Topic: Emergency Food Security Assistance for Refugees
Country: United Kingdom
Delegate Name: Raquel Avila
School: Flint Southwestern Classical Academy
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All United Kingdom position papers GLIMUN 2014 committees
In recent years, conflicts such as the Syrian Civil War and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have forced large numbers of people to abandon their homes and flee to safe havens. As more and more people are being displaced food sources are becoming scarce. People flee to refugee camps hoping to return home soon. However, displacements can last for generations. Refugee camps were only built to receive refugees temporarily meaning that basic human needs were designed to be met for a specific amount of time. This leads to widespread starvation among refugee communities. The Food and Agriculture Organization want to provide food to those that is unable to get it, for those that are starving.
Over the years, the United Kingdom’s contributions to help other countries have increased. We help other countries in need by giving them money. This year alone, we have donated $32,480,917 to the Syrian Arab Republic for those that had to flee their homes due to the civil war. In the last year, three thousand three hundred forty-three people from Pakistan found refuge in the United Kingdom. The majority of people the seek refuge in the United Kingdom do not have the right to work in that country but they are given cash support. £36.62 is given to each person, per week for food, clothing and sanitation. The United Kingdom provides care to those countries that are most in need.
The United Kingdom is in full support towards emergency food assistance for refugees. We would like to see an improvement on how the people receive the assistance because food gets stolen and used as political leverage. The security of the assistance should be considered since the people who need the aid the most may not be receiving it due to misuse and theft. The amount of assistance being sent should depend on which country is in the most need and the number of people that are in need of those assistance, therefore a set of criteria must be established in order to judge the amount of need in an area. As a global community, it is our duty to ensure that refugees receive their aid safely and with no string attached.
