General Assembly Junior. Agenda

Transcription

1 C S I A M U N X CHAIR REPORT General Assembly Junior Agenda (1) Promoting sustainable agriculture and food security in LDCs to tackle poverty (2) Promoting humanitarian aid to refugees suffering from the African Drought Crisis

2 Committee: General Assembly Junior Agenda: Promoting humanitarian aid to refugees suffering from the African Drought Crisis Chair: Youseung KIM, Sungjoo PARK 1. Introduction Africa is the world s second largest continent and also the home of 1,216 million people. Rich in resources, the continent has a huge potential to develop. However, despite the advantages it has, such as gold and diamonds, Africa is known to be the poorest among other continents. In 2012, 47 percent of the population in the sub-saharan area lived on $1.90 or less. Also, According to the Corruption Perception Index 2015 from Transparency International, Africa is suffering from its high corruption rate. Though it has the opportunity to develop into a competitive continent, Africa is currently one of the places that frequently demands international support. The Horn of Africa consisting of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia is currently suffering from prolonged civil war and drought that the media depict as the worst in the past decades. More than 26.5 million people are undergoing privation from the disasters and refugee crisis in the area is one of the severest catastrophes on the earth. In case of Somalia, Natural disasters and artificial consequences occurring simultaneously exacerbated the hazard. During the 2011 drought, about 15,000 Somali refugees fled to near countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia every month. However, today the situation is not better in neither of the Mar Web.The Corruption Perception Index 2015 shows that most of the parts of Africa are colored red, meaning they are corrupt. "Corruption Perception Index 2015." Transparency two countries. While 2.9 million Somalis are troubled by food insecurity, 2.7 million Kenyans and 5.6 million Ethiopians are facing it as well. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is demanding that USD 284 million is needed to mitigate the crisis. This Committee s object is to devise an international policy to solve the refugee crisis in the Horn of Africa. The resolution should not be limited to momentary aid; it should seek for maintenance of peace and food resources so that similar circumstances won t be repeated in the future. It should also consider the climate, geography, and budget so that the plan can be feasible. One of the challenges in the agenda would be finding the financial source that enables this process. 2. Definition of Key Terms Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa is located in the eastern part of Africa and it consists of Djibouti, Eritrea,

3 Ethiopia, and Somalia. Countries of the Horn of Africa as well as many countries of East Africa are suffering from the drought crisis, which has not been a recent issue. Countries like Uganda, South Sudan, and Kenya are examples of the countries suffering from drought. The agenda primarily seeks aid to all of the African countries and refugees suffering from the drought crisis. Refugee There are specified definitions for different kinds of refugees. A refugee is a person who has decided to leave his country because of natural disaster, war, or percussion. In this agenda, draught and civil war is the primary reason for a person to flee his country. Internally Displaced Person (IDP) is a person who decided to leave his home due to the same reason that a refugee does, but does not cross the border of his country. While refugees are protected by the international laws, IDPs are not. A Stateless Person is a person who does not have citizenship to any country. Stateless Person is not protected by the national body, and therefore is vulnerable to foreign powers. Asylum seeker is a person who applied for the asylum, seeking for a sanctuary in foreign countries. Asylum seeker must validate that living in his country will threaten him. 3. Background Information As stated, the drought crisis in Africa did not abruptly emerge. Since the early 2010s, Strong La Niña from the Pacific Ocean has significantly reduced the average precipitation rate, which has led to the drought crisis in Media reported the tragedy as the worst drought since Still, not much has been done since the report. The climate of East Africa is generally dry. The Rwenzori Mountains and Ethiopian highlands are rain shadow to East Africa. Though the region has dry and wet seasons, the climate often leads to long periods of drought between the wet seasons which is in April and October. However, the past droughts often did not last for years. However in 2011, an anomalous climate change occurred, leaving the land dry for years. Experts were not able to give a uniform answer to the phenomena. While some argued that the 2011 drought crisis was caused by La Niña, others had concerns that it was too premature to judge. Now, a record-breaking drought once again struck the area. The United Nations estimates that more than 26.5 million people in the Horn of Africa are facing drought related problems. Drastic drop in precipitation rate led to the failure of agriculture and livestock. In March 2017, the predicted amount of harvested maize in spring of 2017 was to be half the normal amount and it was reported from Somalia that, though it differed depending on the region, 20 to 60 percent of the livestock were lost since the drought. As a result, food price skyrocketed and people lost the IPC phases of the East Africa region "What You Need To Know About The Drought In East Africa." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 01

4 purchasing power. Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) indicates an area s food-security on the scale from one to five. The bigger the number, the more dangerous the state is. The East Africa reached the third, fourth, and even fifth phase in May of In May of 2016, there were 16.4 million people who were in the range of IPC phase 3 or higher. However, just after a year, the number has increased by 62 percent and reached 26.5 million in May of The rate of which famine increases is nearly uncontrollable. Aid is necessary and is in urgent need. 4. Major Countries and Organizations Involved Somalia The crisis of Somalia is one of the most complicated of the globe. Not only is the drought that struck Somalia the hardest, but the country is also suffering from the civil war that dates back to 1980s along with diseases such as Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD) and Cholera. The country is in a state of near anarchy and the citizens are vulnerable to the lingering dangers. The rest of the world ought to seek to provide aid to Somali in order to improve their situation. Ethiopia Ethiopia currently accommodates around 5.6 million people who are endangered by drought. According to African Arguments, the government of Ethiopia launched the 2017 Humanitarian Requirements Document (HRD) in January of 2017, seeking USD 948 million to assist the population that they are holding. The government committed USD 47 million to start off. However, they need much more to support the population that the country accommodates. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) One of the main tasks of United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is to ensure food security of the world. That is why FAO is one of the organizations that are most actively engaged to the drought crisis in East Africa. Their three main goals are: the eradication of hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition; leading to the elimination of poverty and the driving forward of economic and social progress for all. FAO launched the Horn of Africa Cross-Border Drought Response Plan and demanded other countries to help East African countries. 5. Timeline of Key Events Many East African men were drafted into military forces of United Kingdom and Italy during East African Campaign The Second World War ends Since the independence of Liberia in 1947, countries of Africa gain independence during the mid-twentieth century Somali Civil War broke out. Until now, the war has not ended and the country is in a state of anarchy since then War in Darfur, Sudan broke out causing more than 298,000 deaths.

5 2004 Tsunami originated from the earthquake in the Indian Ocean struck Somalia Severe drought hit the Horn of Africa in More than 920,000 Somalis left their homeland and became refugees Continuous drought made the situation in the Horn of Africa worst since the Second World War. Most of the Horn countries are suffering from shortage of food and other basic needs of human. 6. Relevant UN Treaties, Resolutions and Events International Response to Drought Crisis of Horn of Africa in 2011 The drought crisis of 2011 was the first declaration of famine after one in 1980s of Ethiopia. However, with the help of international fund raised from European Union, Canada, US, and Gulf countries, the nation rapidly recovered through airlift. A total amount of 1.7 billion USD was funded by other countries around the world. USD 60 Million Demanded to Resolve the Situation of 2017 Drought. The United Nations Migration Agency appealed that $60,665,000 would be needed in the situation of the current drought problem in the Horn of Africa. The situation is different from the 2011 drought in that the 2011 drought problem was refined to Somalia. However, the current drought is affecting a bigger area of the Horn of Africa and other parts of East Africa as well. 7. Previous Attempts to Solve the Issue As demonstrated, it is not the first time that East Africa especially the regions near the Horn is suffering from severe droughts. In the preceding drought of 2011, the situation was devastating, indeed. The food crisis threatened about 10 million people of the regions and about 50,000 to 100,000 people died- Department for International Development (DfID) estimated that almost half of them were under the age of five. The refugee camp at Dadaab that is able to accommodate up to 90,000 held more than four times its capacity. However, the governments of East Africa nations could not react to the crisis quickly enough. World Food Programme gave aid to 4.3 million people in Ethiopia, but soon, they encountered financial problems and could not continue their assistance. The biggest problem in 2011 was that though the disaster was predictable and preventable since August of 2010, no government responses were launched until July of 2011, when situation was already unmanageable. The current crisis is not different from the previous droughts. Although the current crisis was predictable, the governments were not able to react to the disaster until 2017 (The number of people who need aid reached 17 million in May of 2016). International responses are converging to the countries of worst situation such as Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen. Developed European countries are sending aids and reliefs to different countries under influence of the drought. The United States committed about USD 182 million in 2017 while the United Kingdom promised South Sudan and Somalia to send each of them GBP 100 million of reliefs. However, with intensifying drought and increasing refugees, more support is

6 demanded. Other regions are suffering from difficulties as well. Countries like Kenya and Tanzania are in similar situations, yet their issues are not as recognized as other regions are. 8. Possible Solutions The current situation is worse than that of 2011 due to by three reasons. First, the drought is the extension of 2011 drought crisis and of 2015 El Niño. Years of crop fail impoverished the people so much that they cannot endure another crisis. Also, compared to 2011, current drought struck bigger region in a much more severe scale. The drought indirectly triggered lawlessness and diseases in several nations. Lastly, it is predicted that the disaster is unlikely to end soon since no sign of satisfying amount of rain is forecasted. Delegates should be able to provide a resolution that can primarily mitigate the current refugee crisis and also prevent future threat to security of East Africa. A necessary solution in the short term is the emergency aid. Delegates must provide a plan to continuously assist the Horn of Africa until the situation is alleviated and until the refugees are guaranteed a certain measure of security in food, health, education, and more (Established scale must be provided as the standard). Worldwide fund raising and transporting reliefs could be a fundamental solution. Dispatching doctors and UN troops will solve health problem and public order as well although it could not be considered as a long-term solution. According to Enzo Vecchio, Oxfam Somalia Country Director, Responding after a food crisis costs at least three times more than taking preventive action." Set aside if the continuous drought is natural or the consequence of La Niña, it is undoubted that East Africa is vulnerable to drought. To prevent future crisis, development is necessary. An example of a possible solution is providing a plan to build infrastructure facilities in East Africa so that the region can prevent similar crisis in future. Governments and NGOs can cooperate to support farmers so that they can be selfreliable.

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