NewYorkUniversity
LawReview
Issue

Volume 81, Number 1

April 2006

Sixty Years in Limbo: The Duty of Host States to Integrate Palestinian Refugees Under Customary International Law

Laura Anne Reeds

This Note argues that customary international law (CIL) requires states of first refuge to integrate long-term refugees living within their borders. First, it discusses the methods that courts and tribunals use to identify principles of CIL and explains the requirements of state practice and opinio juris. Next, it applies these methods to the principle of long-term refugee integration, demonstrating that the community of nations generally integrates refugees within a single generation and widely acknowledges a legal obligation to do so. Then, after concluding that the principle of longterm refugee integration is binding under CIL, this Note evaluates the extent to which host states for Palestinian refugees have fulfilled their duty to integrate refugees residing within their borders.