UN-HABITAT
Russian Federation
Effective Resettlement in Response to Forced Evacuations in Conflict Areas
Introduction
Conflict comes at a cost, from Kosovo to Caracas the trembles of war have been felt and
blood has been spilled. It is a the duty of man to help not harm one another and this can be
nowhere more prevalent then in the aftermath of conflict. After the battles are lost and the far is
one the biggest challenges are the ones at hand. With regions, nations, or even continents in
shambles the careful task of resettlement must be addressed. With infrastructure devastated or
weakened the dangers of war are not yet escaped deaths due to compromised infrastructure as a
result of armed conflict tend to mount of up for years after the fighting. With people often having
nowhere to go they are forced into staying in the compromised structures putting them at great
risk. From the conflicts hundreds of years ago in the Americas between the English settlers and
the Indian people the forced migration due to conflict created a lasting hostilities but created
heartbreak and hardship for countless individuals and families. Today this is still just as much an
issue particularly from the middle east to Asia with long term near endless warfare millions have
been displaced some estimates put the number of displaced persons or IDP (internationally
displaced persons) for the war in Iraq alone at approx. 1.3 million people. Iraq is not the only
place having to deal with these crisis of displaced persons; South and North Sudan, Syria,
Afghanistan, Mexico, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Kosovo, Somalia, Algeria, Mali, Congo, Colombia all
of which either currently involved in armed conflict or are recovering from one where the effects
of which can still be felt in daily life.
Since its founding in 1945 it has been a principle of the United Nations particularly one
of her organs (UN-HABITAT) and her members to assist those displaced by armed conflict.
Such as its work in Iraq where its set key goals for which it laid out; planning for design and
reconstruction of houses, water systems, school, and roads. Where formerly the people were at
the mercy of the victor of the conflict the UN has provided a organization for the global
community to organize and orchestrate effective aid to those displaced by crisis. As the great
orchestrator they have accomplished great things and will continue to do so in the future.
Russia’s Policy
The Russian Federation has gloriously overcome the greatest hurdles an achieved the
highest level of greatness. The people of Russia in the grasp of defeated during World War II
took on Adolf Hitler and the Nazis and fought them back through a devastated homeland to the
inner walls of the Third Reich. As Joseph Stalin in the great migrations of the second World War
used the people to begin the process of developing a nation. We have made great strides
particularly since the breakup of the USSR in 1991 and transferring to a semi-democratic state
our current leaders is President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minster Dmitry Medvedev who have
tireless fought to improve the general welfare on behalf of Russian People. Some of the events
that have dramatically shaped Russia’s policies are the still the old feelings of the cold war and
current global economic crisis.
These aforementioned events have shaped Russia’s policies toward the effective
resettlement of people in forced evacuations due armed conflict. Russia strongly believes in the
welfare of all human beings and supports strong affirmative action to aid people in their time of
need wherever they may be.
Russia’s Proposed Actions and Solutions
Russia clearly recognizes that drawing attention into effective resettlement in three
subcategories: safely exiting the conflict, securing a safe temporary environment, and sustainable
longterm resettlement.
The first issue we must address is how we can safely remove people from harms way as
the conflicts may still be raging on or the aftermath of conflicts might still hold dangerous or life
treating it is essential that we make sure we can asses the situation and be able to sufficiently act
on it. The Russian Federation proposes in cooperation with the UN-HCR and independent
organizations such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe along with NGOs
to collaborate and develop recommendations for UN-HABITAT on the immediate relocation of
these displaced peoples through a virtual database with the purpose of collecting the location and
condition of these peoples. In addition to this Russia also firmly believes that in local or regional
conflicts it is key to have the support of local partners and making sure their unique prospective
is addressed and that sufficient aid can be distributed as need in areas experiencing stress on
existing infrastructure due to an influx of refugees.
It is the responsibly of the international community and their local partners to make the
safety and well being of refugees a top priority. It is key to protect them from reprisal attacks and
ensuring that disease does not spread through the these areas along with making sure that those
with existing medical conditions can be adequately treated or transferred to a place that can
sufficiently treat them. To ensure these priorities Russia proposes the following:
Working with UN Organs such as WHO and UNICEF along with independent
organizations such as the Red Cross or Red Crescent in refugee camps. Ensuring their safety
within the camps by stationing UN Peacekeepers serving as mediators in the camps, keeping
people safe from rape, theft and other internal problems common in refugee camps.
Third and finally, determining whether it is safe for the refugees to return home or
figuring where to relocate them is an issue that Russia feels cannot be overlooked. It is not fair to
neighboring nations to have to burden the increased population and stress on infrastructure for
long periods of time. To combat this Russia strongly recommends that immediate aid of food,
water, medical care, and funding for sustainable development be allocated to neighboring
countries of areas experiencing conflict that are harboring refugees. This with the purpose of
ensuring the long term well being of those who have been displaced and cannot return home.
Works Cited
"IDMC | Internally Displaced persons (IDPs) in Kosovo." IDMC : Internal Displacement
Monitoring Centre. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2013. <http://www.internaldisplacement.org/
8025708F004CE90B/(httpCountries)/165F03EE03E9D015C1257662005CE095?OpenD
ocument>.
"Resettlement Pattern: The Afghan Refugees in Pakistan | Cultural Survival." Cultural
Survival | Partnering with Indigenous Peoples to Defend their Lands, Languages, and
Cultures. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2013.<http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultu
ral-survival-quarterly/afghanistan/resettlement-pattern-afghan-refugees-pakistan>.
"Russia history | Learn Russian | StudyRussian.com - learn Russian in Moscow and other cities."
Russian language courses home page | StudyRussian.com - learn Russian in Moscow and
other cities. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2013. <http://www.studyrussian.com/russianlanguage/russia-history.html>.
"UN-HABITAT.:. Iraq | Activities | Settlement and Rehabilitation in Northern Iraq." UNHABITAT.:. Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2013.
<http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=687&catid=203&typeid=13>.
UNHCR. "UNHCR - Pakistan." UNHCR Welcome. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2013.
<http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e487016.html>.
Washington, Lilli Tnaib in, and DC. "UNHCR - After fleeing violence in Darfur, resettled
refugee cherishes new life in Alaska." UNHCR Welcome. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2013.
<http://www.unhcr.org/4b2f9b8d9.html>.
"A Brief History of Russia." Missinglink Notice. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2013.
<http://missinglink.ucsf.edu/lm/russia_guide/historyofrussia.htm>.
UN-HABITAT
Russian Federation
Improving Access to Housing in Asia and the Pacific
Introduction
According to Article 25 of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself
and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social
services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment [...] or other lack of livelihood in
circumstances beyond his control.” Sadly however, many prerequisites of this article stand
challenged by life in rural, developing parts of the world. Residents of informal settlements
worldwide collectively lack each and every one of the fundamental human rights outlined in the
aforementioned sub-clause of Article 25.
Upon further investigation, it is evident that governments, especially in Asia and the
Pacific, simply neglect these informal settlements over formal settlements, an action which is
both unfair and unwise. These government overlook assets present in informal settlements and
narrow their perspectives down solely upon their liabilities. Government leaders perceive these
liabilities as abyssal and impossible to rebuild. However, with just a few simple initiatives
intended first to specifically improve access to housing, these governments can easily turn this
“hopeless situation” into a “flourishing resource.”
Russia’s History
The once glorious nation of the United Soviet Socialist Republics, which had exuded
sheer strength throughout the mid-twentieth century, rapidly deteriorated and collapsed to its
demise in 1991. Current-day Russia, the largest of the union of republics, was left in utter havoc
and disorder. The nation was shackled by the radical changes it underwent, from the change to a
democratic model of government to rebuilding society itself.
Existing to this day, from its beginnings in December 1991 almost twenty-two years ago,
Russia is undergoing a process of unprecedented rapid development and urbanization. It is this
experience as a nation growing from the bottom-up that inspires its policies and solutions on how
to successfully emulate the same program in Asian and Pacific nations, except in this case,
starting from the housing sector, which is the sole focus of UN-HABITAT in this upcoming
session.
Russia’s Policy
Driven by its aforementioned recent history, Russia has developed a very personal and
relateable policy to the housing situation in Asia and the Pacific which it believes will ultimately
guide the informal settlements of these nations to economic and social equality. Russia believes
in a holistic approach to all aspects of the housing crisis in Asia and the Pacific; all aspects of the
pressing issue must be dealt with in their individual parts in order to generate a more successful
overall picture.
In direct accord with fundamental policies set for by UN-HABITAT itself in its Charter
of Values, Russia believes it is most important to split this crisis into three distinct categories
upon which the entire committee is urged to focus upon: sustainable urbanization (which
includes not only government intervention but also the implementation of locals to drive their
own economy), natural disaster resilience, and insurance (chiefly concerning natural disasters).
Only then is it possible and logical for the committee to push for even more fundamental human
rights, like the uninhibited access to clean water to all household members.
Russia’s Proposed Actions and Solutions
As a short recapitulation, Russia plans on drawing all focus of this issue to two
subcategories: sustainable urbanization, and microfinance and insurance.
To build a sustainable rate of urbanization in Asian and Pacific nations with imbalanced
ratios of urban and rural populations, Russia proposes the implementation of weather-hardy
housing and the manipulation of locals to enter a communal workforce aimed at selfimprovement of their own lands. As implemented successfully in Bangladesh in the early
twenty-first century, flood-resistant housing has proved a viable method of housing that is
durable to the various natural disasters common to Asian and Pacific regions, in this instance,
flooding. In order to go about implementing flood-resistant housing, Russia proposes the
advocacy of the already successful organization that has instituted the Bangladesh Detail,
Practical Action. Not only is Practical Action incredibly successful as a self-fundraising
organization and as an organization that has not had one of its projects fail, it also manipulates
very cheap and affordable raw materials to secure flood-resistance of houses. Bought at
wholesale price from its hardware sponsors, Practical Action's most popular adaptive floodresistant technology uses simple concrete and industrial glue, which morphs the cement and
natural soil together into a strong foundation that cannot be swept away by monsoon currents.
Along with Practical Action, Russia proposes using a common form of microfinance,
based off of the Russian Microfinance Center (RMC), to aid inhabitants of informal settlements
in jumpstarting housing improvement or rural businesses. Russia proposes the emulation of the
RMC throughout nations with the aforementioned housing crisis. The RMC stresses “credit
cooperatives, regional and municipal support funds for small businesses, specialized banks,
accessible financial resources and convenient services, and non-traditional forms of loans
(solidarity guarantee, group lending, etc.).” This overview of the RMC directly correlates to
situations represented in rural areas of the Pacific and Asia. If other governments implement this
system, they will open up credit opportunities, funds, and basic banking to people of rural
communities, which can in turn improve their situations with the help of banking experts.
Finally, Russia proposes a safeguarding the people of rural areas from the unexpected and
almost unpreventable with microinsurance. Under worldwide insurance company Lloyd's, which
offers microinsurance to rural areas of developing countries, members of Asian and Pacific
informal settlements will have specially tailored insurance policies, mainly home insurance from
flooding, at very cheap prices. Also, Lloyd's explains the concept and necessity of insurance to
attendees of their conferences, which would be beneficial to members of informal settlements as
insurance is such a far-fetched ideology difficult to grasp. But overall, through the
implementation of sustainable urbanization, microfinance, and microinsurance, Russia fully
believes in the improvement of access to housing in Asia and the Pacific.
Works Cited
Palmer, R.R., Joel Colton, and Lloyd Kramer. A History of the Modern World. 10th ed. New
York City, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2002. Print.
Tishkov, Valery. "WHAT IS RUSSIA? PERSPECTIVES FOR NATION-BUILDING." Valery
Tishkov: Academician, Director of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology. (2011):
n. page. Print. <http://valerytishkov.ru/cntnt/publikacii3/knigi/the_mind_a1/what_is_ru.ht
ml>.
"16% of the world live in slums." Voice of Russia. (2011): n. page. Web. 29 Jan. 2013.
<http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/09/15/56187952.html>.
United Nations. United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
Housing for the Urban Poor. New York City, NY: , 2013. Web.
<http://www.unescap.org/pdd/prs/ProjectActivities/Ongoing/HousingUrbanPoor0405/housing-ur-poor.asp>.
Ballesteros, Marife. "Reforming housing for the poor in the Philippines." East Asia Forum.
(2010): n. page. Web. 29 Jan. 2013. <http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2010/03/27/reformin
g-housing-for-the-poor-in-the-philippines/>.
Zaid, Suzaini. "Low-cost Housing in Malaysia: A Contribution to Sustainable Development?."
Academia.edu. Chicago: 2009. <http://www.academia.edu/592372/Lowcost_Housing_in_Malaysia_A_Contribution_to_Sustainable_Development>.
"Flood-resistant housing: Adapting to climate change in Bangladesh." Practical Action. (2012):
<http://practicalaction.org/disaster-reduction/flood-resistant_housing>.
C. Hoek-Smit, Marja. Housing Finance in Bangladesh: Improving Access to Housing Finance by
Middle and Lower Income Groups. New York City, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1998. eBook.
<http://housingfinance.wharton.upenn.edu/Documents/bareport.pdf>.