Topic: Rights of Immigrants
Country: Colombia
Delegate Name: Christian Koch
School: Ann Arbor Community High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Colombia position papers GLIMUN 2012 committees
Between the 1960’s and 1990’s, Colombia faced an infamous armed conflict between the government and FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) that changed the course of our country forever. Years after this conflict, the effect of this conflict has made a direct impact on the balance of emigration and immigration. The emigration out of Colombia is now one of the largest in South America. After our armed conflict, our Colombian citizens fled
the country to the United States, Spain, and neighboring countries.
Every country has laws that regulate both immigrants and nationals. Colombia is no different. There are many laws in Colombia that cover how visas are handled and which establish restrictions for public safety. To come to Colombia, you must obtain a valid visa. All immigrants must enter the country through a legal port of entry. If someone should break this law, they could face charges such as fines or imprisonment. There are also many restrictions for immigrants traveling with sickness and diseases. If you are an immigrant and wish to leave the country, you must first pay a deporting tax and pay and fees on your visa before leaving Colombia. Although some regulations for immigrants may seem strict, they are necessary to benefit our country and its people while providing visitors with a pleasant stay in Colombia.
According to the 2005 Colombian census, about 3,331,107 Colombian citizens currently reside outside of Colombia. Other studies show this number could exceed 4 million or 10% of the country’s population. Approximately 1.2 Colombians left the country between the years 2000 and 2005 and have not returned since. The direct cause of their absence is the threat of violence related to drugs, human trafficking, and high levels of poverty and tension in Colombian society. Over the past decade the number of unauthorized Colombians in the United States has tripled from 51,000 to 141,000.
We believe that countries such as the United States, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Brazil will agree that Colombians are leaving their home country in problematic numbers–considering many of our people now refugees in those countries. Immigration law is a significant issue for all countries. Whether your country faces unsupportable immigration or draining emigration, it has many negative effects. Illegal immigration causes many problems such as taking away jobs from citizens, increase in population and resulting strain on housing and public services, and wage suppression. All of these issues have led to calls for immigration reform in many nations and a need for international solutions to resolve our current immigration dilemmas
Immigration is creating big problems in our country and is making it difficult to address other social problems such as health care, poverty, drug enforcement and the overall economic prosperity of Colombia. We know for a fact that Colombia is not the only country that is facing major issues regarding immigration, which is why we feel it is important to discuss this topic in the UN. Colombia stresses the importance of these immigration issues to protect its people and ensure a stable society. We must find a way to reverse our immigration ratio and enforce regulations on immigration for all countries around the world. If we do not do something about immigration soon, the problem will worsen and continue to affect not only Colombia, but also the entire world.
-Christian Gerard Koch,
Representative of Colombia’s, Social, Cultural and Humanitarian Committee
