GeUniMUN 2016
Committee: Advisory Panel on Migration
Topic: Migration from Libya and temporary protection
Index:
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Definition of Key Terms
Introduction
Background information
Major countries involved
UN Involvement
Reliable useful links
Definition of Key Terms
Asylum: Asylum is, generally speaking, granted to people fleeing
persecution, harm, wars or different kind of danger present in their
own country and therefore in need of protection outside of their
homeland. It is considered a fundamental right under international
law.
Temporary protection: Temporary protection is a specific form of
international protection that goes beyond the provisions dedicated
to refugees. Within the EU system, for example, TP consists in a
measure that provides people from non-EU countries, unable to
return to their own homeland because of serious threats to their
fundamental human rights, with immediate but temporary
protection. It is mostly used in the event of a mass influx and when
there is a possibility that the asylum system of one or more
Member States could be struggling to cooperate.
Arab spring: with the term "Arab spring" we refer to a
revolutionary wave of protests, riots and civil wars which began in
2010 in Tunisia and later spread all over the countries of the Arab
League (formed by Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq,
Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Omar,
Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia,
United Arab Emirates and Yemen).
Refugee: according to the Geneva Convention, a refugee is a
person who has left his/her home country because of persecutions
based on specific discriminatory reasons (race, religion, nationality,
membership of a particular political opinion or social group).
Refugee camp: a refugee camp is a temporary settlement that is
built to host refugees for a short time.
Refugee crisis: with the term "refugee crisis" we refer to the
situation in which a rising number of refugees travels toward a
country or a group of countries (see also: European Refugee crisis)
and the said country has difficulties hosting the refugees.
NATO: it is an intergovernmental military alliance that constitutes a
system of collective defense between states
Introduction
Over 30.000 people have died in Libya since the beginning of 2011.
The country saw dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who had led the
country since 1969, ousted and killed by rebels supported by NATO.
However, when the country elected a new government in 2012, the
conflict inside the country did not come to an end, and Libya has
slid into civil war.
Libyan militants have now come to extreme violence, not only in
their own country but also in neighboring ones. But how has Libya
gotten this far?
Background information
In 2011, during the height of the Arab Spring, due to social
conditions, high unemployment and the numerous summary
executions, Libyans rose up against Gaddafi’s dictatorship
Helped by NATO, rebels managed to capture Gaddafi and killed him
on camera. NATO considered this a success, a transitional
government was installed and elections were held in 2012 and then
proceeded to continue providing air support.
However the only common goal between rebels' group was
removing Gaddafi: after achieving it, some militias wanted to
protect the American mission in Benghazi, but others wanted a
strict version of Sharia Law enforced all over the Libyan state and
civil war spread quickly among the country. The new government
tried to take a hold of the situation, but ultimately failed.
In 2012, four Americans were killed in an attack on the American
mission in Benghazi and only at this point the United States
realized that the transition from a dictatorship to democracy would
have been more difficult than what they expected.
In 2014, one of Gaddafi’s former generals, Khalifa Haftar, launched
“Operation Dignity”. Hafar has been hiding in the US since 1990
after the Libyan war with Chad. In 1996, he took part in a uprising
against Gaddafi, which ultimately failed. He then returned in 2011
to support the overthrow the Libyan dictator. He announced that
his main concern was to target Islamic groups which, he believed,
were taking over the Libyan parliament. Haftar held a press
conference claiming that the parliament was no longer serving the
people and his forces attacked militias in and around Benghazi.
During the attacks, more than 70 people died and The Libyan
government decided to declare the attacks as illegal.
Haftar didn't stop the attacks and he targeted the capital of Tripoli,
forcing parliament to flee. Haftar however found support from
members of parliament, the heads of the navy, special forces and
air force, as well as part of the army. He also lost part of the
support of the militias, as they split in deserting militias and
supporting militias.
Because Haftar's moves were getting most of the support from the
people of the country, part of the Libyan House of Representatives
saw itself bound to side with him.
Since then, Islamist forces called "Libya Dawn" have battled across
the oil-rich nation. Egypt and the UAE intervened, supporting the
Libyan government with airstrikes on Libya Dawn targets.
Because Libya is so big and the population is mostly concentrated
by the northern coast, a consistent part of the land contested: that
is where ISIS comes in, as during the past Autumn The Islamic
State claimed the city of Derna, 330 kilometers from Egypt. This
fact and the releasing of a video showing the murder of 21
Christians by ISIS member's hands, led 15,000 Egyptians fleeing
form the Libyan state and Egyptian forces started bombing targets
in Libya.
By the end of 2015 over one-third of the Libyan country as fled the
State and the peace conferences held in January weren't enough to
make the parts come to an agreement.
Major countries involved
The situation is alarming for the European Union: the Libyan State
is extremely close to Crete, Italy and Malta. As a matter of fact,
one of the UN countries that are involved the most in the Libyan
refugees crisis is Italy. This is due mainly to the proximity of the
Libyan state to the Italian islands of Sicily and Lampedusa. After
disembarking in Italy, Libyan refugees either stay in the country or
migrate to other EU countries.
UN involvement
The European Union is working out various policies
instruments to manage migration, keeping external borders
and protecting the right of asylum. The EU action is
complementing the competencies and action of Member States
in many cases retain exclusive competences.
and
safe
also
who,
Asylum seekers must not be considered as irregular migrants, and
they have the right to remain on the territory of an EU Member
State during the period of their asylum application.
Recently, the European Union approved some new rules that set
common high standards and co-operation to ensure that asylum
seekers are treated fairly, whatever is the country they decide to
flee to.
One of the militias would protect the American mission in Benghazi,
but others wanted a strict version of Sharia Law enforced. of
September the European Commission presented a list of priority
actions to implement the European Agenda of Migration: the list
included both short term actions to help the current European
refugee crises and long term actions, to prevent another crisis in
the future. These measures now need to be effectively put to work
at
the
different
levels.
Among these measures, one of the most important ones proposes
to relocate nearly 160.000 people to help reduce the pressure on
some of the Member States. To allow this measure to work,
Member States will have to promptly communicate with the
Commission (and give them vital information such as their
reception
capacities).
The focal point of the European Union's strategy is to prove that
the migration system can be restored to proper functioning.
The European Commission supports refugees through its
humanitarian budget, assisting them by:
Providing shelter and food, health services, clean water and
sanitation (during displacement and when they return to their
homeland);
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providing education and psychological support inside refugee
camps;
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protecting them against violence, abuses and/or exploitation;
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supporting the victims of protracted crises;
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responding to the specific needs of refugees, whether they
live in camps or they have been already displaced in urban areas.
However, the European Commission is also planning on decreasing
the scale of refugee crises, by working on prevention and trying to
reduce the vulnerability of the most disadvantaged communities.
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Reliable useful links
 http://www.migrationpolicycentre.eu/docs/ASN2013-03.pdf
 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-862_en.htm
 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-6134_en.htm