Al-Tanf and Al-Waleed - Human Rights in No-Man's-Land -

Abstract: The issue with the Palestinian refugees is one of the world's longest standing refugee problems. After the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Palestinians living there have been targeted for gross human rights abuses including kidnappings, torture and killings. This has lead to a mass flight of Palestinians out of Iraq. The problem for this group of refugees is that they have not been accepted in the neighbouring countries. This in turn has lead to the establishment of several refugee camps along the Syrian-Iraqi border. The camp of Al-Hol is situated on the Syrian side of the border, the camp of Al-Waleed camp is on the Iraqi side and the camp of Al-Tanf is normally referred to as being located in the ''no-mans-land'' between the Syrian and the Iraqi border posts. In this essay, this issue is being examined and the relevant legal regimes are being applied to the situation in Al-Tanf. As the relevant States for many different reasons are not accepting their responsibility for the Palestinian refugees, the international community takes a subsidiary responsibility in order to assist in the plight of these displaced persons. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the United Nations Works and Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East have different areas of operation and the mandates of the two organisations are examined in the light of the situation with the Palestinian Iraqi refugees. As the situation in Iraq is still not considered to be safe enough for Palestinians and because Israel is preventing their return to the Palestinian Occupied Territories, the only viable solution is resettlement in a third country. Sweden is one of the countries that are accepting Palestinian Iraqi refugees within the framework for its refugee quota. More than 150 refugees were resettled in Sweden in 2008 and an additional 450 persons are to be included in the 2009 refugee quota. The problem is that Sweden is not accepting resettling of the refugees in Al-Waleed where the conditions are judged to be the toughest out of the three camps. This is because Al-Waleed is situated in Iraq and thus the refugees are not outside their usual place of residence, which is a requirement in order to apply for asylum according to the Swedish Aliens Act. Unfortunately, the fact that the refugees still are inside Iraq also means that they are in an extremely vulnerable situation as the Iraqi authorities have not been able to grant their safety.