AKADEMISCHES FORUM FÜR AUSSENPOLITIK UNION ACADEMIQUE DES AFFAIRES ETRANGERES VIENNA MODEL UNITED NATIONS CLUB (VMC) ACADEMIC FORUM FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS UNITED NATIONS YOUTH AND STUDENT ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRIA EISENSTADT - GRAZ - INNSBRUCK - KLAGENFURT - LINZ - SALZBURG - VIENNA Study Guide for the Simulation of the UN Security Council on Saturday, 10 and Saturday, 24 October 2015 to the Issue The Refugee Crisis As of: 30 09 15
1. History of Refugee Protection in International Law 2 The history of refugee protection dates back several centuries, though the first international approach in providing relief for refugees was made by the League of Nations, the predecessor of the United Nations Organization. Political crises have always forced states to deal with this issue, but in the aftermath of World War II none of the existing mechanisms proved to be effective enough to cope with the unprecedented flows of refugees all over Europe. This lead to the establishment of the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) on 14 December 1950. It was created by Resolution 428 of the General Assembly for an original period of only 3 years, but as it wasn t possible to solve the refugeeproblem in such a short amount of time, its mandate was extended and today the UNHCR is still the main body of the UN concerning the protection of refugees. The most important legal document in this context is the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which was adopted on 28 July 1951. It provides a definition of the term refugee and enumerates several basic rights that are to be granted. These include: - the right no to be expelled except under certain defined conditions - the right not to be punished for illegal entry into the territory of a contracting State - the right to freedom of religion - the right to work - the right to housing - the right to education - the right to access the courts; - the right to be issued identity and travel documents - the right to freedom of movement within the territory However, one problem of the 1951 Convention was its limited scope as it only applied to refugees in Europe and to events that took place before 1 January 1951. In 1967 an additional Protocol was adopted to ensure a broader protection by removing the geographic limitation and time restriction. Up until now the 1951 Conventions has been signed by 145 states. 2. Problematic Issues 2.1. The Definition of the Term Refugee According to the 1950 Convention the term refugee is defined as follows: A person who, owing to a wellfounded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of hisnationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country Once a person, who has fled his/her home country, arrives in a foreign state and asks for asylum, the first step is to determine whether he/she fulfils the criteria for being considered a refugee and is therefore entitled to protection. The current definition does not cover all cases where a protection might be desirable and leaves room for discussion whether the definition should be broadened: - For example internally displaced persons are legally not entitled to any kind of protection, as they have not crossed any borders, even though they might have fled theirhomes because of religious persecution or similar reasons. - Fleeing from natural disasters, such as flooding, hurricanes, droughts and famines, does not constitute a valid reason to be considered a refugee. - A huge percentage of people seeking asylum in developed countries left their homes out of economic reasons hoping for a better, more prosperous life for themselves and their families. These persons are not accepted as refugees and as a consequence will be sent back to their home countries. - The grounds for recognizing somebody as a refugee do not include persecution based on gender. Examples for this could be women fleeing from oppression and discrimination in their home countries. Some states argue that these cases fall under the protection of the - Convention through membership of a particular social group, other oppose this approach. - Another controversial issue are the so-called agents of persecutions. In 1951 it was assumed that only states could persecute certain groups or individuals. Nevertheless there have been numerous
3 conflicts in which non-state actors like rebel movements or local militia committed severe crimes on minorities. Some countries are of the opinion that if a state tolerates or is not able to prevent persecution by non-state agents, then refugee status should be granted to the respective victims. This point is still open to discussion. The decision whether a person is to be considered a refugee is of utmost importance. Sending a person back home because it is assumed, for instance, that he/she has left only for economic reasons, while in reality his/her life or freedom is threatened upon return, constitutes a breach of Article 33 of the Convention, the so-called prohibition of refoulement (return). 2.2. Capability of States to Cope with Large Refugee Influx Obviously due to geographic reasons some countries are facing a higher influx of refugees than others and therefore sometimes lack the infrastructure to cope with this. As a result living conditions in refugee shelters are problematic and the integration into society is rather difficult. Often asylum seekers wait for many years until the courts decide whether to grant them refugee status or whether to send them back home. During this time they are not allowed to work, even if they are highly qualified and for example worked as doctors, teachers or lawyers in their home countries. Article 17 of the 1950 Convention grants refugees the right to wage-earning employment and to be treated as favourably as other nationals of foreign countries, but it does not apply to asylum seekers. Furthermore, the Convention in its current form is of no help in preventing these large inflows of refugees. It was not created to tackle the root causes but only to alleviate their consequences. 2.3. Human Trafficking Another problem that arises in connection with refugees is human trafficking. Criminal organizations often exploit the desperation and fear of people wishing to flee from their home countries. In exchange for large sums of money they promise safe passage to European countries while in reality they smuggle people under inhumane conditions and many refugees lose their lives before they even arrive in the safe haven they had dreamed of. 3. Examples for Current Refugee Crises 3.1. Palestinian Refugees Ever since the Palestine War in 1948 a large number of Palestinians have fled to neighbouring countries as refugees. Even now, as the negotiations for an independent Palestinian state are still on-going, the flow of refugees hasn t stopped due to numerous violent conflicts over the years. Palestinians living in the Palestinian territory, which is still under Israeli occupation, have become victims of persecution. Many have been killed by Israeli soldiers or civilians, others have been harassed, ill-treated or placed under curfews. The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) claims that the refugees have a right to return to their lands and/or receive compensation. The position of the PLO is affirmed by UN Security Council Resolution 194 of December 1948. According to Israel there is to be an absolute veto on any refugee return to Israel because it would dilute Israel s character. 3.2. Refugees of the Syrian Civil War To escape the violence of the Syrian Civil War, roughly two and a half million Syrian refugees have fled the country to neighbouring Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Iraqi. Kurdistan, while thousands also ended up in more distant countries of the Caucasus, the Persian Gulf and North Africa. In August 2012, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that the number of registered Syrian refugees had reached over 200,000, exceeding the UNHCR estimate of 185,000 for the entire year. By the end of August 2014, the UN estimated 6.5 million people had been displaced in Syria, while more than 3 million refugees had fled to countries such as Lebanon (1.14 million), Jordan (608,000) and Turkey (815,000). Another 35,000 refugees were awaiting registration, while probably several hundred thousand more were not included in official figures as they were unregistered.
4 The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported in 2014 that the total number of refugees worldwide exceeded 50 million for the first time since World War II. The recent increases were largely due to the Syrian civil war. 3.3. Lampedusa Boat Disaster In October 2013, the island Lampedusa accommodated the survivors of the shipwreck of a boat carrying migrants from Eritrea, Somalia and elsewhere, which had capsized offshore, resulting in least 300 deaths. The press referred to that incident as the "Lampedusa boat disaster". Despite numerous tragic incidents boatloads of refugees continue to land on Lampedusa and the Reception Center (CDA) of Lampedusa can no longer cope with the influx. More and more people are arriving while on the other hand the Italian Government as well as the European Union take less action to provide help. Lampedusa lacks shelters and infrastructure to provide food and other basic goods for the migrants. Every day the Italian government is transferring people from the overcrowded island to shelters on the mainland so that they have room for new refugees. 3.4. Refugee Disaster in Austria On 27 August 2015, 71 migrants were found dead in an unventilated food truck near Vienna. As an official response to this tragedy, on 31 August 2015, Austria began inspections of vehicles for smuggled immigrants entering from across the border with Hungary, leading to vehicular backups of 19 km (12 mi) and trains stalled for hours. 4. Facts and Figures According to UNHCR statistics, by mid-2013 the major refugee-hosting countries were: 1. Pakistan (1,6 million refugees) 2. Islamic Republic or Iran (862.800 refugees) 3. Jordan (613.100 refugees, number has doubled compared to end-2012) 4. Lebanon (577.200, number has tripled compared to end-2012) 5. Kenya (550.500) 6. Turkey (512.000) 7. Chad (418.500, mainly from Sudan and Central African Republic) 8. Ethiopia (407.600) 9. China (301.000) 10. United States (262.000) Most refugees in 2013 came from Afghanistan (about 2,6millions, 60% of all refugees under UNHCR s responsibility worldwide), the Syrian Arab Republic (1,9 million), Somalia (1,1 million), Sudan (632.000) and Democratic Republic of Congo (490.000). 5. Conclusion As the number of refugees continues to increase worldwide, new environmental conservation efforts must be sought. An increase in cooperation amongst international organizations, NGOs, and local communities must be established, and world leaders must continue to address ongoing environmental concerns at meetings such as the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development that occurred 26 June to 8 July 2015.178 The focus must not simply be on managing the crisis to the detriment of environmental assessments and program management, as the lasting effects of environmental degradation on the host country can have a permanent impact on their willingness to continue to open their borders to asylum seekers. It is clear that more work must be done in this area to aid Member States in developing adequate environmental strategies and to further develop the tools that environmentalorganizations have already established. Forgetting the lasting impact of refugee camps on the local population and environment remains a costly, and at times irreversible, mistake.
6. Sources and Further Reading 5 http://www.unhcr.org http://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10.html (Refugee Convention 1950 and Protocol) http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/refugees-risks-and-challenges-worldwide https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/index.html?ref=menuside http://www.unrwa.org/who-we-are?tid=85 (Palestine refugees) http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/16/lampedusa-island-of-hope