1. No category

UNHCR
UNHCR
April 25th, 2015
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees
topics:
 Mediterranean Refugee Crisis
 Environmental Refugees
Chaired by the Honorable
Mary-Lynn Hearn, Annalise Fox, and Katie Grothjan
S i n c e
1 9 7 8
HBHS
Novice
April 25th, 2015
hbhsmun.webs.com
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Huntington Beach High School Model United Nations
UNHCR
April 25th, 2015
Welcome to the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees!
Hello Delegates! My name is Mary-Lynn Hearn and I am a senior at Huntington
Beach High School! I have been doing MUN all four years and I am looking to pursue it
while in college. Aside from MUN I am also involved in APA as a musical theater major
and dance minor. While I am not doing APA related things or getting ready for my next
MUN conference I enjoy SCUBA diving, hanging out with my friends, and going to
Disneyland. I cannot wait to see what all of you have in store for us in order to spark an
interesting and productive debate in regards to these topics.
Hi my name is Annalise Fox and I will be one of your chairs for this year’s novice
conference! I am a sophomore at Huntington Beach High School. Currently, I am in my
second year of MUN and I absolutely love all the new knowledge and skills I have
earned from it. Also, I am involved in ASB and APA, as a major in musical theater and a
minor in dance. In my free time you can find me volunteering as a candy striper at the
local hospital, fishing, or hiking. I am so excited to meet you all at the conference. See
you soon!
Hello delegates and welcome to Novice 37! My name is Katie Grothjan and I will
be one of your chairs in this upcoming conference. I am currently a junior at Huntington
Beach High School and I have been involved with MUN for three years. In the Model
UN program I love meeting new people and learning about how world issues can be
solved. Outside of MUN, I am captain of pole vault for Huntington’s track and field
team. I love the snow and the beach, some of my favorite activities being snowboarding
and cliff jumping. I am also involved in a volunteer organization called Lion’s Heart
where my group performs community and educational services. I look forward to
meeting you all at the Novice Conference for a good debate!
Position Papers must be submitted to your Dais’s central email no later than 11:59 PM on
April 19th, 2015 to be considered for a Research Award. Research Awards will be presented
during committee; please be sure to follow the HBHSMUN Position Paper format available on
our website. Your Dais’s central email is: unhcr.novice37@gmail.com
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UNHCR
April 25th, 2015
I. Mediterranean Refugee Crisis
Topic Background
According to Oxford Dictionary
refugees are people who have been forced
to leave their country in order to escape
war, persecution, or natural disaster. Many
countries have been affected by refugees,
either as a destination country or a country
that people flee to.
The issue of Mediterranean refugees
is a more recent crisis that has slowly
started to become an international issue. In
2008 alone, over 67,000 people crossed
over to Europe via the Mediterranean. Most
of these refugees ended up in Italy and
Malta (38,000) in escape from Libya. These
refugees did apply for asylum and over half
qualified for such aid 1 . In regards to
refugees, the term asylum refers to the
protection that is guaranteed from the
destination country when a person leaves
their home country, thus acquiring the
status of a refugee2.
Many accounts have expressed the
conditions of boats that are on their way to
countries along the Mediterranean. Boats
are filled to the absolute maximum capacity,
often times not having enough food or water
for the amount of people or the length of
time refugees are on the boat.
What is noted as "the biggest sea
tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea since
World War II” by Mayor Giusi Nicolini, the
Lampedusa tragedy affected many refugees
on their way to countries in the
Mediterranean. Five hundred Africans were
on board a ship that capsized on October 3,
2013 caused by intense gusts of wind. It
was estimated that three hundred Africans
died in the tragedy. This island- very close
to Sicily, Italy- has turned into a primary
destination for refugees that are trying to
enter the European Union 3 . Due to this
tragedy the head agent of the UNHCR,
Antonio Guterres, expressed his feelings in
regards to the tragedy, “ [ I am] dismayed at
the rising global phenomenon of migrants
and people fleeing conflict or persecution
and perishing at sea." Through the
Lampedusa tragedy the United Nations
realized that they needed to take specific
action in order to prevent the amount of
people entering the European Union a safer
journey4.
On March 12 of this year, BBC
released an article regarding the increasing
severity of Mediterranean refugees. The
article discusses how many anti-immigration
parties are starting to gain an immense
amount of control, therefore not allowing the
EU to devise a universal immigration policy.
The European Commission realizes the
issue at hand and is planning to have a
meeting in May to present its ideas in order
to fix this problem. One of the ideas being
1
http://www.unhcr.org/cgibin/texis/vtx/search?page=search&docid=49673
86e4&query=mediterranean
3
2
4
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/a
merican_english/asylum?q=political+asylum
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/03/world/europe/ita
ly-migrants-sink/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/08/world/europe/ita
ly-lampedusa-boat-sinking/index.html
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UNHCR
April 25th, 2015
proposed is to allow for immigrants to apply
for asylum before they reach Europe in EU
offices and embassies in non- EU transit
countries; some of these countries may
include Niger, Turkey, or Egypt. This
solution poses many problems such as what
would happen to the refugees that are
unable to receive asylum and what
necessary actions need to be taken for
these refugees with an unofficial status5.
The Mediterranean refugee crisis is
a pressing issue that is starting to peak its
way through and become the forefront of
the UNHCR committee. For this particular
topic, delegates need to have a clear
understanding of their country’s stance on
refugees in order to develop a solid plan.
Refugees coming from the Mediterranean
affect many countries in numerous ways,
which should allow delegates to explore
many aspects of this topic.
of the UNHCR and specified its
responsibilities6.
In
regards
to
Mediterranean
refugees, the UN has yet to address it
specifically except for stressing that they do
not want the Mediterranean to become a
“refugee’s graveyard,” and encourage
European countries to come to the aid of
those crossing the Mediterranean. 7
Although they have not specifically
addressed the Mediterranean, they have
been very involved in the refugees of the
Ivory Coast, where many of the
Mediterranean refugees come from. In
January of this year the UNHCR created
resolution A/RES/69/154 that specifically
addressed the Ivory Coast Refugees and
the necessity to create more establishments
in which they can inhabit. 8 A/RES/67/150
was released in December of 2012 and also
addressed the need to provide safeguard
and protection for those in Libya, the
country from which most Mediterranean
refugees emigrate.
Many organizations are heavily
involved in the protection of refugees
including the Red Cross, the Food and
Agricultural Organization (FAO), the United
Nations International Children’s Fund
(UNICEF),
and
the
World
Health
Organization (WHO). All of these bodies
provide aid to refugees through food,
shelter, education, or medical care. Also
United Nations Involvement
The UN first got involved with the
topic of refuges in February of 1946 when
the General Assembly adopted their
resolution A/RES/8(I). It was the first UN
resolution that took into consideration the
question of refugees and the utter necessity
to help them. It encourages actions and the
creation of a committee to specifically help
refugees. In December of that year, the
General Assembly released A/RES/43,
which aimed to set up the UNHCR and
organize the necessary financial provisions
to allow for this. That was followed by
resolution 728(VIII), which outlined the duty
6
http://www.unhcr.org/cgibin/texis/vtx/home/opendocPDFViewer.htm
l?docid=531990199&query=mediterranean
7
http://www.unhcr.org/pages/4a02d9346.html
8
http://daccessods.un.org/TMP/8676217.79441834.html
5
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe31844802
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UNHCR
April 25th, 2015
involved
is
Inter-Agency
Standing
Committee (IASC), which organizes and
brings
together
these
humanitarian
agencies to help refugees throughout
Europe. The International Organization for
Migration (IOM) also continues to set up
and organize camps throughout Europe for
the 72.5 million migrants which reside there.
The most important organization in
the Mediterranean refugee crisis is the
UNHCR. They have worked with the
European Union to set up the Central
Mediterranean Sea Initiative (CMSI).
CMSI’s main goal is to bring together
countries and organizations throughout
Europe to address the problems occurring
in the Mediterranean Sea 9 . They are
present at all meetings surrounding the
topic of Mediterranean migrants. They also
helped Italy piece together their Operation
Mare Nostrum (OMN), which ended up
saving the lives of over 100,000 migrants in
just one year. Furthermore, they have been
consistently
encouraging
the
reimplementation of IOM, due to its past
success and necessity to safeguard the
crossing of migrants. In addition, they
present yearly steps and goals for the EU
as well as collect refugee data and statistics
on Europe.
have attempted to cross the Mediterranean
Sea from Africa. Many of these cases have
a deadly end; however, this case has been
one of the most fatal yet. Suspected to be
from the countries of the Ivory Coast
(Gambia, Niger, Mali, Senegal, and
Mauritania),
these
refugees
quickly
departed from the coast of Libya. According
to interviews of those who survived the
journey, the migrants were “under threat of
arms” by a human trafficker and were forced
to flee urgently10. Because of this urgency,
these Africans set out in terrible weather
conditions on extremely unequipped rubber
dinghies. Each of these four dinghies was
said to have been holding about 100
people, the youngest only twelve years old.
After days of floating about the
Mediterranean in horrific weather without
food or water, the refugees were eventually
rescued by Italians. Unfortunately, the
Italians were much too late; by the time they
found the African refugees, only 105 of the
original estimated 400 remained. The
migrants that were not rescued were said to
have been knocked overboard in the rough
water, starved to death, or dehydrated.
Furthermore, 29 of those who were rescued
died due to hypothermia soon after.
This incident came little more than
one year after the Lampedusa Tragedy, and
proved to be just as deadly. At this time last
year, the death toll for Mediterranean
refugees was at 27. This year, it has already
reached a whopping 400. These current
numbers, which include this tragic incident,
have led to enormous amounts of
Case Study: African
Refugees
On February 11, 2015 300 African
migrants drowned in an attempt to cross the
Mediterranean Sea. Over 165,000 migrants
10
9
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/664723300-feared-drowned-in-new-mediterraneanboat-tragedy.html
http://www.iom.int/cms/en/sites/iom/home/
where-we-work/europa.html
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UNHCR
April 25th, 2015
international speculation from national and
international leaders. Also, considering that
the percentage of migrant deaths went from
1.06% at the beginning of 2014 to double
that number, at 2.4% percent, at the end of
2014, and continues to increase with
incidents such as this, criticism of Europe
has flared around the globe.
Much of the international community
has placed heavy blame on Italy because of
their decision to terminate their previous
coastguard program, OMN, put in place
shortly after the Lampedusa Tragedy in
October of 2013; OMN patrolled Libyan
borders in search of refugees they could
bring to safety. While in service, Mare
Nostrum rescued 150,810 migrants from the
region.
Despite
the
UNHCR’s
recommendation to Italy to extend the
program, OMN ceased operations in
October of last year. 11 Although it was
replaced by the European Union’s
Operation Triton, this program has been
incapable of achieving the same level of
success due to the fact that Triton only
allows for the rescue of people whose lives
are “immediately at risk.” Moreover, the
ships used by Triton only patrol close to
European borders, nowhere near the
African borders from which many African
refugees depart12.
The UNHCR released a statement
explaining that although it was devastated
by the deaths, the organization believes it
was a necessary wake up call to the
European Union. It has previously
emphasized and continues to stress the
need for the implementation of a strong
rescue system so that the Mediterranean
does not continue to be a “migrant
graveyard.” 13The UN specifically addressed
the issue stating, “Europe cannot afford too
little, too late.” 14 The European Union
expressed concern; however, they have still
not taken necessary action to assure this
does not occur again. Overall, without joint
cooperation between all European nations,
tragedies such as this one will continue to
occur throughout the Mediterranean.
13
http://www.marina.difesa.it/EN/operations/P
agine/MareNostrum.aspx
14
11
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe31414009
12
http://www.unhcr.org/542d12de9.html
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb
/11/migrants-missing-boats-sinkmediterranean
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UNHCR
April 25th, 2015
II. Environmental Refugees
Topic Background
earthquake, tsunami, or tornado prone
areas.
A major issue that environmental
refugees face is trouble receiving provisions
once they have fled their home.
Environmental refugees are not included in
the definition of a refugee under the
International Refugee Law which states:
“they are outside their country of origin or
outside their former habitual residence; they
are unwilling to avail themselves of the
protection of that country owing to a wellfounded fear of being persecuted; the
persecution feared is based on at least one
of five grounds: race, religion, nationality,
membership of a particular social group, or
political opinion.”17 Because environmental
refugees are not protected under this law,
they are not receiving the international aid
that they desperately need; environmental
refugees are not any less dependent than
most refugees, and this situation calls for
immediate attention.
Climate change, natural disasters,
deforestation, and desertification are the
main contributors to the production of large
amounts
of
environmental refugees.
Extreme climate change does not only lead
to a major decrease in food production and
uninhabitable living conditions, but they
often come unexpected, not allowing for any
preparation before major distress hits.
The United Nations has estimated
that by the year 2020, the world will have
generated
50
million
environmental
15
refugees.
Environmental refugees are
defined as “people who have been forced to
leave their traditional habitat, temporarily or
permanently, because of a marked
environmental disruption that jeopardized
their existence and/or seriously affected the
quality of their life.”16 Environmental issues
such as natural disasters, climate change,
deforestation, and drought are the leading
causes of the increasing population of
environmental refugees, which grows by
millions every year. These refugees are
sometimes only temporarily displaced from
their homes in situations such as floods and
wildfires, which make the living conditions in
an area uninhabitable for only a short period
of time, where those displaced are able to
move back after the environment is revived.
More
permanent
displacement
of
environmental refugees occurs when
natural disasters strike an area, stripping
the land of its resources and settlements,
and leaving the inhabitants with no options
but to relocate. Even if these refugees
decided to wait for the environment to
regenerate, they would still risk undergoing
another
natural
disaster,
living
in
15
17
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG%
20Report%202010%20En%20r15%20low%20res%2020100615%20-.pdf
16
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5888
http://www.genevaacademy.ch/RULAC/international_refugee_law.
php
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UNHCR
April 25th, 2015
Climate change is very difficult to adapt to,
leading to forced migration. In addition,
natural disasters can be very difficult to
recover from and there are a limited number
of ways to prepare for them.
Some
earthquakes and tsunamis can completely
wipe out all human development in a region,
and force the country’s inhabitants to flee to
another nation.
Deforestation and
desertification can easily have the same
effect when agricultural lands are cleared
and both water and food supplies are
exhausted.
Deforestation goes beyond
damaging the soil to drive animal species
extinct, alter levels of carbon dioxide, and
drive the agricultural business downward.
Desertification takes out the option of
farming and agriculture as well, considering
specific areas will lack resources necessary
for life on the land. In some countries such
as Somalia and India, nations suffer
overpopulation alongside desertification,
which causes overgrazing of the land and a
more demanding need for resources that
cannot be provided, generating thousands
of displaced persons who try to escape
uninhabitable living conditions.
Environmental
refugees
have
become a worldwide issue through trouble
obtaining provisions and resettling after
migration. Delegates should work to devise
creative solutions that address the scarcity
of resources and supplies getting to these
refugees as well as their lack of protection
under international law, while paying special
attention to specific regions such as SubSaharan Africa and Southeast Asia, which
are critical areas prone to extreme
environmental issues.
The United Nations has recognized
the extremely limited distribution of
international aid to environmental refugees
and acknowledged that it has almost grown
to a crisis. This issue is getting more
severe each year and the United Nations
understands that this global issue needs
immediate attention. The United Nations
first defined a refugee in the First Article of
the 1951 Refugee Convention as a person
who flees their home or origin in fear of
religious persecution, political conflict, or
racial discrimination. 18 However, over the
years, numerous individuals have been
displaced by severe environmental issues,
that of which cannot be stopped. The
UNHCR has not formally recognized
environmental refugees under international
law, but is still concerned for all individuals
who are forcibly displaced from their home.
Several different organizations under
the United Nations have started to take
initiative and put out great efforts to improve
the living conditions for environmental
refugees.
The
United
Nations
Environmental Program (UNEP) has begun
to generate new ideas to combat the harsh
effects of climate change and provide
immediate post-disaster relief as well as
different recovery methods to those
involved. 19
The
United
Nations
Development Program (UNDP) is also
striving
to
improve
the
lives
of
environmental refugees by repairing land
damaged by environmental issues such as
18
United Nations Involvement
http://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10.html
19
http://www.unep.org/climatechange/NewHome/tabid/7
94594/Default.aspx
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UNHCR
April 25th, 2015
disaster and climate change. 20
This
organization focuses on building resilience
within underdeveloped communities while
implementing sustainable development
ideas carried out through programs under
the UNDP. Additionally, the United Nations
Disaster Relief Organization (UNDRO) was
created to assist developing countries, and
deals with both hydrological and geological
hazards by mapping areas to formulate
specific solutions that will improve the
current state of the environment and the
living conditions for its inhabitants. 21
Several UN bodies worked alongside the
new laws presented in the 1967 Protocol to
give refugees the rights they deserved and
increase the opportunities available to them.
Environmental refugees still, however, do
not fit into the formal definition of a refugee,
struggling to receive assistance or find
shelter after devastating natural disasters
hit, or desertification ruins the fertility of the
land while also driving down the agricultural
business.
The United Nations has attempted to
address the issue of environmental
refugees through several resolutions and
past conferences as well, to ensure security
for these refugees who are often not
protected under international law. General
Assembly wrote a draft resolution 66/456,
expressing concerns for refugees produced
from severe climate change and specifically
how they are affected by it. 22 In addition,
the United Nations General Assembly
passed resolution 66/165, calling for more
protection and assistance for all forcibly
displaced persons worldwide, as well as for
displaced persons to cooperate with the
mandate given by their host nation.23 The
UN also held a conference that took place in
Rio de Janeiro in 1992 called the United
Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, where discussion went into
depth on the factors of drought and
deforestation leading to migration.24
The
UNHCR
committee
has
partnered with the Inter-Agency Standing
Committee (IASC) to focus on providing
provisions to environmental refugees and
focus on four nations where relief was
essential: the Philippines, Myanmar, Sri
Lanka, and Pakistan. 25 When drafting
resolutions, delegates should consider the
Southeastern Asian region where aid is
crucial, but produce international solutions
focusing on assisting not only environmental
refugees, but environmental IDPs as well.
Case Study: Maldives
As global climate change has taken
its toll on the world, small countries such as
Maldives, are facing great effects, leaving
22
http://research.un.org/en/docs/ga/quick/regular/6
6
23
http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol
=%20A/RES/66/165
24
20
http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/cl
imate-and-disaster-resilience/overview.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61
6390/United-Nations-Conference-onEnvironment-and-Development-UNCED
21
25
http://www.unisdr.org/files/resolutions/NL800388
.pdf
http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/iasc/pageloader
.aspx?page=about-default
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UNHCR
April 25th, 2015
many citizens the ultimatum to relocate or
await their death. Maldives, a chain of
islands, is located off of the Indian Ocean
and is only one meter above sea level. Due
to recent climate change and rising sea
levels, scientists are saying that this nation
will soon be underwater within the next
century26.
In order to cope with this possibility
rallies were being held underwater in order
to demonstrate the fate for the Maldivian
people throughout the year 2009. On
September 27, 2013 the president of
Maldives, Mohammed Nasheed, and 13
government officials put on SCUBA gear
and had a cabinet meeting off the coast of
Maldives, twenty feet below the sea. In
hopes of gaining international recognition,
the Maldives government was trying to
convey the impact that this climate change
is going to have on a global scale. To
conclude the meeting, cabinet members
signed a document that requests all
countries to decrease their amount of CO2
emissions27.
Many of the inhabitants are
expressing their disagreement in regards to
the G-8 Committee’s goals, to hold
temperature increases within two degrees
and the CO2 concentration to 450 parts per
million, which is no longer a feasible plan;
greater action must take place. According to
environmental scientists, the climate change
that is occurring in Maldives is wildly ahead
of schedule, leaving the nation with limited
choice of action28.
As time goes on the Maldivian
climate change crisis is rapidly becoming
the forefront of the IPCC (Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change). In efforts to help
Maldives, the government has created a
new island named, Hulhumale’, formed with
sand from the lagoons on the islands. This
new island is approximately two meters
above sea level and the government is
planning to relocate 160,000 Maldivians, ⅓
of the overall population, to the new island.
Mohammed Nasheed has recently started a
fund for the purpose of providing a “new
homeland for [his] people”. He also intends
on turning Maldives into the first carbonneutral nation within the next decade. 29
26
28
http://www.gridovate.com/climate-threatenedmaldives-go-underwater-politically_11871.html
27
http://www.greenfudge.org/2009/10/22/maldive
s-government-takes-climate-change-actionbelow-sea-level/
http://350.org/breaking-president-nasheedcalls-350-action-october-24/
29
http://grist.org/climate-energy/the-maldives-afledgling-democracy-at-the-vanguard-of-climatechange/
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UNHCR
April 25th, 2015
Questions to Consider
Mediterranean Refugee Crisis:
1. How has your specific country dealt with refugees in the past?
2. What role has your country played in the Mediterranean refugee crisis?
3. Has your country tried to take any action in regards to helping refugees that are linked to
the Mediterranean?
4. Is your country a refugee destination or is it a country that people flee?
5. If your country is a refugee destination then how does your country deal with refugees?
6. How does your country determine if a refugee is eligible for resettlement?
Environmental Refugees:
1. Is your nation prone to natural disasters, and what actions have been taken in your
country to deal with these disasters’ effects?
2. Is your country a host nation to environmental refugees from neighboring countries? If
so, what treatment do they receive within your borders?
3. What actions have been taken within your nation to help reintegrate environmentally
displaced populations back into society?
4. In response to the current definition of a refugee, what can be done to increase
provisions for environmental refugees?
5. How can your country better prepare for natural disasters and improve the emergency
relief response?
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