UN High Commissioner for Refugees
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Akua Abu, Director
Dear Delegates,
It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Together, our committee will confront head-on humanitarian, economic, and political issues that have a direct impact on the fate of people, movements and conflicts in the world today.
My name is Akua Abu and I am a Harvard sophomore and prospective Applied Mathematics concentrator. I have spent most of my life between homelands in West Palm Beach, FL and Accra, Ghana. Since finding my Harvard home, I’ve spent hours of free time traversing Cambridge, eating in Chinatown, and taking photographs of Harvard Yard (when it’s not freezing). Among my great interests are matters of philosophy, economics, engineering, and international relations. In addition to HMUN, I am also happily involved with the Harvard Parliamentary Debate Association, Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business, and the Harvard Crimson.
Our committee will coordinate action to resolve refugee situations in the Middle East and West Africa, regions which have sharply commanded the attention of the international community for decades. Recently, we have witnessed the tension, and escalating violence in countries such as Libya, Tunisia, Syria, and Iraq. The causes of conflict are myriad and vary from region to region, but similar effects are mirrored in the faces of millions of displaced asylum-seekers scattered throughout the world. I hope to achieve constructive debate to secure the rights of refugees in our two proposed topic areas. The first is on the situation of Middle Eastern refugees, hailing from countries in the midst of dramatic political crisis and change in Northern Africa and West Asia. The second is on the plight of refugees from Cote d’ Ivoire and surrounding regions in West Africa.
This year, I invite you to committee sessions filled with careful reflection and engaging discussion regarding development, national sovereignty, and regional obligation. I call on your creativity and motivation to devise methods to safeguard the rights and well-beings of refugees. Above all, I urge you keep close in mind the people and groups who are most affected by related issues every day.
It is a great honor to serve as your committee director for HMUN 2012. Do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. I wish you the best of luck in all your preparations and look forward to meeting you all for an exhilarating 4 days in February!
Sincerely,
Akua Abu
About Me
Class Year: 2014
Concentration: Applied Mathematics
Hometown: West Palm Beach, FL
Favorite Place: HMUN Committee
Favorite Food: Everything spicy
Favorite MUN Moment: Reaching victorious consensus on a delegate resolution
Why did you choose these topics? Delegates will not only analyze the complexities and underlying issues behind some of the most pressing conflicts in the contemporary world but also gain a deeper understanding of the plight of the individuals and victims most affected by the crises.
Some advice for new delegates: You are strongly encouraged to present any and all of your ideas relating to the topics! By all means, ask questions and share your opinions throughout all parts of the HMUN process.
HMUN is the best because…it truly serves as an effective forum for discussion and debate in which both common interests and unique viewpoints can surface.
Topics
Topic A: Refugees of the Arab Spring
The Middle East has been characterized as one of the most volatile regions in the world. Conflicts involving land, resources, and rights have consumed nations in the region, pitting countries against one another and splitting nations internally. These conflicts have created millions of refugees and asylum-seekers out of the region’s inhabitants, raising a number of issues with respect to their protection, their acceptance by neighboring countries, and their treatment and classification by the international community.
Topic B: The Ivorian Refugee Crisis
Côte d’Ivoire has been plagued with conflict and violence for years. Currently, the nation is still feeling the effects of the 2010-11 Ivorian political crisis, sparked by the refusal of President Laurent Gbago to transfer power to the internationally-recognized president-elect Alassane Ouattara. The conflict has created thousands of refugees and put a huge strain on the resources of neighboring countries such as Liberia. The refugee situation commands the attention of multiple nations on a global scale, demanding solutions to issues of refugee placement, identification, and asylum.