NGO Forum

Chair: Ana Abad

The Greater Washington Conference on International Affairs

The George Washington University

International Affairs Society

November 1st, 201

   

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Welcome from the Chair

Dear delegates, Welcome to the nineteenth Greater Washington Conference on International Affairs and to the 2014 NGO Forum! I am very excited welcome you to this conference which for many of you will be the first introduction to Model United Nations! My name is Ana Isabel Abad I will be your Chair for GWCIA’s NGO Forum. I hope you will enjoy this committee. I guarantee it’s going to be a lot of fun! Three quick facts about myself are that I am sophomore at The George Washington University currently majoring in International Affairs and Economics, I come from Mexico City (an active member of the Mexican Student Association at GWU) and this summer I interned with NGO, Fundación Cielo in the south of Mexico working with Mayan communities. The idea of this NGO forum is to introduce you to relevant topics in the United Nations and in the world. It will let you explore the complexities of an interconnected world in which different negotiators are pursuing different goals and need to reach a consensus . Our topics are meant to challenge you and to introduce you to different issues the UN and NGOs deal with. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals have been the main leading force into the development agenda in the world while refugee crises have been a constant straining issue for UN delegates, NGOs and countries alike. This committee will allow you to explore both the long-term as well as the short-term goals that the NGOs, alongside the United Nations face and will help you see the type of partnerships that are developed to take these goals into actions. I am really excited to be your chair in this conference since MUN is my passion! It is thanks to MUN that I have come to understand many things, among them the power of cooperation and the beauty of a multicultural world. Both at the high school level and as part of GWU’s team, MUN has given me the opportunity to meet great friends, research about topics I am interested in, and stay in sync with current events. As you prepare for the conference and as you write your position papers, remember to enjoy the special characteristics your NGO has and to have fun trying to come up with solutions. I hope you enjoy the months prior to the conference and I look forward to meeting you in November! If you have any question, comment or concern please don’t hesitate to e-mail me, I will be more than eager to answer your questions! Best of luck! Ana Isabel Abad Chair, NGO Forum ana_abad@gwu.edu

   

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Introduction from the Dais Sara Neier, Vice-chair Hi! My name is Sara Neier and I am going to be one of your Vice-Chairs for GWCIA’s NGO Forum! I am a freshman at George Washington University, majoring in international affairs. I am from Larchmont, NY (just outside of New York City). Working on this committee will be my first experience with MUN! I was very active in Model Congress in high school (primarily participating in the foreign affairs committee) where I competed at conferences and did research on many foreign affairs issues from an American policy perceptive. I am so excited to be joining MUN and to be working on this conference! I am very passionate about international affairs and politics and am looking forward to learning even more about them in college. In addition I am very interested in the theatre, I did design/technical theatre work throughout high school and am a Presidential Scholar in the Arts for design/tech with the department of theatre and dance at GW. I couldn't be more excited to start my MUN experience by serving as a Vice-Chair for you at GWCIA and I look forward to meeting all of you in November! Michael Sorensen, Vice-Chair Hello delegates! My name is Michael Sorensen, and I am thrilled to be serving as one of your Vice-Charis for GWCIA’s NGO Forum! Here at GW, I am a sophomore in the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences, majoring in Political Science. I am originally from Erie, Pennsylvania. I started doing MUN when I was a freshman in high school so this year marks my sixth consecutive year of being an active participant in MUN! This will also be the third conference for middle school students that I have been involved in — and in all my years of Model UN, this has always been my favorite activity. When I am not doing MUN-realted things, I am probably reading or studying about politics and international affairs. Last year, I interned on Capitol Hill for my congressman back in Pennsylvania. In my spare time, I enjoy binge-watching TV shows on Netflix and exploring DC. I cannot wait to meet you all this November! Raise High!

   

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What are NGOs? Non-governmental organizations are non-profit citizen groups that are task-oriented and work towards specific goals with a mission and vision in mind. They can work in different sector including analysis, relief work, and monitoring. Their relationships with government and larger organizations such as the United Nations, depends on their individual mandates. NGO Forums are regularly hosted by organizations such as the United Nations or are summoned with a specific region or topic in mind. This NGO forum provides a space to discuss short and long-term goals and includes the following members: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Malala  Fund    Oxfam International Greenpeace Doctors Without Borders Human Rights Watch Amnesty International Freedom house CARE International Clinton Foundation Transparency International Save the children

ONE Women for women international Mercy corps International AIDS Alliance Refugees International World vision international Bahá'í International Community Habitat for Humanity Water for people BRAC Heifer International

Green Cross International Rotary International Open Society Foundation International Planned Parenthood Federation Relief International Techo

Topic 1: U.N. Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Post-2015

UN Development Agenda History of the UN MDGs In September of 2000 the United Nations held the Millennium Summit, and adopted the

United Nations Millennium Declaration. The Declaration aimed to reduce global poverty,

hunger, and disease through eight established goals, which became known as the

Millennium Development Goals, to be achieved by 2015. In 2002 the United Nations

Secretary-general began the Millennium Project, which was meant to create a strategic plan

to achieve the eight MDGs. The UN also began the Millennium Campaign that same year

to educate and grow support from the public on the issues displayed in the MDGs. The UN

   

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hosted several more summits concerning the MDGs and the issues they aimed to solve

throughout the time period from the 2000 start of the goals to the 2015 deadline. In 2008

the UN gathered government, business, foundational, and civil society groups in a high

level event for the purpose renewing old and making new commitments to rallying around

and meeting the MDGs by the deadline. The high-level event was highly successful in

raising funds to aid in the progress of the goals. The UN held another MDGs summit in

2010, which adopted the global action plan allowing many governments, corporations,

foundations, and organizations to pledge over 40 billion dollars in a 5 year period. In

September of 2013 the President of the UN General Assembly held a special event for the

achievement and analysis of efforts made towards completing the MDGs by the 2015

deadline. The event allowed member states to develop an agreement to hold another

summit in 2015 to review the success of the goals and to achieve a new set of development

goals.

Current situation

Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger In 1981 52% (1.94 billion) of people who lived in the developing world were

surviving on $1.25 a day (the extreme poverty line) or less, that number fell

to 43% (1.91 billion) in 1990 before the establishment of the MDGs. An

additional 2.59 million people struggled to survive on $2 a day in 1981 throughout the

world’s developing regions. In addition to this extreme poverty 23.6% of the population

was undernourished in 1990. The UN determined that in order to achieve their goal of

eradicating extreme poverty and hunger they would determine targets to work on and

indicators that would allow the UN to analyze their success. The first target was to halve

the proportion of people living in less than $1 a day from 1990 to 2015, which would be

indicated by the World Bank poverty statistics. The second target would be to halve the

proportion of people who suffer from hunger from 1990 to 2015. The indicators for these

goals would be UNICEF and WHO’s count of children under five who are underweight as

well as the FAO’s proportion of population below the minimum level of dietary energy

consumption. A third target was to achieve full and productive and decent employment for

all people, including women and young people. The results for these three targets have been

   

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effective In 2010, the world saw a halving of extreme poverty rates worldwide (on less than

$1 a day) with 700 million fewer people living under extreme poverty, although 1.2 billion

people still lived under extreme poverty conditions at the time of the targets completion.

Approximately 842 million people are estimated to be undernourished and 99 million

children are estimated to be underweight at age 5. There was also a 249 million reduction in

workers living below the poverty line from 2001 to 2011; however, the gender gap remains

an employment issue, continuing with in a 24.8% discrepancy between women and men in

the employment-population ratio in 2012.

Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

In 2000 there were 102 million primary school aged children (17% of the

primary school aged population in developing nations) who were not

enrolled in schools. Education has been proven to have a direct and effective

link to improving citizens’ lives, poverty reduction, and sustainable development. As

educated children have a much better chance to lead safer, better, and more sustainable

lives benefiting not only themselves but their children and their nations. Almost half of

these children out of school are girls or children living in highly marginalized or fragile

states. The UN only created one target to help achieve this goal, which was ensure that by

2015, children everywhere, boys and girls would have access to and be able to complete the

full course of primary schooling. This success would be indicated by: the net enrollment

ratio of students in primary education, proportion of pupils starting primary school who

complete it and literacy rate among men and women aged 15-24 (UNESCO). In 2010

primary school enrollment in developing nations rose to 90%, while in 2011 57 million

children were not in school as opposed to the 102 million in 2000. Women still face many

additional struggles in receiving an education although countries have been moving closer

to gender parity enrollments. The gender gap is still very visible as an estimated 35 million

girls worldwide are not in school. Although large struggles still remain as girls struggle to

get an education, situations of overcoming and great bravery have inspired governments

and organizations to move forward on this goal, as shown by stories like Malala Youzafasi

in Pakistan.

   

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Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

The third goal of gender equality is not only a MDG but its completion is

also essential to the completion of many other UN goals concerning

education, health, and development, as all those goals strive to have equality

for all people to benefit from them. Equality for women is essential for overall progress in

nations as it allows huge portions of a country's populations to have access to education, to

improve their own and others lives as well as the ability to access credit and finance to aid

themselves and the global economy. This goal was also given a single target: to eliminate

gender disparity in primary education and secondary education preferably by 2005, and in

all levels of education by 2015. Focusing on education would be the first step in

empowering women, allowing them to not only empower themselves but the women who

follow them. In terms of primary education similar to the efforts of goal 2, the world has

grown closer to gender parity; however, there are still high levels of gender disparity at the

secondary and tertiary levels of education and progress is occurring but may be too slow

due to violence and poverty issues to reach the 2015 deadline.

This goal also includes other second tier indicators including: share of women employment

in non-agricultural fields (ILO) and the proportion of seats held by women in national

governments (IPU). Women's political participation has grown across many developing

nations since the initiation of the goals. In January of 2014, 46 different nations had at least

30% of female members in their respective chambers of parliament. The world average

rests at 20.4% worldwide for government seats held by women as 1/3 of developing nations

still have less than 10% of government seats held by women. As women's rights have

progressed, the biggest hurdles remain violence against women, poverty preventing older

girls from pursuing further education after primary school, and women facing

discrimination in the workplace and access to less vulnerable forms of employment.

Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality

In 1990 the child mortality rate for children younger than the age of five in

developing nations was 12.6 million deaths per year. In order to a achieve

   

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their goal of reducing child mortality a target was set to reduce the under-five mortality rate

by two thirds between 1990 and 2015. The indicators for this goal would be: the under-five

mortality rate, infant mortality rate, and the proportion of 1 year old children immunized

against measles (UNICEF and WHO data). Over the past several years despite growth in

global population there has been an overall decrease in the child mortality rate, which

declined to 6.6 million deaths per year in 2012. These improvements mean that globally the

child mortality rate has decreased by over 1/3 a good step in completing the target.

However, many struggles are still present in the fight to reduce child mortality. Even as

some of the world’s poorest nations have reduced child mortality such as Malawi and

Ethiopia, other nations mostly located in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, have seen

an increasing proportion of the world’s child deaths. Four/fifths of all deaths of children

under the age of 5 occur in these regions. Much of the continuing child mortality challenges

stem from preventable deaths such from diseases like pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria,

measles, and HIV/AIDS. Many of these deaths could be prevented through vaccines and

public health efforts. Other issues contributing to the problem are children coming from

impoverished families, who are twice as likely to die before the age of five, discrimination

against girls and women in access to health care and other needs, as well as a lack of

education for parents. There are currently 24 nations that have accounted for half of the 6.6

million child deaths in 2012. These nations could lower their death rates through disease

management, education, and public health. Improvements in these nations would make the

target set for 2015 attainable in the near future.

Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health

In 1990 the maternal death rate was 543,000 maternal deaths per year. In

addition to the high death rate, only 56% of women were receiving

healthcare during pregnancy in developing regions. The UN set two targets

to achieve this goal; the first was to reduce the maternal mortality rate by 3/4

between 1990 and 2015. The second target was to achieve universal access to reproductive

health and pregnancy health care by 2015 for all people in developing regions. The

indicators for both targets would be the maternal mortality ratio and the proportion of births

   

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attended by skilled health personal (UNCIEF and WHO data). By 2010 the number of

maternal deaths had declined to 290,000 deaths per year, although this is a large

achievement it does not indicate that the rate is falling fast enough to fall by another 25% in

order to reach the 3/4 reduction target by 2015. All developing regions have made progress

on this issue. Eastern Asia, Northern Africa, and Southern Asia have also seen 2/3

reduction in maternal mortality; however, many Sub-Saharan nations still have high

maternal mortality rates where mothers face a 1 in 39 chance of dying in child birth. There

have been overall improvements in pregnancy healthcare as there has been a growth of 68%

in the proportion of deliveries attended by health care professionals. While there was a

large push for the use of contraceptives, family planning, and fewer teen pregnancies in the

1990s for developing nations this progress has slowed in the decades that followed.

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Other Diseases

In 2001 there were 3.1 new million people infected with HIV, in 2000 only

2% of households in Sub-Saharan Africa owned at least one malaria

preventing mosquito net, and in 2008 there were still 9.4 million new cases of

tuberculosis that year. The UN created three targets in order to achieve their goal of

combating disease prevalence in developing areas. The targets were to achieve universal

access to HIV/AIDS treatment by 2010 and by 2015 to halt and begin to reverse the spread

of malaria and other major infectious diseases. The indicators for these targets would

include HIV prevalence among pregnant women, condom use rate of the contraceptive

prevalence rate, percentage of population aged 15-24 years with correct knowledge about

HIV/AIDs, prevalence and death rates associated with malaria, population using effective

malaria protection, and prevalence and death rates from tuberculosis (UNCIEF WHO data).

HIV infections have been on a steady decline in most regions in 2011 the world was down

to 2.3 million new cases. There has also been an uptake in the number of people surviving

with HIV/AIDS as increasingly effective antiretroviral treatment, allows those infected to

stay alive longer. As of 2012 eleven developing nations had achieved universal access to

antiretroviral care (9.5 million people) and over 900,000 pregnant women were receiving

treatment to prevent the passing on of the disease to their children. For malaria prevention,

   

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Global Malaria has increased net production by five times what it was in 2004, increasing

to 310 million nets produced in 2012. These prevention methods are critical in stopping the

spread of malaria and have led to a 42% decline in malaria mortally rates. There has also

been increase treatment for diseases like tuberculosis; dropping tuberculosis-related deaths

by more than a third. This data indicates that the world could be on track to halving the

death rate of this disease by 2015.

Malaria and HIV are both declining but not quickly enough to reach the target as nations

still struggle to properly inform their public about the importance of contraceptive and

mosquito nets.

Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability

The protection of the environment is crucial to the protection of not only our

planet’s future but also the world population’s well-being. Changes in

climate threaten water supply, food supply, health, diseases, and may

threaten the progress of every other MDG. In order to improve environmental

sustainability, the UN created several targets. The targets were: integrate the principles of

sustainable development into countries’ policy, reverse the loss of environmental resources

and biodiversity, halve the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe

drinking water and basic sanitation, and achieve significant improvement in the lives of at

least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020. These targets could be tracked by: energy use,

population using solid fuel, forest coverage, population with access to improved sanitation,

and households with access to secure tenure (WHO, World Bank, and UNICEF data).

Forests have continued to deplete as global conservation of tropical forests and agricultural

lands have slowed; however, afforestation has reduced the net loss of forests from 8.3

million acres in 1990 to 5.2 million acres in 2010. Greenhouse gases have continued to

grow increasingly to more than 50% since 1990 but there has also been a massive 98%

elimination of ozone depleting substance consumption over the past 26 years. In 2010 the

UN achieved their target of halving the proportion of the population without access to safe

drinking water sources and sanitation, as 2.3 billion people gained access to drinking water

and over 25% of the world’s population gained access to improved sanitation but there still

   

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is 1 billion people that practice open defecation, 2.5 billion require improved sanitation

facilities, and 748 million people still have limited access to clean drinking water. The UN

met and exceeded its target of improving the lives of 100 million slum dwellers for a

separate 2020 deadline; however, the number of people living in slums has increased

dramatically from 650 million in 1990 to 863 million in 2012. This UN goal remains

incredibly important as developing regions become threatened by climate change. Although

progress was made there is a continuing need to ensure sustainability and access to

important environmental resources for developing regions.

Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

The last UN goal was very unique among the eight MDGs; rather than

working to improve the lives of those living in developing regions through

health, poverty, education, and human rights this goal was established to

create a global partnership. This partnership would represent an agreement among

developing regions and developed regions to support and ensure development. This goal

recognizes that there is a need for global partnership and alleviating poverty for all requires

the cooperation and effort of many government, people, and organizations. The UN

established many targets to help shape their global partnership for development. The

partnerships include: an open, rule-based, predictable, and fair system for trade and finance,

addressing the special needs of the world’s least developed nations, address the special

needs of nations that are landlocked or small island based, deal comprehensively with the

debt problems, provide access to essential affordable drugs in cooperation with

pharmaceutical companies, and make available benefits of new technology in cooperation

with the private sector. There has been both progress and setbacks in the establishment of

the global partnership and its development targets. Many setbacks in recent years can be

contributed to the several debt crises in many nations. The world hit an official high in

Official Development Aid (ODA) as of 2013 when 134.8 billion dollars was pledged

worldwide, however this aid has shifted away for the world’s poorest nations as evidenced

by the 5.6% reduction in net bilateral aid to Africa in 2013. Debt burden has seen

substantial improvement as developing nations have experienced a nearly 75% reduction in

   

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debt burden since 2000. The partnership is complex and as the 2015 approaches the world

needs to reconsider priorities and start thinking about new goals that take into account this

increasingly interconnected world with high-speed internet and social media becoming a

powerful tool for analysis and change.

Looking Ahead As we rapidly approach 2015 we also reach the deadline set for the MDGs the goals had

many shortcomings as well as victories since their initial kickoff in 2002. While the

successes of the outgoing campaign should be celebrated there are still large amounts of

work to be done. As environmental resources become continually strained and past goals

have not yielded completely satisfactory results and in coming years we should begin to

focus goals on investing in alternative and sustainable energy sources for the developing

worlds, an industry push in solar, wind, or water power could help with resources and

create industries in developing nations. The global partnership for development also saw

lower success after aid dropped. This issue could be helped by a reinvestment in the

partnership, increased focus on building infrastructure and refocusing aid on the poorest

developing nations. New goals could also include initiatives for human rights in developing

nations which can be easily threatened. These goals could include commitment to human

rights protection in developing nations and a new standard of justice systems to protect

those accused of crimes in developing nations. Many of these goals and renewed

commitment to global issues in developing nations will be discussed and organized into a

new generation of goals at the 2015 planned UN summit to allow the UN to recommit to

their goal of ending poverty and improving lives as the millennium goals draw to a close.

Questions to consider

1. What MDG goal does your NGO focus on? 2. What has your NGO done to advance the MDG objectives? 3. What is the future agenda of your NGO relating to the UN development agenda? 4. What regions does your NGO work on? 5. What cooperation can you do alongside other NGO and UN bodies? 6. What do you think should be the new development goals?

   

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Helpful resources

1. United Nations http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ 2. United Nations Development Program

http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/mdgoverview.html 3. UNESCO https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-21st-century 4. UN Millennium Project http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/goals/gti.htm 5. WHO http://www.who.int/topics/millennium_development_goals/en/ 6. World Bank http://www.worldbank.org/mdgs/ 7. The Guardian Newspaper http://www.theguardian.com/global-

development/millennium-development-goals 8. End Poverty Campaign http://www.endpoverty2015.org/mdg-success-stories/ 9. Your respective NGO website

Topic 2: Refugee Crises in the 21st century History of refugees and of UNHCR In the world we are always confronted by violent crises and wars. The increasing

displacement of people due to wars in the recent decades has called for a need of

multiplying forces to address refugees’ needs.

The 1951 Refugee Convention establishes that a refugee is someone that "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 to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that

country" (1951 Refugee Convention).

   

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Individuals that have not yet fallen under the refugee category are asylum-seekers.

Refugees, asylum-seekers, and general individuals fleeing a country are assigned to

temporal refugee camps in which they receive humanitarian help, food, water, health, and

other diverse services. In 2013 there were 10.4 million refugees receiving services from the

largest refugee body the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). There are 3 permanent solutions

for refugees: repatriation, local integration, and resettlement.

Repatriation refers to the integration of the individual to its original community or country.

Repatriation procedures facilitated by UNHCR and NGOs include guiding the individuals

seeking to return home through the paperwork, the reconciliation period, and the post-

conflict phase partnering with other agencies to ensure a stable atmosphere for return.

Local integration involves collaboration between the refugee agencies and the host

government (where the refugee camps are located) in order to allow a peaceful integration

and provide some permanency to people who have lived in refugee camps for years. This is

one of the most complex integration processes because it requires an adjustment in legal,

cultural, and economic terms. In the past decade 1.1 million refugees found stability in the

local integration solution.

Finally, resettlement is often a last resource but a very rewarding one after complicated

situations of instability. This includes a third-party country that accepts people who have

lived with a refugee status for many years. The United States is the main resettlement

country with Australia, Canada, and Nordic countries following. Resettlement seekers

come mainly from Iraq, Malaysia, Thailand, Somalia, and Nepal (UNHCR Website).

The focus of this background guide and the NGO forum will be Syria and Iraq border and

the Central American humanitarian crisis as well as the development of better strategies to

target the new necessities that have been arising for refugees in 21st century.

   

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Current situation

Iraq-Syria Border The Middle East area has been one of fluctuating needs and constant instability. Whereas at

the beginning of the millennium and for a big part of the end of the 20th century, citizens

from countries like Iraq and Lebanon where seeking asylum and fleeing in refugee camps

in Syria, the beginning of the 2010 decade brought a reversal of roles.

Political situation and background

On spring of 2011, the Syrian civil war broke in an attempt to overthrow President Assad’s

regime. For the past 3 years Syrian instability has created a massive displacement of people

both internally and to other countries including Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq.

Currently there are over 215,000 Syrian refugees in Iraq, mainly located on the Northern

Kurdistan Region with a total of over 6 million Syrian displaced overall in the region

(UNCHR). The main issue regarding this refugee crisis revolves around maintaining living

standards and being able to provide enough resources to the amount of people that are

coming into refugee camps. Furthermore, it is important to note that because this is an

ongoing conflict there is also a challenge in developing good strategies in case of

displacement of the refugee camp itself and to provide long-term programs for education,

health, among other things. Syrian refugees have fled a country with gas attacks to

civilians, different rebel groups pledging alliances to each other, and a war with no end in

sight

Case in point to the inevitability of the changing nature of the

conflict is the development of the Islamic State of Iraq and

Syria (ISIS) offensive in Iraq that started in June 2014. ISIS

represents the great challenges that refugee workers face

regarding solving ethnic and religious conflicts (in this case the Shia vs. Sunni Muslim

branches) which have lasted for centuries. The actions developed in the past year show the

Area  in  read  controlled  by  ISIS  

   

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complexity of creating sustainable stability to avoid displacement in the region. ISIS is a

Sunni jihadist militant group that is active in the rebel fight against Assad in Syria and just

launched its attack towards the Iraqi government due to their Shia allegiances. This attack

has internally displaced Iraqis into the Northern border, the same place where most Syrian

refugees reside. Around 1.2 million people have been displaced in Iraq just between June

and August 2014, who move into Syria and then back to the Kurdistan area (The Guardian).

The major group affected is the Yazidi minority group (200,000). ISIS has been taking

over Iraq’s second main city, Mosul and Sinjair in the Kurdistan region, where the Yazidis

are currently trapped between mountains without any humanitarian assistance; over 500

have already been killed by ISIS forces (Reuters).

In reaction to that, several bodies have intervened both with humanitarian and military

assistance. The United States launched an airstrike campaign in August 8th to avoid the

ISIS invasion of Kurdistan and has been working to reach the displaced Yazidi population

and Mount Sinjair. The conflict is currently ongoing with no end in sight from either the

Syrian civil war or the ISIS offensives.

Housing conditions and shelter

The refugee camp conditions are regulated by UNHCR and in this case involve relatively

permanent institutions. Although most refugee camps in the region are in over capacity,

they provide for very comprehensive institutions including schools and health center.

Among the priorities for the rest of 2014, according to the Mid-year Review are:

Protection

• Access to territory, asylum and basic rights respected.

• Development for better insurance of the durable solutions.

• Community participation and involvement with partners including UNFPA, UNICEF,

WFP, WHO, UNDP, UNESCO, UN-Habitat and IOMIraq

   

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Health

• Control of transferable diseases with special focus on Polio.

Education

• Education of non-camp children.

• Formal and informal education in camps.

• Develop schools with the Kurdish curriculum

Basic Needs & Essential Services

• Core Relief Items station to refugees for arrival to camp

• In order to avoid constant and sporadic humanitarian assistance, UNHCR seeks to

improve sustainability of shelter, WASH and infrastructure in camps.

Livelihood and camp management

• Development of autonomy of refugees and host communities in order to create sustainable

solutions.

Permanent solution success

Throughout the years, both Iraqi and Syrian refugees have been the biggest beneficiaries of

resettlement opportunities especially in the United States, with Iraq having the top position

of citizens in resettlement programs (20,000 just in 2011). Although this plan has been

successful, the ongoing, endless conflict in the region is demonstrating that refugee work

cannot only be reactionary but preventative and focused on strengthening communities. The

ongoing massive displacement of the region’s population, over 7 million just between Iraqi

and Syrian’s refugee programs, cannot be resolved with a constant availability of

resettlement options. This topic opens the floor for new innovative permanent solutions

including strengthening governance through locally run programs. The challenge for NGOs

regarding this topic is to find cohesive, applicable programs that will be welcomed in the

region as durable solutions for refugees.

   

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US-Mexico Border “A 17-year-old boy who fled Honduras said, ‘My grandmother is the one who told me to

leave. She said: 'If you don't join, the gang will shoot you. If you do, the rival gang will

shoot you, or the cops. But if you leave, no one will shoot you.'" (CNN)

The issue of illegal immigration in the US-Mexico border is

a long-term problem that has been on the spotlight of

international news several times. On summer 2014, however,

the news sparked in a very different sense. A sudden increase

in numbers and a drastic difference in the reason for fleeing their home countries has

caused a humanitarian crisis in the US-Mexico border. The US-Mexico border for this

NGO forum topic especifically focuses on the Central American unaccompanied minors

refugee crisis that has developed since spring 2014.

Political situation and background

As of June 2014, over 60,000 Central American unaccompanied refugee minors had

crossed the US-Mexico border, a drastic increase from 24,000+ last year and an average of

6,700 child refugees between 2003-2011(Office of Refugee Resettlement). The estimate

amount of unaccompanied refugee minors by the end of the year is currently at 90,000

(CNN). This increase is not only worrying numerically but it is creating concern due to the

changing reasons for immigration, which is increasingly shifting the conversation from

immigration strategies to full-blown refugee crisis.

The increasing number of refugees mainly comes from Guatemala, Honduras, and El

Salvador, where violence in the streets and in gang form is creating an extremely unstable

environment for development. Misguided by drug-smugglers and coyotes parents believe

that children will be let in and given citizenship thus send them sometimes to up to 3,000-

miles voyages in hope of a better life (CNN). The violence is brutal and a result of political

instability and poverty. Studies of the root causes of these massive displacements shows

that fear of violence, classifies these children under the category of fear of persecution due

   

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to membership of a particular social group (i.e. gangs). In this case the abstention of

membership is causing threats and creating a cycle of violence of which children are being

forced to be a part of. The UN Refugee Agency has interviewed over 200 children at the

US-Mexico Patrol Border and has overwhelmingly found in the answers this fear of

persecution from kids and teenagers up to 19 years old (CNN).There is a difficult line

between illegal immigrants (migrating for economic and social reasons) and immigrants

(migrating for fear of persecution or violence) and this is one of the boundaries that are

being questioned in refugee crises of the 21st century.

Housing conditions and shelter

The outcry by national and international organizations regarding the degrading conditions

of the immigration shelters in the state of Texas put the immigration issues between

Mexico and US on the spotlight again; showing kids sleeping with nothing but foil blankets

and insufficient food, water, and health services. On Monday May 30th, Obama labeled the

situation as an “urgent humanitarian situation” (CNN).

The high number of children are being detained and locked on facilities that have portable

bathrooms and no showers. Immigrants are cordoned off with yellow strips and sick people

are barely provided sanitary facilities (Washington Post). Some immigrants leave the

Border Patrol facilities after a couple of days or weeks but back to Mexico where the

conditions are not any better. This transit country dilemma sparks legality issues and makes

repatriation extremely hard while living conditions worsen as individuals have to trek back

to their home countries from Mexico, exposed to violence and drug cartels that intercept the

illegal immigrants’ transportation.

President Obama has established a fast-track deportation system and invested on expansion

of facilities, however the work is not done and although provisional housing and improved

living conditions are being provided the number is increasing too quickly (and increase of

over 92% in the year so far) and the immigration institutions cannot keep up with the

   

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growth. Furthermore the root cause of the problem, political instability and violence has yet

to be addressed.

Permanent solution success

The most successful permanent solution to refugees in the US-Mexico border has been

local integration and repatriation (although repatriation mostly occurs in illegal immigrants’

situations rather than refugees and does not happen in amicable terms).

Local integration has been very successful in the past few years especially with the

relatively recently passed Dream Act in which over 316,000 illegal Latin-American

immigrants received resident status and around 155,000 have become naturalized

Americans. A new kind of temporal residence has surged due to new administrative

procedures in which illegal immigrants from America, other than Mexico and Canada, have

to receive a hearing before being deported back to their home countries. Since the process

is so backed up due to the increasing number of immigrants, people are able to stay in the

United States for extended periods of time before being deported which allows them to

have relatively permanent homes and establish themselves as working immigrants in the

country, taking advantage of the schooling system and the great “American dream” (CNN).

Local integration however is conflictive due to the

increasing negative and rejection from local groups in the

United States. While advocates for immigration have been

defending the case of these Central American children, some

states including Arizona and Texas have seen a surge in protests where individuals hold

signs against immigration such as “Stop Illegal Immigration” and “Return to Sender”. The

issue of cultural clashes is creating great strains for a sustainable solution.

This increasing flow of child immigrants is creating concern for sustainable solutions since

some of them do not have family in the United States and violence persists in their home

   

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countries. As the state is struggling for permanent solutions, the focus on humanitarian

assistance is essential to deter the crisis.

Looking ahead

Both the refugee crises in the Iraq-Syria border and the Mexico-USA border shows that the

21st century is dealing with extremely complex situations as wars and instability spread in

certain regions. The main novelties of refugee crises in which agencies are struggling are:

lack of governance and stability, increasingly conflictive regions as opposed to single

countries, increasing number of transit countries, exponential growth on refugees entering

the country, and strong cultural rejection for integration.

While the mandate of the UN Refugee Agency at the middle of the 20th century was

especifically addressing resettlement and attention to refugees after a massive war, today

we deal with a constant influx of refugee from different wars using transit countries before

arriving to their final destination. Refugee crises are becoming a multi-country problem not

just between the border countries but expanding to the region (i.e. Mexico, USA,

Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras or Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon).

In the case of Iraq and Syria’s border, the two wars have created a practically logistical

nightmare for refugees impeding and weakening humanitarian responses and making the

establishment of refugee camps extremely complex and difficult. In the Mexico-US border

the shift from economic to political reasons for immigration has blurred the line between

immigrant and refugee, making us reconsider the terms and definitions as well as creating

new scenarios for refugees (shelters and army headquarters as opposed to refugee camps)

thus developing a whole new set of standards and complications.

As an NGO forum it is our job to figure out these new nuances in refugee crises and

develop strategies to conjunctly address the issue both at the preventative and reactionary

levels.

   

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Questions to consider

1. How can we develop a more effective definition of refugee? 2. What preventative measures can be taken to strengthen democratic governance and

prevent massive refugee crises? 3. How can we bridge ethnic tensions between groups? 4. What specific problem could your NGO address regarding the refugee situation

(preventative or reactionary to the situation)? 5. How can your NGO collaborate with the countries involved in refugee crises to

create a sustainable solution? 6. What different types of aid can be provided to refugee situations? 7. How can we deter the sudden and drastic increase in refugees that happens in such

a short amount of time? 8. How can we create comprehensive regional strategies to avoid massive

displacement and several refugee crises in one small geographical region? 9. How can we improve the standards of refugee camp facilities? 10. How sustainable is local integration and resettlement? Are there any other possible

permanent solutions to address refugee crises? Helpful resources

1. UNHCR Syria Profile http://www.unhcr.org/528a0a2d15.html

2. UNHCR Iraq Profile http://www.unhcr.org/528a0a2c8.html

3. Middle East Regional Response Plan http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id=103

4. Children on the Run Report http://www.unhcrwashington.org/sites/default/files/UAC_UNHCR_Children%20on%20the%20Run_Full%20Report.pdf

5. Your respective NGO website

Works Cited Topic 1

"Education for the 21st Century." UNESCO. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2014.

<https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-21st-century>. "End Poverty 2015." MDGs. United Nations, n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2014.

<http://www.endpoverty2015.org/mdg-success-stories/>.

   

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"Goals, Targets & Indicators." UN Millennium Project. United Nations, n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2014. <http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/goals/gti.htm>.

"Millennium Development Goals." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, n.d. Web. 12

Sept. 2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/millennium-development-goals>.

"Millennium Development Goals." World Health Organization. WHO, n.d. Web. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.who.int%2Ftopics%2Fmillennium_development_goals%2Fen%2F>.

"Millennium Development Goals." The World Bank -. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2014.

<http://www.worldbank.org/mdgs/>.

"The Millennium Development Goals Eight Goals for 2015." UNDP. United Nations, n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2014. http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/mdgoverview.html

"United Nations Millennium Development Goals." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 12

Sept. 2014. <http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/>. Topic 2 "About  Unaccompanied  Children's  Services."  US  Department  of  Health  and  Human  Services.  Office  of  Refugee  Resettlement,  n.d.  Web.  12  Sept.  2014.  <http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/programs/ucs/about>. Borger, Julian. "Iraq Humanitarian Crisis." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 15 Aug. 2014. Web. 12 Sept. 2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/aug/14/iraq-humanitarian-crisis-highest-level-un-aid>. "Children Fastest Growing Group at U.S. Border." Pew Research Center RSS. Fact Tank, n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2014. <http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/07/22/children-12-and-under-are-fastest-growing-group-of-unaccompanied-minors-at-u-s-border/>. Foreman, Tom. "The Witch's Brew: Desperation, Hope and Children on the Border." CNN. Cable News Network, 2014. Web. 12 Sept. 2014. <http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/17/us/immigration-overview/>. "Immigration Statistics Fast Facts." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 2014. Web. 12 Sept. 2014. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/06/us/immigration-statistics-fast-facts/index.html>.

   

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"Iraq." Country Profile. UNHCR News, n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2014. <http://www.unhcr.org/528a0a2c8.html>. “Iraqis Displaced by ISIS Attacks.” Amnesty International News, n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2014. <http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/iraqis-displaced-isis-attacks-sinjar-desperate-aid-2014-08-05>. "Iraq." Refugees International. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2014. <http://www.refugeesinternational.org/where-we-work/middle-east/iraq>.     Martinez, Michael and Tom Cohen. "What's the Difference between Immigrant and Refugee?" CNN. Cable News Network, 16 July 2014. Web. 12 Sept. 2014. <http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/15/us/immigrant-refugee-definition/index.html>.  Rasheed, Ahmed. "Iraq Says Islamic State Killed 500 Yazidis." Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 10 Aug. 2014. Web. 12 Sept. 2014. <http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/10/us-iraq-security-yazidis-killings-idUSKBN0GA0FF20140810>. "Regional Refugee Response." UNHCR. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2014. <http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id=103>. "Syrian Arab Republic." Country Profile. UNHCR News, n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2014. <http://www.unhcr.org/528a0a2d15.html>. Unaccompanied Children Leaving Central America And Mexico. "Children on the Run." (n.d.): n. pag. UNCHR. 2013. Web. Sept. 2014. <http://www.unhcrwashington.org/sites/default/files/UAC_UNHCR_Children%20on%20the%20Run_Full%20Report.pdf>.  

   

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