Two new RSC Working Papers are now available, both focusing on Palestinian refugees.
In the first paper, ‘Rethinking solutions for Palestinian refugees: A much-needed paradigm shift and an opportunity towards its realization’, Francesca P Albanese and Lex Takkenberg argue that “the current state of affairs with respect to the Palestinian refugee question requires a fundamental rupture with the political approaches so far pursued amounting to a fundamental paradigm shift.” They suggest that the 2016 New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants provides “a new opportunity to reengage the UN with respect to solutions for Palestinian refugees, for firmly placing this within an international law framework, and for pursuing solutions for Palestinian refugees more holistically.” Guided by this Declaration, they put forward elements of a Comprehensive Response Framework for Palestinian Refugees as well as the route towards its development.
In the second paper, ‘Palestinian refugees and the Global Compact on Refugees’, Damian Lilly proposes that “as a blueprint for providing a fairer and more effective response for all refugees the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) adopted in December 2018 provides an important framework in which to rethink the refugee response for Palestinian refugees.” He argues that “the GCR is equally relevant to Palestinian refugees and its application could help address the many gaps in protection and assistance provided to them.” The paper analyses the most relevant provisions of the GCR that could help address the challenges faced by Palestinian refugees, and calls on relevant stakeholders to engage in developing a Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework for them under the GCR.