Fifty shades of non-refoulement: The CJEU’s distorting reading of article 1D Refugee Convention for refugees of Palestinian origin

The CJEU’s ruling in Case C-563/22 SN & LN adds to a line of judgements (Bolbol, El Kott, SW) concerning the application of EU asylum rules to refugees of Palestinian origins entitled to the assistance of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Called upon to determine whether the UNRWA’s protection “has ceased” according to Art 12(1)(a) of the Qualification Directive, the CJEU held that, in some exceptional cases, the UNRWA’s assistance has ceased because it is insufficient to protect any person in its area of operation. This happens in cases of extreme material poverty and humanitarian disasters, as is currently the case in the Gaza Strip. Questions remain open concerning both the temporal dimension of the proposed test to assess whether UNRWA’s protection has ceased and its interaction with the principle of non-refoulement.