After a short break we came back to discuss and debate an important topic at the Model United Nations 22/23 Conference.

Freedom of Movement

A peaceful and prosperous world is one in which people can feel safe and secure in their homes, with their families and in their communities. It is a world in which they can feel confident in their country, their culture and in the family of nations and peoples on our common planet.

People emigrate from one country to another for a variety of complex reasons. Sometimes, for economic or other personal reasons, people choose to leave their homes, to begin a new life in a new location. For better or worse, these decisions are made as a matter of conscious choice. But when nature intervenes in the form of natural disasters, people's homes are washed away, blown away, or shaken to the ground, uprooting entire communities. When war or civil unrest ravages a community, people are forcibly displaced or simply flee to protect life and limb. At the extreme, they are left with only few options: death by privation, assault or genocide, or life in exile.

Despite what appears to be large population movements, people still are not able to move as freely as commodities. In some places around the world, there are additional restrictions being put upon people’s movements.

More recently, a large number of people are attempting to leave the devastation of their own country caused by the current form of globalization and other political, foreign and economic policies, which, as well as creating winners, is creating a large number of losers, and growing inequality. Tackling poverty, addressing issues of development and seeking peaceful resolutions in conflict areas are all important aspects of tackling these types of immigration.

Additionally, asylum seekers and refugees – men, women and even children – are increasingly detained and interned around the world. Sometimes detained indefinitely and often in appalling conditions; they may suffer not only deprivation of their liberty but other abuses of their human rights too. Many governments are seen to violate the international customary law of non-refoulement as well as being accused of inhumane treatments of asylum seekers.

Therefore, the United Nation calls on all nations to abide to the principles of Freedom of Movement and ensure that these are consistently applied to fully meet our global duties and it also urges all Governments to improve the treatment of refugees in line with values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.