Southern China International MUN

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1 Southern China International MUN Official Background Guide Human Rights Council: Addressing the European Refugee Crisis and International Law in relation to the Right to Non-Refoulement Agenda overseen by Sharon Han 1. DESCRIPTION OF THE ISSUE 1.1 History of the issue The world has constantly struggled with the relocation of refugees, who are people who have been rejected by their own country, who crave for a safe habitat, or who are looking for a place with a better economic opportunity. The UN Refugee Agency officially define refugees as people who have fled war, violence, conflict or persecution and have crossed an international border to find safety in another country. 1 The world has experienced and is continuing on to experience the highest number of refugees in history million people around the world had to leave their home due to dangers by the end of 2016, with a majority under 18. The number of people who leave their home and do not find a new place to settle down (stateless people) reached 10 million, and these people were not guaranteed with any of the basic human rights. 2 (Image from: Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, and South Sudan are the four major sources of the refugees. With 4.7 million refugees by the end of 2015, Syria has the most forcibly displaced

2 population. The Syrian civil war was the main reason why the citizens left their home behind and fled to seek a new home. 3 Of the 4.7 million refugees, 1 million Syrian refugees that live in Lebanon are known to live below the poverty line. 4 Afghanistan is next in the line with 2.6 million refugees due to the conflict between the Taliban and the Afghanistan government. 3 Fleeing due to the long-lasting war civil war and threat by Al-Qaeda and Al-Shabaab terrorists, Somalia has 1.1 million refugees. 5 The genocide resulted due to the ethnic conflict in South Sudan and the oppression of the Myanmar government place South Sudan and Rohingya Muslim minority next on the list. 3 As mentioned, refugees are often victims who are forcefully displaced due to violence caused in one s country. The European Refugee Crisis is associated with the rush of entries of refugees in Europe was the year where the Refugee influx exceeded 1 million, which was the most throughout European history. Most of the refugees who entered Europe came in order to seek Asylum, protection provided by a state to selected political refugees. 6 As explained previously, the refugees are people who have fled from their own country and cannot return due to a risk of danger. However, the hosting countries are not able to compensate the overflowing number of refugees and select only a part of the refugees, which the United Nations run a background check with and request for an asylum. 7 5 Due to the policy, there were people who were rejected from the countries and became stateless people. 439,505 people were rejected in 2017, at least 43,000 crossed the sea to reach Europe, and 5,096 people drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean. 8 Not having a home, or even a place to stand on, refugees choose to immigrate illegally through the borders into the European countries, and according to the European Border and Coast Guard Agency the number of detected illegal immigrants was 2.3 million in 2015 and Non-refoulement is principle of customary international law prohibiting the expulsion, deportation, return or extradition of an alien to his state of origin or another state where there is a risk that his life or freedom would be threatened for discriminatory reasons. 9 This principle was established in order to ensure that refugees are not forcefully sent back to their home countries where they can experience potential threat. Refugees have the right to seek a new residence, escape from insecurity, and enjoy freedom under the principle non-refoulement. This is stated by Resolution on Asylum to Persons in Danger of Persecution, Principles concerning the Treatment of Refugees, and American Human Rights Convention. 10 The principle of non-refoulement, however, has exceptions: First, the benefit of the principle may not be claimed by a refugee who may pose a danger to the security of the country in which he or she is present; Second, the principle does not apply to a person who, having been convicted by a final judgment of a particularly serious crim constitutes a danger to the

3 community of that country; Third, the benefit of the convention is to be denied to any person suspected of committing a crime against peace, a war crim, or a crim against humanity, a serious non-political crime outside the country of refuge, or acts contrary to the purpose and principle of the United Nations (Articles 33 (2) and 1 (F) of the 1951 Convention). 9 There has been constant debate about how a state should define all the principles. Some countries may have different standards to crimes and danger and some countries may have different laws in their own countries. 10 Article 13 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states that any legally entered human being that is within the territory of the state should not be expelled without a proper process. In Article 3 (1) of the UN Declaration on Territorial Asylum, it is stated that no one at the frontier or in the territory is allowed to be expulsed to other states where one can be a target of persecution. 9 Limitations among who will be considered a refugee also exists. The ICCPR only addresses refugees who submitted an application and have gone through background check, as targets of the non-refoulement. The UN Declaration on Territorial Asylum defines a refugee who are allowed to be considered an object of nonrefoulement to be persons entitled to invoke article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including persons struggling against colonialism Worries concerning the bad use of the ambiguity also exists. Their concerns focus on the fact that different countries have different perspectives, and there is not a unified definition and standard all countries can use universally. 1.2 Recent developments The European refugee crisis reached its peak between 2015 and 2016, but still continues on to be an issue. After revealing quite a lot of flaws in the refugee systems right after the Refugee crisis in 2015, the European Commission creates the European Agenda on Migration on May 13 th, The Agenda discusses possible solutions for the current dilemmas the countries are commonly experiencing such as how they should deal with resettlements. It proposes the countries to triple the funding package, support a possible CSDP mission, activate the emergency scheme, establish a permanent common EU system for relocation for emergency situations, providing 30 million Euros for Regional Development and Protection Programs, and establish a multi-purpose center in Niger. 13 The European Border and Coast Guard, initiated in October 2016, takes in charge of controlling and protecting the external and national borders and the refugees who cross the sea. 14 EU Civil Protection Mechanism provides states with the materials needed and strengthen the cooperation between states, with divisions such as The Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) and Copernicus Emergency Management Service that make it more effective

4 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the European Union (EU) have been the organizations that will play the largest role in Addressing the European Refugee Crisis and International Law in relation to the Right to Non-Refoulement. UNHCR s achievements include coordinating meetings between national institutions and the UN and NGO, providing buildings and materials to make the asylum and migrations system stronger, strengthening services and procedures host countries and refugees need, and etc. 16 The European Union also has contributed to many aspects of the European crisis, yet funding has been the most important responsibility of the EU. The EU funding 17.7 billion euros in total between 2015 and billion for planned funding outside the EU, including 2.7 billion in humanitarian aid, 0.6 billion for the Trust Fund for Syria (also known as the MADAD Fund) and 2.4 billion for the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa EMPHASIS OF THE DISCOURSE 2.1 Right wing approach The political right wing, containing countries such as Italy and Austria, emphasizes the need of stricter border control in order to protect the European Union s and their own citizens. 17 Therefore, they are employing security responses with the purpose of limiting the number of refugees and adding more restrictive policies on asylum in Europe. 18 There has been a rise in the population of right, and most of Europe has been having a conservative approach towards the refugees. The citizens of the countries politically right believe that the rush of refugees is threatening to their own nation s safety. An argument from the right would be that the influx of refugees is a threat to a country s economics, identity, and security. Immigration increases the number of low-skilled workers more than high-skilled workers. However, nowadays job opportunities for low-skilled workers are rare, and even those rare opportunities are given to the immigrants. Secondly, the nation s citizens believe that the entering of refugees are destroying the homogeneity of the nation and the real identity of the nation which increases the hate towards the refugees Former Prime Minister of Poland, Jaroslaw Kaczynski said that Muslim refugees would bring parasites and diseases to the countries; The leader of Sweden Democrats stated that Islamism is the Nazism and Communism of our time ; Viktor Orban of Hungary commented that the refugees who were coming to Europe look like an army. 21 There are people who consider the right xenophobic and racist, and people who are unwilling to help people in severe need. Yet, many countries of the right are the ones providing funds for resolving the issue, it s just that the countries are reluctant to shelter the refugees in their own countries

5 (Image from: Left wing approach Angela Merkel is the most representative figure of the political left wing. The left argues that the providing of aid to refugees and opening up the borders should be the priority. 18 Left wing of the EU aims to solve the problems, even if it requires pressuring the right advocates. 22 Countries that have a political left view believe that allowing the immigrants will fill the gaps in technical, specialized and managerial positions increase overall productivity and enrich the intellectual and scientific output of the country. (Political EU) 23 Actions the left wing might take would be accepting more refugees, installing more refugee camps into one s country, and supporting the rescue and search in the seas. People describe the left wing as a more moral and altruistic, but coarse to one s own country

6 2.3 Stance of intergovernmental organizations UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is an intergovernmental organization that thrives to safeguard the rights and well-being of people who have been forced to flee work to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another country strive to secure lasting solutions. The organization has continuously provided refugees, stateless people, and asylumseekers with protection, shelter, health, and education. 24 European Union (EU) - The European Union is in the center of this issue. Following is the European Union s official response to the European Refugee Crisis: The European Commission has taken a comprehensive approach to tackle the refugee crisis in Europe with its European Agenda for Migration, drawing on the various tools and instruments available at the EU level and in the Member States. 25 Major actions the European Union has taken regarding to the European Refugee Crisis are: Providing emergency support in cooperation with countries in EU, Funding the transit countries, Protecting the neighboring states with the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, and Expanding the aid for the crisis Stance of developed countries All the countries in the European Union and the P5 are the involved in the issue. Among the developed countries, the stance once again divides into whether they would use the benefit of wealth for the refugees or not also whether they would open up or restrict the borders. There are countries such as Germany, Sweden, and Austria in Europe, and Canada that did and continue on to accept many refugees. Germany said it will accept at maximum 800,000 refugees this year, once again proving that Germany is one of the most approachable and preferred destination for the refugees. 26 Refugees, especially asylum seekers, tend to go to developed countries since high level security and safety is guaranteed in these countries. The United States of America newly becomes the country that receives the most asylum applications in 2017 followed by Germany and Italy according to the UNHCR. 27 Developed countries tend to have the ability to compensate many refugees and provide funds and supplies for them but are not the countries that host most of the refugees. Amnesty International criticized the developed countries that did not host a lot of refugees to host the fewest and do the least Stance of developing countries Developing countries are the sources of most of the refugees but also are the countries that host most of the refugees. The London-based groups says that 56 percent of world s 21 million refugees are being hosted by just 10 countries all in the Middle East, African and South Asia. 29 By 2017, there were 68.5 million people that were displaced forcefully and 85% of all were hosted by developing countries 16.9 million. Even the least developed countries took one

7 third of the population, which is 6.7 million. Lebanon (1 in 6 refugees), Jordan (1 in 14), and Turkey (1 in 23) remain to be the countries that host most out of all countries, including the developed countries, but it is also true that many are also located in the same country. UNHCR also announced that 68% of all refugees come from only five countries including: Syria (6.3 million), Afghanistan (2.6 million), South Sudan (2.4 million), Myanmar (1.2 million), and Somalia (986,400). 28 The point of view of the developing countries are same for all developing countries in regard to this topic They need help from the developed countries. Countries that are sources of the refugees need help to find new habitats and countries that are hosting the refugees need help to supply the refugees. 3. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS 3.1 In favor of developed countries In developed countries trying to resolve the European Refugee Crisis issue, their potential solutions include: Opening Borders: Opening up borders and letting more refugees in would cause a huge dispute but is currently the most effective way of solving this issue. Allowing more refugees into one s country would provide more option of destination, lessen the worry about having not enough place to locate the refugees, and share the burden the developing countries have on their shoulders. Building more refugee residence areas: Refugee camps are an option many refugees choose. Refugee residence areas would provide be a good option for refugees who are looking for a temporary stay and to refugees that have been rejected by countries and are in the midst of being a stateless person. Providing resources: Developed countries may not be able to absorb the refugee population, but surely can provide resources that are unavailable or hard to access in developing countries. For example, developed countries can equip the developing countries with educational materials/resources such as books, tools, and teachers. (Make a note of the fact that many developed countries citizen s will be against using their money to build refugee camps. Think of ways that will motivate the developed countries to help them such as natural resources in exchange.) Funding: Funding is the most important contribution a developed country can provide the issue with. Funds are needed for the supplies, transportation, and protection of refugees. Developed countries are already supporting the refugees and countries that need help with funds, but it can be specified to which specific additional area it is needed. 3.2 In favor of developing countries In developing countries trying to resolve the European Refugee Crisis issue, their potential solutions include: Instituting temporary shelters: Recalling the fact that there are many refugees within their own countries, developing countries can consider the solution of instituting temporary

8 shelters within the country that will be unaffected by the conflicts. However, the establishment of shelters are be costly, so the nations must consider funding from different organizations and nations. 4. KEEP IN MIND THE FOLLOWING While researching, concentrate on your country s stance and point of view on the issue, past actions, allies, and future plans of actions on this issue. Delegates should consider these questions: 1. What are the benefits one country would receive by opening up/closing borders for refugees? Is your country willing to help the refugees by allowing them to enter? 2. What are the goals of your country in regard to the European refugee crisis? What viable measures can the country take? 3. To what extent should one s country open itself up to? Should developing countries continue to take in most of the refugee population? 4. How will the refugees be treated once they enter a country? How much help would the government be able to provide them with? 5. If your country is unable to provide any help or contribution to solving the issue, what is in your way? Can other countries help you? 6. What does your country think about the principles of non-refoulement? Does your country agree or disagree to it? 5. EVALUATION With a sudden rush of refugee, the refugee crisis rose to be an important issue the world must solve. Many actions and measures have been taken by organizations and countries, yet the situation has not been solved. Make sure you research enough and stick with your stance since the refugee crisis is quite a recent issue and the stances are changing continuously. The European Refugee Crisis and International Law in relation to the Right to Non-Refoulement remains to be one of the most important issues, so make sure you represent your country well and peacefully create a spectacular resolution to tackle it! Good luck delegates!

9 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. What is a refugee? UNHCR: The UN Refugee Agency. United Nations. Web. 20 Feb < 2. Refugees United Nations. United Nations. Web. 20 Feb < 3. Beauchamp, Zack. 9 maps and charts that explain the global refugee crisis Vox. Vox Media, 30 Jan Web. 20 Feb < 4. Refugee Statistics UNHCR: The UN Refugee Agency. United Nations. Web. 20 Feb < 5. McCarthy, Joe. This Is What Happens to You When You Become a Refugee Global Citizens. Global Poverty Project, 3 Feb Web. 20 Feb < 6. Asylum English Oxford Living Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Web. 20 Feb < 7. The EU and the Migration Crisis European Commission. European Union, July Web. 20 Feb < 8. EU migrant crisis: facts and figures News European Parliament. European Parliament, 30 Jun Web. 20 Feb < 9. Šebesta, Kamil. The principle of non-refoulement. What is its standing in international law elaw.cz. 3 Dec Web. 20 Feb < 10. UNHCR Note on the Principle of Non-Refoulement refworld. United Nations. Web. 20 Feb < 11. Declaration on Territorial Asylum refworld. United Nations. Web. 20 Feb < 12. Kapferer, Sibylle. Article 14(2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Exclusion from International Refugee Protection Oxford Academics. The Graduate Institute Geneva, 6 Sept Web. 20 Feb < 13. A European Agenda on Migration European Commission. European Union, 13 May Web. 20 Feb <

10 14. EU border controls and managing migration News European Parliament. European Parliament, 30 Jun Web. 20 Feb < 15. EU Civil Protection Mechanism European Commission. European Union, 30 Jan Web. 20 Feb < 16. REGIONAL REFUGEE AND MIGRANT RESPONSE PLAN FOR EUROPE UNHCR: The UN Refugee Agency. United Nations, Dec Web. 20 Feb < 17. Ideological Responses to the EU Refugee Crisis: The Left, the Right, and the Extremes SAGE Journals. Social and Personality Psychology Consortium, Web. 20 Feb < 18. Abdalla, Jihan. Europe s Refugee Crisis: Right-Wing Populism and Mainstream Cooption in Germany and France Cuny Academic Works. City College of New York, 25 Apr Web. 20 Feb < 19. Berman, Sheri. The Left must respond to grievances over immigration Social Europe. Social Europe Publishing & Consulting GmbH, 9 Jan Web. 20 Feb < 20. Milanovic, Branko. Migration Into Europe: A Long-Term Solution? Social Europe. Social Europe Publishing & Consulting GmbH, 19 Nov Web. 20 Feb < 21. Robins-Early, Nick. How The Refugee Is Fueling The Rise Of Europe s Right Huffpost. Verizon Media, 3 Jan Web. 20 Feb < 22. Zimmer, Gabi. A left-wing refugee policy for the EU transform! Europe. Transform! Europe Network, 12 Apr Web. 20 Feb < 23. Otero-Iglesias, Miguel. Europe s two-faced migration reality Politico. Politico SPRL, 21 Sept Web. 20 Feb < 24. Who we help UNHCR: The UN Refugee Agency. United Nations. Web. 20 Feb < 25. Refugee Crisis in Europe European Commission. European Union. Web. 20 Feb <

11 26. Krishnakumar, Priya and Suh Lauder, Thomas. Where are Syria s refugees going? Los Angeles Times. LA Times, 18 Sept Web. 20 Feb < 27. Global Trends in 2017 UNHCR: The UN Refugee Agency. United Nations. Web. 20 Feb < 28. Ten countries host half of world s refugees: report Aljazeera. Al Jazeera Media Network, 4 Oct Web. 20 Feb <