Court of Justice: refugee status for Palestinian stateless person is not ipso facto when voluntarily leaving UNRWA’s area of assistance

The Court of Justice has delivered its judgment in Bundesrepublik Deutschland v XT (C-507/19), finding that under Article 12(1)(a) of the Qualification Directive (2011/95), a stateless person of Palestinian origin should not be qualified as ipso facto having a refugee status when he or she voluntarily travels from an area where UNRWA’s protection has not ceased, to another one where his personal security is at risk, and cannot receive UNRWA’s assistance, prior to his travel to an EU Member State.

The applicant, who is registered with UNRWA as a Palestine refugee, left the refugee camp where he is registered (in Yarmouk, south of Damascus), initially resided in Syria, subsequently moved to Lebanon for an extended period of time, an