The Lebanese NGO Frontiers Association has released the first comprehensive study of the legal and policy gaps that leave several thousand Palestinian refugees in Lebanon unrecognized by either the United Nations or the Lebanese Government.
Human rights groups have estimated that there are around 3000 Palestinians in Lebanon who have no Lebanese government identity papers and who also lack registration with the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Lacking recognition, these “non-ID Palestinians” are effectively illegal aliens in Lebanon and denied access to social and economic relief. A larger group, called “non-registered Palestinians,” have Lebanese identity papers but lack registration with UNRWA.
Previous studies by human rights organizations have documented the daily hardships encountered by non-ID Palestinians. The Frontiers report, called Falling through the Cracks, is the first to thoroughly address the legal origins of the problem.
Palestinian refugees now number in the millions. Around 700,000 Palestinians were expelled by Israeli forces or fled fighting during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. For most, their homes are inside what is now Israel; Israel refuses to allow their right of return. However, several hundred thousand more Palestinians fled the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and many individuals have moved between host countries. Palestinian refugees are commonly presumed to be the responsibility of UNRWA, but UNRWA has a mandate limited to providing relief assistance and works in only three countries plus the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Combining field study with legal analysis, Frontiers reports that the criteria used to define Palestinian refugee status have grown inadequate to accommodate the realities of a refugee crisis that is nearly 60-years-old. The report describes Lebanese regulations as ambiguous and ad hoc, largely a result of the country’s turbulent history. It faults UNRWA and the Lebanese government for worsening the non-recognition problem through discrimination against women.
In Falling through the Cracks, Frontiers notes that UNRWA’s “working definition” of a Palestine refugee is limited, and leaves many refugees who fled Palestine after 1948 with only de facto status as refugees. Frontiers also called for improved coordination between UNRWA and UNHCR to ensure “continuity of protection” for Palestinians in the Middle East, as called for in UNHCR’s 2002 statement on Palestinian refugee status.
