Submission by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Cases 202501313/1/V2, 202501955/1/V2, BRS.25.001939 and BRS.25.002717 before the Council of State of the Netherlands

The Office sets out its mandate and authority, followed by a section on (i) identification of the applicant’s place of origin as the primary reference point for the purposes of assessing international protection needs; (ii) consideration, where relevant, of an internal flight alternative (IFA); and (iii) application of these principles to situations involving residence in internally displaced persons' camps (‘IDP camps’). In short, UNHCR does not consider IDP camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I), as places of permanent settlement/habitual (place of) residence (“normale woon- of verblijfplaats”) nor places which represent internal flight alternatives (“binnenlands beschermingsalternatief”).