Topic: The Rights and Status of Refugees
Country: Philippines
Delegate Name: Josie Ness
School: Forest Hills Eastern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Philippines position papers GLIMUN 2018 committees
According to the United Nations, the world is facing the highest levels of forced displacement in history. As a result of persecution, conflict, war, or natural disaster over 65 million people have been forcibly displaced. 57% of refugees came from Syria, South Sudan, and Afghanistan. 85% of refugees are being hosted in developing countries. Turkey, Pakistan, and Lebanon hosted the greatest number of refugees in 2016. The 1951 Refugee Convention and it’s Protocol were ratified in 147 countries, including the Philippines. The treaty defined refugees as people who were forced to leave their country and have a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. It also detailed the rights of refugees and asserted that refugees should not be required to return to a country in which they face threats to their life or freedom.
Recently, 300 Rohingya who fled Myanmar were taken in by the Philippines in May 2015. The Philippines has taken in nine waves of refugees: 1,200 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Persecution in the 1930s, 2,700 Vietnamese refugees fleeing the Vietnam war from 1975 to 1992, several thousand Iranian refugees who were left stateless after the Iranian Revolution in 1978, 600 people from East Timor who took refuge in the Philippines temporarily during East Timor’s struggle for independence from Indonesia in 2000, and more. The Philippines has generously supported refugees living in our country as well; On April 23, 1940, former Philippine President Manuel Quezon donated Marikina land to Jewish refugees for farming. In 2012, the Philippines became the first Southeast Asian country to sign and become a state-party to the 1954 Convention on Stateless Persons. This convention ensures that stateless people have a basic standard of human rights given to them by their host country. It included, but was not limited to, stateless persons’ rights of access to education, employment, housing, identity, travel documents, and administrative assistance. On November 6th, 2012, the Philippines became the third nation, after Moldova and Georgia, to establish a statelessness determination procedure. The procedure was established to ensure that the Philippines meets its obligations under the 1954 Convention. The Philippines also formed a unit to protect refugees and stateless people with our own budget resources. Refugees in the Philippines are entitled to work permits and are granted immigrant status or are naturalized. President Rodrigo Duterte offers a home for refugees in the Philippines, saying “we will accept them all,” because of the failure of Western countries to help them.
The Philippines recognizes the importance of human rights for all people and recommends that all states that violate the rights of refugees described in the 1951 Refugee Convention and it’s Protocol face severe repercussions, like economic sanctions. The Philippines, a country in which 21% of its inhabitants lived in poverty in 2015 (Philippines Statistics Authority), recognizes the importance of supporting refugees and would like to continue supporting refugees. However, the Philippines strongly urges countries with more stable economies, specifically Western Countries, to increase their involvement in accepting and supporting refugees.
