As one of the United Nations General Assembly’s main committees, SOCHUM is focused on solving social, cultural, and humanitarian conflict and inequality. In this committee, delegates were tasked with devising solutions to refugee crises, poverty, and systematic oppression, as well promoting human rights and women’s rights.

Gracie was tasked with representing Japan. She wrote papers on their stances on the World Migration and Refugee Crisis and the #MeToo Movement.

World Migration and Refugee Crisis

The Yearly Global Trends Report found that 70.8 million men, women, and children were forcibly displaced from their homes in the year 2018. This is two times higher than the number of displaced refugees as of 20 years prior.2 This is evidence that the refugee crisis is rapidly growing. Organizations such as the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) have been taking action by providing those in need with vital supplies stoves for heat and fuel, tents, clothing, as well as money for medicine and food. Smaller programs such as the Atlanta, Georgia-based nonprofit, Lawyers for Good Government were created to provide lawyers to help prepare Hispanic refugees seeking asylum for upcoming court cases. 

Japan recognizes the importance of improving the refugee crisis and has been offering a significant amount of assistance to various organizations,  refugees and host communities alike. Japan is UNHCR’s fourth-largest donor, and as of March 2019, the country has donated over 120M US Dollars to the cause.3 As stated by Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, “[Japan] supports the United Nations to take the lead in tackling this issue.” With the UN at the head of solving this issue and member states supporting, this crisis can begin to be solved.

Japan believes one of the most efficient ways to help those seeking asylum is by bringing the program Lawyers for Good Government to a global level by creating the Global Lawyers Program. This organization will provide volunteer lawyers from each country to help prepare refugees for their upcoming court cases. As said by Japan’s Prime Minister, “Japan will continue to play a leading role to bring solutions to the refugee and migrant issues by collaborating closely with the international community.”

The #MeToo Movement

As stated by Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, “Every woman and every girl has the right to a life free of violence.” It is estimated that there are 1 billion women globally living with the pain caused by gender-based violence. The people affected by these repulsive crimes often refrain from filing formal reports to the authorities, causing their trauma to go unnoticed. The #MeToo movement was coined by New York community organizer Tarana Burke in 2006. However, the movement grew when actress Alyssa Milano spread the hashtag.4 In 2018, António Guterres launched a gender-parity strategy at the UN.5 This strategy ensures that all allegations are to be taken seriously, and that safe methods of reporting assaults are in place at the UN. Following the launch of the Secretary-General’s plan, an equal number of women and men occupy senior management positions at the UN Secretariat.6 “In this effort and beyond, my message is simple: we will not tolerate sexual harassment anytime, anywhere,” he said.7 

Japan recognizes the gravity of the matter, and is working diligently to provide the UN with the support it needs to help combat the issue of sexual violence. Japan announced its support of 200 million U.S. dollars for education and human resources training on sexual and gender-based violence for girls and women in developing countries. In 2015, Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzō Abe, pledged UN Women the implementation of 3 Billion US dollars towards enhancing security and peace and ending sexual violence. Japan engages in resolving this issue mainly through its contributions to global organizations. However, Japan has also crafted several programs focused on matters such as bringing more women into politics. 

Japan believes the best way to make an impact is with monetary donations and the implementation of more women in politics. The growth of female representation in the political world would lead to increased protection for women and girls, a vital part in addressing the concerns of the #MeToo movement. In May of 2018, Japan passed non-binding legislation, the “Act on Promotion of Gender Equality in the Political Field,” which encourages each political party to make efforts to equalize the number of male and female candidates as much as possible. Japan would like to work with other member states to globalize this strategy along with creating a monetary fund to assist developing nations in this aim by creating plan FIRE. The Female Involvement and REpresentation program will strongly encourage each country to implement a greater number of female politicians into local and national elections. By raising the number of female candidates in an election, we have a greater hope of addressing the issue of sexual violence, protecting women and girls globally, and giving those affected a voice. 

Works Cited and Consulted

(1) United Nations. “Donors.” UNHCR. Accessed March 11, 2020. https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/donors.html.

(2) United Nations. “Donors.” UNHCR. Accessed March 11, 2020. https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/donors.html.

(3) Mlambo-Ngcuka, Phumzile. “The #TimeIsNow for Solidarity and Sisterhood.” United Nations. United Nations. Accessed March 9, 2020. https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/timeisnow-solidarity-and-sisterhood. 

(4) Selby, Daniele. “The UN Weighs in on the ‘Me Too’ Discussion.” Global Citizen. Accessed March 9, 2020. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/un-violence-against-women-metoo/.

(5) “#MeToo Movement Stems from Impunity and Culture of Silence, Senior UN Official Writes | UN News.” United Nations. United Nations. Accessed March 9, 2020. https://news.un.org/en/story/2017/10/568962-metoo-movement-stems-impunity-and-culture-silence-senior-un-official-writes. 

(6) “UN Will ‘Not Tolerate’ Sexual Harassment in Its Ranks – Guterres | UN News.” United Nations. United Nations. Accessed March 9, 2020. https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/02/1001861.