Committee: Special Political and Decolonization Topic: How to deal with the refugee problem in southern Europe; above

all, Italy Country: Bosnia-Herzegovina Since 2000 most refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Asia came to Lampedusa to start a new life in Europe. The political changes of the Arab spring and the civil war in Libya made thousands of Tunisians and Libyans flee North Africa to arrive on Lampedusa, an Italian island. Since Ben Alis fall the Tunisian coast was left unguarded so taking the flight to Europe was made easier. Lampedusa is seen by many as an entrance to Europe so the number of refugees dramatically increased. Minister president Berlusconi tried to get the island refugee-free but failed instantly. The amount of refugees affects the economy of Italy and Berlusconi even attempted to get other EU countries to take some of them or shut the borders but there is no end in sight. Reception camps are only meant for up to 800 people and hopelessly overcrowded. The sanitary facilities in the camps are inacceptable. Bosnia-Herzegovina itself has many refugees because of the agitation between the religious and ethnic groups that divide the country in two parts. In 1945, after the communists under Josip Broz Tito had won the elections, the republic of Yugoslavia, which included the area of Slovania, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Kosovo was founded. Especially in the 1960s the immense difficulties with making political decisions already prophesied how the republic was headed for disaster. In 1991 they all spoke for their independency so Yugoslavia was split up in its member states. But Serbia invented in Serbia and Croatia with the intention to prevent the separation. The following fights took place in Bosnia-Herzegovina, were Slovenia and Croatia announced their territorial claim. BosniaHerzegovina, split up how it is, had to go through a lot because the power-thirsty groups that attempted to seize power without having scruples to force military acts against opposing groups or even civilians. What drew the worlds attention to this conflict are the refugees that fled, mostly to Italy or the US, but even international help couldnt solve that problem. In 1995 the three and a half year lasting war which had cost about 200.000 lives was ended by the Dayton-Contract formed with the help of the USA and the European Union. The signatories were Slobodan Miloevid, Franjo Tuman and Alija Izetbegovid (the bosnian president). Nowadays BosniaHerzegovina is separated in two regions called bosnic-croatic federation and the serbic republic. Because of the bilateral sabotages political decisions are nearly impossible so the UN, the NATO and the European Union invented an international committee.

Even now for many of the approximately 800.000 Bosnians who were only driven from their homeland during the war coming back to Bosnia-Herzegovina is dangerous and may feel more like russian roulette than coming home. Some of them would still be persecuted in their own land not only because of the opposing states of minds, religions and ethnicities but also because having fled their home country they are seen as outsiders who dont deserve to live in the country. Bosnia-Herzegovinas History allows seeing the other side of the conflict, which means it holds the opinion that refugees should be welcomed and supported. Without solving the problems in South Africa or the countries where the refugees come from in general the wave of flights wont stop because especially Lampedusa will persist being the door to Europe for many people. Throwing them out and shut the borders wont improve anything. They cant be sent back to their country, at least not yet, because the situation still isnt stable and if they wouldnt be killed from the opposing group their own group might punish them for fleeing, just like it is/was in Bosnia. By helping the refugee-countries to improve systems and stop conflicts southern Europes load would swiftly be lightened.

-Bosnia: A Short History by Noel Malcolm -The War in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention by Seven L. Burg -http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/ -http://edition.cnn.com/ -http://refugee.wikispaces.com/Bosnia-Refugee+Cause -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring -http://unchr.com/ -http://www.unhcr.org/ -Bosnian Embassy -Croatian Embassy -Serbian Embassy