ADMUN 2018 EU Refugee Crisis UNICEF

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1 ADMUN 2018 EU Refugee Crisis UNICEF 1

2 Hello Delegates, We are Sophie Rosenstock and Katherine (Kat) Geislinger, and we will be serving as your chairs in the UNICEF committee at ADMUN A little bit about us: We are 8th graders at Alice Deal Middle School and have been participating in Model UN for four years. (This is the first conference we re chairing, so we re very excited!) Both of us have been playing the violin for almost 10 years now and we both attended John Eaton Elementary School. We ve known each other since 4th grade and participated in our first MUN conference together representing the UAE. This is the first ADMUN conference with delegates coming from different schools and it s something that we, as members of the MUN club at Deal, are very excited for. We hope all of you enjoy this conference and have an amazing time! If you have any questions you can either of us at sophierosenstock@yahoo.com or kat.geislinger@gmail.com. Please send your position paper to alicedealmun@gmail.com by March 31. We wish you all good luck and can t wait to meet you! Just remember, do your best and participate as much as possible!

3 Committee Background The United Nations Children's Fund is a fund that was created by the UN to defend the rights of every child under any circumstances. UNICEF was founded on December 11, 194 and became a permanent fund in the UN in UNICEF focuses on things like education for every child, child protection, and the equal rights for women and girls. Currently, UNICEF is reacting to the ongoing refugee crisis in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and Central America. UNICEF is supporting child-friendly spaces in Croatia, which presently has over 111,000 children. UNICEF only meets as a general assembly. Topic Background This conference committee brings to light the refugee crisis taking place in the European Union (EU) and the concern of child protection. The EU consists of countries 28 member states including Germany, France, Spain, Denmark, Poland, the United Kingdom, and Italy. A full list of EU countries can be found here. Currently, there is an abundance of refugees coming from a variety of countries such as Somalia, Afghanistan, Syria, and South Sudan for a number of causes including terrorist group activity and civil war. Almost 50 million children have been displaced due to conflict and poverty. Several refugees are seeking asylum in numerous european countries or are traveling through to reach a specific destination. Each of these of these child refugees need things like proper housing, education, clothing, and food for starters. Germany has taken in more than one million refugees, Sweden has taken more than 100,000, and Spain, has taken in more than 11,000 refugees so far this year.

4 These countries are pressured into creating programs to support the growing number of immigrants while using their own resources and money. Some countries are more popular for fleeing refugees, forcing those countries to spend more money on immigrants as well as use their own resources. However, this causes a strain on the communities housing the incoming refugees. Certain countries have created programs that are specifically targeted for children and teenagers to ensure their safety and that they have the resources they need.

5 France created a program for the young and vulnerable, which made sure that children who need more help got to their destination. Sadly, this program wasn t as successful as hoped. On February 24, 2010 UNICEF met to discuss what should be done about child refugees. During this assembly they came to the decision to adopt the kafala of Islamic law. This states that a family cannot adopt a child but they are allowed to take care of the child. This also states that the child knows about their birth family and that their ties are not cut off with the biological parents. One of the many other things stated in the meeting was that UNICEF would also provide protection from their own parents if they re in an abusive household, living in an environment that's dangerous because of drug and/or alcohol misuse, or living in armed conflict regions. UNICEF further stated that it would provide appropriate support to the family taking care of the child/children if needed. It also decided that if the child has any sibling, they are not to be separated unless there are signs of abuse or the children wish to no longer be in contact with one another.

6 Questions To Consider: 1. How has this crisis affected your country? 2. What has your country done in order to help this situation? How has your country responded to the refugee crisis? 3. In light of recent events, how has the refugee crisis in your country been affected? 4. How many refugees has your country taken in? 5. What is your role in the solution of this issue?. What is your country doing, directly or indirectly, that is making this issue worse? 7. What are the next steps that your country will take? 8. What programs are your country a part of in order to help this situation? Sources: tm_content=syria_charity&ms=cpc_dig_2017_eoy_ _google_syria_charity&i nitialms=cpc_dig_2017_eoy_ _google_syria_charity