Protecting Palestinian refugees

"Aside from the lack of national protection for Palestinians, most host states where the majority of Palestinian refugees reside do not recognize or do not apply the full panoply of basic rights afforded to them as refugees under relevant international and regional instruments. This absence of refugee recognition relates to the prevalent interpretation of key provisions in the international treaties that were drafted to provide international protection to Palestinians as refugees and stateless persons; through misinterpretation and misapplication, these provisions have utterly failed to guarantee minimum rights. Hence, no international agency is currently recognized by the international community as having an explicit mandate to systematically work for the realization of the basic human rights of Palestinian refugees and to search for and implement durable solutions consistent with international law. Practically, this anomaly means that most of the over five million Palestinian refugees - nearly one third of the world’s total refugee population - do not have meaningful access to international protection that is legally required or available to other refugee populations." (thanks Yasmine)