5th-7th February 2016
United Nations High Commission for Refugees
Study guide
Mission of the United High Commission for Refugees
The UN refugee agency is governed by the UN General Assembly and the Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC). The High Commissioner for Refugees is mandated by the United Nations to
lead and coordinate international action for the protection of refugees and the resolution of refugee
crises worldwide by seeking lasting solutions.1
UNHCR is led by the High Commissioner for Refugees – currently António Guterres, former Prime
Minister of Portugal – who is appointed by the General Assembly. The High Commissioner is
supported by an Executive Committee of 87 Member States which meets once a year.
In its efforts to achieve its goal, UNHCR strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to
seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, as well as to return home voluntarily.
The UN refugee agency's mandate is defined by the 1951 UNHCR Statute2. UNHCR's refugee
protocol has gradually been expanded through the protection and provision of humanitarian
assistance to those referred to as other persons "of concern", including internally displaced
persons (IDPs) who would fit the legal definition of a refugee under the 1951 United Nations
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and 1967 Protocol3, the 1969 Organization for
African Unity Convention, or some other treaty if they left their country, but who presently remain in
their country of origin.
UNHCR’s budget has risen from US$300,000 in its first year to US$7 billion in 2015. At the start of
2014, there were more than 51 million uprooted people worldwide.
In mid-2014, meanwhile, UNHCR was dealing with:

46.3 million people of concern to the agency

26 million internally displaced people

13 million refugees

1.7 million returnees

3.5 million stateless people

more than 1.2 asylum-seekers

752,000 other people of concern4.
“How UNHCR is Run and Structured” http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c80.html
“Convention and protocol related to the status of refugees” http://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10.pdf
3 “Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees ”http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3ae4.html
4 “History of UNHCR” http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646cbc.html
1
2
Environmentally displaced people
UNHCR has been making dramatic changes in the world by increasing awareness of human rights
issues and raising much concern and attention geared towards the topic of environmentally
displaced persons (EDPs). According to the United Nations 2013 census5, there are currently 50
million displaced persons in the world and future forecasts vary from 25 million to 1 billion6. During
a comprehensive study on EDPs in 1985, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) wrote
a paper about environmentally displaced persons, but failed to refer to them with an appropriate
name. Instead, UNEP referred to EDPs as refugees, which is a misleading. Furthermore, in 1992,
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) published a statement
claiming that climate change would lead to an increase in the amount of environmentally displaced
persons and social vulnerability — the International Panel on Climate Change 7provided
statistical support to the fact that climate change directly or indirectly affects human activity.
The World Health Organization, the Economic and
Social Council, and other committees have been
providing aid to EDPs, however, there is a major
issue left, which lacked treatment in the past. The
main conflict is the legality of protecting EDPs —
how can the United Nations provide EDPs with
proper resources when EDPs are not recognized
under the international human rights law?
The term “environmental refugee” emerged in the 1970s, but has since had its definition and
phrasing disputed and negotiated, leading to multiple working terms for those people displaced by
climate change. Therefore, the concept of environmentally displaced persons has not been
integrated into frameworks for refugees, which fall under the mandate of the UNHCR, or as a
theme to be discussed at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change8. While
international law offers protection to displaced populations through refugee laws, it does not extend
that protection to EDPs.
The majority of the people of concern to UNHCR are concentrated in the least developed
countries, which are climate change hotspots around the world. Climate change forces people into
extreme poverty and displacement, exacerbating the causes that lead to conflict, rendering both
the humanitarian needs and responses in such situations even more challenging.
5
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/vitstats/seratab2.pdf
https://www.iom.int/complex-nexus#estimates
7
http://www.ipcc.ch/
8
http://newsroom.unfccc.int/
6
The UN’s science advisory board, the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change, projects a
rising amount of EDPs within the course of this century. This brings great concern to the General
Assembly as there has been little to no improvement on protecting EDPs under international law
even though possible resolutions have been discussed during the 65th and 68th session.
A displaced person is forced to relocate from his home to communities within his nation or to those
in other nations, whether for environmental, political, or economic reasons — this process is known
as forced migration. Some people return to their homes shortly after being displaced but others are
permanently displaced.
People are legally considered as a refugee if they cannot remain in their home country due to
racial, religious, political, or social dangers. However, the UN does not consider environmentally
displaced persons as refugees due to the definition of refugees established after World War II.
According to the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a multilateral treaty, people
titled as refugees are eligible for: legal rights in the country where they settle, access to public
education, housing, a paying job as well as access to proper identification and other paperwork.
Inability to access these rights and protection hinders environmentally displaced persons to even
have an official name. This makes it difficult for government and authorities to decide if they are
responsible for EDPs — remember that governments are reluctant to add to the number of people
they are obligated to care for. The amount of money needed to support EDPs, being a huge
burden for the government, makes EDPs even less attractive. Moreover, sovereignty is a major
drawback. All nations have the right to control what happens within their own borders. Therefore, if
a government refuses to help its own displaced persons, it is very difficult or nearly impossible for
the UN to step in. Another factor that heavily affects EDPs over which the UN has no control is
climate change. Climate change — as researched over time — can be considered human-induced.
With an increasing amount of extreme weather threats, a substantial worldwide increase in EDPs
is projected in the near future. Climate change will destroy ecosystems, human welfare, and
socioeconomic systems. People in countries, located in low-lying areas, will be forced to flee.
The causes for EDPs can be split up into four categories:
1. extreme natural catastrophes (earthquake, tsunami, drought, volcanic eruption, floods etc.)
2. environmental degradation of soil and forests,
3. significant permanent losses of state territory as a result of the rising sea level,
4. armed conflict/violence over shrinking natural resources.
These sections can be further simplified as: sudden onsets, desertification, and human conflicts
over food. Sudden onsets are often a result of natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina in New
Orleans in 2005 and Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013. Survivors of these tragedies have
struggled in the aftermath due to droughts and desertification.
Climate change’s growing effects have been historically disastrous for island nations such as
Tuvalu, which lost one of its islets, Pretuka Savilivili, to rising sea levels in 19979. Scientists predict
that Tuvalu’s remaining islands will soon sink as well, making it the first nation to disappear due to
rising sea levels.
Aims and challenges of this committee
The goal of this UNHCR Committee is to brainstorm how EDPs can be given appropriate aid within
the system of international law and to provide concrete solutions to defeat social vulnerability.
The presence of EDPs is challenging conventional ideas of refugees and migrants, and therefore
requires different solutions than those for populations displaced by political conflict. These issues,
and the urgency in the onset of climate change and increasingly frequent natural disasters, result
in pressure for international institutions under the auspices of the UNHCR, to find a solution and
develop an integrated international response to the problem of environmental refugees.
Neither the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, nor its Kyoto Protocol include any
provisions concerning specific assistance or protection for those who will be directly affected by the
consequences of climate change. The Climate summit Cop21 in Paris did not expand the definition
of a refugee to include climate-based migration either10.
Questions to Consider
1. What kind of natural resources exist in your country?
2. Are there plenty of resources or are they scarce?
3. Has your country recently been affected by natural disasters? If so, what effects did they have
on your country?
4. How does your country define refugees? What is the policy towards refugees in your country?
5. What institutions or governmental agencies support refugees?
6. Are there refugees in your country? If so, how many?
7. Where do most of the refugees come from and how long have they been in your country?
8. What has been your relationship like with international aid partners regarding (a) refugee
issues, and (b) environmental issues?
9. What could possibly become EDPs official name? Why?
9
http://www.unausa.org/images/content/GC_Model_UN/Middle_School_Conference/Topics/2014/MSMUN__UNHCR-_Environmentally_Displaced_Persons.pdf
10
http://europe.newsweek.com/why-cop21-wont-solve-climate-refugee-problem-401627?rm=eu
For further research
The UNHCR
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home
ECOSOC
http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/
Climate change, natural disasters and human displacement: a UNHCR perspective
http://www.unhcr.org/4901e81a4.html
Convention and protocol related to the status of refugees
http://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10.pdf
Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees 1967
http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3ae4.html
UNHCR, the environment and climate change report October 2015
http://www.unhcr.org/540854f49.html
Informing policy regarding a new category of involuntary migrants
http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/policy/environmentally-displaced-people
The Nansen conference on climate change and displacement in the 21st century
http://www.unhcr.org/4ea969729.html
Cop21 and EDPs
http://www.citylab.com/weather/2015/12/cop21-paris-climate-refugees/418656/
Nansen initiative
https://www.nanseninitiative.org/
UNICEF report
http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/Environmentally_displaces_people.pdf
WHO: displaced people
http://www.who.int/environmental_health_emergencies/displaced_people/en/
“The Eu’s responsibility to protect environmentally displaced people”
http://www.e-ir.info/2015/08/22/the-eus-responsibility-to-protect-environmentally-displaced-people/
Environmentally Displaced People and Migration Policies in the 21st Century
http://rimd.reduaz.mx/ponencias_flacso/PonenciaCarolinaAbreuBatista.pdf
The World Factbook CIA
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/