Model UN
Invite your delegates to learn more about UNHCR and the forcibly displaced
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organization dedicated to protecting people forced to flee their homes because of conflict, violence and persecution. For more than 75 years, UNHCR has worked to save lives, protect rights, and help refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally-displaced people build safer, more secure futures. Working with governments, partners and local communities around the world, UNHCR responds to emergencies while also advocating for the opportunities and long-term solutions that forcibly displaced people need to rebuild their lives.
Forced displacement is one of the defining humanitarian and global challenges of our time. More than 117 million people around the world have been forcibly displaced from their homes due to conflict or persecution. Behind this number are individuals and families whose lives have been upended and whose futures are shaped by decisions made by governments and the international community.
Model UN gives students an opportunity to engage with these challenges as diplomats and problem-solvers. The topics below invite delegates to debate practical questions at the heart of UNHCR’s work: How should the international community respond when people are forced to flee? How can refugees access education, employment and essential services? How can the most vulnerable be protected? And what are the solutions that will help end protracted situations where refugees have been living in exile for more than five years?
By bringing these discussions into your Model UN conference, students can explore the complexities of forced displacement and consider how international cooperation can help create a safer, more inclusive future for people forced to flee.
Model UN Debate Topics on Forced Displacement
Download these backgrounds guides to help inform your debates:
Requesting a Guest Speaker
If you would like to request a UNHCR guest speaker to your Model UN Conference, please do so by emailing [email protected] with the date, time and location of your request. We cannot guarantee speaker availability but will do our best to fulfill requests.