Welcome to United Nations High Commissioner for the Refugees Executive Committee
Dear Delegates,
Welcome to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ Executive Committee! My name is Jocelyn Perry, and I’m thrilled to serve as this committee’s chair for ILMUNC XXIX. I’ve been participating in Model UN conferences since my freshman year of high school, and UNHCR has always been my favorite committee from a delegate’s perspective. Additionally, ILMUNC has been an enormous part of my college life after serving as Director-General for last year’s conference, and I’m certain that this committee will make my last ILMUNC my favorite conference yet.
Before jumping into anything serious, here’s a little bit about myself: I’m a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences at Penn, majoring in International Relations and Hispanic Studies (a last-minute addition after spending a semester abroad in Buenos Aires and absolutely loving it). I’m a travel addict who is always planning some adventure – which may or may not end up going as planned – but I’m originally from Philadelphia, and I absolutely love going to school in my hometown. I’m also a hopeless Philadelphia Phillies fan and Wawa enthusiast, and I would be more than happy to provide any tourist advice (or restaurant recommendations, since food is one of my other favorite things) for your weekend in Philadelphia!
As for our committee, I’m looking forward to discussing a variety of case studies in order to develop best practice procedures and come to creative solutions to problems plaguing the global community. Refugees can be found in all parts of the world – and flee from countless different situations – but once you start looking, I think you’ll find that there are more commonalities among the various refugee populations than it seems at first glance. As a smaller setting compared to that of the General Assembly committees, the Economic and Social Council offers a great experience for delegates with varying levels of experience to participate, for in-depth conversation and debate to take place, and, ultimately, for your ideas to be developed into thorough and practical resolutions. Try to take advantage of this opportunity to learn a little about other regions of the world, to meet your fellow delegates, and to come away with a broader perspective on the most pressing issues in today’s global community. I look forward to meeting all of you in January, and please don’t hesitate to contact our wonderful USG, Devin DiSabatino, with any questions or concerns you may have while preparing for conference!
Best,
Jocelyn Perry
Chair, UN High Commissioner for the Refugees Executive Committee
Ivy League Model United Nations Conference XXIX
Topic Summaries
Topic A: Local Integration as a Solution to Protracted Refugee Situations
Currently, the globally preferred policy for refugees is voluntary repatriation of their homeland. Often, though, this is nearly impossible to achieve due to different situations among the refugees. Another possible solution is commonly overlooked. Local integration is a process that has refugees establish themselves in their new location. There are three main points of local integration. One is to allow refugees to attain living standards comparable to their host community. Another is a legal process giving refugees a greater range of rights. The final main point is social integration with the community, so that refugees can contribute to the social community. While these three processes resemble naturalization, that is not required for local integration. Local integration can be a solution to the conception that refugees are a burden on the host. It gives the refugees a chance to contribute to their community and to begin healthy, productive lives there. That said, great and sudden increases in population can add strain to communities' resources. There will be less property and business to go around, and natural resources can be negatively affected. For this topic, delegates will have to weigh the pros and cons of local integration in order to come to a decision about how to best deal with protracted refugee situations.
Topic B: Community Empowerment Projects and NGO Collaboration
One way to encourage the repatriation of a community is to empower the citizens and give them a feeling of increased control over their lives. This process is called community empowerment. Community empowerment projects have the potential to redistribute power in a country based on the shared labor. It also gives citizens a feeling of ownership over their community. Community empowerment projects can be run through a variety of forums, one being NGOs. NGOs are often in a crucial position when it comes to managing and running community empowerment projects. Such projects have had notable success bringing back refugees to Sierra Leone. The UN has the power and influence to wildly change the situations around most community empowerment projects. It will be up to delegates to decide how best to implement these projects, and what projects will be effective. They can look at South Sudan to see a developing problem.