNRWA describes the categories of persons eligible for its services as follows:
“Persons eligible to be registered in UNRWA’s Registration System and to receive UNRWA services
The persons and groups of persons listed below are eligible to receive UNRWA’s services upon being registered in the Agency’s Registration System and obtaining an UNRWA Registration Card as proof of registration. These eligible persons fall into two groups: those who meet UNRWA’s criteria to be described as Palestine Refugees, and those who do not meet those criteria.
1. Persons who meet UNRWA’s Palestine Refugee criteria
These are persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict. Palestine Refugees, and descendants of Palestine refugee males, including legally adopted children, are eligible to register for UNRWA services. The Agency accepts new applications from persons who wish to be registered as Palestine Refugees. Once they are registered with UNRWA, persons in this category are referred to as Registered Refugees or as Registered Palestine Refugees.
2. Persons who do not meet UNRWA’s Palestine Refugee criteria
These persons are grouped in the categories listed below. While registered for the purposes of receiving UNRWA services, these persons are not counted as part of the official Registered Refugee population of the Agency. They consist of persons who at the time of original registration did not satisfy all of UNRWA’s Palestine Refugee criteria, but who were determined to have suffered significant loss and/or hardship for reasons related to the 1948 conflict in Palestine; they also include persons who belong to the families of Registered Persons. These categories are:
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2.3 Compromise Cases
Persons who are currently registered in this category are entitled to receive UNRWA services. Their descendants, however, are not eligible to register to receive UNRWA services. UNRWA does not accept new applications from persons wishing to be registered in this category.
2.4 MNR Family Members
These are husbands and descendants of women who are Registered Refugees and are (or were) married to husbands who are not registered refugees. The husbands and descendants, including legally adopted children, of these women are eligible to register to receive UNRWA services.
2.5 Non-Refugee Wives
These are women who do not meet UNRWA’s criteria for Palestine Refugees and are (or were) married to Registered Refugees. These women are eligible to register to receive UNRWA services.
2.6 Kafalah Children
These are children who are receiving from a Registered Refugee or Other Registered Person parental care according to the terms of Islamic Kafalah practice. These children are eligible to register to receive UNRWA services during the period of their residence in the household of the Kafalah patron until they reach the age of 18 years. ”
(Source: UNRWA, “Consolidated Eligibility and Registration Instructions”, 1 January 2009, pp.. 3-6)
In the same report, UNRWA also outlines the categories of persons eligible to receive its services without being registered by them:
“B. Persons eligible to receive UNRWA services without being registered in UNRWA’s Registration System
These persons do not meet, or are unable to prove that they meet UNRWA’s Palestine Refugee criteria and they do not fall within any of the categories listed in section III. A. 2 above. While UNRWA’s programmes keep due records of these persons, they are referred to as non-registered persons because they are not registered in the Agency’s Registration System. This category includes:
• Non-registered persons displaced as a result of the 1967 and subsequent hostilities. UNRWA makes its services available to persons in this category in accordance with established practice and/or host country agreement. In resolution 2252 of 4 July 1967 and in other subsequent resolutions, the UN General Assembly has endorsed UNRWA’s efforts “to continue to provide humanitarian assistance, as far as practicable, on an emergency basis, and as a temporary measure, to persons in the area who are currently displaced and in serious need of continued assistance as a result of the June 1967 and subsequent hostilities”. The terms of resolution 2252 were most recently repeated in GA resolution 59/118 of 10 December 2004. In the Jordan Field, persons must prove their displacement status by presenting an official certificate from the Jordanian Department of Palestinian Affairs (DPA).
• Non-registered persons identified by the Commissioner-General as eligible to receive UNRWA services. For humanitarian and other policy reasons related to UNRWA’s mandate, the Commissioner-General or Field Directors acting on the Commissioner-General’s behalf may from time to time identify persons and groups of persons who are eligible to exceptionally receive UNRWA’s services.
• Non-registered persons who exceptionally receive UNRWA assistance and services as beneficiaries under the Agency’s Emergency Programmes in the occupied Palestinian territory. These beneficiaries and their dependents are administered specifically for the purpose of the Emergency Programmes.
• Non-registered persons who avail themselves of services provided under the Agency’s Microfinance and Microenterprise Department (MMD). These persons meet the MMD’s financial and lending criteria and are administered specifically for MMD’s purposes.
• UNRWA Staff Members and their Family members may have access to Agency services in accordance with section V of these instructions as well as instructions issued by each of UNRWA’s programmes.
• Non-registered persons who live in refugee camps and communities. These persons benefit from UNRWA services (e.g., sanitation and environmental health services) that are extended to refugee camps and communities as a whole.”
(Source: UNRWA, “Consolidated Eligibility and Registration Instructions”, 1 January 2009, pp. 6-8)
UNRWA describes the requirements for registration as follows: “IV. Registration
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4. The following summarizes the requirements for registration for UNRWA services. Those who wish to apply for registration must submit an application in writing. Further details of registration requirements and procedures are set out in the Registration Manual
A. New registration of Palestine Refugees
1. Those who wish to register as Palestine Refugees must appear in person at any of the Agency’s Eligibility and Registration offices in any of its five Fields and present documentary evidence showing that they satisfy UNRWA’s Palestine Refugee criteria, particularly in respect of the place of residence in Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and Family composition on 15 May 1948.
2. An applicant for registration who is a descendant of a Palestine Refugee, who was never registered with the Agency, must also present in accordance with section IV. A 1 and A 3 of these Instructions documentary evidence that the father meets UNRWA’s Palestine Refugee criteria.
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A. New registration of Palestine Refugees
1. Those who wish to register as Palestine Refugees must appear in person at any of the Agency’s Eligibility and Registration offices in any of its five Fields and present documentary evidence showing that they satisfy UNRWA’s Palestine Refugee criteria, particularly in respect of the place of residence in Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and Family composition on 15 May 1948.
2. An applicant for registration who is a descendant of a Palestine Refugee, who was never registered with the Agency, must also present in accordance with section IV. A 1 and A 3 of these Instructions documentary evidence that the father meets UNRWA’s Palestine Refugee criteria.
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4. New registration applications may be presented by persons who lack any of the documents listed above, but who are registered as “Palestinian Refugees” by the relevant governmental authorities in the Field in question, according to the criteria applied by such authorities. Such persons may be registered by UNRWA as Palestine Refugees if they present original certificates from:
• The Directorate General for Political and Refugee Affairs (DPRA) in Lebanon. This document should show the date of the applicants’ inclusion in the first census of 1951/52 in Lebanon. [...]”
(Source: UNRWA, “Consolidated Eligibility and Registration Instructions”, 1 January 2009, pp. 9-11)