Topic: Emergency Food Security Assistance for Refugees
Country: Tunisia
Delegate Name: Carson Van Skiver
School: Forest Hills Northern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Tunisia position papers GLIMUN 2014 committees
Food security is part of European Neighborhood Policy, and one of the ways to measure the security of food is an EFSA. EFSA stands for ‘Emergency Food Security Analysis.’ These are performed for disasters and to predict the outcome of certain situations. An EFSA answers the following key questions: Does the crisis have an impact on the population's food security and their livelihoods? How severe is the situation? Has the level of malnutrition been exacerbated by the crisis? How are people coping? How many people are food insecure and where are they? This can be applied to different situations, especially to refugee camps. The mass arrival of refugees induces both short- and long-term consequences to hosting countries. There are a number of direct and indirect food-security consequences of hosting refugees. In the short run, violence, environmental degradation, and disease propagation are risks, with indirect implications for food security, while the long-run can include changes in infrastructure, trade, and labor markets, as well as competition for resources.
As of June 14 to 20, 2011, Tunisia was hosting 41, 500 Libyan Refugees coming from Tripoli or from the western regions, fleeing insecurity and lack of income. This survey was done to find the food security of the refugees. Some of these refugees stayed at the Shousha camp on the border of Libya and Tunisia. This camp is popular to refugees fleeing from war and other things in the area surrounding Tunisia. In April, the thwar based in Libya's desert interior attacked a border crossing 300 kilometers southwest of Tripoli; found it inexplicably lightly-defended; and seized it, opening an escape route to neighboring Tunisia. Over the next month, more than 60,000 people drained from Libya into Tunisia. The majority of these refugees found private shelter with families in Tataouine, a rural town on the edge of the Tunisian Sahara. This provides a need for emergency food supplies for these internally displaced people. Tunisia, along with the United Nations World Food Program, are able to help these refugees.
