Dear Delegates,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) at Harvard National Model United Nations 2010! I am truly honored to have the opportunity to serve as your HNMUN director, and I look forward to getting to know you.

I actually didn’t get involved with MUN until I arrived at Harvard last fall as a freshman, but I had so much fun I decided to stay and continue with HNMUN my sophomore year! So for those of you who are new to the whole MUN experience, don’t be intimidated, as I started not long ago as well! For those of you have years of experience behind your backs, I am confident that this conference will allow you to continue making many merry MUN memories (try saying that 5 times in a row)!

I hail from sunny California, but being adventurous and looking to try out new climates, I ended up at Harvard, where I am currently a sophomore looking to weave together my interests in international relations and the workings of peoples’ minds by concentrating (the Harvard term for “majoring”) in Government and perhaps adding a pinch of Sociology and a dash of Psychology – we’ll see.

My extracurricular pursuits are largely related to development and international affairs, one, for example, being a human rights group vested in the fates of North Korean refugees. I also enjoy pottery, marching bands, swimming, playing the violin, “speed-shopping” in foreign countries, and long idyllic walks along the Charles River.

As I’m sure you all know, Model United Nations is an exhilarating experience, a few days of intense discussion and debate on dynamic topics that are carried out on the international scale every day. The topics of discussion for HNMUN 2009 are “Refugees in Southeast Asia” and “Regional Brain Drain.” I hope you will take substantial time to familiarize and contextualize yourself with the situations, and to do as much outside research as possible! The more understanding you have, the better equipped you will be to seek a workable solution to the matter and to cooperate with those who will bring other, insightful perspectives.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. In the mean time, between now and when we meet, please take some time to read through the study guide, investigate and internalize your country’s perspectives, and get excited!

Best Wishes,

Elena Chit

Director, ASEAN Regional Forum

Harvard National Model United Nations 2010

Topic Area A: Refugees in Southeast Asia

Hundreds of thousands of people in Southeast Asia live day-to-day in limbo, having fled their motherlands for sociopolitical and religious reasons to seek safety and tolerance in other nations. Amidst their sojourns, they risk extortion, trafficking, deportation, forced repatriation, and more as they set up camps along country borders, become economic migrants, seek asylum or look to resettle to third countries. No matter which path they take, the obstacles that face them are great and varied, and very few of them ever become truly “settled.” What can be done to aid these refugees, to provide them safety, stability, and freedom? Will changes come in form of legal ramifications, policy changes, budget shifts, political transformations, or other solutions? How much of the burden should be borne by their homelands, how much by nations receiving these refugees, and how much by the international community?

Even if they are registered with the UNHCR and have identification papers, refugees often don’t have legal status in other nations, which makes them especially vulnerable to human trafficking and extortion. For refugees who undergo these circumstances, more action needs to be taken to ensure these people’s protection. For refugees who experience deportation and repatriation, there needs to be additional transparency to see what happens to those refugees after their repatriations so that other procedures may be considered if the refugees’ repatriated situation is detrimental to their well-being. For countries that do not officially recognize refugees for economic reasons, or for fear of asylum seekers on their way to third countries being threats to national security, what is the best way to protect these refugees while maintaining nations’ stability? Also, it must be acknowledged that the flow of refugees to other countries costs those receiving nations millions of dollars every year in food and humanitarian assistance; and whom and in what proportions should these payments be balanced? When refugee camps are initially set up, many refugees are suffering from serious health problems, like tuberculosis, but camps tend to lack qualified doctors and money for health care. Who will pay for these necessary services, and for how long will these camps be needed? Surely delegates need seek a long-term solution to house refugees and keep them safe and free.

Topic Area B: Brain Drain

As regions of Southeast Asia experience economic advancement and growing social mobility, they are also encountering a growing social phenomenon known as “brain drain,” in which millions of professionals immigrate to other nations. Usually this activity occurs for economic reasons, but some citizens would attribute its rise also to the makeup of local education systems, the quality of life in their first countries, discouraging domestic policies, welcoming foreign immigration policies, and people’s feelings about in which directions their home countries are headed. The constant turnover of talent makes it hard for young countries to develop economically, especially in critical and emerging sectors such as medicine, public health, and infrastructure. Domestically, it poses problems since much time and money were invested in these skilled professionals, and their departure hurts local citizens who would partake of their services. Also, some Southeast Asian nations lack manpower and rely on conscription armies, so this loss of population is even more problematic. On the other hand, abroad, foreign nations welcome these individuals, for their skills increase those nations’ GDP and add color to their social fabrics. How should local governments approach this issue? Increasing remittances add to countries’ GDPs, and increasing contacts with foreign nations makes for more trading of goods and knowledge. Should governments be doing something about brain drain? If so, what, and if not, why not?

Some countries deal with brain drain by investing in cutting-edge research and technology, building up local intellectual powerhouses to attract and retain top foreign talents. In this way they exchange their people for others. Other proposed methods are less tangible, such as fostering national pride and a sense of pride in local abilities. In between are economic and legislative ideas to either make it harder for skilled professionals to leave the country or increase their incentives for staying. Should domestic governments invest in productivity-based incentives systems, more benefits, tax breaks for private companies who contract locally? What about legislation requiring people to serve their countries for set periods of time before being allowed to leave for overseas work? Or should countries aim to attract more foreign investment to create higher-paying jobs at home? How can governments work within themselves and with each other to translate brain drains into brain gains?