STUDY GUIDE

United Nations High

Commissioner for Refugees

NUST INTERNATIONAL MODEL UNITED NATIONS 2017

Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1
Historical Background ........................................................................................................................... 3
Current Situation .................................................................................................................................... 5
Past UN Actions to Address the Issue ................................................................................................. 11
Areas to Consider ............................................................................................................................. 12
Additional Reading .............................................................................................................................. 13

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 Letter from the Secretary General

Dear Delegates,
It is an absolute pleasure to welcome you to NUST International Model United
Nations 2017, a conference that will give you a full taste of the complexity of
international relations. Over the years, NIMUN has grown beyond all expectations,
THE SECRETARIAT
crossing all precedents of quality debate across the country, and now stands in the
same ranking as top international MUN conferences. Due to the focus on the art of
diplomacy and debate itself, NIMUN has captured the attention of young diplomats
Agha Muhammad Ahmed
across the globe with a higher international delegate count with each passing
Secretary General
instalment.
Driven by its motto, ―Together towards Tomorrow,‖ NIMUN 2017 intends to
Haider Ali inculcate the comprehension of an initiative for collaboration across borders for a
Under Secretary General sustainable future based on 7 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Committee Affairs which comprise UN‘s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In keeping with
the tradition of introducing innovations in the world of MUNs to maintain its
individuality, NIMUN 2017 has introduced the Social Responsibility Program (SRP)
Saim Bin Sajjad this year to give back to the society that has provided NIMUN with the context to
Under Secretary General grow and improve.
Delegate Affairs
With its debate more complex, both in scale and impact, NIMUN 2017 will put you
in direct confrontation with the issues threatening our world and our need to join
forces as its inhabitants. It will give you a chance to interact with other delegates,
cooperate, construct, amend and pass effective resolutions; little steps that will allow
you to understand the dynamics of diplomacy and comprehend the complications that
revolve around resolving international issues and reaching compromises. This is
what NIMUN is really about - a forum that reflects opinions, simulates debates,
presents well-supported argumentations, and focuses on the strength of belief which
each delegate pursues to rise.
This guide will help you become your best diplomatic self for NIMUN this year and
has been drafted to create familiarity with the proceedings of the committees so that
the delegates, both veterans and beginners, immediately jump into debate at the
conference.
I expect all delegates to be prepared and to have well-researched their topics. I am
sure you will witness an unforgettable conference, filled with special memories and
experiences. I am looking forward to personally meeting you at the dawn of 2017.
With spirits packed with enthusiasm and eagerness, we will strive to have an
outstanding time of debate, negotiation and diplomacy! I wish you all the best of
luck.
Sincerely,

NUST Business School

NUST H-12 Campus
Sector H-12, Islamabad
secretariat@nimun.com.pk Agha Muhammad Ahmed
www.nimun.com.pk Secretary General
NIMUN 2017

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Letter from the Dias

Dear Delegates,

Assalam o Alaikum and greeting delegates! I extend an aura of warmth as I welcome you to NIMUN
2017, and very specifically to UNHCR –UN‘s Refugee Agency. I am Rabiya binte Riaz, a diehard
cricket lover, a fanatic foodie, a practicing Architect and a graduate from School of Arts Design and
Architecture here at NUST.
First things first, you have started the conference experience right with choosing UNHCR! Now all
you need is the fervor of diplomacy, well rounded research and most certainly some yearning passion
to make the rest work out just fine. I can‘t overemphasize on the need of rigorous research in order to
really test your true flare of diplomacy in the conference. Bear in mind that the study guide is in no
way exhaustive and is only to provide you with enough background information to establish a
platform for you to begin your research. Know your country‘s stance inside out, and let the curiosity
for the agendas at hand bring the best out of you. You got this, I believe in you (Yes you too, don‘t
you look around now)!
I am particularly excited to hear the ideas you will be bringing to the table in the context of UNHCR.
If you have any questions, concerns, comments or simply decide to introduce yourself, please feel
free to shoot me an email and I would try to get back to you soon. Till we meet – eat, sleep, party and
research on repeat!

Rabiya binte Riaz

Committee Director UNHCR

Warm greetings from the Netherlands!

Let me introduce myself. My name is Michiel Hoornick, a student in LLM International Law and
Human Rights at the Tilburg Law School, Tilburg University. Currently, I am writing my
dissertation on the topic of statelessness, an issue that we will also touch upon. NIMUN 2017 is
around the corner and you are welcomed to, in my humble opinion, one of the most essential
committees of the international framework with two very urgent and contemporary topics, issues that
affect almost every region of our globe.
Model United Nations is a place where researching, debating, public speaking, consensus-building,
critical thinking, leadership and negotiation comes together, and I am looking forward to see those
aspects in the first week of February. For some, this will be their first MUN conference, while others
are more experienced. Regardless of your level, I hope that this committee will give you the chance
to make a better version of yourself.
This booklet will provide you with the basic information on the two topics that are before you.
However, be reminded that it is ‗basic‘ only. It is aimed at giving direction, but it is up to you to
color the debate. The problems that we are dealing with are changing in a rapid pace and screams for

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new, inventive and innovative solutions, while at the same time keeping loyal to the principles that
lay behind UNGA Resolution 319 (IV), 03/12/1949, that founded the Office of the UNHCR.

Michiel Hoornick
Committee Director UNHCR

Greetings Honorable Delegates,

I welcome you to NIMUN'17. My name is Zara Waheed and I shall be your Assistant Committee
Director for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Committee. I am,
currently, an Economics student at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, NUST.
My advice to you would be to come prepared, well researched and also well equipped for the
entertainment sessions. This year's topic areas are very important and I hope that you will not only
come up with a global viable resolution but one which will also apply to us in our individual
capacities.
Like a lot of you, this is my first year with NIMUN as well. We shall work hard and party even
harder. Looking forward to seeing you all and if you have any questions, suggestions or queries at
all, feel free to drop me an email. Also If you ever need any help during the conference, do not
hesitate to ask. Here's to making memories!

Zara Waheed
Assistant Committee Director UNHCR

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 UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES

Introduction

We have decided on the topic of ´refugees´ because it is a true global topic. It is fair to say that every
continent has its problems with forced migration and the movement of big groups because of
conflicts, poverty or other reasons. Europe, in the last couple of years, has been the arena of a great
influx of Syrians and other nationalities, something that had a great impact on the internal politics
today. Most of this group, however, stayed in the surrounding countries. Lebanon took in over a
million of their neighbours from Syria, while Turkey is the current number one when it comes to the
absolute numbers it takes in. Africa is home to various refugee issues. Indeed, people are fleeing
Eritrea for its regime, Sudan for its conflicts and Côte D‘Ivoire for its economic situation. It would
take too many pages to name each and every country of concern, but what cannot be excluded is the
situation in Colombia, home to the most Internally Displaced Persons, and Myanmar. The world has
been increasingly concerned with the Rohingya minority and last year in particular, images of
refugees in overcrowded boats have flooded the media when no neighbouring country accepted
them. Pakistan, host of NUST International Model United Nations and home to one of the biggest
refugee populations of this globe, has a long history of forced migration.

Fridtjof Nansen, the first High Commissioner for Refugees under the League of Nations, stated that
‗Nothing great and good can be furthered in the world without cooperation‘. Today, over 90 years
later, cooperation is more required than ever. This year, cooperation is central in NUST International
Model United Nations and therefore also serves as a theme for the UNHCR. States need to cooperate
not only with each other, but increasingly also with the various stakeholders, such as the Red Cross,
domestic institutions and most importantly, the subjects; refugees.

In recent years, xenophobia has been on the rise in many parts of the world. Anti-immigrant rhetoric
is increasing, as newcomers are blamed for political, economic, and societal ills. As the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees has stressed, ―refugees who flee intolerance at home are increasingly
finding more intolerance in the countries where they seek protection.‖

Indeed, xenophobia can contribute to a range of difficulties for refugees, asylum-seekers, and
migrants, encouraging policies that undermine access to asylum and depriving refugees and asylum-
seekers of basic human rights protections. In its most extreme form, xenophobia has taken the form
of bias-motivated violence (in many countries, referred to as ―hate crime‖), a pernicious form of
discrimination in which individuals are targeted because of their ethnicity, race, religion, nationality,
sexual orientation, or other similar factor. These individuals are often distinguished by their
appearance, language, religion, and customs— particularly in largely homogenous societies. Their
vulnerability increases when they are concentrated in urban areas and neighbourhoods.

Asylum-seekers, refugees, and migrants who fear such violence cannot move freely in the towns and
cities where they reside, much less participate fully in the larger society. Hate crimes send messages
of fear to entire communities that share a similar identity, and thus such incidents threaten the equal
enjoyment of fundamental rights and freedoms. Fear of violence may prevent vulnerable individuals

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from seeking available services—including education, health care, food aid, and even access to
UNHCR registration or to formal asylum procedures—for anxiety of venturing out to those places
where they are offered. This leads to progressive marginalization and exclusion, largely barring those
under threat from the exercise of a range of rights.

Figure 1 Firefighters try to extinguish the flames in a burning house that was planned to be
converted into a shelter for asylum seekers in Weissach, southern Germany.

The integration of refugees is a dynamic and multifaceted two-way process which requires efforts by
all parties concerned, including a preparedness on the part of refugees to adapt to the host society
without having to forego their own cultural identity, and a corresponding readiness on the part of
host communities and public institutions to welcome refugees and meet the needs of a diverse
population. The process of integration is complex and gradual, comprising distinct but inter-related
legal, economic, social and cultural dimensions, all of which are important for refugees‘ ability to
integrate successfully as fully included members of society.

The second topic has been described as ‗the challenges of building capacities for refugee protection‘.
It is self-evident that refugees too, should be provided in their human rights and in order to do so, the
international community has established a fairly clear legal framework. However, it is also more and
more clear that recent developments have highlighted certain gaps in this legal framework. As
further outlined in the next chapters, the current capacities for refugee protection are most deeply
rooted in the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol, drafted in a time in which the world was in a
very different place. Human Rights Law in general has developed, and even the international
political system itself has undergone a major transition.

In issues as complex as these, we ought to look first at the different definitions of the topic. The
definition of a refugee, as a start has been stipulated in the 1951 Convention, and amended by the
1967 Protocol as;

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"A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion,
nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his
nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that
country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual
residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it."

It has to be said that this is the more narrow definition that has been universally accepted. There are
regional conventions who have expanded the definition of a refugee further. Protection, then, is one
of the bottlenecks of the issue. For one, protection simply means that the refugee has to stay alive,
while protection for the other could mean to defend that person‘s freedom or right to free speech.
What are capacities then? This too, can mean different things and in our committee, it will refer to
the ability to protect refugees in legal, economic and social terms. In other words, it refers to the way
in which refugees are protected. The study guide will come back on the challenges later on, however,
it should also be the first step of any delegate to identify these challenges and prepare a number of
solutions for them.

Historical Background
The worldwide refugee crisis has displaced a record 60 million people from their homes — the most
since the end of World War II — pushing asylum systems to their limits. People desperately fleeing
death, destruction and abysmal living conditions in countries like Syria and Iraq to places in Central
America and Africa have sparked a global panic. And the commotion has left many world leaders
struggling to find a way to remedy the problem. But the hostility amongst nations hosting the
refugees is evident in the reactions and attempted hate crimes against refugees in new homes, across
the streets, schools, mosques, churches, and even in refugee camps. Refugees, those fleeing due to
fear of persecution or war, may apply for asylum outside their home country, and are eligible for
certain legal protections, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency.

Though there are numerous aspects to a

comprehensive government response to hate
crime, one particular challenge is the problem
of underreporting. In order to respond to
individual incidents, understand the nature and
frequency of hate crime and develop sound
public policy, governments must be aware of
their occurrence. Underreporting of crimes is a
particular difficulty remains one of the
principal problems, especially among refugees, asylum-seekers, and migrants. Many reasons
amongst these include

- fear of retaliation by the perpetrators of violent acts;

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- fear of victimization by law enforcement

officers,some of whom may be corrupt or may even
sharethe same biases as the perpetrators;

- fear of deportation; and

- uncertainty about how reporting the incident will

help them in their lives.

As a result, governments must make particular efforts to ensure that hate crimes are reported to the
appropriate authorities so that action can be taken to hold the perpetrators responsible in individual
incidents, and to better measure the response of governments over time. Governments can increase
confidence in their response to hate crime by speaking out publicly against incidents, responding to
instances of abuse by law enforcement officials against victims of hate crimes, developing systems
of third party reporting, and enhancing outreach to bodies like the UNHCR and civil society groups
that have regular and direct contact with hate crime victims.

Figure 4 Datasheet shows minimal action taken against hate crimes on refugee homes in Germany.

In the year 1945, the world was in roubles. East-Asia, Europe and European colonies had been
greatly devastated by the second World War and in geopolitical terms, the United States had
remained the only superpower. In the years that followed, the US and the other ‗victors‘, most
notably the other 4 permanent members of the Security Council, pushed for a new legal system as
advocated by the late President Roosevelt. Traumatised by the horror of the war, the international
community drafted a Convention concerning the European refugees after the Second Word War. It is
only after the 1967 Protocol that the temporary and territorially limitations were removed and that
the Convention was applied to all member states.

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As of April 2015, 142 States have signed both the Convention and its 1967 Protocol. However states
such as India, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have not yet signed either document and over 1/3 of all
refugees end up in non-member states. The United States, traditionally not a state too eager of
binding itself to international treaties, did not yet accede to the 1951 Convention, yet signed its 1967
Protocol. This document also outlines the basic rights which states should afford to refugees. One of
the most fundamental principles is that of non-refoulment, the principle that refugees should not be
expelled or returned to situations where their life and freedom would be under threat. This is
regarded as a so-called ‗customary rule‘ and as such it is binding an all States, regardless of whether
they have acceded to the 1951 Convention or 1967 Protocol.

The early post-war years also marked the birth of the Office of the United Nation‘s High
Commissioner for Refugees for the purpose of;

‗assuming the function of providing international protection to refugees who fall within the scope of
the present Statute and of seeking permanent solutions for the problem of refugees by assisting
Governments and private organisations to facilitate the voluntary repatriation of such refugees, or
their assimilation within new national communities‘.

In the following decades, capacities for refugee protection kept expanding. The 1970s were in fact a
decade of repatriation. Millions of refugees returned home to the countries that they fled from such
as Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and Bangladesh. This period also proved to be an important
one in terms of fostering the concepts of international solidarity and burden sharing in the difficult
search for solutions. One of the more important milestones in this regard was the International
Conference on Refugees and Displaced Persons in Southeast Asia, at Geneva in 1979.

The pendulum changed in the 1980‘s and 1990‘s, having a huge impact on the way countries think
about refugees. The number of refugees kept rising. While in the years before, the biggest group fled
post-colonial wars there was now a steep rise in interethnic conflicts in these newly independent
states, fuelled by cold-war politics and socioeconomic problems in developing countries. Human
rights abuses and breaches of humanitarian law became more concerning, and were often used a
military strategy. It was an era marked by misery in Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, Yugoslavia,
Rwanda and other conflicts. Although the UNHCR increased its effort in prolonged aid programs
and refugee camps, the sky-rocketing of the numbers of persons of concern was simply too big. In
recent years, traditionally hospitable countries are home to the rise of nationalist and populist
politicians. Without being too pessimistic, this is also the situation that we find ourselves in as we
commence the year 2017.

Current Situation
Refugees come from a wide range of countries, including Burma, China, Côte d‘Ivoire, the
Democratic Republic of Congo, the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya,
Mexico, Sudan, and Zimbabwe. In many parts of the world, refugees, asylum seekers, internally

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displaced persons, stateless persons, and migrants have been among the principal targets of violence
motivated by xenophobia, racism, and religious hatred.

The leading country for origin of refugees in Asia is Afghanistan as 2.9 million Afghans live in 71
countries as refugees. Most of them live in Pakistan or Iran, Pakistan hosting 1.7 million refugees -
the highest number of refugees in the world. Due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the US
led 2001 invasion, the refugee crisis has been severe there. Due to the Afghan and Pakistani refugees
in several areas, there has been extensive military activity which creates serious political momentum
and matters of concern.

Also approximately 7 million Muslims from India moved to Pakistan. The brutal Civil war in Sri
Lanka which lasted from 1983-2009 had compelled thousands of Tamils to flee in search of asylum.
These Tamil locals were victim to successive policies of discrimination and intimidation. About
69,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees live in 112 camps in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

This region too has recorded incidents of hate crimes and prejudice against the Refugees at several
instances. Refugees from Burma and Somalia have consistently been targeted in asylum offering
countries. Government security forces and private individuals have been largely involved in violent
attacks on refugees in Thailand. Government sanctioned civilian groups and ordinary citizen are
involved in hate crimes in India and Malaysia as well. Migrants from Central Asian countries are
among the primary victims of attacks by neo-Nazi skinhead groups in Russia

Earlier in 2015, thousands of people, mostly of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar,
embarked on boats in hopes of reaching Malaysia. It was a well-worn route, one that smugglers had
used to transport Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants for months. But after Thai authorities
announced a crackdown on human trafficking in May, smugglers abandoned their ships en masse
while still underway. An estimated 5,000 to 8,000 people were left stranded at sea.

In the Americas, xenophobic attacks targeting people of Hispanic origin in the United States rose
nearly 40 percent between 2003 and 2007. They declined in 2008 and 2009, before rising 10 percent
in 2010. Refugees have also been the victims of hate crimes motivated by racism and religious
intolerance. The Republican Party election campaigns of 2016 has instigated and tapped hostility and
resentment amongst some Americans against refugees and people from different races. Several
statements of the President elect Donald Trump have caused controversy around the world and have
resulted in several reported incidents of hate crimes against migrants and refugees.

Meanwhile, thousands are trying to escape gang

violence in Central America, political unrest in
Ukraine, and little to no progress has been made
with regards to war-torn regions in the Central
African Republic, Nigeria, and Congo.

On the African continent, conflicts in the

Democratic republic of Congo, Sudan and
Somalia are crucial factors for the rise in the
refugee population from this continent. Ever since

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the 1950s, Africa has been a victim of several civil

wars and ethnic conflicts leading to a huge increase
in refugee population. African countries have not
only been the origin for refugees but also have
provided asylum to other displaced people. For
instance, the Democratic Republic of Congo gave rise
to 462,203 refugees by 2004 and also served as a host
country for 199,323 refugees. In South Africa several
incidents of violence against refugees from Somalia
and Zimbabwe, were reported in 2011. In Durban,
South Africa, at least four people died, many were seriously injured, and over 1,000 mainly
Burundian and Congolese refugees forced to flee after violence and looting broke out in April and
May 2015

It has been estimated that roughly more than 2 million people of Sudanese nationality are seeking
refuge in Egypt. Refugees and migrants from Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea have been the
targets of racist violence and harassment. There is huge resentment found amongst the locals for
refugees and hence resulting in racial discrimination and police violence.

In Europe, the outlook is grim for refugees and other minorities. Xenophobia, racism, and anti-
Semitism are on the rise. As the refugee crisis mounts, so too does violence against marginalized
groups. In Finland, protestors threw fireworks at a bus transporting refugees, while in the
Netherlands; masked men attacked a refugee reception center in October 2015. In Sweden, a string
of arson attacks destroyed refugee homes. While the
German public has been among Europe‘s most
welcoming to refugees. In 2015, 1031 hate crimes
were reported against refuge asylums. The
antiracism NGO Lunaria documented 186 assaults,
including 18 murders, allegedly motivated by
racism or xenophobia, between January 2007 and
July 2009 in Italy. Immigrants and refugees were
among the most frequent victims.Situation in
Greece is no different in case of xenophobic attacks
against refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. Hate
crime attacks have been carried out on more than
one hundred Asians and Africans carried out largely
by extreme right-wing groups in May 2011.

Not only are extremist groups encouraging anti-

migrant hate crimes, their influence continues to
corrode respect for democracy, human rights, and
protection of minorities—the very principles on
which the European Union was founded.

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2015 will be remembered for the images of people fleeing from their countries and seeking safety on
European shores. Since then, hate crimes against refugees and migrants occurred all along the so-
called migrant route, in arrival, transit and destination countries alike. While some politicians have
openly welcomed and encouraged refugees to come to their countries, others have used derogatory
and inflammatory language against these groups.

A third of the world‘s refugee‘s hail from those two nations alone. It has been reported by the Global
Peace Index that about 43% of the Syrian population has been displaced. The civil war began in
2011, after the country‘s infamous leader, Bashar Al-Assad, started a violent campaign to combat a
series of uprisings — known as the Arab Spring. Chaos further escalated when jihadist Islamic State
Militants —commonly referred to as ISIS — took advantage of the unstable nation and entered the
country in a bid to create a totalitarian state under an Islamic Caliphate Four years later, the situation
inside Syria‘s borders is dire. A quarter of the nation‘s infrastructure including schools and hospitals
have been destroyed — the conflict has put 2 million Syrian children out of school, according to
UNICEF, some for more than four years. So there lies a major threat of ISIS infiltration through
refugees in host countries, and thus the resentment and hate crimes are targeted towards the migrants
from these countries.

In this atmosphere of popular frustration, messages of hate by far-right groups have resonated with
the general public and have found a growing acceptance and following. In fact, the mismanagement
of the refugee crisis by European leaders has proven increasingly useful to far-right groups, which in
some countries have struggled to stay relevant and/or maintain legislative representation in previous
years. Violence against refugees and asylum seekers and the tacit support for these actions from part
of the general public have helped many nationalist groups (re)gain popularity. Thus, the perceived
political utility of anti-refugee acts has further encouraged them.

Governments and natives of probable host nations believe that refugees pose a security risk to
western societies, hence justifying the right to reject them. With the Islamic State raping and

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beheading with numbing regularity in Iraq and Syria, the fear is that admitting refugees from this
part of the world will open the door to more terrorism and violence in the rest of the world as well.

Important terrorist groups like Fatah, Hamas, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian
(PFLP) grew out of the Palestinian refugee crisis of 1948. It took years, decades even, but eventually
frustrated and politicized refugees, who had few opportunities to integrate into their host societies,
joined militant groups promising a chance at liberation.

Protestors raise the argument that refugees will consume resources that are already in short supply
(e.g. money, housing, etc.), and that justifies rejecting them.

Large and sudden flows of immigration that have occurred in the past had its own peculiarities, the
empirical evidence can shed light on the likely effects of this new immigration wave on recipient
countries‘ labor markets and fiscal positions. Having workers willing to work for relatively low pay
may allow employers to ignore productivity, training and innovation. It will also mean that natives
now stand in fierce competition to acquire jobs against these refuges willing to accept nominal
wages. Increases in population can put pressure on public services as well.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper recently noted that European security weaknesses
could allow ISIS to widely disperse operatives onto the continent, a fear that has been validated in
the wake of the Paris attacks. So around the world this sentiment is increasingly rising that host
countries are not to be blamed for the political conditions in the Middle East that have caused these
people to be refugees. Hence, they feel justified in rejecting them irrespective of the benefits or
harms involved.

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According the UNCHR´s own Statistics, there were over 63 million ´persons of concern´ at the end
of 2015. However, this is still a very broad group and different capacities are needed for the different
groups. The first group that the High Commissioner distinguished are the refugees, which should
also be the main topic of our committee. These include those individuals recognised under the 1951
Convention and its 1967 Protocol, but also the 1969 OAU Convention Governing the Specific
Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, the UNHCR Statute and other sources. However, there are
several other groups that can be distinguished. Asylum-seekers are individuals that have sought
international protection, but whose status as a refugee has not yet been determined. They can, for
example, be regarded as a ‗normal‘ migrant. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are individuals who
have not crossed international borders, yet did flee the effects of armed conflict and other disasters.
Returnees are, as the name suggests, those refugees or IDPs who have returned but have yet to be
reintegrated. Finally, stateless persons are defined under international law as persons who are not
considered as nationals by any state under the operation of its law and therefore do not possess the
nationality (and hence protection) of any state.

Apart from the Refugee Convention and its Protocol, as well as the different human rights treaties
that may apply to refugees, governments have established several regional frameworks.

As already touched upon before, African states agreed on the OAU Convention Governing the
Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa in 1969. State parties shall use their best efforts to
receive refugees and to secure the settlement of those who are unable or unwilling to return home. It
also provides for temporary residence pending resettlement elsewhere and sets out for the first time
treaty standards for voluntary repatriation. While incorporating the existing 1951 Convention refugee
definition, the OAU Convention added a paragraph specifying that the term ―refugee‖ shall also
apply to every person who, owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination, or events
seriously disturbing public order in either part or the whole of his country of origin or nationality, is
compelled to leave his place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge in another place outside his
country of origin or nationality. In other words, the notion of ―refugee‖ was broadened beyond
victims of generalized conflict and violence. The OAU Convention was also a significant advance
from the 1951 Convention in its recognition of the security implications of refugee flows, in its more
specific focus on solutions— particularly on voluntary repatriation, in contrast to the integration bias
of the 1951 Convention— and through its promotion of a burden-sharing approach to refugee
assistance and protection.

Latin America has a long tradition of cooperation and solidarity with refugees, and hosts the smallest
number of refugees of any region. Yet, Colombia counted a total of 6,9 million IDP‘s at the end of
2015 and in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, increasing violence has led to a five-fold of
pending asylum cases since 2012 in the United States and Mexico.

As a response to the proxy-wars in Central-America and the resulting forced migration, a group of
Latin American governments convened to agree on the ‗Cartagena Declaration on Refugees 1984‘,
laying down principles of refugee protection and forming a starting point. 20 and 30 years later,
regional representatives met again to elaborate on the concrete steps addressing, among others, the
Colombian displacement in the Mexico Plan of Action and Brazil Plan of Action respectively. In the
latter, the 28 country‘s represented agreed to work together to maintain the highest standards of

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protection at the international and regional level, implement innovative solutions to refugees and
displaced persons, and end the difficult situation faced by stateless persons in the region.

The European refugee crisis has been on the front-page for months now. Its legal framework is
rooted in the Schengen Agreement on the elimination of internal border controls and its
incorporation by the Amsterdam Treaty. The EU has established the ‗Common European Asylum
System‘ (CEAS) to unify its asylum policies. Another key-agreement were the multiple ‗Dublin
Agreements‘, in which was established that the country in which a migrant enters the Union is
responsible for its proceedings. However, this lead to an excessive burden on countries such as Italy
and Greece. Consequently, European States are still figuring out how to share the burden.

Asia is not only the biggest region, but also had its fair share of refugee problems. The plight of
Vietnamese fleeing their country in flimsy boats, confronting the perils of the sea and pirates only to
be pushed back as they reached the shores of neighbouring countries in the 1970‘s led to a three way
agreement when governments decided to take action: ASEAN countries promised to provide
temporary asylum; Vietnam undertook to promote orderly departures in place of illegal exists; and
third countries agreed to accelerate the rate of resettlement. Important burden-sharing schemes
subsequently were put in place to ensure the continuing rescue at sea of the Vietnamese ―boat
people.‖ The Comprehensive Plan of Action (CPA) for Indo-Chinese refugees was the first attempt
to implicate all concerned parties–countries of asylum, of origin, and of resettlement–as well as the
donor community in a coordinated, solutions-oriented set of arrangements for the sharing of
responsibilities for the refugee population. Yet, since then not much has done to update the legal
framework and real cooperation is missing. This was particularly evident in the case of the Rohingya
minority, often referred to as ‗the most persecuted minority on earth‘. In 2015, thousands of Rohinya
refugees were taken on boats to flee state-prosecution. However, with no surrounding country
willing to accept them, most stayed on see for weeks straight, resulting in hundreds of reported
deaths.

Despite the global and regional capacities for refugee protection, there are a number of issues that
need to be addressed. First a foremost, it is fair to say that the world now is not what it was 20 years
ago. Conflicts, as a start, have completely changed in nature. Where ‗old‘ wars were relatively
straight forward, contemporary conflicts are more vague and distinctions between combatants and
civilians are disappearing. Various sources have reported that ISIS fighters are among the big stream
of persons trying to find refuge in Europe. At the same time, you see a paradox in borders. On the
one hand, walls in Europe and the United States are the most concrete examples of the unwillingness
to

Past UN Actions to Address the Issue

The commitment of the international community and the UN to the elimination of all forms of
intolerance is reflected in its adoption of a number of resolutions, conventions and declarations,
Including:

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1. Convention of the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide – 1948

2. Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination – 1963
3. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination – 1965
4. International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid – 1973
5. First Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination – 1973-1982
6. First World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination, Geneva – 1978
7. Second World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination, also in Geneva –1983
8. Second Decade for Action to Combat Racial Discrimination – 1983-1992
9. Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination – 1994-2003
10. UNHCR‘s Guidance Note on Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in
December 2009
11. Third World Conference against Racism was held in Geneva, Switzerland in 2009.
12. Resolution for the Enhancement of international cooperation in the field of human rights was
adopted by the General Assembly on 20 December 2012
13. Resolution 2128 - Violence against migrants, Council of Europe,Parliamentary Assembly – 24th
June 2016

Areas to Consider

Going forward, UNHCR should take steps to design a framework to make sure that hate crime is
treated as a serious protection problem throughout the agency and by its partners, including by:

1. preparing and circulating additional tools to assist in the design of effective local programs;
2. supporting successful initiatives with adequate staffing and resources;
3. assisting victims and encouraging them in reporting incidents and encouraging prosecutions;
4. ensuring that cases of bias-motivated violence affecting refugees, asylum-seekers, and other
persons of concern to UNHCR are reported, raised with local authorities, and channelled to
official bodies and/or nongovernmental organizations monitoring hate crimes;
5. funding specific initiatives to combat racism, xenophobia, and hate crime and
6. working together with civil society networks to increase awareness about hate crimes among the
general public

Delegates should pay attention to a number of fundamental UNHCR goals. First and foremost,
solutions should be found to reduce the vulnerability of civilians when refugees, IDP´s or returnees.
These persons of concern do often not have the direct protection of a state and their rights protected
under international human rights law are often in jeopardy. Protection must be provided to all who
need it. Consequently, countries of origin, hosts and donor nations must work more effectively to
find durable solutions in the spirit of ´together towards tomorrow´. In line with the UNHCR´s goal to
end statelessness by 2024, the committee should specifically look into the right to nationality and the
rights of those who do not enjoy the protection of a nation-state. Furthermore, a special attention
should be given to refugees in urban areas, as well as the potential consequences of climate change.

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Additionally, it is the UNHCR‘s official policy to encourage states to ratify international treaties and
keep to their obligations.

To help you on your way for your position paper, you should be able to answer the following
questions:

1) How is your country affected by the refugee issue?

2) What is your country‘s polices regarding hosting refugees?

3) What is the role of political parties, the media and civil society in both countering and fostering
hate crimes?

4) How can the violence in refugee camps be suppressed?

5) How will states address the ―radicalization‖ of religion?

6) How can the current systems be refined to combat xenophobia?

7) What actions can be taken at local national, regional, and international levels to combat hate
crimes?

8) What is the possibility of the right to return for the refugees?

9) What is the role of the UN, especially, UNHCR regarding the refugees?

10) How important is education in order to combat racism, particularly among adolescents?

11) What measures should be taken to ascertain compliance of states to these proposed actions?

12) Is creation of another local or international body required to deal with specific refugee crisis in
particular areas?

Additional Reading

1. Solutions to the Refugee Crisis, Amnesty International

2. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2015/10/eight-solutions-world-refugee-crisis/
3. Reasons for Hatred amongst the natives for Refugees
4. https://homeland.house.gov/wp-
content/uploads/2015/11/HomelandSecurityCommittee_Syrian_Refugee_Report.pdf
5. World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Xenophobia
6. http://www.un.org/WCAR/
7. Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and
related intolerance
8. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/racism/rapporteur/index.htm

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9. Statistics on Hate Crimes on Refugees around the world

10. http://hatecrime.osce.org/what-hate-crime/racism-and-xenophobia
11. Ms. Kate Jastram and Ms. Marilyn Achiron. Refugee Protection: A Guide to International
Refugee Law (2001)
12. http://www.unhcr.org/publications/legal/3d4aba564/refugee-protection-guide-international-
refugee-law-handbook-parliamentarians.html
13. Jens Vedsted-Hansen, Refugee Law Reader: Cases, Documents and Materials (7th edition)
(2015). http://www.refugeelawreader.org/images/Syllabus-2015-02-27-US-WEB.pdf
14. A short history of Refugee Protection until 1951
https://www.icrc.org/ara/assets/files/other/727_738_jaeger.pdf
15. Some key statistics on the persons protected under the UNHCR
16. http://popstats.unhcr.org/en/overview#_ga=1.121911630.497510141.1482511420
17. UNCHR, Self-Study Module on Statelessness (2012)
18. http://www.refworld.org/docid/50b899602.html

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