UNHCR Protection Manual

A number of asylum countries have in place administrative or legislative mechanisms for regularising the stay of persons who are not recognised as refugees, but for whom return is not possible. While UNHCR welcomes these mechanisms, lack of harmonizarion has led to a proliferation of statuses granted to a wide range of persons for a variety of reasons with varying standards of treatment. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the discussion by: i) identifying the appropriate beneficiaries; ii) sketching the applicable legal framework and the nature of protection provided by States; and iii) suggesting standards of treatment and procedural mechanisms which, from UNHCR’s perspective, would be most appropriate.

On the application of Article 33 of the 1951 Convention and its relationship with Article 3(1) of the Convention against Torture; restriction of Article 33(2) of the 1951 Convention by the prohibition of refoulement to torture in Article 3(1) of the Convention against Torture; the test for applying the "danger to the security of the country" exception in Article 33(2) of the 1951 Convention.

This study argues that in most circumstances, conditions of safe and dignified return will not and cannot be met without adequate safeguards designed to protect the rights to housing and property restitution of returnees. Building on this perspective, this paper suggests that UNHCR should refrain from promoting voluntary repatriation to countries of origin unless housing and property restitution issues are sufficiently understood and clarified, to the maximum possible extent, prior to return.