International Organization for Migration

1 ÍNDICE

3. Presentation letter 5.Introduction to the committee 7. Position Paper 7. Topic A: Climate Change Induced Migration 13. Topic B: Preventing human casualties in Europe and in war zones in Africa and Middle East 26. Bibliography

Presentation Letter

Welcome to the International Organization for Migration committee, which will explore two very important areas: climate change induced migration and preventing human casualties in Europe and in war zones in Africa and Middle East. We are very excited to work with you in this committee for MUNUR 16 and we hope it will be an enriching and unforgettable experience. We are Caroline Cubillos and Teresa Gomes; we will be your directors. By the other side we have a Moderator named Augusto Dannon Alva. All of us are extremely passionate about issues related to displacement, human rights, refugees and migration. Most importantly, we cannot wait to embark this great learning opportunity that MUNUR 16 is. I am Caroline Cubillos. I am a student at the Javeriana University and I am in eighth semester of International Relations. I am part of the Executive board of the student group UN Javeriana and also I am part of the Executive board of the Model United Nations at my university, PUJMUN 2016. Since school I have loved the MUNs. I think these are important learning spaces, where you know wonderful people. I am very excited to be part of MUNUR 16 directing the International Organization for Migration, because I have always been interested in migration issues, it is a topic that concerns me a lot and that and touches my heart . What I expect from MUNUR 16 is a lot of fun, but also strong academic demand, a model that will challenge delegates to go further in their research and develop their oral skills, negotiation, writing, among others. I hope and I am sure that this experience will be unforgettable, not just for me, but also for all the delegates.

33 I am Teresa Auntora Gomes, I am a student at the University of Toronto, majoring in Public Policy and Critical International Development Studies. Currently, I am the co-founder of an educational development project called Education & Equity for Women in Nilphamari Bangladesh (EEWNB), and I am researching climate change induced migration. I hope that this particular committee will offer new insights and challenge you intellectually. My expectation is that everyone will utilize their critical thinking skills and develop new ideas that are outside of the box. Migration is a vital issue at the moment that deserves serious attention, this committee provides us the chance to contribute to ongoing solutions that can make a difference. I am Augusto Dannon Alva. I am currently on my fourth semester on the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) and I am really interested in philosophy, social studies, human rights, and contemporary issues. I am part of Peruvian Debate Society since 2015, but I started my MUN life in my last year of school. Due to globalization, migration has become one of the most relevant factor on social phenomena. Nevertheless, it remains as an overlooked topic in international politics in most of the countries. Personally, I think migration is one of the richest topics, because you can find many different aspects on the issue that requires various solutions. Therefore, I expect for you, delegates, to go further on your research and to try to give your analysis a broad view of the problem, so you can understand the problem, both, as a whole and into detail. I hope you have fun in MUNUR 2016 and learn a lot in the academic side and in skill wise. It is an honor for me to be part of this unforgettable experience and I hope to see the best of you on the committee.

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

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Introduction to the committee

IOM The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is the principal intergovernmental organization about migration. This organization is the leader in migration issues. It works with all kinds of actors: Countries, intergovernmental organizations and NGOs (International Organization for Migration, 2015). Para MUNUR16 esperamos que el ejercicio de simulación de la Sexta Comisión de la Asamblea General sea un espacio de construcción de conocimiento jurídico, alrededor de temas que han sido seleccionados por su idoneidad para generar debate en esta área de las Relaciones Internacionales.

Source: International Organization for migration. Governing bodies. Available in: https://governingbodies.iom.int/ It was founded in 1951 and currently counts with 162 member states, 9 states with observer status and some Non-governmental organizations. The IOM “is dedicated to promoting humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all” (International Organization for Migration, 2015). To accomplish this, the IOM gives services and advices to the countries and migrants. The IOM helps to manage and ensure and organized humane management o the migration, promoting international cooperation, assisting and looking for solutions to the

55 migration problems. It supports all kind of migrants: economic migrants, refugees and displaced people This organization works focused on 4 aspects: · Migration and development · Facilitating migration · Regulating migration · Forced migration. The IOM works also in the promotion of: · International migration law · Protection of migrants’ rights · Migration health · Women and migration. Governing bodies The IOM is structured in different bodies that constitute the whole organization: The council, where each member state has its representative and has one vote. The Standing Committee on programmes and finance (SCPF): this subcommittee of the Council is in charge of the review of policies, programmes and activities. Also, discusses the financial and budgetary issues. The administration: it is composed by a General Director and Deputy Director General. This committee administers and manages the Organization “in accordance with the Constitution […] the policies and decisions of the Council and the Standing Committee on Programmes and Finance” (International Organization for Migration, 2015). In this case we are going to simulate inside the IOM the Council.

6 6 Position Paper

We believe that less is more. That’s why, as a table we seek a very concrete position paper that has the main ideas about the position of their respective countries. For this position paper we consider the text should have tow essential things: The first thing: there should be a clear and concrete position of his country about the issues that are being addressed. With this, both the board as the other delegates will have clear what is your position of the issues and briefly explain the reasons why. Second, there must be some ideas or proposals that seek to solve the problem. We do not want to put all their solutions and explain that as a whole, but specifically understand which solutions you have, so in the course of the debate can deepen in these. 3. Development Topics Topic A: Climate Change Induced Migration

• Context As sea levels continue to drastically rise as a product of global warming, numerous low-lying regions and countries in the Global South are threatened with environmental disasters. Climate disasters not only take the lives of millions of people, but also displace people from their homes, forcing them to migrate and in many cases, become climate refugees, in which an average of 26.4 million people per year have been displaced according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (Walia, Telesur, 2015).

7 Furthermore, it was estimated that by 2050, there may be 200 million climate refugees (Barnes, BBC, 2013). But where will these migrants and refugees go? Are there legal and international systems to support the next wave of migration? Currently there is no legal protection for climate refugees. With no legal basis to be granted refugee status and to seek petitions for residency, countries like Australia and New Zealand which obtain the most petitions because of their location in the Pacific, have the authority to reject petitions (Walia, Telesur, 2015). Moreover, there is no international agreement or protection framework to address migration due to climate change (Nishimura, 2015).

• Climate Change At the current rate of greenhouse gas emissions and other human induced activities, the earth will become warmer and climate change will lead to an increase of environmental disasters such as floods, droughts, desertification, hurricanes, the destruction of natural resources, etc. In addition to catastrophes, rising temperatures are drastically altering environmental landscapes. Specifically, “sea levels are presently rising by approximately three millimeters per year as a result of anthropogenic climate change, with the thermal expansion of ocean water and melting of Greenland and Antarctic ice being key contributors” (McLeman, 2014, p. 180).

Global economic inequality has led to developing nations of the Global South to depend on non-renewable fossil fuels like coal and oil for growth (Mahapatra, 2015). Moreover, developing nations are burdened with the brunt of environmental destruction because most have low-lying geographical landscapes and cannot afford climate mitigation and adaption technology (Mahapatra, 2015). Thus, it is difficult for developing nations to dramatically shift their economic growth pattern, which contributes to climate change. In addition, historically, the influence of developing nations in global climate governance have been eroded, in which “the poorest countries are not invited, and have no institutionalized way of feeding their perspectives into decisions that will have profound effects on their future opportunities” (UNDP, 2010, p. 5). At the 2015 United Nations Paris Climate Change Conference, the 196 Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted the Paris agreement with no objection (The BRICS Post, 2015). China and India’s leaders

8 took the opportunity to strongly emphasize the challenges of developing nations, in which it was felt that the Global North was shifting their responsibilities regarding climate change on the Global South. India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi contended that India and other developing nations should not be forced to follow guidelines on climate change that are set by developed countries, in which climate change should be approached with cooperation, rather than coercion (Mahapatra, 2015).

China’s Special Representative on Climate Change Xie Zhenhua said that “although the agreement is not perfect, it does not stop us from moving a historical step forward,” calling on developed countries to fulfill their commitments to provide finance, technology development and transfer, and capacity building to developing countries. (The BRICS Post, 2015). Specifically, the commitment outlined that $100 billion would be provided to developing countries by 2020 in order to give up fossil fuels and recover from heat waves, food scarcity, and storm damage. (The BRICS Post, 2015).

Undoubtedly, developed nations have a large responsibility towards climate change because they have the largest global footprint. In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was signed and became effective in 2005 with the target of reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere (Vucheva, 2008). The protocol was ratified by 175 countries, of which only 36 developed nations made a commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions (Vucheva, 2008). However, the United States, the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide did not ratify the Kyoto protocol (Vucheva, 2008). While the United States terribly failed to meet targets, European countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom committed to investing in renewable energy (Vucheva, 2008). According to Naser (2013), “to date, the only achievement in this regard is an inclusion in paragraph 4(f) in the Cancun Agreement, which calls for international cooperation for the protection of ‘environmental refugees’” (p. 489). • Climate Migration Climate change causes rising sea levels that result in shoreline erosion, coastal flooding, agricultural disruption and the complete takeover of productive land, especially islands. In the worst case, many geographical locations do not exist anymore. These are geographical locations that communities depend on as a source of survival, when such

9 locations do not exist, it takes away the right to exist for many lives. Moreover, these environmental conditions produce economic vulnerabilities, leading to severe poverty. Consequently, internal and cross-border migration occurs by force or voluntarily (Nishimura, 2015, p. 113). Also in some cases, many people do not have the capacity to migrate. Moreover,climate migration is uneven across the world. While the Global North produces the bulk of carbon emissions, large-scale migration will happen in the Global South because developing nations rely on livelihoods tied to agriculture and climate change adaptation efforts are hindered by poverty and lack of resources (Nishimura, 2015, p. 111). As communities in the Global South are already marginalized from various influences locally and globally; lack of state protection and heightened political and social tensions worsen climate migration plights, further inducing displacement.

• Why are climate refugees not protected?

Firstly, there are no international agreements to address climate change- included migration, no characterization or legal distinction for climate migrants and climate refugees, and no initiative to extend climate migration into international refugee, human rights or environmental law (Nishimura, 2015, p. 108). According to Nishimura, climate change migrants typically do not suffer the type of persecution necessary to qualify as a refugee because refugee statuses are defined as “a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” (Nishimura, 2015, p. 108). Thus, if an individual are unable to demonstrate persecution, they are not provided the protections outlined in the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention) (Nishimura, 2015, p. 114). Furthermore, climate refugees are not protected because of “institutional capacity issues, the difficulty of linking climate change directly to migration, the causal complexity of climate change, and the limitations of civil society in its climate advocacy” (Nishimura, 2015, p. 107).

• Effects of climate changing that force people to migrate

There are many consequences of climate changing that force people to migrate. In those cases, climate changing act as a indirect cause. Nevertheless, it is very important to

10 consider them and to analyze what measures can be taken to combat these situations. Here are two examples.

Droughts

As has happened in many countries in Africa, droughts force populations to move periodically to get access to sources of water. This migration is particular due to the constant movement of the people. Also, this do not imply the change of the place of residence of those people; nevertheless, it does require a constant movement that can affect in a certain way the people involved and the populations around them. In a long term, this can force groups to move their living place due to the lack of access to water for long periods.

Shortage

Very similar to the situation with droughts, shortage makes the life in a particular place harder, which forces the population in it to seek in the arounds a solution for their needs. This makes them migrate in very poor health conditions, due to the lack of a proper alimentation and the absence of access to the necessary nutrients to live through the trip. This migration usually creates constant movement but tend to get to move large groups of people permanently. In the 90s, many of this waves of migration took place in Africa.

Cold waves

In different zones of Asia and South America, long cold waves in unprepared places affect the living of the people there. This affects their economic, labor, educational and health development, which endorses them, when the possibility exists, to leave this place to another which has less harmful climate situations. • Economic effects of climate changing In the current world, economy is one of the main causes of migration. This kind of migration is not protected and, usually, high grossing countries try to avoid it. But, when looking closer to the issue, there are some cases in which climate change is the cause of an economic collapse in a particular area. This puts that population in a big disadvantage and encourages to seek a better future in other place.

11 Climatic changes such a heat waves, for example, affect the whole way in which the clothing industry works. Many small manufacturers of clothing finds themselves out of the market and broke due to those changes. Agriculture and animal husbandry in small industries or organic industries faces also a big complication. This reflects in the market, which puts transnational enterprises in a favorable position and creates a complicated environment to those business. Therefore, climate changing can be a complication for a particular place in which the economy cannot develop properly due to the climate conditions, and a risk to an industry for the high cost and bumps to deal with when climate conditions radicalize.

QARMAS

1. Should climate migrants be protected by a special legal status? What status should they have? 2. How can the international community fight against the consequences of climate change and its effects on migration? 3. What humanitarian actions can the member states of the IOM take to ensure that climate migrants and refugees are protected? 4. Should the IOM establish a humanitarian presence by supporting migrants with climate change adaption and mitigation strategies? 5. Should states modify their existing refugee laws to accommodate climate migrants and refugees? If so, what kinds of laws should they make?

12 Topic B: Preventing human casualties in Europe and in war zones in Africa and Middle East

Currently Europe is in crisis, and borders are becoming increasingly difficult to exercise due to the presence of thousands of migrants arriving by boat or even on foot, facilitated by human traffickers. According to the United Nations, this massive mobilization of migrants is considered the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II. Europe has reached more than 120,000 migrants.

More than 5 million people have fled away from the Middle East in the last five years, since the Arab Spring started. This massive migration have collapsed the precedent measures on organizing migratory movement and making it secure, which has led to many different consequences: radical policies on closer countries, mafia of migration, many deaths, disorganization of the societies and breaking of families, as some examples.

In Africa, the differences in political regime and race based cultural background make migration particularly complicated. The geographical situation, principally due to the Sahara make large migrations more dangerous. Also, the shortage and droughts mixed with the poor health conditions in that continent make casualties more probable. The duty here is to find a way to avoid casualties in migration, but to also find measures that can ensure the respect of human rights in migrations at origin states, transit states and destination states.

• Migrants vs. Refugees:

When discussing refugees today, it is crucial to understand the difference between migrants and refugees. A migrant is a person that moves from one country to another for a certain period of time. Migrants who are in a search of better opportunities are known as economic migrants. On the other hand, refugees are defined in the 1951 Convention Relating the Status of Refugees as “A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being

13 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 or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.” (UN, 1951). This definition has many different critics and, with the creation of more specific definitions of types of refugees, has been softly changed. Anyway, it remains a complication on international law. Even though the definitions show clear distinctions between the two, it is difficult to distinguish them due to the existence of mixed migration. Migrants and refugees frequently use the same routes, and if they are unable to enter the country through legal means, they often pay smugglers to take them. However, while refugees are entitled to “international protection,” migrants are not. Once they have been identified as migrants, they are allowed to be sent back to their country of origin. However, it is very difficult for countries to determine whether a person is a refugee or a migrant. Because of this, countries make these decisions based on things like whether the individual’s country produces many economic migrants and few refugees, and vice versa. Due to the ongoing refugees crisis are strengthening their laws on receiving economic migrants.

• Legal Background:

When talking about migration there are many international documents that shape the legal background. Some of them are binding and some others not. Anyway, as the form of hard law, most of this are obeyed by many countries.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

One of the most important article that regards migration is the 13: “(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country”

14 This article gives each person the right of movement without bigger restriction than national borders, which avoids the existence of ghettos or checkpoints which limit the movement inside the country. Furthermore, it also gives everyone the right to leave countries when the wish and to return to them. On the current situation, the second one is being more violated, due to the closure of borders and the strong migration policies in countries such as Cuba.

Another really important article is the 14:

“(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

(2) This right may not be invoked in he case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations”

This article tackles directly the issue of asylum seekers and further refugees, giving them the right of demand asylum in other countries. Nevertheless, this right may not be use if the persecution is well founded. This means, for example, that Adolf Eichmann would have never been able to demand this right, because he was being seek by the justice due to his crimes during the Third Reich. There are many other important articles that come into controversy when discussing about migration. Article 16 (family), Article 7 (equal protection of the law), Article 5 (proper treatment), as well as all the freedoms, whether negative or positive, stated in this document.

1951 Convention

Besides the definition of a refugee, already mentioned, the main input of this Convention is the establishment of the non-refoulement principle, stated in the article 33,1: “No Contracting State shall expel or return (“ refouler “) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” (UN, 1951)

15 This is the keystone on refugee law, and applies to all the sovereign territory of a country, which comprehends all the ground, the underground, the air and, if it has access to sea, the 12 first miles. This principle looks upon the refugee, by giving him or her the opportunity to migrate just once. Once the refugee gets to a secure country, he or she might as well be received in that country or taken to another one in which its security is not endangered.

This principle denies the possibility that a country close its borders and stop caring about the refugees. There is a global obligation: whether you accept them in your territory or you take charge of taking them to a secure place. Even though this is the founding principle on international relationships regarding refugees, currently is not respected. There are few countries that take the responsibility on relocating refugees. Thus, they violate this principle. Others, deny that sea is part of the territory affected by the non-refoulement principle, and do not consider them refugees until they get to the shore. Some cases of this violations can be observed in Australia´s policy regarding refugees and the PNG Solution, the problems in the coast of Greece and Italy, the arrivals in some countries of Africa, etc.

• Current Situation:

The Middle East region (as defined by the United Nations geographic division) has become one of the most convoluted region since the Arab Spring in 2011. The events from 2011 onwards had lead from governmental legal reforms (such as Saudi Arabia and Morocco) to government overthrows (such as Tunisia and Egypt) to open-scale civil and regional warfare (such as Libya, Syria and Iraq)

• Syrian Civil War

The Syrian Civil War The Syrian Civil War began after the outbreak of the Arab Spring. The protests started in Tunisia after Mouhammed Bouzazi set himself in fire protesting the rising prices and economic hardships. The event unleashed mass scale protests seldom seen in the Arab world, forcing President Ben Ali to step down after 23 years in

16 power. In Syria, the protests were directed against the Al – Assad Regime, which has been in power since 1971. Before President Bashar Al-Assad, a London- educated ophthalmologist who rose to power after his brother (the heir-to-be) died in a car accident, their father Hafez Al-Assad led the country with a one- party system. The conflict escalated with the government’s use of force against 1 protesters, which led to overall chaos and fighting to gain political control over territories. The confrontation became much more than a fight to oust Bashar Al Assad, since the multiple fractions within the population created a situation of multiple bands without a defined leadership. Crucially, regional and international players had made the Syrian conflict much of a proxy war, fuelling conflict by supporting one of the many factions (Cornell University, 2016).

The Russian Federation and Iran, on one hand, support the Assad regime with weapons and diplomatic zeal (Russia has vetoed a series of Security Council resolutions trying to delegitimize his ruling). Both States will not accept any political situation that does not preserve his government in power. On the other hand, Saudi 2 Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and other Middle Eastern States each support a faction within Syria. Meanwhile, the United States supports the Free Syrian Army.

Since last year, it has escalated its involvement by creating an International Coalition including more than 60 States to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as Da’esh. This grouping has taken advantage of the chaotic situation in Syria and Iraq to expand its bases and currently controls access points and cities throughout both countries. The highest diplomatic forum to discuss the Syrian war are the ongoing negotiations at Vienna, which gather all the P5, the European Union, the UN, the Arab League and about a dozen more Arab and Western States. The negotiation, alas, had not reached any concrete agreement because of the insistence of the US and its allies to overthrow Assad, and the insistence of Russia to prevent it. Up to September of 2015, the civil war had taken the lives of 220,000 and more than 7.6 million people had been internally displaced. In terms of refugees, the population of Syrian refugees now 3 represents the largest refugee population originated from a single conflict, surpassing 4,013,000 people. According to the UNHCR, over half of the refugee population is under 18 years of age (Mercy Corps, 2016).

17 power. In Syria, the protests were directed against the Al – Assad Regime, which has been in power since 1971. Before President Bashar Al-Assad, a London- educated ophthalmologist who rose to power after his brother (the heir-to-be) died in a car accident, their father Hafez Al-Assad led the country with a one- party system. The conflict escalated with the government’s use of force against 1 protesters, which led to overall chaos and fighting to gain political control over territories. The confrontation became much more than a fight to oust Bashar Al Assad, since the multiple fractions within the population created a situation of multiple bands without a defined leadership. Crucially, regional and international players had made the Syrian conflict much of a proxy war, fuelling conflict by supporting one of the many factions (Cornell University, 2016).

18 international recognition, the support of the Libyan National Army and is based in the port city of Tobruk. It is also known as the Dignity Government, following at least two coup d’état attempts led by the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist party. These second group, known as the Dawn Government, rules Tripoli (the official capital of Libya) and are affiliated to the New General National Congress: a Congress founded after the deposition of the democratically elected Congress, made up of Islamist parliamentarians. The third group is Ansar Al-Sharia, a radical armed group responsible of Gaddafi’s death and the 2012 attack on the US embassy in Benghazi, which enjoy the support of the Dawn Government. Meanwhile, ISIL has established its Libyan charter in the center coastal area of Libya, and further chaos will only fuel its constituency as they expand their terrorist attack on neighboring Tunisia, which has received a significant number of Libyan refugees. Ansar Al-Sharia members are starting to pledge allegiance to ISIL, a move that could further deteriorate the political stability, or whatever is left of it, in the State of Libya (Cornell University, 2016).

• The situation in Yemen

The situation in Yemen Finally, the fourth major hotspot in the Middle East today is located in the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. The Republic of Yemen, once a British mandate, underwent decades of conflict during the Cold War as North and South Yemen (the first capitalist, the second communist) – then independent States – constantly assaulted each other. In 1990 both states unified into the Republic of Yemen, although sectarian divides continued into the XXI Century. Still, the country was kept together by the authoritarian regime of President Saleh. After the Arab Spring in 2011, the Saleh government was called into question and in 2012 both Saudi Arabia and the United States pressured his resignation. Importantly, the US has led several drone strikes in Yemeni territory against the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), an uprooted branch of the terrorist organization said to be its most virulent and dangerous. Since 2014, clashes between the government (supported by Islamist groups centred on the Islah party) and the ethnic Houthi rebels in the Western north Yemen had made the country incapable of an effective political leadership. The conflict also serves as a proxy war between Iran – backing the Shia Houthi rebels – and the Saudis – backing the Sunni government regime. Adding to this confusion, President Saleh is said to be behind the

19 Houthis while current President Hadi, a former ally of Saleh, enjoys the favour of the Saudis.

• Consequences:

“32,400 people (mostly Albanians) have entered to Europe through the Balkans so far in 2015. The Mediterranean Sea has been one of the most used routes to reach the coasts of Italy and Greece. Last year more than 10.200 migrants have arrived, plus 10,000 rescued at sea” (Pérez, 2015). In Europe, the coastal countries of Europe have had to receive the greatest impact, such as Italy and Greece limited to welcome the thousands of migrants in their own capabilities. Thousands of people must be addressed immediately in medical and nutritional assistance.

The results of these irregular migrations have been unfortunate, more than 3.500 people have lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. According FRONTEX “Migration flows to Europe will not stop increasing by the appalling situations in origin, from Iraq and Syria to the Horn of Africa” (Pérez, 2015). Therefore, Europe is facing a crisis that becomes a humanitarian problem, due to the large numbers of refugees arriving to this continent in precarious conditions.

Currently, there are several routes that often use migrants. Lampedusa, an Italian island has become a central point of migrants as it is the closest from northern Africa European port. However, migrant reception centers that serve them are overcrowded, like Greece for example, is important transit point, since large numbers of people are traveling there. The Balkans is another important point and its neighbor Bulgaria has presented a considerable increase in Syrians arriving from Turkey. Although Spain remains a point of arrival for the Canary Islands, the percentages of people have fallen sharply due to strengthened cooperation with North African countries.

20 Source: The economist. Death at the sea. European Migration Routes: http:// www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/09/migration-europe-0 According to data from Frontex have been detected, only those migrants traveling through the Mediterranean, 40,303 are undocumented, this does not include the number of people entering undetected for Europe (BBC, 2015). It is vital that member states of the European Union analyze the situation that is happening in their borders and pursue strategies and programs that help people. Because something is a fact: people will continue coming to Europe.

21 Source: MSNBC. The Mediterranean route. Number of migrants and refugees who entered the EU in 2015. Available in: http://www.msnbc.com/specials/ migrant-crisis/mediterranean

The majority of the migrants, have arrived by sea but some people have arrived in land through turkey and Albania. The conflict in countries like Syria, Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan has not stopped the violence. “More than 1,011,700 migrants arrived by sea in 2015 and almost 34.900 by land” (BBC News, 2016). More than 3770 migrants have died crossing the Mediterranean Sea last year. Most of them are dying in the North Africa to Italy route and in the Aegean Sea (The Economist, 2015). This problem has caused tension between the countries on the European Union because of the different view of how manage this crisis. Countries like Greece, Italy are struggling with this problems compared to other European countries and these countries don’t have the enough capabilities of manage. There has been a debate inside the EU of a quota system that has been rejected by some countries like United Kingdom and Hungary.

Source: International Organization for Migration. Arrivals to Europe in 2015: Anyway, it remains a complication on international law. http://www.iom.int/ news/mediterranean-migrant-arrivals-2016-204311-deaths-2443 “But despite what has been presented as a migration crisis unprecedented in the borders of Europe, it is little compared to what neighboring countries of Syria who have received most of the nearly 4.6 million have lived refugees who have fled the country” (BBC, 2015).

22 Countries such as Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq have also been affected by this situation. Most refugees go to these countries because those are neighboring countries and are geographically close, which means it is easier to get there in order to escape from the war. According to data from the European Commission in 2015, to Turkey have reached 7,938,999 of Syrian refugees, 629,666 to Jordan and Lebanon have reached 1,113,000.

Source: BBC, Syrian in neighbouring counties and Europe: http://www.bbc. com/mundo/noticias/2015/09/150909_internacional_vecinos_siria_ numeros_conflicto_interno_amv “While the European Union struggle and analyzes where to locate the 120,000 beneficiaries seekers who plans to take over the next two years, these three countries have already received altogether about 3.6 million Syrians, 30 times the European figure” (BBC News, 2016). The government of Turkey is now taking action to organize the people that have arrived as refugees. Since the beginning of the Syrian war, Turkey

23 had built 25 refugee camps to assist the people and has spent US $ 6.000 million to assist people in food and medical care According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees “Without a political solution to the conflict in sight, most of the 3.9 million Syrian refugees not have hopes of returning home in the near future and have little opportunity to restart their lives in exile” (BBC, 2015). In total, More than 4 million Syrians have fled, most have fled to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and European countries (BBC, 2015). To reach most have opted Europe by sea through rafts that cross the Mediterranean illegally.

However, there are other routes. Thanks to migration networks there is a new route that is safer to reach Europe: the Arctic route. This route allows them to reach Norway, although this country is not part of the European Union, this country provides food and medical care for as long as the government assesses the asylum application (Wallace, 2015). This route has become popular between migrants and many of them have decided to take it. However by the end of 2015, Norway has begun to expel refugees to Russia, this is due to the implementation of a new restrictive law was passed in November of 2015 (Poyatos, 2016).

Taking into account the different routes, the purpose of the debate is to see how as international community can stop the human casualties, analyzing the war zones that will be discussed in depth later and the migration routes.

Top 10 origins of people applying for asylum in the European Union:

24 Source: BBC. Migrant Crisis: migration to Europe explained in seven charts. Top 10 Origins of people applying for asylum in the EU: http://www.bbc.com/ news/world-europe-34131911

Smugglers:

Over 3500 people have died or gone missing in 2015 due to unsafe transition activities, managed by smugglers. The so called “smugglers” have an important role in the current crisis. High demand of smugglers’ services has caused the decrease in the quality of these services. The boats which are not suitable for crossing the sea due to their age or poor condition are overloaded with people, which causes boats to sink, causing hundreds of people to die or spend days in the water hoping to be found.

The breaking point and the perfect example for the current smugglers situation is the case of Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy who drowned as him and his family were trying to reach Greece. Another case that shocked the world was the decomposing corpses found in the back of a truck in Austria in September this year, as a result of another failed smuggling activity involving refugees. These cases have landed as political bombshells across the Middle East and Europe.

6. QARMAS Topic B: Preventing human casualties in Europe and in war zones in Africa and Middle East 1. ¿How the international community can respond to the migrant crises in a concrete way, taking into account the international law? ¿What does the international law says about the asylum seekers? 2. ¿How can the member states of the IOM address the issue about the civil wars that are currently causing the most part of the migrants going to Europe? 3. ¿Should the IOM secure the migrant routes so these people arrive safe to the destinies or should look for eliminate them? 4. ¿There should be a quota system between all the states that are receiving refugees? ¿Yes or no? ¿Why? ¿How would it be? 5. ¿Should the states increase their military and humanitarian presence in the migrant routes? 6. What humanitarian actions should take the international community to ensure basic needs in the migration crisis? :

25 Bibliography

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