-Samman Man Shakya, Ashraya Rajbhandari
At SPECPOL, as debate centering the management of the refugees escalated, various controversies surfaced amongst the delegates. The controversies included topics such as the ambiguity on the acceptance of refugees and the crisis of conserving their identities.
In regards to identity, numerous countries such as New Zealand, Fiji, Tuvalu and others suggested titling the immigrants as ‘temporary refugees’ for ease of providing proper protection to these people as well as streamlining the return process to their homelands. The countries themselves, however, are conflicted on the long term identity of these refugees. The representative of New Zealand suggested on providing a citizenship which would terminate upon the resolution of the crisis. USA, meanwhile suggested providing only work permits to the refugees, also stating its willingness to fund countries that do so.
Meanwhile, following Russia’s decisions of accepting as many refugees as they can, the settlement of the refugees itself is in question. New Zealand followed suit by stating the nation will be accepting 836,000 refugees. The representatives of both Pakistan and Fiji stated their willingness to accept refugees as well, ‘out of kindness’ and accounting for their countries’ proximity to the islands, The decision however,was condemned by the Tongan representative, who called Pakistan a "terrorist state" that is unsafe for refugees and further went on to state that Fiji was a "gas chamber for Jews", due to the nation’s high probability for itself sinking in the near future.
The debates sunk SPECPOL into a whirlwind of turmoil as an unresolved conflict would subsequently heighten the humanitarian crisis with millions of island residents predicted to be displaced all over the world.
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