Country : United States of America

Committee : United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Delegate : Amaranggana Kamila Saputra
Topic : Evaluation of refugee camps and systems

Over the last couple of decades, there have been many wars that occurred, whether it would be a war
between only 2-3 countries or a war involving the whole entire world. Some countries like Iran, Palestine, or
Syria are even still at war to this day. These horrific wars result in 70.8 million people around the world
fleeing out of their home countries forcefully, to avoid conflict and persecution. These people are referred to
as refugees. a “refugee” is someone who is unable to return to his or her home country because of the fear of
being persecuted due to race, social groups, political opinion, religion, or national origin¹ . These refugees
that come from a place of conflict will have to undergo a refugee resettlement program in which they are
guided to be able to transfer to a different country, in order to build a new and better life in a harmless
environment. The programs are aimed to ensure that the refugees will live a sustainable life in another
country, consisting of many interviews, medical checks, trainings and many more. Though the flaw in these
programs are that these programs are very time consuming. It takes nearly 2 years on average for one to
complete the program and live in a safer country. With 1 person being forcibly displaced every 2 seconds,
the camps are bound to be full of refugees seeking help². A holding place to detain those refugees are
usually called refugee camps. A lot of camps in this world are vial, cruel and not sustainable for living, yet
many people are forced to live there and wait for their turn to be immigrated to another country.
The United States of America has a history of welcoming refugees from all around the world, thus why the
USA is a very racially diverse country with 61,27% White people, 17,79% Hispanic people, 19,31%
Black/African-American people, 1,25% Native Americans, and 0,24% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific
Islanders as of 2016. The USA remains one of the largest resettlement countries for refugees in the world
and The US Government and NGOs responsible for resettling refugees in the US works closely together
with the UNHCR. Governmental partners of the UNHCR includes the Department of State Bureau of
Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) Refugee Admissions program, the Office of Refugee
Resettlement (ORR) in the Department of Health and Human Services and the Refugee Affairs Division of
the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security.
Nowadays, The USA only accepts refugees from 11 countries (Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea,
Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen) due to the new Trump Administrator policies. Since then,
the USA has decreased the admissions rate significantly. For comparison, on 2016, the number of refugees
admitted to the USA set by the Obama Administration was 110.000 lives and the moment Trump took
office, the numbers decreased to only 50.000. In January of 2017, Trump also sign an executive order to
suspend the refugee admissions for 120 days. The numbers of refugees admitted has continued to decrease
until 30.000 in the 2017 fiscal year (a year after Trump took office).
The United States of America doesn’t use the refugee camps system. No refugees are allowed to stay in the
USA before undergoing a refugee resettlement program to avoid illegal immigrants coming into the USA.
The refugee resettlement programs are done in a country in which either the refugee is from or, the refugee
has stayed to seek safety and are held in camps. This policy is of course to ensure that there will be no
danger incoming the USA. Once the refugees are done with the program, they will be flow straight to the
USA and be guided by the NGOs that are responsible for them. The NGOs help with finding the right place

to stay, possibly help the refugees find a fitting job, and many more guidance to ensure they can live a
happier life.
Duffin, Published by Erin, and Jan 28. “U.S. Population: Ethnic Groups in America 2016 and 2060.” Statista, 28 Jan. 2020, www.statista.com/statistics/270272/percentage-of-us-population-by-ethnicities/.

“Fact Sheet: U.S. Refugee Resettlement.” National Immigration Forum, 7 Oct. 2020, immigrationforum.org/article/fact-sheet-u-s-refugee-resettlement/.
“Refugees.” United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/refugees/.

Sullivan, Eileen. “What Is the Refugee Program and Why Does the Trump Administration Want to Make Cuts?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Sept. 2019,
www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/us/politics/what-is-the-refugee-program.html.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. “Resettlement in the United States.” UNHCR, www.unhcr.org/resettlement-in-the-united-states.html.

With all of that taken into consideration, the delegate of the United States of America would like to
introduce the ECO-ME-APP program, which consist of:
1. Equal treatment to all refugees and IDPs and organizing activities that can create mutual
understandings and tolerance between refugees and IDPs.
Most violence that happens in the refugee centres are caused by mistreatment or unfair treatment to
both refugees and IDPs. With this program, it is highly unlikely for violence to happen again, due to
the fact that everyone is treated equally and refugees and IDPs can understand and tolerate each
other’s differences. An understanding environment will build up and vanish the violence.
2. Collaborate with pharmaceutical and medical companies to distribute their CSRs fund for
refugee centres health facilities.
As we already know, every pharmaceutical and medical companies have to set aside percentage of
their profit for corporate social responsibilities programs. One of the options of the CSRs is to
provide health and medical services and also medicines to refugee centres.
3. More contribution from developed countries by admitting more refugees than developing
countries.
Economically developed countries tend to have more money and less people, whereas economically
developing countries have more people and less money. Therefore, developed countries should
contribute more by admitting more refugees into their country and providing them with proper
refugee resettling programs.
4. Equal access of employment for refugees who are registered residents of a country.
A new research by Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security shows that refugees could
contribute up to $3.2 billion to the U.S. GDP if refugees had equal access to the employment and
were paid the same wage rates as native-born Americans. This of course would benefit the American
society and the refugees. This indicates that refugees could contribute significantly to the economy
of their host countries.
5. Appropriate facilities and programs that can ensure every refugee will register legally.

Just like us civilians, refugees are people who will get comfortable if they are given the decent
treatment. Therefore, we will provide appropriate facilities and programs in refugee centres that can
attract them to become a legal resident in their host country.

“Refugees Have Billions to Contribute to U.S. Economy.” Georgetown Institute of Women Peace and Security, giwps.georgetown.edu/refugees-have-billions-to-
contribute-to-u-s-economy/.
Bibliography

Duffin, Published by Erin, and Jan 28. “U.S. Population: Ethnic Groups in America 2016 and 2060.”
Statista, 28 Jan. 2020, www.statista.com/statistics/270272/percentage-of-us-population-by-ethnicities/.

“Fact Sheet: U.S. Refugee Resettlement.” National Immigration Forum, 7 Oct. 2020,
immigrationforum.org/article/fact-sheet-u-s-refugee-resettlement/.

“Refugees Have Billions to Contribute to U.S. Economy.” Georgetown Institute of Women Peace and
Security, giwps.georgetown.edu/refugees-have-billions-to-contribute-to-u-s-economy/.

“Refugees.” United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/refugees/.

Sullivan, Eileen. “What Is the Refugee Program and Why Does the Trump Administration Want to Make
Cuts?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Sept. 2019,
www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/us/politics/what-is-the-refugee-program.html.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. “Resettlement in the United States.” UNHCR,
www.unhcr.org/resettlement-in-the-united-states.html.