No more UNRWA protection, EU Court of Justice says Palestinians can apply for asylum in Europe

Brussels – Stateless Palestinians seeking refugee status in EU countries can claim that UNRWA protection has “ceased” in light of living conditions in the Gaza Strip. At the first hearing about the possible ongoing genocide in Gaza at the hands of Israel, the Court of Justice of the European Union is beginning to recognize the dire situation in which the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees finds itself and opens its doors to welcome those fleeing Israeli bombardment.

Advocate General Nicholas Emiliou has issued his opinion on a series of questions relating to the interpretation of the EU Refugee Status Directive submitted to the Court of Justice by the Sofia Administrative Court. The dispute arose in August 2022, when two stateless persons of Palestinian origin living in the Gaza Strip, registered with UNRWA, applied for asylum in Bulgaria for the second time after Bulgarian authorities rejected their first application for international protection.

Bulgarian judges turned to the EU Court of Justice: under the EU directive, stateless persons of Palestinian origin registered with UNRWA are excluded from obtaining refugee status. However, this exclusion no longer applies if UNRWA protection or assistance has “ceased.” The Advocate General reminded today that termination of UNRWA protection occurs “not only if that agency ceases to exist, but also if the person concerned has been forced to leave the UNRWA area of operation for reasons unrelated to his or her will.”

According to the assessment of the Luxembourg-based EU court, the relevant national authorities must consider not only the reasons that prompted the applicants to leave the UNRWA operational area but also whether it is currently possible for them to return. In the Gaza Strip, “where the level of insecurity and living conditions have changed rapidly, especially since the events of October 7, 2023,” it cannot be ruled out that UNRWA assistance has “systemic deficiencies of such severity that there is a substantial risk that a person returned to the area will find himself in a situation where he is unable to meet his most basic needs.”

In the situation in the Gaza Strip today, it is sufficient for an asylum seeker to “provide evidence of such general living conditions.” That is, Palestinian refugees seeking refuge in Europe are not required to “prove that they are specifically targeted” on an individual basis due to factors particular to their personal situation.

UNRWA situation, 222 incidents due to Israeli attacks

The UN agency in Gaza is in a dire situation today. Since October 7, 146 UNRWA workers have been killed, the highest number ever recorded of UN workers killed in conflict. And of the nearly 2 million internally displaced persons (85 percent of the population), roughly 1.4 million are in 155 UNRWA facilities, all of which have been converted back into refugee shelters. The average number of displaced people in these shelters in the central and southern areas is more than 12,000 per shelter, more than four times their capacity. Taking into account those in close proximity to these UNRWA garrisons, the agency is providing assistance to a total of 1.73 million IDPs.

A young Palestinian in a UNRWA school converted back into a refuge  (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP)

According to the latest UNRWA bulletin released by UN workers, this number has shrunk by about 150,000 “as families have been forced to move away from UNRWA facilities due to evacuation orders issued by Israeli authorities in the central area and Khan Younis,” in the south of the Strip. Since the beginning of the war, UNRWA has reported 222 incidents affecting its facilities and the people inside.