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Champion Briefs
November 2015
Public Forum Brief
Resolved: In response to the

current crisis, a government
should prioritize the
humanitarian needs of refugees
over its national interests.
Copyright 2015 by Champion Briefs, LLC

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The Evidence Standard

November 2015

The Evidence Standard

Speech and Debate provides a meaningful and educational experience to all who are involved.
We, as educators in the community, believe that it is our responsibility to provide resources that
uphold the foundation of the Speech and Debate activity. Champion Briefs, its employees,
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inaccurate methodologies to reach a conclusion or prove a point.
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6. We will actively contribute to students understanding of the world by using evidence
from a multitude of perspectives and schools of thought.
7. We will, within our power, assist the community as a whole in its mission to achieve the
goals and vision of this activity.

These seven statements, while seemingly simple, represent the complex notion of what it means
to advance students understanding of the world around them, as is the purpose of educators.
Champion Briefs
Table of Contents
November 2015
Table of Contents
The Evidence Standard ......................................................................... 3
Topic Analyses........................................................................................ 7
Topic Analysis by Beln Mella ................................................................................................. 8
Topic Analysis by Michael Norton ........................................................................................ 16
Topic Analysis by Charles Starr............................................................................................ 24
General Information ............................................................................ 33
Frameworks .......................................................................................... 44
Pro Arguments with Con Responses .................................................. 48

Aiding Refugees Helps Build International Credibility ................................................. 49
A2 Aiding Refugees Helps Build International Credibility ......................... 51
Refugees patch the economic skills gap ........................................................................... 53
A2 Refugees patch the economic skills gap ................................................... 56
The Birth Lottery ................................................................................................................... 57
A2 The Birth Lottery .......................................................................................... 63
Moral Obligation ................................................................................................................... 66
A2 Moral Obligation ........................................................................................... 70
Climate Change Refugees..................................................................................................... 72
A2 Climate Change Refugees ............................................................................ 77

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Table of Contents
November 2015
Foreign Governments are Responsible ............................................................................ 80

A2 Foreign Governments are Responsible .................................................... 87
Remittances............................................................................................................................ 90
A2 Remittances ................................................................................................... 95
Islamophobia ......................................................................................................................... 99
A2 Islamophobia ............................................................................................... 103
Intervening in the Smuggling Business .......................................................................... 106
A2 Intervening in the Smuggling Business .................................................. 112
Labor Win-Win .................................................................................................................... 116
A2 Labor Win-Win ............................................................................................ 122
Food Distribution ................................................................................................................ 125
A2 Food Distribution........................................................................................ 129
Military Intervention.......................................................................................................... 133
A2 Military Intervetion .................................................................................... 139
Solving the root causes ...................................................................................................... 144
A2 Solving the root causes .............................................................................. 147
Con Arguments with Pro Responses ................................................ 150

Resource Allocation ............................................................................................................ 151
A2 Resource Allocation ................................................................................... 155
Public Backlash ................................................................................................................... 159
A2 Public Backlash ........................................................................................... 164
Refugees strain local economies ...................................................................................... 169
A2 Refugees strain local economies.............................................................. 172
Security Risks....................................................................................................................... 175
A2 Security Risks .............................................................................................. 178
Aid Worsens Regional Issues ............................................................................................ 181
A2 Aid Worsens Regional Issues.................................................................... 184

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Table of Contents
November 2015
Aid Implementation............................................................................................................ 187

A2 Aid Implementation ................................................................................... 191
Governments are the wrong actor ................................................................................... 194
A2 Governments are the wrong actor .......................................................... 197
ISIS Resettlement ................................................................................................................ 200
A2 ISIS Resettlement ........................................................................................ 204
Refugees create change at home ...................................................................................... 208
A2 Refugees create change at home.............................................................. 211
Social Contract ..................................................................................................................... 215
A2 Social Contract ............................................................................................. 219
CSupporting the Aggressor ............................................................................................... 223
A2 Supporting the Aggressor ......................................................................... 227
Terrorism ............................................................................................................................. 230
A2 Terrorism ..................................................................................................... 233
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Topic Analysis by Beln Mella
November 2015

Resolved: In response to the current crisis, a government should prioritize the
humanitarian needs of refugees over its national interests.
Introduction
This month, high school debaters from across the country will engage in the same
discussion as political leaders from across the globe. The topic area for November is Migrant
and Refugee Crises. More specifically, teams will be debating Resolved: In response to the
current crisis, a government should prioritize the humanitarian needs of refugees over its national
interests. The refugee crisis spilling out of conflicts and persecution in the Middle East, North
Africa, and Western Asia has been described as the worst we have seen since World War II1.
There are serious humanitarian concerns, as thousands have passed away and millions more face
dire conditions in the search for safety. In the face of this crisis, countries continue to have to
balance their economic, national security, and political interests. It makes for a complicated
situation, and although there are no obvious solutions, there are several arguments for either
side. Additionally, there are major ambiguities in the resolution. For starters, it does not specify
the crisis or the government. Moreover, there is a confusing gray area as to where a countrys
national interests might actually intersect those of the refugees.
Norton, Ben. A guide to the worst refugee crisis since WWII". Mondoweiss, 9-9-2015. Web. 10-8-2015.
http://mondoweiss.net/2015/09/refugee-crisis-since#sthash.1wv1sF9X.dpuf
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November 2015

Breaking Down the Resolution
Lets start with the current crisis. Since the resolution does not specifically name a
crisis, debaters may argue that it is up to interpretation. The World Bank2 has a comprehensive
list of refugees by country of origin. Syria, Afghanistan, and Somalia top the list, but over a
hundred countries are named. Some debaters may zoom in on a specific, lesser known crisis and
derive massive impacts. This may win rounds, but it is probably not in line with the framers
intent. Although the resolution doesnt specify a crisis, its use of the article the3 suggests that
there is in fact one major crisis. The UN Refugee Agency 4 reported that worldwide
displacement was at the highest level ever recorded and that one in every 122 humans is now
either a refugee, internally displaced, or seeking asylum. They attribute it to over fifteen5 wars,
conflicts, and instances of persecution happening worldwide that amounted to 19.5 million
refugees at the end of 2014. Thus, most rounds should address either the global refugee crisis or
one of the major hotspots.
The actor in the resolution is a government. It is important to address the possible
ambiguities. Some debaters may choose to discuss one specific government. This is a technically
accurate interpretation of the resolution, since it addresses a government, but it is probably not
"Refugee population by country or territory of origin". No Publication, xx-xx-xxxx. Web. 10-8-2015.

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SM.POP.REFG.OR?order=wbapi_data_value_2014+wbapi_data_value+wbapi_
data_value-last&sort=desc
3
A silly but hopefully useful analogy: when someone says the Beyonc, you know who they are talking about!
4
"Worldwide displacement hits all-time high as war and persecution increase". UNHCR, 6-18-2015. Web. 10-82015. http://www.unhcr.org/558193896.html
5
In the past five years, at least 15 conflicts have erupted or reignited: eight in Africa (Cte d'Ivoire, Central African
Republic, Libya, Mali, northeastern Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and this year in Burundi);
three in the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, and Yemen); one in Europe (Ukraine) and three in Asia (Kyrgyzstan, and in
several areas of Myanmar and Pakistan).
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November 2015

the framers intent. A government should reasonably be generalizable to any government. For
example, the phrase a person should never usually doesn't refer to a specific individual.
Another response may take the route of engaging the argument, since it is probably easy to
disprove that one government alone can take on the whole refugee crisis at the expense of their
national interests. Teams may also choose to discuss the Social Contract, shifting the focus to the
will of the individuals under the government.
According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, should is used to indicate
obligation, duty, or correctness, and prioritize is defined as to designate or treat (something)
as more important than other things. This is crucial for the narrative of the round. Affirmative
teams don't have to advocate that the government completely neglect national interests and
Negative teams dont have to completely ignore the humanitarian needs of refugees; each side
much simply tip the balance of priority to their side. In other words, don't let your opponents
force you to defend an extreme position. Additionally, Negative teams can negate either by
proving that national interests are more important than the humanitarian needs of refugees or that
they are of equal importance, which can be a helpful tiebreaker when rounds are close.
This all begs the question, what should a government prioritize? At first glance, the
resolution feels Neg-skewed, since it makes intuitive sense that a government prioritize its
national interests. Of course, the topic is not that simple. Mondoweiss6 reports that in just the
first eight months of 2015, over 300,000 refugees tried to cross the sea [and] more than 2,500
died. The Affirmative team can argue that lives should be a priority and steer the debate
accordingly.
Norton, Ben. A guide to the worst refugee crisis since WWII". Mondoweiss, 9-9-2015. Web. 10-8-2015.
http://mondoweiss.net/2015/09/refugee-crisis-since#sthash.1wv1sF9X.dpuf
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The Affirmative team must advocate that the government prioritize the humanitarian
needs of refugees. In an article titled World leaders neglect of refugees condemns millions to
death and despair, Amnesty International7 details, 3,500 people drowned while trying to cross
the Mediterranean Sea in 2014 -- 1,865 so far in 2015 and 300 people died in the Andaman Sea
in the first three months of 2015 due to starvation, dehydration and abuse by boat crews. The
Affirmative should bring light to these issues. Additionally, they may want to suggest that
prioritizing the refugees humanitarian needs, while a substantial task, is not impossible.
World Vision 8 explains, Refugees need food, clothing, health assistance, shelter, and basic
household and hygiene items. Negative teams may respond that cherry picked examples of aid
are not sufficient to affirm.
The term refugees shouldn't stir up too much debate, but it is worth noting that it is not
interchangeable with several other terms you will come across in the literature. The UN Refugee
Agency reports that there are 59.5 million forcibly displaced people worldwide. This group is
comprised of refugees, internally displaced persons, asylum-seekers, and stateless people.
According to Refugees International9,
A refugee is legally defined as a person who is outside his or her country of nationality
and is unable to return due to a well-founded fear of persecution because of his or her
race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.
By receiving refugee status, individuals are guaranteed protection of their basic human
rights, and cannot be forced to return to a country where they fear persecution.
7
"World leaders neglect of refugees condemns millions to death and despair". Amnesty International, 6-15-2015.
Web. 10-9-2015. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/06/world-leaders-neglect-of-refugees-condemnsmillions-to-death-and-despair/
8
"What You Need to Know: Conflict in Syria, Children, and the Refugee Crisis". World Vision. 9-23-2015. Web.
10-9-2015. http://www.worldvision.org/news-stories-videos/syria-war-refugee-crisis
9
"Helpful Facts & Figures". Refugee International, 2015. Web. 10-2-2015. http://www.refintl.org/getinvolved/helpful-facts-%2526-figures
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The final phrase in the resolution is one of the most complex: national interests.
Refugees International10 explains that when faced with the refugee crisis, countries point to a
lack of resources, threats to national security, fears of domestic political destabilization, or the
arrival of even greater numbers of refugees. These are all areas that the Negative team could
expand upon in formulating a case. From a framework perspective, there is probably a utilitarian
argument for the number of people affected by their governments actions. Additionally, looking
to the actor in the resolution (the government) intuitively points to national interests as a
priority.
That said, in our increasingly globalized world, there are plenty of areas where national
interests and the refugee crisis intersect. One such area is conflict. Speaking before the United
Nations11, Bulgarian President Roden Plevneliev stated, As long as there is conflict in Syria, the
refugee crisis will not go away. The efforts of the entire international community should be
focused on ending hostilities in conflict zones, supporting institution building, the rule of law and
respect for human rights. This points to an interesting argument for the Negative side. The
refugee crisis stems from over fifteen conflict zones, and addressing these (especially to the
extent that they constitute a threat of terrorism) is arguably a national interest. We have heard
this argument across numerous topics: dont put a bandaid on a bullet wound, solve the root
cause, weigh the long term over the short term.
Affirmative teams can respond in several ways, such as by pointing out that
prioritization is an inherently short term concept (as per the definition that a priority is what
must be taken care of first). Additionally, affirmative teams may point to a deeper root cause to
10
"Helpful Facts & Figures". Refugees International, 2015. Web. 10-9-2015. http://www.refintl.org/getinvolved/helpful-facts-%2526-figures
11
"UN News". 9-30-2015. Web. 10-9-2015.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=52075#.VhfwXhNViko
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spin the argument once more. Plevneliev continues, Every crisis can be traced back to its initial
phase when someone has violated the law and human rights. To prevent future crises, a UN early
crisis detection system needs to be set up to safeguard the rule of law and human rights.
Considering that the Affirmative has legal and humanitarian ground (as per the 1951 UN
Refugee Convention), perhaps failing to act on this now would spark an even worse conflict.
Finally, addressing the root cause is a massive problem that isnt likely to be solved in the near
future. A quick Google search will point to articles titled12, West shouldnt use root causes to
ignore refugee crisis.
There is another interesting intersection of national interests in the refugee crisis. Take
Germany as an example, which has received over 98,000 applications for asylum so far this year.
Greg Myre from NPR13 explains, Like most every European country, Germany has a low birth
rate and an aging population. Some parts of the country suffer labor shortages, and some German
officials see immigrants as the solution to the country's demographic challenges. In other words,
taking in refugees may address both their humanitarian needs and a governments national
interests. It should be noted that even this has faced scrutiny, with French politician Marine Le
Pen suggesting that Germany is exploiting refugees for lower wages 14 . This example is
interesting, but it is unclear whether it falls on Affirmative or Negative ground. Affirmative
teams may argue that governments should prioritize the humanitarian needs of refugees (again
perhaps defining prioritize as what one does first) and prove some additional positive impacts
to the local economy. Negative teams may argue that accepting refugees with this end in sight
12
Lamey, Andy. West shouldnt use root causes to ignore refugee crisis". Globe and Mail, September 14, 2015.
Web. 10-9-2015. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/west-shouldnt-use-root-causes-to-ignore-refugeecrisis/article26352002/
13
Myre, Greg. The Migrant Crisis, By The Numbers ". NPR.org, 9-8-2015. Web. 10-7-2015.
http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/09/08/438539779/the-migrant-crisis-by-the-numbers
14
"French far-right leader says Germany seeking 'slaves' in migrants". Reuters, 9-6-2015. Web. 10-9-2015.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/06/us-europe-migrants-france-farright-idUSKCN0R60TF20150906
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does not constitute a prioritization of their humanitarian needs; instead, it is a prioritization of
national interests that happens to address their humanitarian needs, also multiplying positive
impacts.
Conclusion
Whether you will be traveling to Glenbrooks for some deep-dish pizza, Blue Key for
fried frog legs, or your local tournament for a cold sandwich (probably), November should be an
excellent month for debate. The topic is interesting, balanced, and certainly ripped from the
headlines (check out Google Trends for proof). You have probably noticed by now that it leaves
plenty of room for squirrely (that is, obscure and counterintuitive) arguments. While I
encourage strategy and creativity, you should also aim to be fair and reasonable, as it will make
for better debates.
On a final note, remember that you are discussing the lives of real people. Several
countries have come under scrutiny15 for their inhumane treatment of the refugee population. As
future leaders, debaters should be sensitive to the human impact of their impacts.
Good Luck!
Beln Mella
15
Dearden, Lizzie. Four ways Europe is treating refugees like convicted criminals". Independent, 9-2-2015. Web.
10-8-2015. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/refugee-crisis-four-ways-european-countries-treatasylum-seekers-like-convicted-criminals-10483185.html
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November 2015

About Beln Mella
Beln Mella competed in Public Forum for Miami Beach Senior High. As a senior, she
championed the Emory Barkley Forum and the Florida State Championship. Additionally, Beln
reached finals at the National Catholic Forensic League Tournament, semifinals at Florida Blue
Key, and quarterfinals at Glenbrooks, Nova Titan, and the Tournament of Champions. She was
ranked fourth in the country and reached late out rounds at the 2014 NSDA Nationals. Belen is
currently a freshman at Harvard University where she is studying economics and government.
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Topic Analysis by Michael Norton
November 2015

General Advice
The November resolution, Resolved, In response to the current crisis, a government

should prioritize the humanitarian needs of refugees over its national interest, promises to be a
fun, though messy, topic. The wording is fairly vague, with terms like current crisis and a
government, rather than specific actors or policy questions. The wording is likely so broad
because the NSDA intended this resolution to be more of an ideological question than a specific
policy issue. Rather than simply weighing costs and benefits within a specific political
framework, the resolution requires debaters to consider what the humanitarian obligations of
governments are in the abstract sense. As such, it would not be strategic to advocate for specific
governments to enact a certain policy, because that would not be addressing the entirety of the
resolution. The best strategy is one that incorporates issues that transcend the borders of specific
countries like economics, backlash, welfare, national security, or other problems that are
relatively universal to countries with a heavy influx of refugees.
As with the September/October topic, this months topic requires the debate community
to discuss a very grave humanitarian issue. The words used in round matter, whether they carry a
hateful intent or not. Arguments based on generalizations about people from a certain region,
ethnicity, class, religion, or other classifications are never valid. Xenophobia is not always easy
to recognize, meaning debaters should think critically about all the literature they encounter on
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this topic and consider its potential biases. Just because somebody says something in an article or
a study doesnt mean the argument theyre making is inherently valid.
Resolutional Breakdown
Current Crisis - Political instability around the globe has displaced millions in what has
now become the worst global refugee crisis since World War Two. Conflict and oppression have
forced inhabitants to flee Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, and other countries, with the hope of
finding a new place to call home. The current crisis alluded to by the resolution is the political
dilemma created by the massive influx of migrants, specifically in Europe. Certain states are
more impacted by the rise in migration than others. In particular, states closer to conflict zones
are more likely to be have refugees end up in their territory. Countries like Hungary and Greece
have had hundreds of thousands cross their borders, while the more isolated states, like the
United Kingdom, have far more control over how many refugees they admit. Some states, like
Germany, have welcomed many migrants because they desire the labor that refugees can
provide. Others, like Hungary, have been bombarded by many waves of migrants and are fed up.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban has argued that Hungary is a pure, European nation, and should
remain untainted. His statement is one of many xenophobic outbursts against refugees in the past
few months, as tension boils over because of political inaction. The chart below proves that antirefugee sentiment has been on the rise.
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16
The European Union has reached an agreement to create refugee quotas, but even with such
recent political developments, there still arent enough potential homes for refugees. Thus, the
crisis is not simply the migration itself, but rather how the governments involved will address the
massive increase in population.
16
Soergel, Andrew. Economy reporter. US News & World Report. Refugees: Economic Boon or Burden? Sep 15
2015.
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/09/15/would-syrian-refugees-be-an-economic-boon-or-burden
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A Government - Debaters should also consider how to weigh these impacts from the
perspective of a government. Because the resolution doesnt specify an actor, debaters are
required to explain what a government is obligated to do in theory. Different theories of
government provide a different lens on how to weigh impacts in the round and, therefore, serve
as good weighing mechanisms on this topic. Several theories of government will likely be very
important on this topic. Cosmopolitanism is the notion that humans belong to a global
community, implying that a government shouldnt arbitrarily prioritize its citizens over the
humanitarian needs of refugees. Contractarianism is the idea that a government is created
through a contract with its citizens, implying that its primary duty is to look out for national
interests. Many debaters will likely consider the moral perspective, arguing that it is either moral
or immoral for a government to prioritize refugees over citizens. Whether or not governments are
truly moral is up for debate, seeing as they are merely institutions, not rational agents.
Debaters looking to employ a morality framework should consider a few philosophers. Peter
Singer, known as the Effective Altruist, would argue that moral agents should do something
good if it is at minimal cost to the self. Singers theory would likely suggest that the cost for
governments to assist refugees is relatively small, meaning that they should prioritize them over
national interests. John Rawls is a famous liberal philosopher who devised the so-called veil of
ignorance. He argues that our perspectives are biased by our perspective, meaning that the only
way to understand the most moral outcome would require individuals to place themselves behind
a veil of ignorance, where they are unaware of who they are in the world or what their social
position is. The implications of Rawls veil of ignorance are that the individual must ignore their
own privilege and instead consider what helps the average person the most. Philosophies are a
convincing way to develop a framework, but due to their complexity, they must be presented in a
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very clear, easy to understand fashion. All too often, overly theoretical frameworks become too
complicated, and the debaters themselves become confused.
Prioritize Clearly, governments can to a certain extent help refugees and consider the
interests of their citizens. The resolution isnt asking about the circumstances where the
humanitarian needs of refugees are palatable and not very costly, but rather the situations with
tradeoffs. To win the round, the pro cant simply prove that refugees deserve consideration, but
rather that they deserve consideration at the cost of things that would be beneficial to the
governments citizens. Similarly, it is not the burden of the con to argue that refugees should be
ignored, but rather that they should not be prioritized over citizens.
Humanitarian Needs Primarily, the distinction between a person who is displaced and
a refugee is the ability to return. Someone who is displaced is without a home, but there is
nothing about the area that makes it impossible to go back. A refugee, on the other hand, is
unable to go back because of factors beyond their control, rendering them without a home and
without a government to represent them. Resettlement and citizenship are therefore some of the
most important needs of refugees, because without a government to represent them, there is
nobody to ensure their rights are protected. At the same time, migration is often dangerous
because of the risks of leaving a political conflict. Dangerous forms of transportation, like
shipping containers or small rafts, are sometimes the only way to escape political oppression,
meaning that policies to ensure safe travel are also important. Basic human needs, like food,
water, and shelter, are also often needed in the short term while refugees attempt to get situated.
Finally, its arguable that fighting oppressive governments is a humanitarian issue. Refugees will
continue to stream into Europe unless something is done to stop extremism in Syria, Iraq,
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Afghanistan, and other areas. Military action could hypothetically solve the root cause of the
current crisis, but its viability as a form of humanitarian aid is certainly up for debate.
National Interests The most common popular reasons people have to justify keeping
refugees out are generally xenophobic. Most refugees are actually fairly educated, dont need
long-term welfare assistance, and dont commit any more crime than the average citizen.
Generalities about laziness or criminality are baseless and often rooted in racist ideology. The
more valid argument to not prioritize refugees is the massive cost of integrating so many people.
If governments could provide goods and services around the world, they would, but seeing as
resources are limited, they cant. Those who contribute to the state and consent to its right to
govern presumably deserve credence, and if humanitarian aid cuts into assisting those within the
states confines, states arguably shouldnt give aid. Welfare systems could be overloaded in the
short term, food and water will be heavily in demand, and the government will generally be
unable to control its borders. Furthermore, regardless of the true cost of refugees, there is a
massive perceived cost, which creates huge backlash, an argument in and of itself. If backlash
prevents refugees from being properly integrated, theres a good argument that humanitarian aid
cant be effective unless its in the national interests.
Major Clashes of the Resolution
As with most governmental policy tradeoffs, the economic cost is a very important factor.
The true impact of refugees unto the economy will be heavily debated, much like it is in the
literature. There is a lot of literature to support the claim that refugees help the economy.
Refugees are strong willed people, willing to risk life and limb to find a new home. Theyre
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good-natured and entrepreneurial, demonstrated in their propensity to pay taxes and start new
businesses. Some countries that accepted many migrants have grown their economy by
increasing the labor supply, allowing revenue to grow in all areas of the economy. The United
States is the perfect case study, having historically been a nation of immigrants. On the other
hand, many argue that natural and economic resources are already too strained to handle more
people. States with high levels of economic uncertainty, like Greece, barely have enough
reserves in their banks to provide basic goods and services. Its unlikely that refugees can
seamlessly be integrated into the state without major costs to the state.
While xenophobia isnt an argument in and of itself, the backlash that results can create
meaningful impacts. If backlash will end up hurting more people than are helped by a given
humanitarian policy, then said policy is clearly unjust. The extent to which backlash actually
manifests is very important, however, because its not enough to simply show people are
frustrated with a given policy. Backlash arguments are only effective if debaters can show that it
manifests in shutting down other policies or benefits.
National security arguments can be racist on this topic, but can also be grounded in
legitimate concern. Making bold claims about terrorism is risky because theres little evidence
that refugees are more likely to be terrorists. If the border is unprotected and refugees can freely
enter, however, there is a legitimate argument to be made that there is a risk of untraceable crime
committed by noncitizens.
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Conclusion
The November topic is extremely broad, meaning there are a lot of different issues for debaters
to wrap their heads around. The specific burdens of the resolution are very crucial, and
understanding them is probably the most important way to be successful on this topic. The pros
burden is not to universally ignore national interests, but rather to show that governments should
prioritize them in response to a contextualized humanitarian crisis. The con is tasked simply with
proving that even if refugees deserve consideration, they ought not be prioritized given the role
of government. There are many arguments to help the pro and con meet these burdens. The trick
is to contextualize them in the current crisis, and show why they matter in light of the correct
governmental philosophy.
Good Luck!
Michael Norton
About Michael Norton

Michael Norton competed for Falmouth High School in Maine, graduating in June 2012.
At Falmouth, Michael served as head Public Forum captain, and co-taught a class he chartered
on debate. While competing, Michael was Maine state champion and two time national qualifier,
reaching the top 20 at nationals both years. In addition, Michael won the Sunvitational, the Blake
Invitational, the Manchester Essex Invitational, the Harvard Round Robin, and the Harvard
Invitational, all combining for a nearly 90% win rate on the national circuit his senior year.
Michael is now a senior at Brandeis University, where he is studying Politics, Philosophy, and
Economics and is active on his school's Parliamentary Debate team, making it to semi-finals of
the APDA National Tournament his sophomore year.
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Topic Analysis by Charles Starr
November 2015

Introduction
November is normally a great month in debate. The topics throughout my career made
for some of the most memorable debates Ive participated in. This topic, however, may appear to
be vague and complex at face value. Although the Syrian refugee crisis has been on the news
constantly, the resolution doesnt define what the current crisis is nor does it clarify which
government should take action. Generally speaking, most people will interpret this resolution
to be about the governments of the EU and their response to the Syrian refugee crisis. This topic
will also rely on arguments with emotional impacts much more than many other NSDA topics.
Additionally, debaters must not forget that this topic is incredibly sensitive, and there is a high
potential to offend if one speaks carelessly.
Strategy Considerations
With a resolution that is so vague, framing the round is extremely important. There are
also many strategies in regards to framework that have both lay and flow appeal. They will
generally be along the lines of what a government should consider when making a decision.
However, there are many ways to evaluate the basis of government decisions. Thus, the winner
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of the framework will likely win the round. This is because if you win your framework, it
crystalizes a single avenue to a government decision (and thus the judges ballot). Your entire
case should support the same evaluation of what the government should consider when making
decisions. On the con, you can argue that a government should never stray away from
prioritizing the needs of their citizens. In a democracy, citizens elect government representatives
to relay their interests and needs. Thus, the only purpose a government should fulfill is to protect
and enhance their citizens interests. After framing the round in this way, you can run several
contentions on the harms of accepting refugees to the citizens of the country that accepts them.
This is probably the most widely accepted evaluation of the purpose of government and their
decision making process, so this topic has a con bias on the flow. This is because flow judges
probably care much more about framing the round than lay judges. However, if you have a
parent judge and you win your framework on the con, it makes telling the judge to ignore the
needs of others much less insensitive because you can justify it behind the function of a
democratic government. On the pro, you can still argue that the function of a government
includes upholding human rights and dignity across the world (even if its beyond their borders).
There are many international agreements regarding human rights that the majority of countries
on Earth have signed. Just to give one example of these agreements, the preamble of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights states Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and
of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of
freedom, justice and peace in the worldWhereas Member States have pledged themselves to
achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and
observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms.17 The promotion/observance of human
17
"UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights." UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
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rights can be achieved by accepting refugees who faced a deadly reality back in Syria.
Additionally, the pro team can argue that prioritizing humanitarian needs doesnt mean turning a
blind eye to all national interests. Just because a government is temporarily helping refugees
doesnt mean the country will blatantly disregard all the interests of their citizens. Conversely,
the con team can argue that a government can provide assistance to migrants without entirely
shifting their priorities and neglecting national interests. When two teams have opposing
frameworks like these, it comes down to which team can better justify and warrant their
framework. The pro team needs to be able to tell the judge why international agreements
outweigh the immediate representation of the interests of citizens of a democratic nation. On the
con side, you must be able to explain to the judge why seemingly selfish behavior is justified in a
situational context. I cant stress how important framework is in this debate; many debaters will
try to muddle rounds, so you need to practice your framework. Learn how to explain your
framework in a technical debate and more universally understandable way. Practice this with
your teammates until you can concisely explain them. When teams are muddling rounds, youll
be happy that you can remain calm and clearly explain the context that the judge should evaluate
the round from. Here is a sample framework that one could incorporate into their con case:
Con [School name] negates Resolved: In response to the current crisis, a government should
prioritize the humanitarian needs of refugees over its national interests. We observe that Edward
Gresser of Progressive Economy reports in October of 2012, The world has 117 electoral
democracies.18 This means that the majority of countries in the world support the ideals of
18
Gresser, Edward. "The World Has 117 Electoral Democracies. - Progressive Economy." Progressive Economy. 1
Oct. 2012. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
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democratic representation. Since a democratic country is supposed to protect the immediate
interests of citizens, if we can prove accepting refugees harms the host country, vote con.
On another note, it is absolutely imperative that the con team doesnt say anything that
can brand them as ignorant, insensitive, or cruel. Remember, the refugee crisis is affecting
millions of people. These millions of people have had to face unimaginable obstacles. You are
just a high school student in a developed country, so do not make sweeping statements about
denying those effected by crisis a safe haven. Everything the con team states must be articulate,
justified, and sympathetic. Although that might seem impossible on a topic like this, winning a
framework will (like the sample one) help you greatly.
Topicality
It is crucial to examine this resolution to the fullest extent before writing cases or
considering strategy. The first half of the resolution refers to the current crisis. Naturally, one
assumes the NSDA is referring to the power vacuum and instability in Syria. The UN Refugee
Agency reported in July of this year, The number of refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria to
neighbouring countries has now passed four million, confirming that crisis as the world's single
largest refugee crisis for almost a quarter of a century under UNHCR's mandate. If a team tries
to run a different interpretation of the resolution, just remember to point out to the judge that this
is largest refugee crisis in the last quarter of a century. If that doesnt fall under their
interpretation of the current crisis, I dont know what else would. Unfortunately, recent
pictures of drowned refugees washing up on the beaches of Greece and other eastern European
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nations underscore the extent of the crisis.19 The next portion of the resolution refers to a
government. Logically, this is referring to governments/countries that are affected by the
refugee crisis. The bulk majority of the Syrian refugees are escaping through Eastern Europe and
heading to the EU. The BBC reports in September of 2015 At least 350,000 migrants crossed
the EU's borders in January-August 2015.20 Refugees from countries other than Syria like
those from Libya have increased in recent months as well. This is because many Arab
countries have taken a hardline stance on denying Syrian refugees any entrance into their
countries. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait have collectively allowed 0 refugees
through their borders.21
The phrase humanitarian need comes next in the resolution. The Global Humanitarian
Assistance Initiative defines this as the aid and action designed to save lives, alleviate suffering
and maintain and protect human dignity.22 Lastly, the resolution references national interests.
When I debated in high school, I generally cited the Harvard Belfer Centers list of national
interests (in order of importance) when I had to debate a resolution that mentioned national
interests. Although it is a US-centric list, it provides interesting insight into what constitutes a
national interest for any county (here is the linkhttp://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/2058/americas_national_interests.html).
Otherwise, a fairly con-biased definition from the Merriam Webster Dictionary defines it
as the interest of a nation as a whole held to be an independent entity separate from the interests
19
"Troubling Image of Drowned Boy Captivates, Horrifies." Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 2 Sept. 2015. Web. 13 Oct.
2015.
20
"Why Is EU Struggling with Migrants and Asylum? - BBC News." BBC News. 21 Sept. 2015. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.
21
Martinez, Michael. "Syrian Refugees: Which Countries Welcome Them." CNN. Cable News Network, 10 Sept.
2015. Web. 13 Oct. 2015. <http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/09/world/welcome-syrian-refugees-countries/>.
22
"Defining Humanitarian Assistance." Global Humanitarian Assistance. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.
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of subordinate areas or groups and also of other nations or supranational groups.23 In short, this
resolution is asking us to evaluate whether governments in the face of the Syrian refugee crisis
should suspend their adherence to their national interests in order to provide humanitarian
assistance to others.
Affirmative Arguments/Strategy
The advantage that the pro team has in this months debate is the lay appeal. If I had a
parent judge and I was debating the pro, I would be very happy. All you have to do is focus on
the emotional appeal of the arguments. The flow approach is more difficult, but if you have the
proper framework, you can cleanly win the round. If you frame the round based off of adherence
to international agreements regarding human dignity, I would suggest running a contention that
outlines the current lack of an adequate response to the crisis in addition to underscoring the
extent of human suffering because of the crisis. Simply winning your framework and extending
the fact that 4 million people have been deprived of basic human rights because they were forced
to depart their homes is enough to win a pro ballot in some rounds. Additionally, I would suggest
running a separate contention that mentions the harms to national interests of allowing the
refugee crisis to continue to spiral out of control. If you can argue that the instability caused by
the migrant crisis, without a proper solution that requires government to prioritize humanitarian
aid, will harm the rest of the worlds economy, political stability, etc., you will win the round
even if you lose your framework. This is because youre proving that prioritizing humanitarian
needs precedes the ability to protect national interests. The logic may seem circular, but if you
practice this strategy enough, you will be able to explain it cleanly. The argument is predicated
23
"Definition of NATIONAL INTEREST." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.
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on the fact that a nation simply cant prioritize their own interests without looking after the
migrants. It is because the migrants will eventually cause problems (even if theyre outside your
borders) that the government will not be able to protect their national interests from. From
example, one could highlight that the economic strain on the Middle East will eventually affect
Europes economy. The con side will likely argue the same impacts with different warrants that
allowing migrants into a country will somehow lead to further instability. This is exactly why
learning your warrants is crucial. Tell your judge why your argument will happen in the real
world. Ask your opponents why their impacts will materialize in the real world. From personal
experience, Ive found Why? to be the most effective crossfire question.
Negative Arguments
The first step to winning the round is winning your framework. You must explain the
importance of adherence to national interests. After youve done that, you can run several
contentions that uniquely and independently prove how prioritizing humanitarian aid undermines
a governments adherence to national interests. Some of the more compelling arguments on the
con side suggest that the refugee crisis will drain a country of their resources and actually
increase the instability in the host country and Syria alike. An argument I would run states that
the draining of resources will create political pressure and instability in the host country.24
Further, I would research the reasons why Arab countries which have refused migrants a safe
haven. Many of these nations have refused migrants on the basis that they arent legally
24
"Syrian Refugee Crisis Threatens Stability in the Middle East." American Progress. 1 Aug. 2014. Web. 13 Oct.
2015.
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obligated to provide refuge or asylum.25 Naturally, all these harms are contrary to the national
interests of any government.
Good luck!
Charles Starr
About Charles Starr
Charles Starr is an undergraduate freshman at Boston College. He debated for Miami

Beach Senior High School and graduated in 2015. During his first year of competing in Public
Forum Debate, he qualified to NSDA Nationals and broke to out-rounds at the National
tournament with his partner Jonathan Wolloch. During his junior year, Charles amassed three
TOC bids. During his senior year, Charles debated with Belen Mella and amassed four TOC
bids. The highlights of their partnership included a semi-final finish at Blue Key, winning
Emorys Barkley Forum, winning Floridas Varsity State Championship, finaling at CFL
Nationals, and quarterfinaling at the Tournament of Champions. They ended the year ranked 4th
in the country on debaterankings.com.
25
Martinez, Michael. "Syrian Refugees: Which Countries Welcome Them." CNN. Cable News Network, 10 Sept.
2015. Web. 13 Oct. 2015. <http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/09/world/welcome-syrian-refugees-countries/>.
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November 2015
General Information
Current Humanitarian Needs of Refugees
Syria
The Syrian war has been going on for four years, but only in 2015 has Europe woken up to the
flow of Syrian refugees. So why now? It is hard to find definitive reasons, but conversations with
Syrians across the migration trail and a survey of recently available data suggest a mixture of the
following. Firstly, the war is not getting any better. That has the dual effect of prompting more
Syrians to leave their country and causing Syrians in exile in Turkey to give up hope of returning
home. Secondly, Turkey is not a country for people to stay in for the long term. It has been more
receptive than most, taking in about 2 million Syrian refugees. But Syrians do not have the right
to work there legally, so it is not a place to settle. Additionally, the recent electoral setbacks for
the AKP, the party perceived as being most in favour of helping Syrian refugees, has made many
Syrians nervous about Turkeys political future. Thirdly, UN bodies working with millions of
refugees in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon are complaining that they are running out of money,
making camp conditions harsher than in the past and life more untenable for Syrians who live on
their own but still depend on UN subsidies. The UNHCR reports that its appeals for cash are
underfunded. The graphic below shows what rich countries have given to UNHCR to deal with
the problem leaving a gap of almost 40% between what it needs and what has been donated.
And these figures are just for the Syria region. In eastern Europe, a conduit for thousands of
refugees seeking respite in Europe, the finances are even more damning. A UNHCR request for
14m to deal with the specific problems of conduit countries such as Italy, Hungary and Bosnia
has only reached 9% of the target. The knock-on effect is that the UN has been unable to provide
as much financial support to Syrian refugees in the Middle East during the past year, and so
many have opted for Europe as a result. A fourth point is that people have finally saved up
enough money. It is expensive to pay for your family to cross to Greece and then work your way
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up through Europe. Depending on how many smugglers you use, every individual might spend
about $3,000 (1,970) to get to Germany. It takes time to get that kind of cash and maybe we
are now seeing the result of several years of penny-pinching. Fifth, there is now a known route.
People have long trekked through the Balkans to the EU, but Syrians were not previously among
them. That changed late last summer, when the first few Syrians found the Balkan route to
Europe. Those trailblazers told their friends, who told their friends, who set up Facebook groups
about it. Suddenly a phenomenon was born and one that grew still faster when people realised
that the window might not stay open for much longer. And sixth, the crisis is only a crisis
because of the European response to it. EU countries have spent all year debating and
procrastinating about an appropriate solution to Europes biggest refugee movement since the
second world war. (Kingsley, Rice-Oxley, and Nardelli)
Ukraine
International aid agencies say about 1.4 million people have fled the fighting in eastern Ukraine
and moved elsewhere in the country. Social workers speak of a "hidden" humanitarian crisis,
since many of these people are not concentrated visibly in refugee camps, but are tucked away in
apartments, dormitories and sanatoriums on the outskirts of towns and cities. These "internally
displaced people" (IDPs) - the official name for refugees who do not cross international borders struggle to find permanent housing and regular jobs in Ukraine's moribund economy, often
lacking the necessary work and residence documents. Their situation is all the more precarious
because it is concealed. Less than 5% live in officially-recognised facilities, officials say.
Observers warn that their circumstances will become much worse when winter comes, since
many live in sub-standard housing. (Stern)
Rohingya
THE watchtowers and the high-security fence on the border between Myanmar and Bangladesh
make this frontier look impregnable. Yet thousands of Rohingyas cross into Bangladesh each
year. Rohingyas are a Muslim group whose persecution in their mainly Buddhist home state of
Rakhine in Myanmar is long-standing but has recently escalated. The Myanmar government does
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not recognise Rohingyas, many of whose ancestors originally hailed from Bengal during British
colonial days, as one of the countrys many official ethnic minorities. Denied nationality since
1982, they are in effect stateless. In Myanmar the Rohingyas are dismissed as foreign Bengalis.
But they are not welcome in Bangladesh either. Some 500,000 Rohingyas were already living in
Bangladesh before this latest wave of refugees. Many had come in previous surges in the 1970s
and 1990s, when Myanmars military junta encouraged their flight. Last year the Bangladeshi
prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, ordered officials to resettle the 30,000-odd refugees living in
camps near Coxs Bazar, a tourist spot with the worlds longest unbroken beach. The chosen
location is a barren island in the Bay of Bengal, called Thengar Char. It was formed about a
decade ago by the sediments of the Meghna river, the confluence of the Ganges and the
Brahmaputra rivers. The island is exposed and prone to flooding during spring tides. It does not
appear on most maps. (Economist)
Responses to Refugee Crisis
US
The White House says the U.S. is preparing to accept at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next
fiscal year, which begins October 1. Spokesman Josh Earnest said President Obama had
informed his team he would like them to prepare to accept the refugees who are fleeing Syrias
civil war. Earnest said the U.S. was providing $4 billion in financial assistance to relief agencies
and others, making it the largest aid donor in the humanitarian crisis. He called the financial aid
the most effective way by far to help those on the ground. The U.S. accepted 70,000 refugees
in the 2015 fiscal yearabout 1,500 of them from Syria. John Kerry, the secretary of
state, reportedly told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing this week that the U.S. will boost the
number of refugees it accepts worldwide to as many as 100,000. The U.N. estimates that the
Syrian civil war has created 4 million refugees. The overwhelming ajority of those refugees live
in camps in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. About 350,000 have sought asylum in Europe, which
has become the global face of the refugee crisis. (Calamur)
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Arab Gulf Nations
When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, fellow Gulf states raced to shelter thousands of displaced
Kuwaitis. Fast forward 25 years, and the homeless from Syria's nearby war have found scant
refuge in the Arab world's richest states. For critics of the Gulf's affluent monarchies the contrast
is profoundly unflattering, especially as several are backers of the combatants in Syria's conflict,
so must, they argue, shoulder a special responsibility for its consequences. The wrenching image
of a Syrian Kurdish refugee boy drowned on a Turkish beach has stoked debate in Europe. The
official silence of Gulf Arab dynasties makes many Gulf citizens uneasy. Paintings and cartoons
of the young boy's death crowded Arab social media, one depicting little Aylan Kurdi's corpse
laid out before an open grave with inert figures in traditional Gulf Arab cloaks and robes holding
shovels. Another showed the three-year old's head slumped toward a tombstone marked "the
Arab conscience". Sara Hashash of rights group Amnesty International called the Gulf Arab
states' behavior "utterly shameful" and criticized Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates for officially taking in zero refugees. Turkey hosts almost 2 million, tiny
Lebanon over a million and other restive and poor neighbors hundreds of thousands. The Gulf
states' supporters say the numbers involved in Syria's crisis are vastly larger than in Kuwait's
case. They point to the funding Gulf states have given to aid efforts in countries neighboring
Syria. (Browning and Bayoumy)
Germany
But that image appears to have vanished, almost overnight, after Germany signalled its
readiness to offer shelter to more than 800,000 refugees from Syria and other countries this year
-- the biggest intake of any EU country. Under the EU's so-called Dublin rules, asylum
applications must be processed by the country where a person first arrives. But Germany has
decided to suspend that rule for Syrian refugees, effectively opening up a corridor for them to
seek safety in Europe's biggest and most prosperous economy. (Morgan)
Eastern Europe
Europe is deeply divided over how to handle the continent's biggest refugee crisis since the end
of World War II, and Hungary's and other eastern European nations' hard line has contrasted
with a show of solidarity elsewhere in Europe. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban lashed
out at Germany for giving refugees false hopes and causing the unprecedented influx of refugees
into Europe. "The problem is not a European problem, the problem is a German problem,"
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Orban charged. In view of Hungary's unwelcoming stance, it is hardly surprising that hundreds
of migrants chanted "Germany, Germany" as they waited at a Budapest railway station last week,
some clutching photos of Merkel and signs proclaiming "I love Germany". (Morgan)
Humanitarian Law
UN Refugee Convention of 1951 and 1967 Protocol
The 1951 Convention consolidates previous international instruments relating to refugees and
provides the most comprehensive codification of the rights of refugees at the international level.
In contrast to earlier international refugee instruments, which applied to specific groups of
refugees, the 1951 Convention endorses a single definition of the term refugee in Article 1.
The emphasis of this definition is on the protection of persons from political or other forms of
persecution. A refugee, according to the Convention, is someone who is unable or unwilling to
return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of
race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. The
Convention is both a status and rights-based instrument and is underpinned by a number of
fundamental principles, most notably non-discrimination, non-penalization and non-refoulement.
Convention provisions, for example, are to be applied without discrimination as to race, religion
or country of origin. Developments in international human rights law also reinforce the principle
that the Convention be applied without discrimination as to sex, age, disability, sexuality, or
other prohibited grounds of discrimination. The Convention further stipulates that, subject to
specific exceptions, refugees should not be penalized for their illegal entry or stay. This
recognizes that the seeking of asylum can require refugees to breach immigration rules.
Prohibited penalties might include being charged with immigration or criminal offences relating
to the seeking of asylum, or being arbitrarily detained purely on the basis of seeking asylum.
Importantly, the Convention contains various safeguards against the expulsion of refugees. The
principle of nonrefoulement is so fundamental that no reservations or derogations may be made
to it. It provides that no one shall expel or return (refouler) a refugee against his or her will, in
any manner whatsoever, to a territory where he or she fears threats to life or freedom. Finally, the
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Convention lays down basic minimum standards for the treatment of refugees, without prejudice
to States granting more favourable treatment. Such rights include access to the courts, to primary
education, to work, and the provision for documentation, including a refugee travel document in
passport form. Most States parties to the Convention issue this document, which has become as
widely accepted as the former Nansen passport, an identity document for refugees devised by
the first Commissioner for Refugees, Fridtjof Nansen, in 1922. (UN Refugee Agency)
Q. Are migrants treated differently from refugees?
A. Countries are free to deport migrants who arrive without legal papers, which they cannot do
with refugees under the 1951 convention. So it is not surprising that many politicians in Europe
prefer to refer to everyone fleeing to the continent as migrants.
Q. Which term applies to the flood of people reaching Europe now?
A. The United Nations refugee agency says that most of them are refugees, though some are
considered migrants. The majority of people arriving this year in Italy and Greece, especially,
have been from countries mired in war or which otherwise are considered to be refugeeproducing, and for whom international protection is needed, the refugee agency said.
However, a smaller proportion is from elsewhere, and for many of these individuals, the term
migrant would be correct. Human traffickers make no such distinctions, though; refugees and
migrants are often jammed into the same rickety boats for the crossing. (Sengupta)
National Interests of the government

Realist Perspective
It must be noted that Morgenthaus realism was never divorced from a profound moral
foundation. In his early work Scientific Man vs. Power Politics, Morgenthau sketched out an
ethical vision that acknowledged the dilemmas inherent in free will and power in an imperfect
world, arguing that the best course is to choose among several possible actions the one that is
the least evil.12 Subsequently this norm was expanded in the context of a theory of
international relations to the principle that as long as there is no international community capable
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of guaranteeing security amid fierce competition, a nation fulfilled the duty to choose the lesser
evil by following its national interest. In the absence of an integrated international society, the
attainment of a modicum of order and the realization of a minimum of values are predicated
upon the existence of national communities capable of preserving order and realizing moral
values within the limits of their power.13 Thus Morgenthau argued emphatically that Despite the
profound changes which have occurred in the world, it still remains true, as it has always been
true, that a nation confronted with the hostile aspirations of other nations has one prime
obligationto take care of its own interests. The moral justification for this prime duty of all
nationsfor it is not only a moral right but also a moral obligation arises from the fact that if
this particular nation does not take care of its interests, nobody else will. Hence the counsel that
we ought to subordinate our national interest to some other standard is unworthy of a nation great
in human civilization. A nation which would take that counsel and act consistently on it would
commit suicide and become the prey and victim of other nations which know how to take care of
their interests.14 (Pham)
United States Example
The U.S. militarys purpose is to protect our Nation and win our wars. We do this through
military operations to defend the homeland, build security globally, and project power and win
decisively. Our military supports diplomatic, informational, and economic activities that promote
our enduring national interests. As detailed in the 2015 National Security Strategy, our enduring
national interests are: the security of the United States, its citizens, and U.S. allies and partners; a
strong, innovative, and growing U.S. economy in an open international economic system that
promotes opportunity and prosperity; respect for universal values at home and around the world;
and a rules-based international order advanced by U.S. leadership that promotes peace, security,
and opportunity through stronger cooperation to meet global challenges. (Joint Chiefs of Staff)
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Cosmopolitan Perspective
A preliminary discussion of Kant's cosmopolitanism is necessary to situate these questions. In
broad terms, cosmopolitanism refers to nations composed of people or elements from many
different cultures or countries, or sometimes to individuals who are familiar with a variety of
cultures "citizens of the world." Kant's philosophical idea is of a world cosmopolitanism rather
than cosmopolitanism within countries, as we shall see, and is compatible with, indeed in his
view necessarily composed of, independent, autonomous nations. Kant's concept of
cosmopolitanism occurs in the context of his teleological philosophy of history and his views on
politics. Kant set up the problem facing humanity in the fifth thesis of 'Idea for a universal
history with a cosmopolitan intent' in this way: "The greatest problem for the human species,
whose solution nature compels it to seek, is to achieve a universal civil society administered in
accord with the right" (1983: 22).2 According to Kant, we are continually progressing toward a
more perfect state, a state in which we will all be perfectly moral, rational and happy. Nature's
purpose is to bring us to this ideal state but reason can also show us how this achievement is
possible. One can see Kant's essay "Toward Perpetual Peace" (1795) as both a sketch of the
answer to the problem of how to achieve a universal civil society and as an account of reason's
contribution to the progress toward perpetual peace. Cosmopolitanism, as Kant envisages it, is
both the system whereby one ensures perpetual peace and a situation where ethics is instituted in
co-operative political relations between republican states overseen by a body representing a
federation of states. Kant's version of cosmopolitanism should not be confused with
multiculturalism. This cosmopolitanism is compatible, at least, with each nation being quite
ethnically homogenous rather than multicultural, as long as all nations are on peaceful terms and
allow visitation. The essay on perpetual peace is set out as a kind of political pamphlet but, as
scholars have noted, it contains a complex and fascinating series of inter-related arguments.
(Beck in Kant, 1957; Bohman and Lutz-Bachmann, 1997; Covell, 1998; Wood, 1998) Perpetual
peace, according to Kant, can be achieved through the institution of six preliminary articles for
perpetual peace and three definitive articles. The preliminary articles deal with practical matters
that would need to be resolved to bring about the basis for the governance of right and the
definitive articles concern the rights that would need to be in place for peace to exist.3 The last
of the three conditions or "Definitive Articles" of Kant's cosmopolitanism is a condition of
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universal hospitality. (The other two are a requirement that all states be republican and that the
right of nations should based on afederation of free states [1983: 34957].)4 He says
"Cosmopolitan right shall be limited to conditions of universal hospitality" (1983: 357).
Hospitality means: "the right of an alien not to be treated as an enemy upon his arrival in
another's country . . . as long as he behaves peaceably" (1983: 358). Another way to express the
right of hospitality is to say that it allows freedom of movement to visit nations other than one's
own.5 Kant bases this right to visit on a claim that we all own the surface of the earth together
because "originally, no-one had a greater right to any region of the earth than anyone else"
(1983: 358). (La Caze)
Social Contract Perspective
According to Locke, the State of Nature is not a condition of individuals, as it is for

Hobbes. Rather, it is populated by mothers and fathers with their children, or families what he calls "conjugal society" (par. 78). These societies are based on the voluntary
agreements to care for children together, and they are moral but not political. Political
society comes into being when individual men, representing their families, come
together in the State of Nature and agree to each give up the executive power to punish
those who transgress the Law of Nature, and hand over that power to the public power
of a government. Having done this, they then become subject to the will of the majority.
In other words, by making a compact to leave the State of Nature and form society, they
make one body politic under one government (par. 97) and submit themselves to the
will of that body. One joins such a body, either from its beginnings, or after it has
already been established by others, only by explicit consent. Having created a political
society and government through their consent, men then gain three things which they
lacked in the State of Nature: laws, judges to adjudicate laws, and the executive power
necessary to enforce these laws. Each man therefore gives over the power to protect
himself and punish transgressors of the Law of Nature to the government that he has
created through the compact. (Friend)
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General Information
November 2015

Works Cited
Browning, Noah and Bayoumy, Yara. In rich Gulf Arab states, some feel shamed by refugee
response. Reuters. 6 Sept 2015. Web. 4 Oct 2015.
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/06/us-europe-migrants-gulfidUSKCN0R60H620150906>.
Buchan, George. National Interests and the European Union. Bruges Group. 2012. Web. 5
October 2015. <http://www.brugesgroup.com/NationalInterest.pdf>.
Calamur, Krishnadev. The U.S. Response to Syria's Refugee Crisis. The Atlantic. 10 Sept
2015. Web. 6 Oct 2015. <http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/09/the-usresponse-to-syrias-refugees/404728/>.
Exile Island. The Economist. 25 June 2015. Web. 5 October 2015.
<http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21659769-oppressed-myanmar-muslimrohingyas-are-unwelcome-bangladesh-too-exile-island>.
Friend, Celeste. Social Contract Theory. IEP. Web. 6 October 2015.
<http://www.iep.utm.edu/soc-cont/#SH2b>.
Joint Chiefs of Staff. June 2015. The National Military Strategy of the United States of America
2015. Web. 3 October 2015.
<http://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/Publications/2015_National_Military_Strateg
y.pdf>.
Kinglsey, Patrick, Rice-Oxley, Mark, and Nardelli, Alberto. Syrian refugee crisis: why has it
become so bad? The Guardian. 4 September 2015. Web. 1 October 2015.
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/04/syrian-refugee-crisis-why-has-itbecome-so-bad>.
La Caze, Marguerite. Not Just Visitors: Cosmopolitanism, Hospitality, and Refugees.
Philosophy Today. Fall 2004. Web. 3 October 2015.
<http://search.proquest.com/docview/205380036>.
Morgan, Simon. Germany wins hearts with warm response to refugee crisis. Business Insider.
7 Sept 2015. Web. 6 Oct 2015. <http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-germany-winshearts-with-warm-response-to-refugee-crisis-2015-9>.
Pham, J. P. What Is in the National Interest? Hans Morgenthaus Realist Vision and American
Foreign Policy. American Foreign Policy Interests. 2008. Web. 2 October 2015.
<http://www.jmu.edu/nelsoninstitute/National%20Interest.pdf>.
Sengupta, Somini. Migrant or Refugee? There Is a Difference, With Legal Implications. New
York Times. 27 Aug 2015. Web. 5 October 2015.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/28/world/migrants-refugees-europe-syria.html>.
Stern, David. Ukraine conflict: Refugees in their own country. BBC. 15 Aug 2015. Web. 4
October 2015. <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33880351>.
UN Refugee Agency. Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. UN High
Commissioner for Refugees.2010. Web. 5 October 2015.
<http://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10.html>.
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Pro Arguments with Con Responses
November 2015
Framework
Neutral
1. Framework: Because the resolution does not specify a specific government or a specific
crisis, the debate should focus on the actions that any government should take in response
to any general refugee crisis.
a. Explanation: This framework opens up the debate to a greater variety of
governments and refugee crisis, and allows you to weigh them over cases that focus
on cases that might argue about specific European countries dealing with the
refugee crisis in Syria, by showing that you answer the question posed by the
resolution.
b. Answer: You can argue against this by saying that its impossible to debate this
resolution in a real world context with such a broad definition. There are multiple
types of governments and multiple different refugee situations. Trying to group
them all together and act like they all function in the same way misconstrues the
reality that each government has different considerations and national interests,
and the nature of refugee crisis are different, such as those that are within in states
as opposed to across states. Thus, the best way to debate this resolution is to talk
about specific governments, and how they should handle specific refugee crisis that
they face.
2. Framwork: Impacts to governments should be weighed over impacts to refugees, because

the resolution asks the question of what action the government should take.
a. Explanation: This argument basically just narrows the debate down to impacts to
the government, and favors cases that are tailored to those impacts. It provides
ground for the negative and affirmative, as long as they focus on the government.
b. Answer: One way to answer this is to argue that governments should take those
actions which maximize the general welfare, therefore, when evaluating what action
a government should take, impacts to refugees should be weighed equally to
impacts to the government.
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November 2015

Affirmative
1. Framework: If the affirmative team is able to show that national interests are benefited by
prioritizing the humanitarian needs of refugees, then you should vote affirmative because it
would be in the best interest of all actors.
a. Explanation: This framework is relatively straightforward. If the net effect of
prioritizing the humanitarian interests of refugees benefits national interests,
theres really no reason not to do it. This framework places an implicit burden on
your opponent to prove a definite tradeoff, and works best for cases that impact to
benefits such as economic growth or benefits to relations. This is also a relatively
clear framework, so it would work well for all types of judges.
b. Answer: The way to deal with this is to show that humanitarian interests have an
inherent tradeoff with national interests, because national resources are spent on
non-citizens. At the same time, you would have to argue that the national interest of
the government is to benefit its citizens.
2. Framework: Prioritizing the humanitarian needs of refugees encompasses multiple

policies, including relocation, foreign aid and compensation. All of these methods should be
considered when evaluating the full scope of the resolution.
a. Explanation: This framework allows the pro to be more flexible when making
arguments, and argue for policies that may be easier to argue have an overall
positive impact.
b. Answer: The con can argue that the current debate surrounding the current crisis of
prioritizing humanitarian interests of refugees is centered around relocation as
opposed to foreign aid, and that relocation has broader impacts to a government
and its national interests. Thus, when weighing arguments, impacts that are derived
from relocation ought to be prioritized over other mechanisms.

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November 2015

Negative
1. Framework: Governments function to protect their citizens. This can be seen through
universal features of governments, such as maintaining a military force, or through taxation,
done for the public benefit. Therefore, the affirmative has the burden to show that the
governments obligation to refugees are prior to that to its citizens.
a. Explanation: This framework forces the affirmative debate the purpose of
government, and its role in the international system. The benefit to this framework
is that it allows negative a way of winning the debate without having to even
consider whether or not helping refugees provides any kind of benefit.
b. Answer: The affirmative can try and argue that people have basic rights that ought
to be respected by all governments, such as those that are outlined in UN
Declaration of Human Rights, or through philosophical arguments, such as that
there would be a utilitarian benefit to governments helping refugees on a
categorical basis. It could also be argued that prioritizing the humanitarian interests
of refugees benefits citizens, because it reduces instability that may spill over, or
there may be economic or political benefits due to helping refugees.
2. Framework: The pro side must show that governments are able to prioritize the
humanitarian interests of refugees over its own national interests. If we can show even one
example where doing so would threaten the existence of the state, then vote negative.
a. Explanation: This argument attacks the implicit assumption in the resolution that
governments are even capable of helping refugees. Countries that are strapped for
debt, on the edge of default, or engaged in conflict may not be able to do so. If this
underlying assumption is false, than that exists as grounds to reject the resolution as
being true.
b. Answer: The affirmative may be able to advocate that prioritizing humanitarian
interests of the refugees may be as simple as sending a small group of aid workers,
or very small amounts of aid, or even a declaration of support. Basically, every
country is capable of doing something, even small things, to help refugees. They can
also argue that if most governments are able to, that is sufficient to affirm; thus, the
negative must show that the majority of states are not capable of providing any aid
at all.
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PRO Aiding Refugees Helps Build International Credibility

Argument: When developed countries take in refugees, they gain the respect of the international
community
Warrant: Many developed countries do not take in refugees now.
"New Report: Developing Countries Host 80% of Refugees." United Nations Regional
Information Centre for Western Europe. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.unric.org/en/world-refugee-day/26978-new-report-developingcountries-host-80-of-refugees>.
The burden of helping the worlds forcibly displaced people is starkly uneven. UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message on World Refugee Day. Poor
countries host vastly more displaced people than wealthier ones. While anti-refugee
sentiment is heard loudest in industrialized countries, developing nations host 80 per cent
of the worlds refugees. This situation demands an equitable solution. UNHCR's 2010
Global Trends report shows that many of the world's poorest countries are hosting huge
refugee populations, both in absolute terms and in relation to the size of their economies.
Pakistan, Iran and Syria have the largest refugee populations at 1.9 million, 1.1 million
and 1 million respectively. Pakistan also has the biggest economic impact with 710
refugees for each US dollar of its per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product), followed by
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya with 475 and 247 refugees respectively.
By comparison, Germany, the industrialized country with the largest refugee population
(594,000 people), has 17 refugees for each dollar of per capita GDP
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November 2015

Warrant: Countries see a credibility boost when they take in refugees.
Meiritz, Annett. "How Germany Became Europe's Moral Leader on the Refugee
Crisis." Vox. N.p., 11 Sept. 2015. Web. 10 Oct.
2015. <http://www.vox.com/2015/9/11/9307209/q-a-germanys-leadership-rolein-the-european-migrant-crisis>
If we show courage and lead the way, a common European approach is more likely
said Angela Merkel public opinion in Germany is rather supportive toward refugees.
Theres an overall situation in Germany that led to a relatively broad political and social
consensus about refugees entering Germany.
Warrant: The European Union needs to take in refugees in order to stabilize the geopolitical
region.
Nixon, Simon. "EU's Next Challenges Are Geopolitical." The Wall Street Journal. N.p.,
20 July 2014. Web. 10 Oct. 2015. <http://www.wsj.com/articles/eus-nextchallenges-are-geopolitical-1405889616>.
"Instability on the EU's borders also fuels instability within the EU. But while the short-term
risks from geopolitical instability on Europe's borders may be manageable, the long-term
challenges are sizable. Violent upheavals in the eastern and southern Mediterranean are already
creating refugee crises across southern Europe. In Greece and Italy in particular, the challenge of
dealing with large influxes of migrants is a hot political issue. Instability on the EU's borders also
fuels instability within the EU.
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November 2015
A2 Aiding Refugees Helps Build International Credibility

Answer: Aiding refugees comes at the cost of national credibility and trust in government.
Warrant: Many European countries do not want to take in refugees
Frej, Willa. "Here Are The European Countries That Want To Refuse Refugees." The
World Post. The Huffington Post, 9 Sept. 2015. Web. 10 Oct.
2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/europe-refugees-notwelcome_55ef3dabe4b093be51bc8824>
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban called Juncker's plan "mad." A recent poll
found that 94 percent of Czechs believe the EU should deport all refugees. Slovak Prime
Minister Robert Fico said this week that "migrants arriving in Europe do not want to stay
in Slovakia. They don't have a base for their religion here, their relatives, they would run
away anyway. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has said his nation is only willing to
take in a total of 1,785 refugees and plans to reject Juncker's proposed allotment of 4,646.
Denmark's anti-immigrant tactics have been targeted and strategic. The Danish
government spent 30,000 euros on an advertising campaign in major Lebanese
newspapers discouraging migration to Denmark
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November 2015

Warrant: Governments receive backlash when they allow refugees in that their citizens do not
want.
Harris, Gardiner, David E. Sanger, and David Herszenhorn. "Obama Increases Number
of Syrian Refugees for U.S. Resettlement to 10,000." The New York Times. The
New York Times, 10 Sept. 2015. Web. 10 Oct.
2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/11/world/middleeast/obama-directsadministration-to-accept-10000-syrian-refugees.html>
The announcement brought a variety of reactions that underscored how the refugee
crisis has become another polarized political question On Capitol Hill, the divisions
about how to respond to the crisis were almost as stark as those around the Iran nuclear
agreement, on which senators voted Thursday.
Analysis: Helping refugees can help make a country a stronger geopolitical player. However,
when a countrys people do not want refugees, they become angry and protest the governments
actions.
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November 2015
PRO Refugees patch the economic skills gap

Argument: When refugees move into new countries, they fill blue-collar jobs, like
manufacturing, that locals do not want.
Warrant: When refugees find jobs, they tend to be in blue-collar jobs.
"Attitudes and Experiences of Refugees regarding Adaptation to Icelandic Society."
Ministry of Social Affairs (2005): n. pag. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.
<http://eng.velferdarraduneyti.is/media/acrobatenskar_sidur/Summary_regarding_adaptation_2005.pdf>
There proved to be a considerable difference between the occupations of the respondents
in Iceland and those in which they were employed in their home countries or countries of
origin. This difference was greatest among those who were employed as unskilled
workers; 47% were in this category in Iceland, while 19% had been in it in their home
countries/countries of origin.
Warrant: Refugees often work blue-collar jobs
Ott, Eleanor. "The Labour Market Integration of Resettles Refugees." United Nations
High Commissioner For Refugees Policy Development and Evaluation Service 16
(2013): n. pag. Web. http://www.unhcr.org/5273a9e89.pdf
In Steins seminal piece (1979) on the occupational skidding of Vietnamese in the USA
during the 1970s, he finds the higher ones former occupational status, the worse the
subjective experience with adjustment. Krahn, Derwing, Mulder, and Wilkinson (2000)
focus on the underemployment as the key factors of refugee integration into the Alberta,
Canada labour market. They found that although 39% of resettled refugees had been
employed in professional or managerial jobs in their country of origin, 60% worked in
blue collar jobs, 33% in clerical/sales/service/technician positions, and only 7% in
professional/managerial positions upon arrival (Krahn, Derwing, Mulder, & Wilkinson,
2000).
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November 2015

Warrant: Local workers do not want blue-collar jobs.
Nicholson, Esme. "A German Town In Decline Sees Refugees As Path To
Revival." NPR. NPR, 23 Sept. 2015. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/09/23/439260519/a-german-town-indecline-sees-refugees-as-the-path-to-revival>.
"Our once gray, industrial town is now green and pleasant. But we've failed to keep
people from leaving," he says. Since reunification, more than 3,000 people, most of them
young, have left Friedland in pursuit of job prospects in the West. They've left behind a
diminished and aging population. Block hopes to reverse the trend and sees a golden
opportunity in the many migrants currently arriving in Germany. This demographic shift
is also typical in western Germany, but for different reasons. There are plenty of jobs and
the economy is buoyant, but with one of the lowest birth rates in the world, Germany is
short of workers particularly in the skilled sectors. Most all of Europe faces similar
demographic challenges, but some analysts say that if properly handled, the current
migrant crisis could be turned into the basis for future economic growth in Europe. The
upfront costs of integrating migrants will be high, the analysts acknowledge, but they
argue that an influx of younger workers is essential for European countries to prosper.
And given the low birthrates across the continent, those young workers will have to come
from abroad. As Friedland's job market has started to improve, there are open positions to
fill. Block is eager to fill the gap left by the town's own economic emigrants with
migrants from elsewhere.
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November 2015

Warrant: Previous research on refugee economic impacts does not have proper framework.
Zetter, Roger. "Are Refugees an Economic Burden or Benefit?" Forced Migration
Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.fmreview.org/preventing/zetter>.
The problem to date has been the lack of a comprehensive framework with appropriate
analytical tools and systematic methodologies to provide the evidence base by which to
evaluate the winners and losers. the host community, while donors and NGOs focus
on the outcomes of their skills development and income- generating projects or cash and
vouchers assistance for refugee livelihoods. Neither approach provides an aggregate
account of the macro- and micro-economic and fiscal impacts and costs, and quantitative
methods and hard empirical data are noticeable by their absence.
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November 2015
A2 Refugees patch the economic skills gap

Answer: Magnitude of benefitting the economy is small.
Warrant: Manufacturing jobs are in decline.
Quinton, Sophie. "This Is the Way Blue-Collar America Ends." The Atlantic. Atlantic
Media Company, 05 June 2013. Web. 10 Oct.
2015. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/06/this-is-the-way-bluecollar-america-ends/276554/
Many jobs disappeared altogether, as high-tech equipment replaced manual labor. The
jobs that remain increasingly require applicants to present a two-year degree or a specific
certification. Today, fewer than 40 percent of U.S. manufacturing employees have jobs in
actual production, according to the Congressional Research Service. The manufacturing
jobs that remain are largely suburban and inaccessible by public transportation, putting
them out of reach for the population that needs them the most.
Warrant: Manufacturing jobs are on the decline, especially in the U.K.
Kenny, Charles. "Why Factory Jobs Are Shrinking Everywhere." Bloomberg.com.
Bloomberg, 28 Apr. 2014. Web. 10 Oct.
2015. <http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-04-28/why-factory-jobsare-shrinking-everywhere>.
according to OECD data, the U.K. and Australia have seen their share of manufacturing
drop by around two-thirds since 1971. Germanys share halved, and manufacturings
contribution to gross domestic product there fell from 30 percent in 1980 to 22 percent
today. In South Korea, a late industrializer and exemplar of miracle growth, the
manufacturing share of employment rose from 13 percent in 1970 to 28 percent in 1991;
its fallen to 17 percent today.
Analysis: Refugees can fill a big skills gap in countries where they flee to, however, that skills
gap is shrinking and will soon be closed.
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November 2015
PRO The Birth Lottery

Argument: If governments were to act in a fair manner they would make sure to mitigate the
harms suffered to those not fortunate enough to be born in more developed areas, as no one has
the opportunity to choose where they are born. This idea is generally referred to as the Birth
Lottery. From a moral perspective, it is imperative that individuals that are pushed into living as
a refugee receive this assistance.
Warrant: Your circumstance of birth is the most important determining factor in your life.
Roth, JD. "Warren Buffett on the Lottery of Birth." Get Rich Slowly. N.p., 31 Mar. 2010.
Web. 04 Oct. 2015. <http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2010/03/31/warrenbuffett-on-the-lottery-of-birth/>.
Before you enter the world, you will pick one ball from a barrel of 6.8 billion (the
number of people on the planet). That ball will determine your gender, race, nationality,
natural abilities, and health whether you are born rich or poor, sick or able-bodied,
brilliant or below average, American or Zimbabwean. This is what Buffett calls the
ovarian lottery. As he explained to a group of University of Florida students, Youre
going to get one ball out of there, and that is the most important thing thats ever going to
happen to you in your life. According to the worlds third-richest man, thats a good
perspective to have when setting the rules for our world. We should be designing a
society that, as Buffett says, doesnt leave behind someone who accidentally got the
wrong ball and is not well-wired for this particular system. He points out that he is
designed for the American system and he was lucky to be born into it. He can allocate
capital, and he lives in a place and at a time when those skills are well rewarded. (His pal
Bill Gates is quick to point out that if Buffett had been born in an earlier time, hed be
some animals lunch because the Oracle of Omaha cant run fast or climb trees.)
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November 2015

Warrant: Syrian Refugees are victims of borders.
Miles-Mojab, Donna. "Donna Miles-Mojab: Refugees and the Lottery of Life." NZ
Herald, 17 Sept. 2015. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.
<http://m.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11514649
>.
People of Syria, like many others around the globe, stand as victims of their geography
and history. The fate of many is determined by borders and the resources that fall within
them. Today, a child born just meters away from the wall that separates Palestine from
Israel can either live in prosperity and be shielded by one of the most powerful militaries
in the world, or live in an open air prison in a ghetto called Gaza. All depends on which
side of the wall that child is born in. 60 million refugees have been displaced from their
homes by armed conflict, terror, war, persecution and violence. It is important that we
recognize how little input many of these refugees have had in the conditions that they
find themselves in. Most are losers in the lottery of life.
Warrant: Refugees are not responsible for the conflict in their countries and therefore do not
deserve to be looked down upon.
Miles-Mojab, Donna. "Donna Miles-Mojab: Refugees and the Lottery of Life." NZ
Herald, 17 Sept. 2015. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.
<http://m.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=1151464>
It is important, that our attitudes towards refugees, just like our attitudes towards the
poor, for instance, are not marred by the false belief that they should take sole
responsibility for their own condition when, in most cases, they have had little to no
control over their circumstances. One of the most important starting points in helping
refugees is by educating ourselves and, others around us, to not fear them and to accept
that we owe many of our own privileges and good fortunes to being born in the right
country at the right time. So, next time you see a refugee, on your TV walking on a dirt
track carrying nothing but a plastic bag, imagine that that person could be you... then ask
yourself how you would like to be treated.
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November 2015

Warrant: The only fair way to run a society is to maximize equality.
Miller, Matt. "Justice, Inequality and the 99 Percent." Washington Post. The Washington
Post, 2 Nov. 2011. Web. 04 Oct. 2015.
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/justice-inequality-and-the-99percent/2011/11/02/gIQAcmtdfM_story.html>.
Rawls uses this thought experiment to focus us on the central role luck plays in life.
Theres the pre-birth lottery that hands out brains, beauty, talent and inherited wealth.
Theres a post-birth lottery that (via family) bequeaths values and schooling. The
institutions of society favor certain starting places over others, he writes. These are
especially deep inequalities . . . yet they cannot possibly be justified by an appeal to the
notions of merit or desert. Rawls argues that, in this original position, people would
agree on two basic principles to structure society. The first would be equality in the way
basic rights and duties are assigned. The second would be to arrange social and economic
inequalities so that they are both (a) to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged, and
(b) attached to offices and positions open to all under conditions of fair equality of
opportunity.
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Warrant: Saving the refugees is a moral imperative.
Green, Les. "The Refugee Crisis Is Not about Fairness." SEMPER VIRIDIS. N.p., 05
Sept. 2015. Web. 04 Oct. 2015. <http://ljmgreen.com/2015/09/05/the-refugeecrisis-is-not-about-fairness/>.
But that is a repugnant way of looking at things. First, it is unclear that there are longrun costs to resettling refugees. New residents who are eager, ambitious and grateful to be
here are an asset, not a liability. Second, even with respect to short-run adjudication and
settlement costs, the relative burdens among countries are unimportant. What matters is
the absolute ability of any country to assist. It is relevant that Greek government is in
such a parlous state that it cannot cope with the influx. Greece can hardly cope with
anything. But it is not relevant that the Hungarian government is in a weaker fiscal
position than the German government. It matters whether a country is able to take
refugees; it does not matter whether other countries that are equally or more able are
doing as much. Consider an analogy. Any swimmer able to help has a moral duty to save
a drowning child. He may not look around the pool to see whether the rescue would be
less of a hassle to someone else, and he may not let one child drown on the ground that he
already saved one yesterday. If he can effectively help, he must. Coordination among
refugee-accepting countries is often requiredbut by effectiveness, not fairness. What
matters is getting refugees settled, not how the costs of doing so are distributed (except,
of course, where that is instrumental to getting more people resettled quickly).
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Warrant: Governments have the power to fight the inequality that comes from the birth lottery,
and therefore should do so.
The lottery of birth. Save the Children. Save the Children Fund, 2015. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
<https://www.savethechildren.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/72738/TheLottery-of-Birth.pdf>.
But as our research has shown, this shameful situation is likely to still be the case in
2030 unless global and national leaders take urgent action now. Without a step change in
action, the unfair global lottery of birth will continue into the future. It is within the
power of government leaders across the world to change this situation, shaping a better,
more just future for our children and 2015 is the year to make that change. This is a
year in which governments can take the bold step to commit to ending preventable child
deaths for all groups of children, not just some.
Warrant: These people are being forced to leave their homes for something they are not
responsible for and therefore should be helped.
Langness, David. "Winners and Losers in the Citizenship Birth Lottery."
BahaiTeachingsorg. N.p., 05 Sept. 2015. Web. 05 Oct. 2015.
<http://bahaiteachings.org/winners-and-losers-in-the-citizenship-birth-lottery>.
The United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) says almost 20 million
people were on the move seeking refuge at the end of 2014; and that 3% of the worlds
population are now refugees. This mass movement of desperate people raises a whole
host of powerful, troubling questions: what does it mean to be a citizen? Do you feel
secure in your role as a citizen of your country? What if the country you live in begins to
decline, face corruption and destabilization and war? What if you had no work, no
income, no way to feed your children? What if another, more powerful country invades,
throws out your government and replaces it with one that no longer protects you or
respects your human rights? What would you do then? What if conditions grew so bad
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that you feared for your life every day? No matter what our citizenship, most of us would
try to leave such misery. We would take our families and cross the border and try to find
a place where we could have some security and peace. If conditions didnt improve
enough to return, we would voluntarily renounce our citizenship in our former country
and try to become a citizen of our new nationif we got very lucky, and that new nation
accepted us. This enormously unjust and completely arbitrary citizenship birth lottery
now determines, more than any other single factor, how an individual will live, be
treated, be educated, and live out his or her life. Those of us who win that lotteryborn
as citizens of stable, developed democracies, or accepted as immigrants and naturalized
citizens by those countrieswill have a chance to live better lives and have more
opportunity than human beings at any other time in the worlds history. Those of us who
lose that lotteryborn as citizens of unstable, undeveloped countries with war, hunger,
poverty and corrupt governmentswill be condemned to a life without hope, or take the
unknown risks most migrants and refugees take, putting their lives into the hands of
smugglers and human traffickers to flee.
Analysis: This argument can be used to achieve a more theoretical impact than most others
provided in the brief. While many of your opponents might be discussing numbers of lives, and
specific solvency methods, you can use this argument to emphasize the fact that all the resolution
is asking the affirmative to do is provide a moral or political rationale for why a government
should give these refugees assistance, and that is exactly what this achieves. By showing that all
people are subject to this randomized lottery to determine where they are born, and their place in
this world, it is clear that the only fair thing for a government to do is to treat those individuals
that were born into less fortunate circumstances than their own citizens kindly and humanely.
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A2 The Birth Lottery

Answer: Even if it is unfair, a government should still prioritize their own citizens.
Warrant: A government limits the rights of their citizens and therefore should prioritize them.
Varelius, Jukka. "AUTONOMY AND DUTIES TO DISTANT STRANGERS." (n.d.): n.
pag. Trames. University of Turku, 2007. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.kirj.ee/public/trames/trames-2007-4-6.pdf>.
One way of arguing for the position that states may prioritize their own citizens over
foreigners draws attention to the ways in which states limit their citizens autonomy.
States routinely coerce their citizens by enforcing a large set of laws. This is incompatible
with paying due respect for individual autonomy, this way of thinking proceeds, and
therefore governments should compensate for the restrictions they impose on their
citizens autonomy by showing special concern for their own citizens.
Warrant: Even if others outside of a country are in a worse situation than the citizens of a
country, the citizens still deserve special concern.
When the foreigners plight is worse than that of the badly off members of our coercive
scheme to some such extent that is overweighed by the compensation due for the
coercion our state imposes on its citizens autonomy, we are morally justified in
prioritizing the fellow members of our coercive scheme over more needy foreigners. In
other words, even if we first secured that what we are distributing among the members of
our coercive scheme is justly ours and took the moral obligations we have to foreigners
into account; special obligations to our compatriots can give us good reasons for resisting
the demands of global justice.
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Warrant: Even if a state has an obligation to help the needy from other countries, that obligation
comes after its own citizens.
I maintained that these criticisms do not succeed in showing that states prioritizing their
own citizens over more needy foreigners cannot be morally legitimate. This, of course, is
not to deny that the affluent states have positive moral obligations to the needy
foreigners; indeed, it is plausible that the wealthy Western countries should do more to
help the desperately badly off persons in the Third World than they are now doing (but
perhaps in somewhat different ways than those currently in use (see, e.g., Jamieson
2005)). However, although considering the view that states can never prioritize their own
citizens over more needy foreigners, or the view that they may show special concern for
their own citizens only after they have met the demands of egalitarian global justice, as a
reductio ad absurdum of global egalitarianism would be going too far, considering the
burdens the states can impose on their citizens, these two views appear quite implausible.
And as in practice advocating such extreme views can result in more harm than benefit to
the cause of helping the needy in the Third World, even inconclusive arguments to the
effect that states can sometimes prioritize their own citizens over more needy foreigners
may ultimately work to the benefit of all.
Warrant: The social contract mandates that a country, in exchange for removing and restricting
the rights of its citizens, offers them a government that works for their interests. In this case, the
only way that a government can effectively work towards its citizens interests is by prioritizing
them above others, as the others were never a part of the contract.
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Analysis: This response is meant to take the theoretical impact provided by the affirmative and
provide a potentially more understandable one to the judge for the negative side instead. Instead
of advocating for looking to the lottery of birth as a sign of unfairness that the world needs to
work together to solve, the idea behind the social contract, and a government protecting its
citizens above all else, is something everyone understands. This also effectively dodges the
argument by the affirmative that it is moral for us to help the refugees, because this allows you to
admit that yes, it may be moral to help, but that doesnt mean that helping them should be the
priority which is what the resolution is asking.
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PRO Moral Obligation

Argument: The international community has a moral obligation to help alleviate the current
Syrian refugee crisis
Warrant: This is the worst refugee crisis since the Rwandan Genocide 20 years ago
Orchard, Cynthia, and Andrew Miller. Protection in Europe for Refugees from Syria. U
of Oxford, 2014. The Refugee Studies Center, Sept. 2014. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/files/publications/policy-briefing-series/pb10protection-europe-refugees-syria-2014.pdf>.
As of 7 July 2014, some 2,854,211 million people have fled the civil war in Syria and
registered as refugees. In July 2013, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antnio
Guterres observed that the world has not seen a refugee outflow escalate at such a
frightening rate since the Rwandan genocide almost 20 years ago This is now the
largest crisis of forcible displacement in the world, and[poses] a growing threat to
regional peace and security. Europes response to the crisis in terms of opening its doors
to refugees has been slow to start and minimal in numbers.
Warrant: European Countries have signed international treaties acknowledging the moral
imperative to helping protect refugees.
Orchard, Cynthia, and Andrew Miller. Protection in Europe for Refugees from Syria.
N.p.: U of Oxford, 2014. The Refugee Studies Center, Sept. 2014. Web. 11 Oct.
2015. <http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/files/publications/policy-briefing-series/pb10protection-europe-refugees-syria-2014.pdf>.
In signing the 1951 Convention and/or the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of
Refugees as well as various European asylum instruments, European countries have
implicitly acknowledged the moral, humanitarian, and practical imperative of offering
protection to refugees within their territories. We advocate for European countries to
open their doors to more refugees, and particularly, to expand safe and legal routes of
entry into Europe.
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Warrant: Irish politicians spoke out regarding the glaring moral obligation to alleviate the
refugee crisis in Europe
Hanna, Clare. "Northern Ireland's Moral Duty to Help Refugees."
BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. The Belfast Telegraph, 6 June 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/northern-irelandsmoral-duty-to-help-refugees-31584051.html>.
We should also be clear: these people are likely to be educated, skilled workers with the
potential to make a substantial contribution to our economy - as existing migrants have
done. The Executive needs to ensure provisions are in place for Northern Ireland to
welcome refugees from Syria. It's not enough to get into an auction of numbers of people
that we should take without ensuring our response is properly planned and funded. The
key priority should be a refugee integration strategy to ensure every new arrival does not
have to reinvent the wheel in accessing legal, health, education and other services
required for their social and economic integration. Every UK region except Northern
Ireland has such a strategy. It is imperative that we preserve the integrity of the word,
'refugee', and protect the status of those fleeing the total breakdown of their country. An
open, humanitarian response to this crisis is our moral obligation - and clearly the will of
people here.
Warrant: Unfortunately, these refugees are being turned away countries in the European Union
because of increasingly strict immigration laws. Most of these refugees are fleeing to Lebanon.
Relatively few refugees from Syria are able to obtain protection in Europe because the
EUs external borders are tightly controlled and European resettlement and humanitarian
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admission programmes process relatively small numbers of refugees. By June 2014,
Europe hosted fewer than 4% (approximately123,600) of the 2.8 million registered
refugees from Syria, most of whom arrived in Europe in unauthorised ways. In 2013,
with no end in sight to the war in Syria, UNHCR asked countries outside the Syrian
region to increase the number of refugees they resettle to help relieve the burden on
neighbouring countries, setting a target of 30,000 resettlement/humanitarian admission
programme places for the most vulnerable Syrian refugees in 2014 (in addition to usual
resettlement quotas). European countries began to acknowledge Syrian refugee
resettlement needs and have now pledged to resettle or grant humanitarian admission to
31,797 Syrian refugees (plus a likely few hundred to the UK). Germanys 2013 and
2014 pledges to grant humanitarian admission to 20,000 refugees from Syria are by far
the largest. In some cases, fulfilment of these pledges is well underway. By June 2014,
Germany had granted humanitarian admission to approximately 6000 Syrian refugees and
another 5500 Syrians were able to enter Germany through private sponsorships. In
addition, as discussed below, several thousand Syrians have benefited or will benefit
from an expanded (but temporary) family reunification programme for Switzerland.
These numbers are a very significant increase from 2013 by the end of 2013, only 340
Syrians had been resettled to Europe (since 2011); and only 5,795 refugees total from all
countries of origin were resettled to Europe in 2013.34 Thus, while the target of 30,000
has been met, it amounts to just over 1% of the total number of registered refugees from
Syria, and refugees continue to flow out of Syria. UNHCR has increased its call for
resettlement and admission of Syrian refugees to 100,000 in 20152016.35 However,
even 100,000 is a very small proportion of the current total. Notwithstanding the
humanitarian aid provided and the expansion of resettlement and humanitarian admission
programmes, the claims by Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt that Europe has
abandoned them have some merit. The vast majority of refugees from Syria remain in
the countries neighbouring Syria. Compared with approximately 123,600 Syrian refugees
in Europe, every country in the region hosted higher numbers of Syrian refugees than all
of Europe together; Lebanon hosted nearly ten times more. Simply put, Syrian refugees
now comprise almost one fourth of the population of Lebanon.
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Warrant: The inability of Europe to properly respond to the tremendous humanitarian crisis has
created a humanitarian disaster, which has global implications on the handling of refugee crisis.
Ignoring this moral crisis could numb the international community to humanitarian disasters
The refugee crisis in the Syrian region has relevance for Europeans because it is a
catastrophic displacement of people and a humanitarian disaster, which by its nature
affects all of humanity. If we shut our eyes (and close our borders) to this crisis, we
become, as a group, less humane. At a more practical level, this crisis is on Europes
doorstep; it could result in serious destabilisation of the entire region and possibly
beyond. Numerous governments and organisations have emphasised the need for
European and other countries to provide more aid to the countries neighbouring Syria and
to offer resettlement or admission to more refugees from Syria. European countries
receiving the largest numbers of Syrian refugees have also called for other European
countries to do their part.
Analysis: This last card is pretty cool because it specifically lays out all of the possible
implications that occur from ignoring a tremendous humanitarian crisis like the one in Syria.
This card is in clear conversation with the second card from the same commission that discusses
the moral obligation behind alleviating refugee crisis by European governments.
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A2 Moral Obligation
Answer: There are negative consequences that will exacerbate the crisis if the international
community responds to the crisis without a through plan
Analysis: is a really unique argument focusing on placing international pressure on EU
countries to accept refugees will pull resources away from countries where millions of refugees
are located, like Turkey and Lebanon. The impact of the diversion of resources will create a
repetitive cycle in which immigrants dont receive the aid they need and as a result flee to
Europe; however, once in Europe, they still dont have the aide they need. You should argue
governments need to take come up with a thorough and well thought out plan, rather than folding
to international pressure and pleads regarding morality.
Warrant: EU countries do NOT face a moral crisis regarding immigrants.
Wolf, Martin. "A Refugee Crisis That Europe Cannot Escape - FT.com." Financial
Times. N.p., 22 Sept. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3967804c-604b-11e5-a28b50226830d644.html#axzz3oEZk0eeP>.
In deciding what to do, the EU must draw a distinction between refugees and immigrants.
Countries have legal and moral obligations to refugees. They do not have such
obligations to other immigrants. Compassion for the desperate has to be distinct from a
cooler assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of immigration. It may be helpful
to argue that refugees could provide economic benefits to the recipient country. In many
cases, no doubt, resourceful people who so much want to enter will do just that. But that
is not the reason why they should be accepted.
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Warrant: There is some confusion regarding whether or not immigrants are refugees or
migrants.
Martinez, Michael. "Migrant vs. Refugee: What's the Difference - CNN.com." CNN.
Cable News Network, 8 Sept. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/08/world/what-is-difference-migrants-refugees/>.
Not all migrants then are refugees, but refugees can fall under the migrant umbrella. One
of the major differences between the two designations is that while migrants may seek to
escape harsh conditions of their own, refugees could face imprisonment, deprivation of
basic rights, physical injury or worse. "Refugees have to move if they are to save their
lives or preserve their freedom. They have no protection from their own state -- indeed it
is often their own government that is threatening to persecute them. If other countries do
not let them in and do not help them once they are in, then they may be condemning them
to death -- or to an intolerable life in the shadows, without sustenance and without rights,
So which term should you use? The United Nations notes that both groups are present in
Europe and at its shores. It's safe to call all of them migrants because each is migrating,
but many of them -- especially those fleeing Afghanistan, Eritrea, Syria and Iraq -- are
also refugees.
Analysis: These last two cards are a defensive block to the morality argument. While sure,
countries should help out with political refugees, there is some confusion as to who is a refugee
and who is a migrant. You can spin this in a way that casts enough doubt on the argument to then
impact out your other arguments in the round. Make sure you emphasize that there isnt a clear
consensus, nor is there any way to check whether or not these individuals are immigrants or
refugees. And the first card in the block says that countries shouldnt jump into making
decisions. We need to figure out a system that can separate refugees from immigrants to
effectively deal with the Syrian civil war.
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PRO Climate Change Refugees

Argument: Governments should aid developing nations in adapting to climate change to combat
the refugee crisis.
Warrant: Climate change is contributing to the current refugee crisis.
Baker, Aryn. How Climate Change is Behind the Surge of Migrants to Europe. TIME,
September 7, 2015. <http://time.com/4024210/climate-change-migrants/>
More than 10,000 migrants and refugees traveled to Western Europe via Hungary over
the weekend, fleeing conflict-ravaged and impoverished homelands in the hope of finding
a more secure life abroad. Even as Europe wrestles over how to absorb the new arrivals,
human rights activists and migration experts warn that the movement is not likely to slow
anytime soon. Intractable wars, terror and poverty in the Middle East and beyond will
continue to drive the surge. One additional factor, say scientists, is likely to make it even
worse: climate change. From 2006 to 2011, large swaths of Syria suffered an extreme
drought that, according to climatologists, was exacerbated by climate change. The
drought lead to increased poverty and relocation to urban areas, according to a recent
report by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and cited by Scientific
American. That drought, in addition to its mismanagement by the Assad regime,
contributed to the displacement of two million in Syria, says Francesco Femia, of the
Washington, D.C.-based Center for Climate and Security. That internal displacement
may have contributed to the social unrest that precipitated the civil war. Which generated
the refugee flows into Europe. And what happened in Syria, he says, is likely to play out
elsewhere going forward. Across the Middle East and Africa climate change, according
to climatologists at the U.S. Department of Defense-funded Strauss Center project on
Climate Change and African Political Stability in Texas, has already affected weather.
These changes have contributed to more frequent natural disasters like flooding and
drought. Agricultural land is turning to desert and heat waves are killing of crops and
grazing animals. Over the long term, changing weather patterns are likely to drive
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farmers, fishermen and herders away from affected areas, according to Femias Center
for Climate and Security, and into urban centers as has already happened in Syria.
Both the Pentagon, which calls climate change a threat multiplier and U.S. Presidential
candidate Hillary Clinton have warned of water wars, in which rival governments or
militias fight over declining resources, sending even greater waves of migrants in search
of security and sustenance. On Aug. 31, Secretary of State John Kerry warned that
climate change could create a new class of migrants, what he called climate refugees at
a conference on climate change conference in Anchorage, Alaska.
Warrant: The climate-change fueled drought in Syria directly worsened the crisis there.
Fountain, Henry. Researchers Link Syrian Conflict to a Drought Made Worse by
Climate Change. New York Times, March 2, 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/science/earth/study-links-syria-conflict-todrought-caused-by-climate-change.html
Drawing one of the strongest links yet between global warming and human conflict,
researchers said Monday that an extreme drought in Syria between 2006 and 2009 was
most likely due to climate change, and that the drought was a factor in the violent
uprising that began there in 2011. The drought was the worst in the country in modern
times, and in a study published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, the scientists laid the blame for it on a century-long trend toward warmer and
drier conditions in the Eastern Mediterranean, rather than on natural climate variability.
The researchers said this trend matched computer simulations of how the region responds
to increases in greenhouse-gas emissions, and appeared to be due to two factors: a
weakening of winds that bring moisture-laden air from the Mediterranean and hotter
temperatures that cause more evaporation. Colin P. Kelley, the lead author of the study,
said he and his colleagues found that while Syria and the rest of the region known as the
Fertile Crescent were normally subject to periodic dry periods, a drought this severe was
two to three times more likely because of the increasing aridity in the region. Dr. Kelley,
who did the research while at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and is now at the
University of California at Santa Barbara, said there was no apparent natural cause for the
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warming and drying trend, which developed over the last 100 years, when humans effect
on climate has been greatest. Martin P. Hoerling, a meteorologist at the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration whose earlier work showed a link between climate
change and aridity in the Eastern Mediterranean, said the researchers study was quite
compelling. The paper makes a strong case for the first link in their causal chain, Dr.
Hoerling said in an email, namely the human interference with the climate so as to
increase drought likelihood in Syria. Some social scientists, policy makers and others
have previously suggested that the drought played a role in the Syrian unrest, and the
researchers addressed this as well, saying the drought had a catalytic effect. They cited
studies that showed that the extreme dryness, combined with other factors, including
misguided agricultural and water-use policies of the Syrian government, caused crop
failures that led to the migration of as many as 1.5 million people from rural to urban
areas. This in turn added to social stresses that eventually resulted in the uprising against
President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011.
Warrant: Global warming could create 150 million climate refugees by 2050.
Vidal, John. Global warming could create 150 million 'climate refugees' by 2050. The
Guardian, November 2, 2009.
<http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/nov/03/global-warmingclimate-refugees>
Global warming will force up to 150 million "climate refugees" to move to other
countries in the next 40 years, a new report from the Environmental Justice
Foundation (EJF) warns. In 2008 alone, more than 20 million people were displaced by
climate-related natural disasters, including 800,000 people by cyclone Nargis in Asia, and
almost 80,000 by heavy floods and rains in Brazil, the NGO said. President Mohamed
Nasheed of the Maldives, who presented testimony to the EJF, said people in his country
did not want to "trade a paradise for a climate refugee camp". He warned rich countries
taking part in UN climate talks this week in Barcelona "not to be stupid" in negotiating a
climate treaty in Copenhagen this December. Nasheed urged governments to find ways to
keep temperature rises caused by warming under 2C. "We won't be around for anything
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after 2C," he said. "We are just 1.5m over sea level and anything over that, any rise in sea
level anything even near that would wipe off the Maldives. People are having to
move their homes because of erosion. We've already this year had problems with two
islands and we are having to move them to other islands. We have a right to live." Last
month, the president held a cabinet meeting underwater to draw attention to the plight of
his country. The EJF claimed 500 million to 600 million people nearly 10% of the
world's population are at risk from displacement by climate change. Around 26 million
have already had to move, a figure that the EJF predicts could grow to 150 million by
2050. "The majority of these people are likely to be internally displaced, migrating only
within a short radius from their homes. Relatively few will migrate internationally to
permanently resettle in other countries," said the report's authors.
Warrant: If governments of developed nations take certain provisions, it can prepare for
climate refugees, otherwise it will be faced by an even greater crisis.
Jerneck, Max. Refugees and Responsibility in Europe and the U.S. Climate Institute,
March 2009. <http://www.climate.org/topics/environmental-security/climaterefugee-policy.html>
To illustrate potential developments of the environmental refugee situation, two
hypothetical scenarios for the relations between the EU and Africa are laid out in the
report: one of confrontation and the other of collaboration. In the conflict scenario,
climate change-induced desertification in the Sahel would remain unchecked, triggering
migratory flows northwards, initially mainly to North Africa. Most of the migrants will
end up living in giant slums of cities like Cairo and Algiers. Desperate conditions in these
areas then compel many of them to try to escape to Europe. Tensions caused by the
massive population pressure in the already heavily populated areas of North Africa would
also increase and threaten to spark violence, which would lead to additional emigration.
Europe would react by fortifying itself, spending billions of Euros on fences and border
patrol, measures that in the long run would not be sufficient to block out immigrants. In
the collaboration scenario, EU countries would combat migration flows at the root, with
methods such as anti-desertification schemes. Avoiding mechanization of agriculture is
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also proposed, as it would prevent job losses (although it might not be optimal for
productivity). Allowing quotas of work migrants is another of the provisions
recommended. The primary way of countering mass migration would be to defuse
dangerous tensions by granting a larger share of the population in the effected countries
access to wealth and political influence. In other words, the collaboration scenario
presupposes extensive political and economic reforms in African countries.
Analysis: The link between climate change and refugee creation is strong, and backed up with
clear scientific evidence. In that case, humanitarian assistance from EU governments in the form
of environmental adaptation and climate change mitigation would fulfill the resolution, and
successfully decrease the number of refugees in the future as well as help current ones.
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A2 Climate Change Refugees

Response: Because the droughts direct impact cannot be measured, it is impossible to know
how much of an effect it really had, and whether humanitarian environmental aid would be of
significant help.
Warrant: The droughts impact is unquantifiable.
Fountain, Henry. Researchers Link Syrian Conflict to a Drought Made Worse by
Climate Change. New York Times, March 2, 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/science/earth/study-links-syria-conflict-todrought-caused-by-climate-change.html
The researchers said that there were many factors that contributed to the [Syrian] chaos,
including the influx of 1.5 million refugees from Iraq, and that it was impossible to
quantify the effect of any one event like a drought. Francesco Femia, founder and director
of the Center for Climate and Security, a research group in Washington that has long
argued that the Syrian drought had a climate-change component, said the new study
builds on previous work looking at the impact of drought on agricultural and pastoral
livelihoods. Theres no question that the drought had a role to play in the mass
displacement of people, he said. The link between climate change and conflict has been
debated for years. A working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
wrote in 2014 that there was justifiable common concern that climate change increased
the risk of armed conflict in certain circumstances, but said it was unclear how strong the
effect was.
Analysis: This response can be specific to Syria, but is also generalizable. Con teams can argue
that while climate change may relate to the refugee crisis, giving environmental help would be a
waste because theres no way to know how much it would help. In reality, the Con can say,
environmental aid would not end wars or stop the real crises forcing people out of their homes.
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Response: Aid can actually fuel conflict, undoing any potential benefit.
Warrant: Aid can be intercepted, providing resources to aggressors, and it can send complicated
moral messages that also prolong conflict.
Smock, David R. Humanitarian Aid and Conflict in Africa. United States Institute of
Peace, 1996. <http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/pwks6.pdf>
Anderson asserted that although NGOs do not generate conflicts, they sometimes
contribute to and reinforce violent conflicts pre-existing in the societies where they work.
The negative impacts of humanitarian assistance comprise two basic types: the first
results from the transfer of resources, and the second involves the ethical message
conveyed by the provision of assistance. In the case of resource transfer, the most direct
impact occurs when warring forces and armies gain control of supplies provided for
humanitarian assistance, either by imposing levies on humanitarian assistance operations
or by stealing supplies. A more indirect impact occurs when NGOs meet the needs of
civilian populations, which frees the warring factions to use their resources for warmaking. Resources under the control of one or another warring faction help buttress the
power and continuing legitimacy of that warring faction, Anderson said. Intergroup
tensions are also reinforced when NGOs provide external resources to some groups and
not to others. For instance, NGOs hire people from certain groups and not others. When
NGOs have more funds than local governments, that creates an imbalance between
external resources and domestic resources, making it difficult for local institutions to
build for peace. Also, NGOs hire away much of the best talent from domestic agencies.
Illustrating some of these issues in relation to Sudan, Prendergast wrote recently: In the
context of Sudan, questions about the use of aid to underwrite Khartoums war efforts
remain unanswered. To what extent is the international community assuming the public
welfare responsibilities of the Sudanese government, thereby freeing resources for the
war? Are aid flights from Khartoum to the south supplying soldiers in the government
garrisons rather than civilians in need? Is money spent in the pursuit of aid projects
providing the government with a source of hard currency used to prosecute the war, and
are donated food stocks in the north freeing Sudan production for export (reports say up
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to a million tons of northern Sudanese sorghum may be exported [in 1995] alone)? [John
Prendergast, Tie Humanitarian Assistance to Substantive Reform, Washington Report
on Middle East Affairs, July/August 1995, p. 42.] Anderson next discussed the second
type of negative impact humanitarian aid can have, which involves the ethical messages
NGOs sometimes convey. When we negotiate with the parties who are at war with each
other in order to gain access to the civilians behind the lines they control, when we hire
armed guards to protect our staff and our delivery of goods in order to be able to operate
in a highly volatile and dangerous situation, when we use the stories of war atrocities to
educate and fund raise back home, we become part of the conflict and we convey an
implicit message that it is legitimate for arms to decide who gets access to humanitarian
assistance, Anderson said. NGOs also sometimes express solidarity with groups engaged
in armed struggle against repressive regimes, thereby indirectly reinforcing the conflict.
Moreover, the moral legitimacy that accrues to a faction because of support received
from international NGOs sometimes makes that faction less willing to engage in peace
negotiations.
Analysis: This response says that even if environmental aid could help in some way, that would
be outweighed by it actually worsening the conflict. Environmental aid could only help to solve
whatever portion of the conflict is caused by climate change, which the Pro cannot quantify.
However, it would concretely prolong the conflict itself, a more direct link and worse harm.
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PRO Foreign Governments are Responsible

Argument: Foreign governments are responsible for rises in the Middle East and Africa that led
to the current refugee crisis.
Warrant: Questions of how to handle the refugee crisis ignore Europe and Americas
responsibility due to intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Rosenfeld, Jesse. Europe must assume its responsibility for refugees. The National,
August 30 2015. <http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/europe-must-assume-itsresponsibility-for-refugees#full>
As European xenophobia continues to exacerbate these disturbing scenes of destitution,
governments and citizens alike are so consumed with whether to crackdown, futilely,
on their borders or accept the status quo that they have ignored their role in bringing all
this about. Most of these refugees are fleeing conflicts that EU members and the US are
responsible for creating or exacerbating. The situation in Syria may have been
instigated by Bashar Al Assads brutal crack down but the entrenched civil war is also
the product of foreign weapons and interference that has turned the conflict into a
regional proxy war. The devastation in Afghanistan is the product of America and
Europes war, while the implosion in Iraq is the result of the countrys invasion and
occupation by the US and the European allies that joined it. I have spent many years
reporting from the Middle East on the conflicts that are ripping the region apart. Now
as I travel through Europe with those whose lives have been uprooted by these wars, I
watch as they arrive on the doorsteps of those who dispossessed them only to be left out
in the cold again.
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Warrant: The USs choice not to intervene in Syria allowed for the current crisis, meaning has
some responsibility to help those affected by it.
Hilton, Steve. Whos Responsible for the Refugees? The New York Times, September
10, 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/11/opinion/whos-responsible-forthe-refugees.html?_r=0>
And heres the second simple truth. While we can argue forever about the causes of
conflict in the Middle East, it is impossible to ignore the impact of American foreign
policy on whats happening in Europe. It was shocking to see an expert from the
Council on Foreign Relations quoted on Saturday saying that the situation is largely
Europes responsibility. How, exactly? The Iraq invasion (which could reasonably be
described as largely Americas responsibility) unleashed a period of instability and
competition in the region that is collapsing states and fueling sectarian conflict. European
leaders wanted, years ago, to intervene directly in Syria in order to check President
Bashar al-Assads cruelty; the United States didnt. You can understand why I
wouldnt for one second question the judgment of American political leaders that their
country was reluctant to participate in another military conflict. But at least acknowledge
the consequences of nonintervention: the protracted Syrian civil war, the emergence of a
lawless territory ripe for exploitation by the sick zealots of the Islamic State, and the
resulting flood of millions of displaced people. So its a bit rich for American
commentators to lecture Europeans when part of the reason the refugees are arriving on
Europes doorstep is American foreign policy. Its great that the United States is by far
the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to Syrians, but America is bigger than
Europe, and wealthier. Why should Europe be expected to take around a million refugees
practically overnight and the United States, hardly any?
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Warrant: Actions taken by France, the US, and the UK led to instability in Libya.
Guerlain, Pierre [Professor at the University of Paris West Nanterre]. Refugees and
Responsibility in Europe and the U.S. Huffington Post, September 15, 2015.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pierre-guerlain/refugees-andresponsibili_b_8129130.html>
There is one thing though which appears only in alternative media on the left: it is the
responsibility of specific Western countries in the current migrations. The Prime Minister
of Slovakia declared that as a Christian country Slovakia could not accept Muslims for it
had no mosques. He also added that his country had not bombed Libya and therefore was
not responsible for the wave of refugees. His xenophobic attitude and callousness toward
people living in despair are undeniable. At the same time, he is partially right in
mentioning Libya and the responsibility of some Western countries in the current
humanitarian disaster. The destruction of Libya by France, the US and the UK does not
explain the whole phenomenon but certainly contributed to it. The blame game in Europe
and the US consists in not accepting responsibility for the current humanitarian crisis and
blaming others. The Slovakian PM hides his callousness behind a valid point: France,
Britain and the US in part caused the crisis by destroying Libya and they do not recognize
it nor do they apologize. The debates take place as if foreign policy had had no impact on
what is happening now, as if humanitarian crises were not related to wider political
conflicts. Libya is obviously not the only cause of this crisis which can also be traced to
wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Syria. Wars in which the West was often involved
even if it is not always the only guilty party in the creation of chaos. The West, of course,
means that in most cases the US was involved. Saudi Arabia, Qatar or various non-state
groups have also played their part.
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Warrant: This instability is what allowed for the current refugee crisis, as Libya used to serve as
a barrier between refugees and Europe.
Fisher, Max and Taub, Amanda. The refugee crisis: 9 questions you were too
embarrassed to ask. Vox, September 9 2014.
<http://www.vox.com/2015/9/9/9290985/refugee-crisis-europe-syrian>
There's no single reason, because a number of the crises driving people from their homes
are not connected. There's no real link, for example, between the war in Afghanistan and
the persecution of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar, or between violence in Nigeria
and violence in Honduras and El Salvador. But there is one thing that jump-started the
crisis, and that has helped to make it so especially bad: the Arab Spring. It began in 2011
as a series of peaceful, pro-democracy movements across the Middle East, but it led to
terrible wars in Libya and Syria. Those wars are now helping to fuel the refugee crisis.
It's not hard to understand why Syrians are fleeing. Bashar al-Assad's regime has targeted
civilians ruthlessly, including with chemical weapons and barrel bombs; ISIS has
subjected Syrians to murder, torture, crucifixion, sexual slavery, and other appalling
atrocities; and other groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra have tortured and killed civilians as
well. The civil war has killed a shocking 250,000 people, displaced half of the
population, and caused one in five Syrians (4 million people) to flee the country. Libya's
role in the refugee crisis is different: The war there is terrible, but it has not displaced
nearly as many people. What it has done, however, is open up a long-closed route from
Africa to Europe. For years, the EU kept refugees out of sight and out of mind by
paying Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's government to intercept and turn back
migrants that were heading for Europe. Gadhafi was something like Europe's bouncer,
helping to bar refugees and other migrants from across Africa. His methods were terrible:
Libya imprisoned migrants in camps where rape and torture were widespread. But
Europe was happy to have someone else worrying about the problem. When Libya's
uprising and Western airstrikes ousted Gadhafi in 2011, Libya collapsed into chaos. The
route through Libya and, from there, across the Mediterranean suddenly opened,
though it remained dangerous. As a result, the number of people making the perilous
journey to Europe climbed considerably.
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Warrant: The War in Iraq directly led to the current conflict in Syria.
Khan, Imran. The Iraq war: The root of Europe's refugee crisis. Al Jazeera, September
9, 2015. <http://www.aljazeera.com/blogs/middleeast/2015/09/iraq-war-rooteurope-refugee-crisis-150908151855527.html
Thousands have crossed continents and have ended up in Europe seeking that same
respite. By and large it's taken Europe by surprise. Opinions vary on how to deal with the
crisis. Some say Europe and the US should step up. Others say the rich Gulf states should
use their enormous wealth to help. What no one talks about is the invasion and
occupation of Iraq. March 2003 was the pivotal point. Based on controversial evidence
that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the war drums beat
loudly. The WMD claim was eventually publicly discredited by the CIA's own Iraq
survey group report. That report proved whispers and intelligence community doubts
from the time that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. But it wasn't just those who
questioned the evidence. Mass opposition from the British and American public
concluded in marches in various Western capitals opposing the war. Those voices went
ignored and in March 2003, the then US president and the British prime minister met in
the Azores, Portugal, with the Spanish prime minister, and set into motion events that
now include the dead body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi that washed up on a Turkish
beach. What the Iraq war did was allow space for anger at the unjustified actions of the
Western coalition to be moulded into a hardline movement of fighters who would join alQaeda In Iraq and other groups. Before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World
Trade Centre in New York, radical and violent movements were tiny in number. AlQaeda and Osama bin Laden were the only real threat. Arab governments realised that
and exiled the group until it found sanctuary in Afghanistan, the very place that bin
Laden, funded by Saudi Arabia and the US, learned to fight against the Soviets and hone
his violent philosophy. After the September 11 attacks, the extremists got the fight they
were looking for when the US invaded Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda was defeated, and its host,
the Taliban movement, was ousted from power. The group has since waged an armed
resistance against the US-backed successive governments. The US then invaded and
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occupied Iraq in 2003. Suddenly the radical groups had found a new cause and a new
fight. They learned new tactics. They became hardened fighters. They dreamed of a
caliphate that would spread across the Arab and Muslim world. Angry that the US had
invaded another Muslim country, money and weapons were donated in huge number
from Muslim countries by individuals who might never have thought about donating to a
cause that was violent in nature. Once irrelevant, al-Qaeda became a threat again, and for
the first time the group found a foothold in Iraq. The philosophy of armed rebellion and
fighting for God spread. Pakistan, another Muslim nation, found itself fighting an armed
rebellion, as did many other countries. The 'Arab Spring' of 2011 raised hopes of
democratisation in the Middle East, but many of the gains of the revolutionary
movements have since been reversed. Mohamed Morsi, who became Egypt's first
democratically elected president, was toppled by the military in 2013. Initially it was not
religious or even violent in nature. It was popular anger at dictators propped up by the
West coupled with frustration at the lack of economic development. Down the dictators
fell, and with them, decades of religious suppression. That religious fervour found
expression in anger at the US' role in Iraq. Suddenly religious groups were able to speak
freely, and freely they did, mainly about the US and its role in the region. Then when the
protests reached Syria, President Bashar al-Assad knew he didn't want to suffer the same
fate as his Arab counterparts. The West quickly abandoned him and said no negotiations
while he was in power. Left with little choice he moved on those that opposed him in a
violent and bloody manner. Al-Qaeda in Iraq became ISIL and took huge parts of Syria
and Iraq. Other groups sprang up that used religion to recruit. Syria unravelled and that's
why you have millions of refugees. The Iraq war was the war too far - the one that has
changed the Middle East. It was the war that solidified and unified disparate young men
from different countries into following the path of violent jihad. Had the Iraq war not
happened, Saddam Hussein would have been contained as he was. This dictator was a
threat to freedom and to his own people, but was no longer a threat to his neighbours. The
leaders of ISIL and other radical groups would have found death in Afghanistan or prison
elsewhere. However, hindsight and "what if" are the words of those that have the luxury
of not living in a tent. The Iraq war did happen. The refugee crisis is happening. Now the
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only questions the world perhaps should be asking is how we can bring about a political
solution to the war in Syria and how we bring all sides to the table.
[This is a long piece of evidence, though each step in this story is important, so really
understanding this card will be helpful for articulating this narrative in round. This card is
too long to read in case, but has the kind of detail necessary to really understand the
complexity of conflict in the Middle East.]
Analysis: This argument is essentially just a fancily worded, warranted version of you break it,
you buy it. Pro teams running it should clarify through analysis, however, that they need not
prove that the Middle East would be a perfectly peaceful heaven without foreign interference
merely, they must show that foreign intervention is at least partially responsible for the wars and
devastation that created the current refugee crisis. Once that is established, whether through
arguments about foreign involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, or Syria, it is only logical that
these countries must help deal with the consequences.
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A2 Foreign Governments are Responsible

Response: The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan did not cause the current refugee crisis.
Warrant: Europes asylum applicants primarily come from Syria.
McHugh, Jess. Refugee Crisis 2015 Explained: Who Is Coming To Europe; Where
They're Headed And Why. International Business Times, October 2, 2015.
<http://www.ibtimes.com/refugee-crisis-2015-explained-who-coming-europewhere-theyre-headed-why-2112352>
Over 500,000 people have arrived in Europe since January, according to the United
Nations, and more than half of those are Syrians fleeing an escalating civil war in their
home country. About 54 percent of all arrivals have been Syrians, according to the U.N.,
followed by 13 percent Afghans, and 7 percent Eritreans. Nearly everyone arriving from
those particular countries qualifies as a refugee. Around 84 percent of all arrivals have
come from the top 10 refugee-producing countries in the world. A legal definition has
existed for refugees since 1951. The U.N. defines a refugee as a person who is outside
his or her country of nationality or habitual residence; has a well-founded fear of being
persecuted because of his or her race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular
social group or political opinion. The U.N. and international nonprofits have called the
current situation in Europe the worst refugee crisis since World War II. Many refugees
have been arriving as families, and more than a quarter of refugees are either women or
children. Women account for 18 percent of this years arrivals so far, 13 percent
are children, and 69 percent men.
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Warrant: Foreign actors are not responsible for the Syria crisis, as it has not taken any major
action in Syria. If anything, they have acted too little.
Ulbrick, J. Trevor. Its not ISIS: Key to solving Syrian refugee crisis is stopping Assad.
The Hill, October 2 2015. <http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreignpolicy/255641-its-not-isis-key-to-solving-syrian-refugee-crisis-is>
Syrias refugee crisis cannot be fully understood without recounting the Obama
administrations tortured attempts to force Assad to blink. The U.S. started off with a
strong hand. In 2011, citing Syrias ferocious brutality against peaceful protesters,
President Obama announced widespread sanctions against the Assad regime and called
on Assad himself to step aside. Undeterred, Assad began using artillery and helicopter
gunships against civilians, and enlisted sectarian militias to massacre entire villages. In
2012, Obama declared the use of chemical weapons would be a red line resulting in
enormous consequences. Assad proceeded to drop sarin gas on civilian neighborhoods,
and continues to use Chlorine almost daily. Last summer, a high-ranking Syrian defector,
code named Caesar, presented Congress with unassailable evidence that the Assad regime
is torturing and murdering tens of thousands on an industrial scale not seen since Nazi
Germany. Since then, the Obama administration, perhaps out of deference to
negotiations over Tehrans nuclear program, has gone out of its way to avoid
antagonizing Assad. Yet by staying silent on Assad's crimes, U.S. policy has failed to
address the looming long-term threat to Western interests: the disintegration of a
sovereign state at the crossroads of the world's most volatile region. A counterterrorism
strategy focused on disrupting ISIS will not stabilize Syria or staunch the flow of
refugees. Even worse, it gives Russia a convenient pretext for adventurism in
Syria. Moscow now claims that its military buildup in Syria is to supply the Syrian
government...in its fight against terrorism, and is now threatening to launch its own antiISIS bombing campaign if the U.S. will not allow Russia and Iran into the international
coalition fighting the extremist group. But a Russia-led campaign would encourage more
government attacks on civilians and would treat all opposition groups as a terrorist threat,
including U.S.-backed rebels.
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Analysis: By initially establishing that most of the refugees are Syrian, the Con can limit the
scope of Pros argument to the war in Syria, and showing that it is actually a lack of foreign
action that allowed for this war, Con teams can argue that the Pro is merely cherry-picking
examples. Certainly some action from foreign governments has led to some instability, but that is
a far cry establishing that they are primarily responsible. The Con should paint the Pros
argument as the idea that foreign intervention led to crises in some countries and a lack of
foreign intervention led to crises in others. In that case, this argument is merely retroactively
blaming foreign actors for all of the problems of today, and the US certainly cant be help
responsible for not taking action.
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PRO Remittances
Argument: Helping refugees will allow them to spur economic development in their home
countries.
Warrant: Remittances allow cash to transfer from wealthy countries to those that need it most.
Van Hear, Nicholas. Refugee Diasporas, Remittances, Development, and Conflict The
Migration Policy Institute, June 1 2003.
http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/europe-must-assume-its-responsibility-forrefugees#full
One of the most important influences refugees and other migrants can have on their
countries of origin is through the remittances they send. There is increasing evidence that
remittances are crucial to the survival of communities in many developing countries,
including many which have suffered conflict and produced refugees. Estimated to total
$100 billion in 2000, migrants' remittances represent a large proportion of world financial
flows and amount to substantially more than global official development assistance. To
underline their importance for the developing world, 60 percent of global remittances
were thought to go to developing countries in 2000. It is very difficult to estimate the
extent to which refugees contribute to these global flows of money. First, the data on
remittances generally are very patchy, and for countries in conflict and which produce
refugees even more so, since data collection in such countries is generally very difficult.
Second, such data as exist do not allow the contribution of refugees to be disaggregated
from that of other migrants. Third, refugees in richer countries may remit both to the
homeland and to neighboring countries of first asylum to support their relatives, making
their contribution more diffuse than that of other migrants. Nevertheless, remittances
from the diaspora can help individuals and families to survive during conflict and to
rebuild afterwards. The limited evidence available suggests that these transfers are used
in ways similar to those sent by economic migrants to people at home in more stable
societies: for daily subsistence needs, health care, housing, and sometimes education.
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Paying off debt may also be prominent, especially when there have been substantial
outlays to send asylum migrants abroad, or when assets have been destroyed, sold off, or
lost during conflict. Expatriates may also fund the flight abroad of other vulnerable
family members; this may not necessarily involve transfers of money home, but rather
payments for tickets, to migration agents, for documents, for accommodation, and to
meet other costs incurred during and after travel.
Warrant: Remittances not only help the family members that receive them, but that money is
then spent in the local economy, helping the entire community.
Lindley, Anna. Protracted displacement and remittances: the view from Eastleigh,
Nairobi. The UN Refugee Agency, August 2007.
<http://www.unhcr.org/46ea519d2.pdf>
While it is a place of both deprivation and entrepreneurial wealth, Eastleigh is a long way
from being the poorest district in Nairobi, and there are much more deprived parts of
Eastlands and the slum settlements. Remittances provide for a number of families who
might otherwise be competing for low-wage jobs in the informal economy. Moreover, the
benefits of receiving remittances are to a degree recirculated through local family and
social family networks, building the social capital of recipients. A second wider
repercussion of remittances involves the effects of the spending and investment of this
money by recipients in the local economy. In contrast with the outward-bound traffic of
remittances by Kenyan residents to rural relatives and investment in their rural homes,
Somali remittances are largely in-bound traffic. Money transfer operators usually pay
remittances and trade transfers out to recipients in hard currency, which is then converted
into Kenyan Shillings. They are spent in the city economy, indeed mainly in Eastleigh as
many refugees tend to avoid going into town, contributing to high levels of local demand
for goods and services, fuelling business expansion on a considerable scale.
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Warrant: Remittance flows are significant, filling an essential need for funds in developing
nations.
Dilip Ratha, Supriyo De, Ervin Dervisevic, Christian Eigen-Zucchi, Sonia Plaza, Kirsten
Schuettler, Hanspeter Wyss, Soonhwa Yi, and Seyed Reza Yousefi. Migration
and Remittances: Recent Developments and Outlook: Special Topic: Forced
Migration, World Bank, October 6, 2014.
<http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPROSPECTS/Resources/3349341288990760745/MigrationandDevelopmentBrief23.pdf>
Officially recorded remittance flows to developing countries are projected to reach
US$435 billion in 2014, 5.0 percent higher than last year (Figure 1.1 and Table 1.1). The
growth in remittances is expected to moderate to 4.4 percent in 2015, raising flows to
US$454 billion. This outlook is based largely on lower projected GDP growth rates in
key remittance-sending countries (see Annex on methodology). Global remittance flows,
including flows to higher-income countries, are expected to follow a similar pattern,
rising from US$582 billion in 2014 to US$608 billion in 2015. Remittances are an
essential source of external funds for developing countries. These flows were three times
larger than official development assistance in 2013, and are steadier than both private
debt and portfolio equity flows (Figure 1.1). Remittance flows are significantly larger
than total foreign direct investment to developing countries, excluding China. They are
also a more stable component of receipts in the current account, reliably bringing in
foreign currency that helps sustain the balance of payments and dampen gyrations (Figure
1.2).
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Warrant: Remittances fill in gaps that developmental aid misses, and helps governments and
economies as well as individuals.
Fagen, Patricia. REMITTANCES IN CONFLICT AND CRISES: How Remittances
Sustain Livelihoods in War, Crises, and Transitions to Peace. International Peace
Academy, February 2006.
<http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/EB1BC67D16B67DD0C12
5714E004DD94C-Remittances.pdf>
In addition to being a major source of income for large numbers of people in poor
countries, migrant wages may also serve as sources of scarce foreign exchange for the
governments of these countries. The added remittance income can help governments to
attract additional investment income that would not otherwise be available. Remittances
vitalize sectors of local economies and encourage migrants to maintain ties, including
economic ties, with countries of origin. Migration itself absorbs significant numbers of
people who otherwise would be without the means of earning a livelihood, as well as
trained individuals whose skills are needed at home. Nevertheless, while remittance costs
have been lowered and transfer mechanisms improved, barriers to legal migration are as
high, or higher, than ever. With the present focus on achieving the Millennium
Development Goals, which are defined far more broadly than economic growth targets,
remittances have come to be seen as tools of development. The extent to which
remittances promote development is debated, but there is little question that remittance
income reaches social sectors that international assistance usually misses.12 Recipients
may then use this income for health, education, improvement in nutrition and housing, or
sometimes to sustain productive enterprises.13 Especially in countries or areas where
weak or non-functioning political and financial institutions limit international access, the
desired beneficiaries of development have received support far more reliably from family
members than from internationally funded projects.14 The vast literature on global
remittances, on balance, shows a largely positive phenomenon in which migrants
earnings have assisted families and communities to alleviate poverty.15 The fact that
remittances are credited with poverty alleviation has raised the profile of economic
migrants who are otherwise seen as marginal parts of developed country populations and
often resented at home.
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Analysis: Remittances are a byproduct of allowing refugees into developed nations, and this
side effect allows for poverty alleviation back home. This is not only beneficial to the developing
nations, but it helps the developed nations because it will make aid to those countries less
necessary, and allow for productive work within the developed nation.
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A2 Remittances
Response: Remittances primarily go to the relatives of wealthy refugees, so they do not actually
help with poverty alleviation.
Warrant: Refugees tend to be wealthier than average to afford going overseas, so subsequent
remittances also go to their wealthy relatives back home.
Van Hear, Nicholas. Refugee Diasporas, Remittances, Development, and Conflict The
Migration Policy Institute, June 1 2003.
http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/europe-must-assume-its-responsibility-forrefugees#full
Other aspects of remittance transfers attenuate their beneficial influence on the countries
from which refugees come. First, the distribution of remittances is uneven: not all
households receive them. Like remittances from economic migrants, transfers from
refugees in the wider diaspora are selective in their benefits, because such refugees tend
to come from the better-off households among those displaced and to send money to
those better-off households. Furthermore, the distribution is likely to have become still
more skewed in recent years because of the rising costs associated with migration: long
distance, intercontinental mobility is increasingly the preserve of those who can afford to
pay migration agents' inflated fees. But perhaps the most serious charge is that
remittances and other transfers from refugees and others in the diaspora may help
perpetuate conflict by providing support for warring parties. This negative view of
diasporas, and by implication refugees within them, particularly those better-off in the
West, has been advanced by several writers on the "new wars" that have blighted many
parts of the developing world in the 1990s. On the whole it is the wealthier members of
the wider diaspora who are the sources of the resources and connections that fuel conflict,
just as they are also the sources of relief and welfare for those at home.
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Warrant: In one case study, poor households received virtually no remittances, while wealthy
households relied on remittances as a primary source of income.
Naohiko Omato. Who Receives Remittances? A Case Study of the Distributional Impact
on Liberian Refugees in Ghana. Centre for Development Policy and Research,
SOAS, University of London, May 2011. <
https://www.soas.ac.uk/cdpr/publications/dv/file68489.pdf>
However, not all Liberian refugees received remittances. Only about half did. And among
them, there were very few poor households. Extensive interviews with a small but
representative sample of refugees support these findings. See the Table, which is based
on the quantitative results from these interviews. It disaggregates refugees into four
income groupings: Better-Off, Middle-Income, Poor and Poorest. Monthly income per
person is reported for each income grouping as well as the components of this income.
The unit is the Ghanaian Cedi (GHC). The Better-Off households had average monthly
income per person of about 292 GHC (or about US$ 216 at that time). Strikingly, about
95% of this income came as remittances sent by relatives abroad. The Middle-Income
households (which were about 40-45% of all households) had average monthly income
per person of about 93 GHC. About 44% of this income came from remittances while
another 36% came from assistance from other refugees or institutions (such as churches).
Only about 15% came from work, either in microenterprises, low-paid jobs or casual
labour. Both the Poor and the Poorest households received virtually no remittances. Their
average monthly incomes per capita were about 36 GHC and 16 GHC, respectively. But
the bulk of this income in both cases came from work. For Poor households, about twothirds of their income came from work and only about 28% from assistance. For the
Poorest households, almost 80% came from work and only 17% from assistance.
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Warrant: Wealthy members of society were the ones who could afford to send family members
abroad.
Naohiko Omato. Who Receives Remittances? A Case Study of the Distributional Impact
on Liberian Refugees in Ghana. Centre for Development Policy and Research,
SOAS, University of London, May 2011. <
https://www.soas.ac.uk/cdpr/publications/dv/file68489.pdf>
A central question for the fieldwork was: who were the Better-Off households and from
whom did they receive their remittances? It is important to note that the analysis of
forcibly displaced groups, such as these refugees, has to take into account not only their
current circumstances but also their previous conditions in their country of origin. The
research concluded that the Better-Off households comprised only 5-10% of all refugees
in the Buduburam settlement. More importantly, they were identified overwhelmingly as
the offspring of the ruling ethnic group in pre-war Liberia. These households could trace
their origins back to wealthy urban families in Liberia that had been able to send many of
their members abroad, usually to the United States, over a number of generations. There
has been a long-standing and special historical relationship between the US and Liberia.
In the 19th century, the US government resettled liberated American slaves in Liberia.
This original grouping was called Americo-Liberians. Over time, this elite group of
Liberians sent their children back to the US to be educated, often on government
scholarships. Most of these children settled in the US, often taking up specialised and
professional occupations, such as lawyers, doctors or academics, which paid above
average incomes. Benefiting from the first generation of migrants to the US, the second
and third generations of Liberian migrants were able to assimilate into American society
much more easily. They were part of an extended process of chain migration within
their lineage. These relatives were the primary remitters to the Better-Off households in
the Liberian refugee settlement in Ghana. The economic prowess of such wealthy
migrants contrasts with that of the ordinary Liberian diaspora, most of whom have
migrated more recently, almost entirely through refugee resettlement programmes, and
occupy relatively low-playing occupations where they reside. It is noteworthy that the
wealthy Liberian migrants comprise several well-established generations. So the Liberian
refugees in Ghana often were able to receive multiple remittances from several relatives
abroad. This factor helps explain why the total received remittances were substantial.
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Analysis: This response is key because it refutes the narrative of wealth creation and poverty
alleviation. Con teams can use the specific data outlined above to show that in reality, wealthy
people in developing nations leave, and support their already wealthy family members. This
actually discouraging work, because those remittances become 95% of their income. So not only
is the money not going to the poor that need it, but it is discouraging the wealthy and powerful
elite in these countries to create companies and jobs that could potentially spur economic
development in these poorer countries.
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PRO Islamophobia
Argument: Justifications for refusing refugees the right to live in European countries are
primarily based on islamophobia, which should never be prioritized and is inherently harmful.
Warrant: Europeans are denying refugees entry because of xenophobia and islamophobia partly
rooted in nationalism and economic insecurity.
Fisher, Max and Taub, Amanda. The refugee crisis: 9 questions you were too
embarrassed to ask. Vox, September 9 2015.
<http://www.vox.com/2015/9/9/9290985/refugee-crisis-europe-syrian>
Some of this is about issues that are particular to the US and to Europe and Australia, but
there is also a generalized anti-immigration sentiment playing out across the developed
countries where refugees are arriving. Europe, like a lot of places, has pretty robust antiimmigration politics. The British tabloid press, for example, has for years scaremongered
about the supposed threats from refugees and migrants. Such politics, in Europe or
elsewhere, often get described as being about pure racism or xenophobia, but in fact
they're about something a little different: a fear, rarely articulated, of changing
demographics and civic identity. Taking in large numbers of refugees requires accepting
that those refugees might bring changes to your nation's identity or culture. And while
that change is often economically and culturally enriching, it can still feel scary. It
requires people to modify, ever so slightly, their vision of what their town and
neighborhood look like. That change can be hard to accept. You can see this play out in
Europe, for example, in the regular political backlashes against new mosques being
constructed. Those backlashes are partly about Islamophobia, but they are also an
expression of people's fear and insecurity about "losing" what made their community feel
familiar. And anti-immigration sentiment tends to rise when people feel economically
insecure, as many do in Western countries now. This insecurity can bring a sense of zerosum competition, even though in fact migration is typically economically beneficial.
There is thus enormous political demand within Western countries for keeping out
migrants and refugees.
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Warrant: Anti-refugee sentiment has been accompanied by islamophobia throughout Europe.
Culik, Jan [Senior Lecturer in Czech Studies, University of Glasgow]. Antiimmigrant walls and racist tweets: the refugee crisis in Central Europe. The
Conversation, June 24, 2015. <http://theconversation.com/anti-immigrant-wallsand-racist-tweets-the-refugee-crisis-in-central-europe-43665>
Alongside this intolerance towards refugees, Islamophobia appears to be on the rise. An
organisation called We do not want Islam in the Czech Republic currently has 137,000
likes on Facebook and regularly posts offensive, inflammatory content about Muslims.
When a group of foreign medical students complained about the group displaying an antiIslamic message on the main square of the Moravian city of Olomouc, it claimed a large
group of Arab immigrants had attacked its people. The students claim they merely voice
complaints about a sign depicting a crossed-out mosque. Now the organisation has
presented a petition to the national parliament, demanding that immigrants be barred
from the Czech Republic. Sponsored by Martin Komrek, a member of parliament for the
main government coalition party ANO, this document has received 145,000 signatures
from the Czech public. Local authorities in a number of Czech villages have been
informing citizens about the petition and making it available to be signed on local
authority premises, in local libraries and in pubs. Against this backdrop, a young man
verbally attacked a Muslim woman in a supermarket in the Moravian town of Brno on
June 20. He demanded that she should take off her scarf and threatened to decapitate her.
On the same day, a demonstration of some 6,000 right-wing extremists took place in
Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The extremists chanted Hang the refugees and the
traitors in our government and threw stones at a group of Saudis with a pram. Like in the
Czech Republic, the Slovak government strongly rejects the EU resettlement proposal,
although the Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico, has conceded that Slovakia might offer
some help, primarily in Africa. In a recent survey, 70% of Slovaks said they opposed the
refugee quotas.
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Warrant: Islamophobia is on the rise, and inherently harmful, as dehumanization based on race
and religion is what has led to genocide and hate crimes in the past.
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein. Europe's refugee problem, then and now. Qantara, June 22,
2014. <https://en.qantara.de/content/migration-and-xenophobia-europes-refugeeproblem-then-and-now>
Today, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism, xenophobia and anti-migrant sentiment are
again rising across Europe, and we must stop now and reassess precisely where we are. A
major British tabloid newspaper recently felt it acceptable to allow one of its columnists
to call immigrants "cockroaches". Rwanda's Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines
used the same word to describe Tutsis in the run-up to the 1994 genocide, as did Julius
Streicher's Nazi newspaper "Der Stuermer" to describe Jews. Political leaders across
Europe regularly and shamefully blame migrants for their national woes. Attacking
migrants or minorities whether crudely, through language, or more subtly, through
policy is unacceptable everywhere, full stop. When words are formulated with the clear
intention of causing harm and violence on national, racial or religious grounds, freedom
of expression becomes incitement to hatred, which is prohibited by law. Countries that
have ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which includes all
European Union members, are bound to uphold it.
Warrant: Islamophobic hate crimes in Europe are empirically increasing.
Adesina, Zack and Marocico, Oana. Islamophobic crime in London 'up by 70%' BBC
News, September 7, 2015. < http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london34138127>
Hate crimes against Muslims in London have risen by 70% in the past year, according to
Met Police statistics. Figures for the 12 months up to July showed 816 Islamophobic
crimes, compared with 478 for the previous 12-month period. Tell MAMA, an
organisation that monitors Islamophobic attacks, claimed women were the primary
targets. The group told Inside Out London women wearing a face veil were victims of
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more "aggressive incidents". The Met define Islamophobic crime as any offence intended
to affect those known or perceived to be Muslim. Reported incidents ranged from cyberbullying and assaults to extreme violence. One of the highest increases was in Merton,
south west London, which saw a rise from eight incidents in the year to July 2014 up to
29 in the subsequent 12-month period - an increase of 263%. The borough with the
highest number of incidents in the year 2014-15 was Westminster, which had 54
Islamophobic crimes, according to Scotland Yard's figures.
Analysis: This argument says that the underlying reason behind governments turning away
refugees is islamophobia, which must not be endorsed by governments, as these sentiments
inspire hate crimes and similar ideas lead to genocides. This argument can also function as an
overview in a rebuttal to the Con case, by placing the burden that the Aff must prove that the
underlying sentiments for refusing help the refugees must not be islamophobic.
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A2 Islamophobia
Response: Many of the refugees are not Muslim, so general anti-refugee sentiment is not
necessarily always linked to islamophobia.
Warrant: A majority of current refugees are Syrian.
Refugee population by country or territory of origin. World Bank, 2014.
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SM.POP.REFG.OR?order=wbapi_data_value
_2014+wbapi_data_value+wbapi_data_value-last&sort=desc>
Warrant: Syria has a significant Christian minority.

Andreas Gorzewski. Religious divides deepen in Syria. February 24, 2013.
http://www.dw.com/en/religious-divides-deepen-in-syria/a-16624528
Syria is an ethnic and religious patchwork. Three quarters of the around 22 million
Syrians are Sunni Muslims. Alawites and Christians each represent 10 percent of the
population. On top of that, several hundred thousand Druze, Shiites and Yazidi also live
in the country. Beyond religion, ethnic tensions have also intensified between the Arab
majority and the Kurdish population in Syria, which accounts for around 15 percent of
the total population.
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Warrant: Over the course of 2014, countries that made the top five for asylum seekers in
European countries included countries that are majority non-Muslim: Russia [Christian
Orthodox], Ukraine [Christian Orthodox], Vietnam [Buddhist], Cuba [Roman Catholic], Serbia
[Christian Orthodox], Nigeria [Christian], Zimbabwe [Christian], DR Congo [Roman Catholic,
Protestant], Guinea [Christian], Georgia [Christian], Bosnia and Herzegovina [Roman Catholic],
Montenegro [Christian Orthodox], Armenia [Christian], and Sri Lanka [Theravada Buddhist].
Though many asylum seekers are Muslim, major segments of the refugee populations are not.
Five main citizenships of (non-EU) asylum applicants, 2014. Eurostat, May 8, 2015. <
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/images/b/b7/Five_main_citizenships_of_%28nonEU%29_asylum_applicants%2C_2014_%28number%2C_rounded_figures%29_
YB15_III.pn
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Analysis: This response shows that the refugee crisis is by no means a merely Islamic one
whatever reasons Europeans have for not wanting to let refugees into their country, they cannot
be solely islamophobic or completely based on religion. Otherwise, Europeans would not have a
problem with refugees as a whole, just Muslim ones.
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PRO Intervening in the Smuggling Business

Argument: The most frequently used method of refugee transportation and border crossing has
been with smugglers. The problem with this arises because of the lack of regulation and obvious
illicit nature of this transport, leading to dangerous, often significantly over capacity, boats.
Attempting to mitigate these harms could save lives and lead to great benefits.
Warrant: The boats are dangerous and there is not enough help being given by the governments
in question.
Sunde, Kristin. "7 Questions You Might Have about Refugees and Migrants Drowning in
the Mediterranean." Amnesty International. N.p., 22 Apr. 2015. Web. 01 Oct.
2015. <https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2015/04/7-questions-youmight-have-about-refugees-and-migrants-drowning-in-the-mediterranean/>.
Why are so many people drowning in the Mediterranean? Record numbers of refugees
and migrants have tried to reach Europe so far this year, travelling in overcrowded,
dangerous boats controlled by unscrupulous people smugglers. When their boats capsize
or run into trouble, there isnt always someone around to help. At the end of 2014, Italy
and the EU decided to end the Italian Navys humanitarian operation, Mare Nostrum,
which rescued over 166,000 people in one year. The EU replaced it with a much smaller
operation called Triton. It mainly focuses on patrolling borders close to land, rather than
saving lives in the open sea. It [the EUs Triton operation] also has smaller boats and
fewer planes, helicopters and people available. As a result, finding and rescuing people
again falls mostly to coastguards and commercial ships.
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Warrant: Italy had a functioning help system but the EU ended it.
At the end of 2014, Italy and the EU decided to end the Italian Navys humanitarian
operation, Mare Nostrum, which rescued over 166,000 people in one year. The EU
replaced it with a much smaller operation called Triton. It mainly focuses on patrolling
borders close to land, rather than saving lives in the open sea. It also has smaller boats
and fewer planes, helicopters and people available. As a result, finding and rescuing
people again falls mostly to coastguards and commercial ships.
Warrant: The EU could share the costs for rescue missions.
All European countries urgently need to work together to launch a humanitarian
operation to rescue people at sea. That means sharing the cost of enough boats, airplanes,
helicopters and staff to rescue the people expected to cross the Mediterranean from now
on. While that is being organized, they need to give Italy and Malta enough financial and
logistical support to step up their coastguards ongoing search and rescue work.
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Warrant: The people pay smugglers thousands of dollars.
Many people are fleeing conflict, poverty, violence and persecution. For them, paying a
smuggler thousands of dollars to cross the sea in a broken dinghy is just about the only
option left. Making this terrible choice says a lot about what people are running away
from. Jean was one of 88 survivors from a boat rescued near Malta in January. Around 35
or his fellow passengers died, including from hypothermia and dehydration. He told us he
fled the Ivory Coast after his family threatened him because he didn't want his daughter
to undergo female genital mutilation.
Warrant: The rate of death of refugees right now is 10 times its normal rate.
"The Worst Yet?" The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 19 Apr. 2015. Web. 01
Oct. 2015. <http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21648896-another-boatcapsizes-between-libya-and-italy-europe-debates-migration-policy-worstdrowning-yet>.
What is beyond doubt, though, is that the migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe
are dying this year at an unprecedented rate. According to figures released by the Italian
interior ministry after the latest disaster, 23,556 people have entered Italy irregularly by
sea since January 1st. That is not a big increase over 2014, when the figure for the same
period was 20,800. But the death toll, according to the International Organisation for
Migration (IOM), has leapt almost tenfold. Even before the latest calamity it stood at
954.
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Warrant: In April over 1,000 refugees drowned.
"Mediterranean Crisis 2015 at Six Months: Refugee and Migrant Numbers Highest on
Record." UNHCR News. N.p., 1 July 2015. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.unhcr.org/5592b9b36.html>.
The number of deaths at sea rose to record levels in April 2015, and then dropped
dramatically in May and June. Between January and March, 479 refugees and migrants
drowned or went missing, as opposed to 15 during the first three months of the year
before. In April the situation took an even more terrible turn. In a number of concurrent
wrecks, an unprecedented 1,308 refugees and migrants drowned or went missing in a
single month (compared to 42 in April 2014).
Warrant: The EUs new rescue strategy has too small of a budget.
Why? Apart from worse weather, humanitarian aid officials point to two factors. One is
the suspension last October of Italys Mare Nostrum search-and-rescue mission. It was
replaced by Operation Triton, run by the EUs border control agency, Frontex, which has
a much narrower remit to patrol Italys territorial waters and a budget of less than a third
that of Mare Nostrum.
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Warrant: Reviving search and rescue missions would help significantly.
Keating, Joshua. "We Could Stop More Refugee Children From Drowning. But We
Wont." Slate Magazine, 2 Sept. 2015. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/09/02/refugee_boy_dies_trying_to
_escape_syria_here_is_the_change_that_is_necessary.html>
For a year until last October, Italy had a naval operation aimed at rescuing those making
the dangerous crossing from North Africa. It has been replaced by a much smaller EU
led operation whose focus is explicitly not on saving lives. Reviving maritime searchand-rescue missions could help protect refugees, especially if such an initiative were a
Europe-wide effort rather than something left to Italy or another individual member state.
Governments should also coordinate their efforts with groups like Doctors Without
Borders who have started private search-and-rescue operations of their own. Ship owners,
many of whom now actively avoid areas where they are likely to encounter ships carrying
refugees, could also be compensated for diverting to rescue those in need. Opponents
argue that these operations encourage people to make the dangerous crossing, since they
think they will be saved should something go awry, but the current grim situation doesnt
seem to be acting as much of a deterrent.
Warrant: The boats are severely overcapacity which makes them more dangerous.
The second factor is that the smugglers are cramming more and more people on ever
more vulnerable craft as they run short of boats. Twice this year, armed smugglers have
forcibly taken back boats used to transport migrants and asylum-seekers after their
passengers were rescued by other vesselsa sure sign that the boats are becoming more
valuable. In the second incident, which took place last Monday, the smugglers fired shots
in the air before recovering a wooden craft about 60 nautical miles (111km) from the
Libyan coast.
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Warrant: Effective policy can save lives when it comes to the smuggling trade.
"Mediterranean Crisis 2015 at Six Months: Refugee and Migrant Numbers Highest on
Record." UNHCR News. N.p., 1 July 2015. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.unhcr.org/5592b9b36.html>.
The number of deaths at sea rose to record levels in April 2015, and then dropped
dramatically in May and June. Between January and March, 479 refugees and migrants
drowned or went missing, as opposed to 15 during the first three months of the year
before. In April the situation took an even more terrible turn. In a number of concurrent
wrecks, an unprecedented 1,308 refugees and migrants drowned or went missing in a
single month (compared to 42 in April 2014). In May, the number of refugees and
migrants drowned or missing at sea fell to 68, a quarter of the figure only one year earlier
(226). The downward trend continued in June, which saw 12 deaths compared to 305 in
2014. "The decline in people drowning over the past two months is encouraging; a sign
that with the right policy, backed by an effective operational response, it is possible to
save more lives at sea," said Guterres. "Nonetheless, we must stay vigilant. For the
thousands of refugees and migrants who continue to cross the Mediterranean every week,
the risks remain very real."
Analysis: This argument is designed to provide a clear and undeniable way that governments can
help the refugees in a humanitarian manner. As it is very difficult to articulate a reason why not
to save drowning people, youre almost guaranteed to win this point in front of any lay judge on
face value, and in terms of the flow it would take a significant amount of work to disprove the
warrants provided as there are specific examples of Italy intervening in the past and leading to
concrete benefits. The impact is that action from a government will save lives which you can
utilize and weigh above your opponents arguments that may instead only be impacting to
governmental theory and the social contract.
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A2 Intervening in the Smuggling Business

Answer: Privatizing search and rescue may be just as effective.
Warrant: Privatizing search and rescue can fill in the gaps.
Montenegro, Carolina. "Migrant Crisis in the Mediterranean: What Can Be Done?"
IRINnews. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.irinnews.org/report/101369/migrant-crisis-in-the-mediterraneanwhat-can-be-done>.
For Jean-Franois Durieux, director of the Refugee Law Programme at the International
Institute of Humanitarian Law in Sanremo, private initiatives like these are an innovative
attempt to mitigate the lack of a coordinated response from the EU. Of course it is not
the solution. It is not one private boat that will solve the issue with so many small boats
crossing the sea. However, it is much needed, Durieux told IRIN. There is no reason
why only [EU member] states should carry out rescue operations. An important message
here is that there is also a huge responsibility for the private sector, as the obligation for
rescue at sea applies to any ship.
Warrant: Privatizing search and rescue is already happening.
Last week, Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) announced a new partnership with the
Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), a Malta-based privately funded initiative that
launched last summer and saved 3,000 migrants over two months with its 40-metre
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vessel, the Phoenix. The partnership with MSF means the 20-person crew will now
include two doctors and a nurse who will be able to treat conditions ranging from
sunburns, dehydration and hypothermia to chronic conditions such as diabetes. The joint
sea rescue and medical aid operation will run from May to October, covering the socalled Central Mediterranean route between the south coast of Italy, Malta and the north
coast of Libya, with disembarkation points determined by the Italian coast guard. The
Phoenix will be equipped with food, water and blankets as well as high-speed inflatable
boats and surveillance drones.
Warrant: More privatization of search and rescue is happening as well.
A smaller private rescue initiative is being launched by German businessmen Harald
Hppner and Matthias Kuhn. Their 21-metre ship will patrol Libyas northwest coast for
three months, starting mid-May. Hppner and Kuhn have financed the initial costs of the
project themselves, but are hoping to sustain it with donations.
Warrant: Compensation can be provided to private companies to incentivize them and cover
their costs.
In 2014, 800 merchant ships were diverted to rescue some 40,000 migrants at sea, most
of them in the Mediterranean. At a meeting to address mixed migration by sea hosted by
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the UNs International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in London in March, shipowners
said they were struggling to cope with the financial and security costs of such rescues.
The UNs refugee agency, UNHCR, says shipping companies are now re-routing their
vessels to avoid areas likely to encounter migrant boats. One of a list of proposals put
forward by the UNHCR in March is to compensate private shipowners for the losses they
incur rescuing migrants at sea. A mechanism set up by the IMO during the exodus from
Vietnam in the 1980s still exists and could be re-activated, said the agency.
Analysis: The resolution directly asks for governments to be the ones making the efforts to help
people. However, in any circumstance where the private sector can do the exact same thing as
the public sector, it is preferable to allow them to do it at cheaper costs and more efficiently,
which inevitably comes into play due to the nature of competitive markets that exist with private
companies and not with governmental actions. This evidence demonstrates the private sector can
solve the problem, so if the exact same impacts of saving lives can happen on the con side
without the bureaucratic red tape and more efficiency, the con is probably the preferable side.
Answer: The boats are only a miniscule amount of the total refugee problem.
Warrant: Only 2 percent of Syrian refugees are attempting to use boats.
Collier, Paul. "If You Really Want to Help Refugees, Look beyond the Mediterranean."
The Spectator. N.p., 08 Aug. 2015. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.
<http://new.spectator.co.uk/2015/08/if-you-really-want-to-help-refugees-lookbeyond-the-mediterranean/>.
And those Syrians waving and drowning in the sea are merely the tip of a vastly larger
iceberg of need. Of Syrias 20 million people, around half are now displaced. This ten
million are the submerged iceberg: the group to whom we have some duty of rescue.
They are displaced through circumstance rather than choice. The tiny minority (about 2
per cent) in the sea and camped on our doorstep are part of our duty of rescue, but they
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should not be allowed to crowd out the needs of others: for one thing, they tend to be
richer and more resourceful.
Warrant: Focusing on the boating distracts from the larger problem.
Collier, Paul. "If You Really Want to Help Refugees, Look beyond the Mediterranean."
The Spectator. N.p., 08 Aug. 2015. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.
<http://new.spectator.co.uk/2015/08/if-you-really-want-to-help-refugees-lookbeyond-the-mediterranean/>.
And those Syrians waving and drowning in the sea are merely the tip of a vastly larger
iceberg of need. Of Syrias 20 million people, around half are now displaced. This ten
million are the submerged iceberg: the group to whom we have some duty of rescue.
They are displaced through circumstance rather than choice. The tiny minority (about 2
per cent) in the sea and camped on our doorstep are part of our duty of rescue, but they
should not be allowed to crowd out the needs of others: for one thing, they tend to be
richer and more resourceful. Of the ten million who are displaced, around half are still in
Syria, trapped now that Jordan and Lebanon have closed their borders. It is obviously
more difficult for Europe to help the internally displaced within Syria, but there are still
ways of doing so. These five million should not be forgotten just because they have not
created a problem for other nations.
Analysis: This response has to be given very carefully. You do not want to word this response as
we shouldnt help these refugees because there are other bigger problems that make their lives
insignificant (and you should be prepared for your opponents to construe your statement to
sound like that. Instead this is solely meant to be used in a migratory manner attempting to
make your opponents impacts sound much lower by pointing out that yes, it may help people, but
in proportion to the total problem, it is just a drop in the bucket and the affirmative is not
providing a realistic solution to the larger issue.
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PRO Labor Win-Win

Argument: The root of many of the problems refugees are suffering from right now is a lack of
money and the difficulty of assimilation into the countries theyre forced into. An easy solution
to this is to encourage the labor market to take the refugees in as potential employees when
they have steady jobs, other issues like a lack of food, or the drain on other governments welfare
systems, are solved by themselves.
Warrant: Job opportunities have the potential to change lives
"Finding Jobs, Filling Vacancies and Building a Community: Silver Spring's Job Fair Is a
Win - Win - Win." International Rescue Committee. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.rescue.org/us-program/us-silver-spring-md/finding-jobs-fillingvacancies-and-building-community-silver-springs->.
Instead for many, restarting your life means quite literally starting all over again. It
means finding a new way to support yourself and your family, learning a new language,
familiarizing yourself with a new lifestyle and culture, as well as rebuilding a support
group in a new community. Ideally, one does all of this simultaneously. One of the best
ways to accomplish this, of course, finding a job! Employment is not only a means to an
end, but an end in itself. When a refugee works, s/he not only earns a salary in order to
afford the necessities of life, but s/he also gains practical experiences with a new
language by interacting with a variety of people from different cultures. In essence,
employment helps a refugee to integrate into the community s/he finds himself living in.
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Warrant: There are large openings for refugee jobs in countries where they are and the UN
wants to help.
AZIZAN, HARIATI. "'Hire Refugees as Maids Instead' - Nation | The Star Online." The
Star Online, 15 Sept. 2013. Web. 06 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2013/09/15/Hire-refugees-as-maidsinstead-Mama-Proposal-a-winwin-solution-for-both-sides/>.
Malaysian Maid Employers Association (Mama) president Engku Ahmad Fauzi Engku
Muhsein said they plan to work with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees
(UNHCR) soon to come out with a win-win solution for both employers and the refugees.
The refugees need to work to support themselves here and we need manpower for
domestic helpers, Engku Ahmad pointed out. For employers, the main advantage will
be cost. The refugees are already in the country, so we can save on transportation and
levy costs. There are currently about 104,070 refugees and asylum-seekers registered
with the UNHCR in the country, 30% of whom are women. More than 90,000 are from
Myanmar while the others are from Sri Lanka, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Engku
Ahmad said tapping the refugee labour force was one option Mama came up with after
Indonesia announced it would stop supplying maids to foreign countries in 2017. An
estimated 35,000 Malaysian households are currently on the waiting list for foreign
maids. We hope to meet the UNHCR soon to discuss the proposal and if acceptable,
work out the mechanics, including the law, processing and medical screening before
proposing it to the relevant ministries, he said. In an immediate response, representatives
from various refugee communities in Malaysia welcomed Mamas proposal, saying it
would help refugees who needed to support their families with a stable income.
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Warrant: The German labor market would benefit greatly from using the refugees.
Cottrell, Chris. "Tapping Refugees to Combat Germany's Labor Shortage | Business |
DW.COM | 02.09.2015." DW.COM. N.p., 09 Feb. 2015. Web. 06 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.dw.com/en/tapping-refugees-to-combat-germanys-labor-shortage/a18688541>.
The thousands of refugees pouring into Germany every day could offer Europe's largest
economy an opportune solution to plug the 'gray gap' in its aging workforce. But
integrating the new arrivals could be costly. In Germany, two things are consistently low.
One is the unemployment rate ; the other is the birth rate. At 6.4 percent, the number of
jobless people looking for work defies labor data in other European countries whose
economies aren't nearly as robust. But the birth rate, one of the lowest in the world, is a
lamentable statistic that poses a strong dilemma for German employers.
Warrant: Governments can assist with getting refugees to work.
Labor Minister Andrea Nahles told journalists that although the labor market on the
whole continued to be "an important anchor of stability in Germany," there were many
areas of the German economy that had a shortage of skilled labor. "We want to use this
situation to open up the opportunity of a new and better life in Germany for the refugees
who have come to us legitimately," Nahles told reporters as she presented the lastest
official data on Europe's largest economy. "Our aim must be to put the people who have
come to us into decent work," she added. "The people who are coming as refugees should
quickly become neighbors and colleagues." Business leaders for their part have called on
the federal and state governments to more smoothly integrate the new arrivals into the
German workforce.
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Warrant: Refugees getting put to work helps both them and the countries theyre entering.
Labor Minister Andrea Nahles told journalists that although the labor market on the
whole continued to be "an important anchor of stability in Germany," there were many
areas of the German economy that had a shortage of skilled labor. "We want to use this
situation to open up the opportunity of a new and better life in Germany for the refugees
who have come to us legitimately," Nahles told reporters as she presented the lastest
official data on Europe's largest economy. "Our aim must be to put the people who have
come to us into decent work," she added. "The people who are coming as refugees should
quickly become neighbors and colleagues." Business leaders for their part have called on
the federal and state governments to more smoothly integrate the new arrivals into the
German workforce.
Warrant: Refugees can be part of an economic boom for host countries.
Betts, Alexander. "Viewpoint: Treat Refugees as a Development Issue - BBC News."
BBC News. Oxford University, 27 Aug. 2015. Web. 06 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34049599>.
One approach is to reconceive refugees as a development issue rather than simply a
humanitarian issue. Refugees have skills, talents and aspirations. At their best,
development-based approaches to refugees have the potential to provide "win-win"
opportunities for refugees, host countries, and donors, until refugees are able to return
home. In our recent research in Uganda, we have shown how refugees can contribute
economically to host states. Unlike many other countries in the region, it has adopted a
so-called "self-reliance strategy", allowing refugees the right to work and a significant
degree of freedom of movement. In urban areas and settlements, refugees engage in a
diverse range of entrepreneurial activities.
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Warrant: Most refugee households actually create employment opportunities in the countries
they take refuge in.
In Kampala, for instance, 21% of refugees run businesses that employ other people. Far
from being dependent on aid, 96% of refugee households have some independent income
source. This shows that given the right policies, refugees can and will help themselves
and contribute to host societies. Historically, there are examples of how Europe has
supported development-based approaches to refugee assistance. One neglected example
comes from Central America where, at the end of the Cold War, hundreds of thousands
of people were displaced. The international community adopted an initiative known as
CIREFCA, which between 1987 and 1995 created opportunities for refugee self-reliance
across the region. The premise was that through targeted development assistance,
opportunities could be created for both host communities and displaced populations.
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Warrant: Most refugees have jobs and arent dependent on governmental assistance.
In Kampala, for instance, 21% of refugees run businesses that employ other people. Far
from being dependent on aid, 96% of refugee households have some independent income
source. This shows that given the right policies, refugees can and will help themselves
and contribute to host societies. Historically, there are examples of how Europe has
supported development-based approaches to refugee assistance. One neglected example
comes from Central America where, at the end of the Cold War, hundreds of thousands
of people were displaced. The international community adopted an initiative known as
CIREFCA, which between 1987 and 1995 created opportunities for refugee self-reliance
across the region. The premise was that through targeted development assistance,
opportunities could be created for both host communities and displaced populations.
Analysis: This argument is designed to show benefits on both sides, as refugees and the
governments get something out of offering labor opportunities. Not only does this argument
make logical sense so it is very easy to explain to a judge, it is also very difficult to refute. Most
responses mitigate (in that they make your impact smaller, but dont disprove the premise behind
the argument) but dont do much else. Make sure to weigh the long term when running this type
of argument as that is when most of the impacts are coming into fruition, for both the
governments and the refugees.
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A2 Labor Win-Win
Answer: These jobs are bad for the refugees.
Warrant: There is little legal protection for both the employers and employees as many are
undocumented.
AZIZAN, HARIATI. "'Hire Refugees as Maids Instead' - Nation | The Star Online." The
Star Online, 15 Sept. 2013. Web. 06 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2013/09/15/Hire-refugees-as-maidsinstead-Mama-Proposal-a-winwin-solution-for-both-sides/>.
Malaysian Association of Foreign Maid Agencies (Papa) president Jeffrey Foo said they
are open to sourcing refugees as domestic workers if the security issue is addressed. We
need to study this carefully as they will be going into Malaysian homes and working with
our children. Their lack of official status means that it will be difficult to take legal
recourse if anything goes wrong, he said.
Analysis: This response is just supposed to demonstrate harms that could be done to the refugees
if they take jobs without the proper paperwork, etc. Legal problems and lawsuits could make
their life even harder than it already was.
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Answer: It is very expensive for governments to take these individuals in and make them
employable.
Warrant: Governments would have to pay for expensive language classes.
But in order to do this, Germany would have to allocate an additional 1.8 billion to 3.3
billion euros ($2 billion to $3.7 billion) in 2016 alone for language classes for refugees
and benefits during vocational training. By 2019, Nahles said, that figure could rise to 7
billion euros.
Warrant: Job-benefits would cost governments money.
At the press conference, Nahles also said the expected rise in the number of people
granted asylum in Germany could also increase the number of people eligible for jobseeker benefits by 240,000 to 460,000 in 2016. Within four years, that figure could rise to
1 million extra people entitled to social benefits known as "Hartz IV" as they look for a
job or are unable to work. The extra costs are likely to stir a debate in Germany, where
opinions toward Europe's migrant crisis and Germany's role therein are divided. Many
urge Berlin to do everything in its power to help those fleeing war and poverty, while
others fear too much immigration could water down wages and Germany's national
culture.
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Analysis: If it costs governments that much money to actually give the refugees job
opportunities, then the benefits that come from their having jobs may actually be outweighed.
When that happens, the win-win aspect of this argument is disproven. Instead, the government
would be losing. If the government is losing money and it can no longer function to the capacity
it was previously, then this action is not something it should pursue.
Answer: It is hard for the refugees to actually get jobs.
Warrant: Most available jobs take some years of training.
LaFranchie, Howard. "Germany's Working-age Refugees and Empty Jobs: Why the
Disconnect?" The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 21
Sept. 2015. Web. 06 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2015/0921/Germany-s-working-agerefugees-and-empty-jobs-Why-the-disconnect>.
For some economists, Germanys labor market remains too regulated, despite reforms a
decade ago. Most trades are impossible to enter without three years of internship and
exams a barrier that some say will continue to keep arriving refugees out of unfilled job
slots. The government is also going to have to consider adjusting the national minimum
wage of 8.50 euros in some circumstances to allow refugees to get a foothold in the
workforce, Vopel says. Its unrealistic to think that all these immigrants can be absorbed
into the job market at that wage, he says.
Analysis: This response is meant to mitigate the impacts provided on the affirmative side. The
only way they get their benefits is if the refugees actually get the jobs in the first place. The
evidence provided here shows that that is much easier said than done in fact, it is more likely
that the refugees wont get the jobs. Instead, they would have to go through extensive training
and would likely cause wages to fluctuate in the country as there is such a massive increase in
workers looking for jobs that cant find them.
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PRO Food Distribution

Argument: One of the most basic needs for human beings is food and water, and currently many
refugees do not have enough of either. The easiest way countries and governments can act to
help them with their humanitarian needs is to help distribute supplies like food, saving lives in
the process.
Warrant: Recent Food-Aid efforts were cut due to a lack of funds
"Lack of Funds: World Food Programme Drops Aid to One-third of Syrian Refugees."
The Guardian, 4 Sept. 2015. Web. 2 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/05/lack-of-funds-world-foodprogramme-drops-aid-to-one-third-of-syrian-refugees>.
The cash-strapped World Food Programme has had to drop one-third of Syrian refugees
from its food voucher program in Middle Eastern host countries this year, including
229,000 in Jordan who stopped receiving food aid in September, a spokeswoman said.
The sharp cutbacks come at a time when growing numbers of Syrians who initially found
refuge in neighbouring countries are trying to reach Europe. Since 2011 more than four
million Syrians have fled their countrys civil war, most settling in Jordan, Lebanon,
Turkey, Iraq and Egypt.
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Warrant: The WFP needs help, and countries can give it.
Abeer Etefa, a WFP regional spokeswoman, said the world must do more to support
refugees in the regional host countries or face increasing migration. This is a crisis that
has been brewing in the region for five years, she said. Now it is getting the attention of
the world because it moved one step further from the region to Europe. We have to help
people where they are or they will move. The UN agency has been distributing food
vouchers to refugees since the beginning of the Syria crisis but is facing increasing
funding gaps. Since the beginning of this operation it has been hand to mouth, said
Etefa. It is nerve-wracking for the refugees and the staff. She said the agency needed
$236m to keep the program even in its scaled-back version funded through
November. No major donors had come forward, she said.
Warrant: More movement will happen without the food.
Abeer Etefa, a WFP regional spokeswoman, said the world must do more to support
refugees in the regional host countries or face increasing migration. This is a crisis that
has been brewing in the region for five years, she said. Now it is getting the attention of
the world because it moved one step further from the region to Europe. We have to help
people where they are or they will move. The UN agency has been distributing food
vouchers to refugees since the beginning of the Syria crisis but is facing increasing
funding gaps. Since the beginning of this operation it has been hand to mouth, said
Etefa. It is nerve-wracking for the refugees and the staff.
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Warrant: Without food aid, a generation of children will be lost spurring future problems and
conflicts. Without food we will lose a generation of children and cause more future problems.
With conditions in the host countries worsening, thousands of Syrian refugees have been
trying to reach Europe, many attempting treacherous sea voyages. On Friday a man
whose family died when a small rubber boat capsized on the way from Turkey to Greece
buried his wife and two sons in their hometown in Syria. The haunting image of one of
the sons, three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, washed up on a Turkish beach focused the worlds
attention on the wave of migration fuelled by war and deprivation. This week the UN
warned 40% of children from five conflict-scarred Middle Eastern countries, including
Syria, were not in school, and that losing this generation would lead to more militancy
and migration.
Warrant: Food insecurity is a rampant problem for refugees.
"Food Insecurity among Syrian Refugees Increases as Food Assistance Decreases."
REACH Initiative. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2015. <http://www.reachinitiative.org/food-insecurity-among-syrian-refugees-increases-as-foodassistance-decreases>.
Comparing with the CFSME 2014, there has been a dramatic increase in the
vulnerability and food insecurity of registered Syrian refugees living in Jordan over the
past year. In 2015, 85% of households in both the [refugee] camps and host communities
are either food insecure or vulnerable to food insecurity a severe drop since 2014. In
host communities only 15% of refugee households are food secure in 2015, down from
52% in the previous year. Further, 68% of households are now living below the
absolutely poverty line, compared to 44% in 2014, and households are increasingly
adopting negative coping strategies such as accepting exploitative work conditions and
reducing essential non-food expenditure, including education.
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Warrant: Food insecurity leads to increasingly risky decisions made by refugees

"Comprehensive Food Security Monitoring Exercise:." (2015): 157-71. World Food
Programme. May 2015. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.reachresourcecentre.info/system/files/resourcedocuments/jor_factsheet_comprehensive_food_security_monitoring_exercise_ma
y2015_0.pdf>.
Increasingly, households are resorting to sending family members to work in
exploitative or high risk conditions to increase available resources for buying food. More
households in 2015 are spending less money on essential health and education needs, in
order to have enough resources to buy food for the household.
Analysis: This argument is written to be more of an example of humanitarian aid that could be
offered painlessly by the governments in question. Your opponents will have a difficult time
attempting to respond considering all youre advocating for is feeding hungry individuals, and
that is generally accepted as a good thing to do, especially considering the cost is so low (a
couple hundred million dollars split between some of the wealthiest countries in the world is next
to nothing). Make sure to weigh the lives being saved from these efforts very heavily, as this
argument is discussing potentially one of the most straightforward ways to help people in the
entire debate. Of all impacts, giving food to those who need it is probably the most direct,
unquestionably correct, life saving actions one can take in this crisis, and it is far more obvious
than something to do with governmental theory that the negative may bring up instead.
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A2 Food Distribution
Answer: Economic assistance rather than humanitarian aid solves for food security better.
Warrant: Economic recovery and growth in the refugees home countries only occurs if they
return, and the impacts of that help everyone.
Mabiso, Athur. "Refugees, Food Security, and Resilience in Host Communities:
Transitioning from Humanitarian Assistance to Development in Protracted
Refugee Situations." (n.d.): n. pag. International Food Policy Research Institute,
May 2014. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.
<http://cdm15738.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p15738coll2/id/1281
35/filename/128346.pdf>.
In terms of policy, an obvious if not simplistic approach to enhancing food security and
resilience in the host community is to promote conflict resolution, strengthen governance
institutions in the country of origin, and accelerate the transition from humanitarian aid to
economic recovery and growth (Collier and Rohner 2008). The underlying assumption
that the food security of the host community will improve once refugees return to their
countries of origin has not been tested empirically, but this seems to be a premise of most
refugee-development policies. Many long-term solutions (including repatriation and
resettlement as proposed by the UNHCR) appear to hinge on the assumption that
removing the protracted refugee population from the host community will improve
outcomes for all. This assumption does not consider how these policies or solutions may
affect the food security of both the host community and the refugees in the long run (after
the refugees have left). Anecdotal evidence from the refugee-hosting areas of Malawi,
Tanzania, and West Africa suggests that some combinations of conflict resolution,
economic recovery, and gradual strengthening of governance institutions in the refugeesending countriesMozambique, Rwanda, and Liberia, respectively helped to reduce
refugee inflows and ultimately engendered voluntary repatriation of refugees.
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Analysis: This response is more squirrely as it doesnt disagree with the idea that food assistance
is good, it just simply explains that perhaps a better way to fix the issue is to accelerate away
from humanitarian aid and instead focus on economic help instead.
Answer: Food security can worsen as a result of foreign aid.
Warrant: The poorer refugees are disproportionately harmed by the food assistance.
Transitioning from Humanitarian Assistance to Development in Protracted Refugee
Situations." (n.d.): n. pag. International Food Policy Research Institute, May
2014. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.
Of all the different types of humanitarian aid, food aid is probably linked most closely to
food security and has received much debate and analysis in the literature. In general, food
aid improves food availability and can mitigate sharp increases in prices of aid-related
food items in the short run (del Ninno, Dorosh, and Subbarao 2007; Kirwan and
McMillan 2007). However, depending on whether it is directed only to refugee camps or
to nearby households in the host community as well, it will have varying distributional
impacts. Often the poorer households of the host population are disfavored if the supply
is not sufficient to prevent local food price hikes, and in these circumstances the aid
likely erodes their capacity to build resilience and long-term food security (Chambers
1986).
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Warrant: The majority of the time the poor are hurt in the process of food aid distribution.
2014. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.
In the majority of cases, food aid is delivered (or targeted) to refugee camps and
excludes the poor in the host communities. Usually the refugees will trade some of the
food aid they receive with the host communities to obtain cash for purchasing other
goods and services, and this trade often involves wealthier groups in the host
communities, a practice that also has distributional implications for food security in the
host community. This mechanism has led some to believe that it may be more efficient
and equitable to provide cash transfers or vouchers (conditional or unconditional) to both
refugees and poor households in the host communities, especially if food and other goods
can be purchased at affordable prices from the local markets (Jaspars et al. 2007; Bailey,
Savage, and OCallaghan 2008; UNRWA 2011; GHA 2012; UNHCR 2012a).
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Warrant: Food aid from foreign governments actually disincentives local farms from
developing.
2014. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.
Whether food aid is procured locally, regionally, or from overseas is another aspect of
food aid that has been debated in terms of its implications for food security of the host
community, in both the short run and the long run. If food aid is imported from overseas
and is not procured from local markets, it may reduce the incentives for farm production
in the long run, thereby hampering the ability of the host community to transition from
humanitarian aid to development. This generic effect of overseas imported food aid is
reinforced in refugee settings because food production is often hampered by conflict and
lack of security, and by the lack of production capacity and price incentives once the
security conditions improve.
Analysis: If the food aid only actually makes the problem worse, then there is rationally no
reason to commit to it. This is especially apparent when it shows that it makes it worse not only
in the short term by increasing food prices and in turn harming the poors ability to feed
themselves, but in the long term by stunting a communities ability to rebuild their food
production capacity. Both of these impacts directly outweigh the benefits provided by the
affirmative.
.
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PRO Military Intervention

Argument: Foreign actors should help refugees by solving the problem that forced them into
refugee status; they must increase their military involvement in Syria.
Warrant: The US could aid Syria by implementing airstrikes, training moderates, establishing
safe havens, and taking military actions against Assads barrel-bomb attacks.
Gordon, Michael R. and Schmitt, Eric. David Petraeus Urges Stronger U.S. Military
Effort in Syria. New York Times, September 22 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/world/middleeast/david-petraeus-urgesstronger-us-military-effort-in-syria.html
The Obama administrations Syria policy came under sharp criticism Tuesday from one
of its own former top military commanders and C.I.A. directors David H. Petraeus
even as the White House is weighing new options for fighting the Islamic State in Syria.
Mr. Petraeus, in his first public testimony since resigning as director of the C.I.A. in
2012, told a Senate committee that the United States should establish safe havens in Syria
where a moderate rebel force could operate and displaced Syrians could find refuge under
the protection of American and allied air power. He also proposed that the United States
take military action to stop the barrel-bomb attacks that President Bashar al-Assad of
Syria has carried out against civilians in Syrian towns and cities, and urged that steps be
taken to strengthen the military effort against Islamic State militants in Iraq, including by
exploring the use of small American teams to call in airstrikes on the part of Iraqi forces.
But his most severe criticism was that the United States and its partners had done little to
build up military leverage against the Assad government sufficient to bring about a
political solution to the bloody conflict. It is frequently said that there is no military
solution to Syria or the other conflicts roiling the Middle East, Mr. Petraeus told the
Senate Armed Services Committee. This may be true, but it is also misleading. For, in
every case, if there is to be any hope of a political settlement, a certain military and
security context is required, and that context will not materialize on its own. We and our
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partners need to facilitate it and over the past four years, we have not done so.
Obama administration officials have been holding high-level meetings this week to try to
figure out ways to strengthen their military effort against the Islamic State, also known as
ISIS or ISIL. A Pentagon effort to train rebel forces to take on the Islamic State has
produced only a handful of fighters. Officials with United States Central Command,
which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said Monday that only
about 70 individuals who had been trained under a $500 million program to take on the
extremists were currently in the field. The administration is now weighing how to
capitalize on the gains that Syrian Kurds have made against the Islamic State, especially
in the northeastern part of the country. The Kurds, aided by coalition airstrikes
coordinated with United States Special Operations forces, have driven the Islamic State
from a stretch of territory south of the Turkish border and east of the Euphrates River,
starting with the town of Kobani. The idea under consideration by the White House is to
build on that effort by expanding support to a group of 15 Arab militias, which have a
total of some 5,000 fighters. The United States would provide ammunition, but not
weapons, in anticipation that the militias would work alongside Kurdish forces and push
south, toward Raqqa, the Islamic States de facto capital. The core question is whether
we can find additional forces on the ground who are eligible for American support, and
who are prepared to tighten the noose around Raqqa, said one senior United States
official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal policy deliberation.
Some of these guys might fit that bill. Another idea under consideration is to provide
specialized training to small numbers of Syrian rebel fighters, including techniques to
help them call in airstrikes from ground positions and then inserting them into larger
opposition units.
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Warrant: Americas lack of involvement in part allowed for this crisis, and if it engaged by
promoting moderates, creating safe havens, and imposing no fly zones, it could help diffuse the
crisis.
Whos Responsible for the Refugees? The Economist, October 3, 2015.
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21669950-danger-russias-interventionsyria-and-americas-timidity-afghanistan-putin-dares
Both Kunduz and Russias bombing are symptoms of the same phenomenon: the vacuum
created by Barack Obamas attempt to stand back from the wars of the Muslim world.
Americas president told the UN General Assembly this week that his country had
learned it cannot by itself impose stability on a foreign land; others, Iran and Russia
included, should help in Syria. Mr Obama is not entirely wrong. But his proposition hides
many dangers: that America throws up its hands; that regional powers, sensing American
disengagement, will be sucked into a free-for-all; and that Russias intervention will
make a bloody war bloodier still. Unless Mr Obama changes course, expect more deaths,
refugees and extremism. Having seen the mess that George W. Bush made of his war on
terror, especially in Iraq, Mr Obama is understandably wary. American intervention can
indeed make a bad situation worse, as odious leaders are replaced by chaos and endless
war saps Americas strength and standing. But Americas absence can make things even
more grim. At some point, extremism will fester and force the superpower to intervene
anyway. That is the story in the Middle East. In Iraq Mr Obama withdrew troops in 2011.
In Syria he did not act to stop Mr Assad from wholesale killing, even after he used poison
gas. But when IS jihadists emerged from the chaos, declared a caliphate in swathes of
Iraq and Syria, and began to cut off the heads of their Western prisoners, Mr Obama felt
obliged to step back indesultorily. In Afghanistan Mr Obama is making the same
mistake of premature withdrawal. As NATOs combat operations wound down into a
mission to train, advise and assist, Mr Obama promised that the last American troops
would leave Afghanistan by the end of 2016. The date had no bearing on conditions in
Afghanistan but everything to do with when Mr Obama leaves the White House. What
can Mr Obama do? In Afghanistan, rather than pull out the 9,800 remaining American
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troops, he should reinforce them and make clear that he puts no date on their withdrawal.
The rules of engagement must expand so that NATO forces can back Afghan ones.
Attack aircraft should support them as needed, not just in extremis. He needs to knock
heads together in Kabul, where the unity government forged last year between
President Ashraf Ghani and his rival, Abdullah Abdullah, is dysfunctional enough to lack
a defence minister. This was Mr Obamas good war: he risks losing it. In Syria Mr
Obamas dithering means his options continually grow harder and riskier. Mr Putin is
unabashedly defending a tyrant and deepening the regions Sunni-Shia divide. America
must hold the line that Mr Assad will not remain in power, and set out a vision for what
should follow. It needs to do more to protect the mainly Sunni population: create
protected havens; impose no-fly zones to stop Mr Assads barrel-bombs; and promote a
moderate Sunni force. That may well mean staring down Russian jets.
Warrant: Russias involvement in Syria only makes it more necessary that the US take steps to
strengthen the moderate rebels.
DeYoung, Karen. Russias Syria intervention may force choice on Obama: Act or yield
Washington Post, October 7, 2015.
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russias-syriaintervention-may-force-choice-on-obama-act-or-yield/2015/10/07/a88f99966d16-11e5-9bfe-e59f5e244f92_story.html>
Russias military moves in Syria are fundamentally changing the face of the countrys
civil war, putting President Bashar al-Assad back on his feet, and may complicate the
Obama administrations plans to expand its air operations against the Islamic State.So far,
the administration has not budged in its twofold strategy direct airstrikes against the
Islamic State and significant aid for those fighting against it, and a push for negotiations
to end what has been the largely separate Syrian civil war. Senior administration officials
acknowledge that Russia has already made some tactical gains in the civil war, even as
they insist President Vladi-mir Putin will ultimately pay for what they describe as a
strategic blunder that will undercut his already tenuous reputation in the world and
encourage the spread of the militants. If Putins goal was to get attention, one senior
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official said, then it was brilliant. ... If it was to end the fighting in Syria, thats where
we think its a strategic error. At the same time, the official said, Russia is now going
to be viewed as being anti-Sunni ... attracting the ire of extremist groups, including the
Islamic State. But others within the administration, and many outside experts, are
increasingly worried that if President Obama does not take decisive action such as
quickly moving to claim the airspace over northwestern Syria and the Turkish border,
where Russian jets are already operating it is the United States that will suffer
significant damage to both its reputation and its foreign policy and counterterrorism
goals. Putin has said he does not intend to launch military ground operations in Syria, and
senior administration officials said Wednesday that they see no evidence of any ground
combat units there. But the Russian deployments include sophisticated electronics, some
of them designed to jam aviation electronics. Other than Russia and the Syrian
government, only the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State is flying planes in Syria.
The current internal administration debate is largely the same one that has kept the
administration out of significant intervention in Syrias civil war for the past four years.
On one side, Russias involvement has strengthened the winning argument that the
United States should avoid direct involvement in yet another Middle East conflict and
should continue directing its resources toward countering forces such as the Islamic State
that pose a direct threat to U.S. national security. On the other side, the argument is that it
makes no strategic sense for the United States to concede Russian dominance of the
situation: If Russia succeeds in keeping Assad in power, the problems in the West caused
by both the Syrian war and militant expansion will only get worse.
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Warrant: The USs inaction has allowed for Russia to step in and Assad to gain strength.
Richard Cohen [Washington Post]. Obamas dangerous caution in Syria: We just don't
know what we're doing. New York Daily News, October 5 2015.
<http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/richard-cohen-obama-dangerous-cautionsyria-article-1.2386109>
The U.S. in contrast seems to be at a loss. Obama has called for Assad to go. He hasnt
gone. America has poured millions of dollars into training rebels to fight the Islamic
State, but not those fighting Assad. It is picking and choosing among rebel groups and
has not had much luck. The Pentagon has produced maybe four or five fighters yes,
thats the correct amount while some of the others it has trained have gone over to the
enemy, taking their equipment with them. The entire enterprise lends itself to parody
were it not for the fact that 200,000 lives have been lost in Syria and 4 million people
pushed out of the country. Syria is a horror, and a complex one at that. At the onset of its
civil war, I was among those who argued for American intervention arming the rebels,
establishing a no-fly zone to suppress Assads helicopters. I never wanted to see
American troops in the country. One dumb Middle East war a generation is enough for
me. Obama did nothing. Syria festered. Obama drew a red line around the use of
chemical weapons. Assad has since used chlorine gas. Obama did nothing. American
credibility crumbled. The U.S. opened an air war against the Islamic State. It has done
some damage, but it would be much more effective if there were spotters on the ground.
Obama wont do that, either. A no-fly zone needs to be established. It is not too late to do
something. By doing so little, the U.S. has allowed others to do so much.
Analysis: Americas past inaction in Syria can clearly be linked to the current crisis, and
multiple policy options (airstrikes, training moderates, safe havens, etc.) could have success in
Syria today. In terms of helping refugees and prioritizing their interests, what better way is there
to help those fleeing a crisis than helping to solve the crisis itself? Pro teams can argue that
dealing with the root cause, the Syrian crisis itself, is the best possible way to affirm. In doing so,
they mitigate any Con arguments about harms of letting in refugees, as dealing with the Syrian
crisis would decrease the number of refugees.
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A2 Military Intervetion
Response: Military intervention only risks further problems.
Warrant: Proposed ideas for Syrian intervention mirror past failures.
Kaldas, Timothy. So, You Want to Intervene in Syria? Easier Said Than Done.
Newsweek, September 9, 2015. <http://www.newsweek.com/so-you-wantintervene-syria-easier-said-done-374007>
Two of the three largest groups of refugees entering Europe today are from countries the
United States had occupied until recently, and the self-proclaimed Islamic State was
initially formed by the fortuitous meeting of jihadis and Baathist ex-officers sitting in
American prisons in Iraq. Those officers were angered over the Bush administrations
disastrous decision to disband, in its entirety, the Iraqi military, leaving roughly half a
million military-trained unemployed men in Iraq. That the consequences were fatal
should hardly be surprising. Retired General David Petraeus has advocated backing less
committed members of Syrias Al-Qaeda affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusraa similar strategy to
the one undertaken in Afghanistan in the 1980s that resulted in terrible consequences. He
argues that Jabhat al-Nusra likely has opportunistic members who could be lured from
the group, but the risks of blowback remain real. After all, determining who is an AlQaeda ideologue versus an opportunist would be virtually impossible.
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Warrant: There are a series of serious questions and doubts to consider before intervention.
Kaldas, Timothy. So, You Want to Intervene in Syria? Easier Said Than Done.
Newsweek, September 9, 2015. <http://www.newsweek.com/so-you-wantintervene-syria-easier-said-done-374007>
So I challenge advocates of intervention in Syria to provide a coherent proposal that
clearly addresses how to avoid the pitfalls of past interventions. Specifically: How would
any intervening military force deal with the array of rebel factions? Would they seek the
removal of Assad and what would they do with the rest of Syrias Baath leadership? If
they seek to disband the Baath party and censure its leaders, how will they prevent the
militant groups we witnessed in Iraq rising to destabilize the new government? If they
leave the Baath leadership in the new government, how will they get the opposition and
rebel groups to agree to this? How will they diffuse the sectarian tensions that have
exploded in over four years of conflict? How will they prevent a government of revenge
from taking hold, much like the one led by former Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jafaari
and later Nouri al-Maliki, alienating a large section of the population who will then
sympathize with anti-government rebel groups? How will occupying forces deal with the
massive number of arms that have flooded Syria? Will they ask all parties to disarm?
How will they get them to comply? Who will be allowed to decide which rebel groups
are allowed into government which are beyond the pale? The occupiers or the Syrians
and which Syrians? How? Any proposed criteria? Who will finance the operation? What
will be the role of Iran, Russia and the Gulf states? What will discourage them from using
proxies to push their respective agendas in Syria? The above list is by no means
exhaustive, but it is a starting place for the questions that need to be answered. Security
analysis should not be reduced to recycling failed ideas and arguing that people who
disagree are cowards. Being senselessly trigger-happy is not courage. It is selfish folly. It
is selfish because those who advocate these unstudied interventions are often the least
likely to pay the price of their failures. Finally, it is worth noting that even if, on paper,
we develop a seemingly brilliant intervention strategy, it will be only as good as the
people entrusted with implementing it, and undoubtedly an array of other problems will
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arise that we did not anticipate. Let us start with discussing the problems we are aware of.
So for the advocates of intervention, be it directly or through proxies we arm and train:
Kindly offer a realistic proposal that answers these questions so that we can begin to have
a serious debate about what is the best course of action.
Warrant: Intervention would be illegal and dangerous.
Schlags, Jena and Bennis, Phyllis. Talking Points: Why We Shouldnt Attack Syria.
Institute for Policy Studies, September 9, 2013. <http://www.ipsdc.org/talking_points_why_we_shouldnt_attack_syria/>
International law, the UN Charter, allows military action only in two cases immediate
self-defense or authorization by the Security Council. Syria hasnt attacked or threatened
the United States, so theres no self-defense claim. And the Security Council hasnt
authorized force, and likely wont. The UN Charter deliberately makes it really hard to
get all the major powers to agree on going to war. U.S. law says that only Congress can
declare war President Obama has asked Congress for approval, but claims he has the
right to go ahead even if they vote no. That would violate the Constitution and with or
without Congressional approval, a military strike would still violate international law.
Military strikes threaten harm to Syrian civilians the Pentagon admits cruise missiles
arent always accurate. And the Syrian government is reportedly moving more military
offices to populated areas, increasing the likelihood of civilian casualties. The Obama
administration admits its planned limited surgical strikes wont do anything to bring the
horrifying Syrian civil war to an end any quicker. Military action will increase the levels
of violence and instability inside Syria, within the region, and potentially even globally.
Extremist forces in the region have the most to gain from military strikes, which will use
the direct U.S. involvement as a recruitment tool and potential target. Syrian civilians
could face greater repression by the government in retaliation for U.S. military strikes, as
happened in Kosovo in 1999 when many more Kosovars were thrown out of their homes
after the U.S./NATO bombing began. Military strikes could fuel escalation of all five
wars underway in Syria: the civil war, the regional power war between Saudi Arabia and
Iran, the global war of words between the United States and Russia, the sectarian war
between Shia and Sunni Muslims, and the war over nuclear policy between the
U.S./Israel and Iran all now being fought to the last Syrian.
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Warrant: Russias intervention in Syria may have been bold, but it does not necessarily mean
that the United States should have done the same thing.
Shapiro, Jeremy. Putin's deafness on Syria. Brookings Institution, October 1, 2015.
<http://www.brookings.edu/research/interviews/2015/10/06-russia-in-syria-uspolicy-shapiro
It would be easy to get the impression from media coverage that Putin's decision to
intervene militarily in Syria is some kind of genius strategic move a bold and brilliant
gambit that will weaken the US in the Middle East, or at least dramatically limit its
influence in the region. Headlines this week have blared that Putin has "blindsided"
Obama, that Putin is now "controlling the game" in Syria, and that Obama is "humiliated"
as Putin "resets the Middle East." But as Jeremy Shapiro, a senior fellow in the
Brookings Institution's Project on International Order and Strategy, explained to me, the
truth is far different. If Russia did manage to "blindside" the Obama administration, he
argues, that's only because the Russian intervention is so incredibly stupid that it took the
US by surprise that Putin would actually do it. And while Putin's actions may be bold,
that doesn't mean they'll be effective, much less worth their costs. In fact, Shapiro
argues, if the US is going to take a cue on its Syria policy from a despotic foreign leader,
it shouldn't be Putin, but Napoleon, who once famously warned, "When your enemy is
making a mistake, do not interrupt him." Below, Shapiro explains why Putin is making a
mistake in Syria, why the US should refuse to be drawn into a "pissing contest" on
foreign policy, and what would really need to happen to bring Syria's civil war to a close.
Amanda Taub: There's been a lot of commentary worrying that this means the U.S. is
losing the Middle East to Russia, or that the U.S. will lose influence because Putin is
willing to act more boldly. Do you think those concerns are warranted? Jeremy
Shapiro: A Russian intervention in Syria is a significant thing. Its going to have an
impact, certainly on the Syrian civil war and on U.S.-Russian relations. So a certain
amount of wroughtness is warranted. Nonetheless, its a little bit troubling that everything
gets framed in terms of sort of "boldness" and "machismo" and "stolen a march." You
know, these headlines in the Washington Post that Putin is "surprising" the Americans
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and "wrong-footing" them and all these things. Well, I think that certainly the Americans
have been surprisedbut the reason theyve been surprised is that this is incredibly
stupid stuff, and we had not understood that the Russians were this self-destructive. The
Russians have made a serious mistake, I think, for Russia, for Syria, and for the region.
We shouldnt be glad about that, because its going to make life more difficult for the
United States, too, and certainly for Syria. Its a little bit depressing that on both sides
weve gotten into this kind of machismo foreign policy, where we think that whoever
appears strongest and most macho is winning. As if that has any meaning in international
relations. This is not a pissing contest. Boldness rarely has benefits in international
relations, particularly for status quo states like the United States. Caution is a good thing,
and boldness is rarely rewarded.
Analysis: Intervening in Syria would not be in the best interest of refugees, and would certainly
not solve the crisis in Syria. Ideas currently suggested for taking military action there are not
different from past failed attempts to quell violence in the Middle East. Intervention could be
disastrous and illegal, and justification to do so based on bravado or machismo is preposterous.
These actions would not successfully prioritize the humanitarian interests of refugees, nor would
they be in the national interest of any foreign government.
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PRO Solving the root causes

Argument: The best way to stem the refugee crisis is by ending the Syrian civil war, and
military aid comes with benefits
Warrant: The Syrian crisis is responsible for the refugee crisis
Beauchamp, Zach. "Syria's Civil War: A Brief History." Vox. Vox News, 02 Oct. 2015.
Web. 05 Oct. 2015. <http://www.vox.com/2015/9/14/9319293/syrian-refugeescivil-war>.
On the last day of September, Russia officially began bombing targets in Syria. It said it
was bombing ISIS but it was really targeting opposition groups that are fighting
Bashar al-Assad's regime (incidentally, they're also fighting ISIS). This has come after a
month in which Syria's war, raging since 2011, was at the center of global attention. The
war has included the crisis of 4 million refugees, symbolized bySyrian toddler Aylan
Kurdi, whose body washed up on the shores of Turkey in early September after his
family attempted to make their way to Europe.
Warrant: More broadly the absence of security feeds crisis
Ghent, University Of, and John Orbie. Faculty of Social Sciences (2013): n. pag.
University of Ghent. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
<http://lib.ugent.be/fulltxt/RUG01/002/167/171/RUG01002167171_2014_0001_AC.pdf>.
Before any longer--term focus on economic development, political inclusion and
government accountability can be achieved in the region the immediate concern is
restoring security. Without security there can be no sustainable political and economic
development. Until the government or region is stabilized any developmental aid will be
useless.
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Warrant: Insecurity feeds regional famine

"Conflicts Hamper Fight against Hunger in Mideast." Yahoo News. N.p., 3 June 2015.
Web. 5 Oct. 2015. <http://news.yahoo.com/conflicts-hamper-fight-againsthunger-mideast-fao-130313850.html>.
Conflicts and instability are hampering the fight against hunger in the Middle East at a
time when undernourishment is on the rise, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation
warned Wednesday. Presenting a report on the Near East and North Africa region's
progress on Millenium Development Goals set in 1990, FAO said MENA was the only
region of the world in which hunger had increased. "Conflicts and protracted crises in
Iraq, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, as well as in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, mean that
NENA is the only region to have seen its overall prevalence of undernourishment
increase," the report said.
Warrant: Military aid works to help nonstate actors such as the Syrian opposition
Nairu, Suresh. "Bases Bullets and Ballots." Bases, Bullets and Ballots: The Eect of U.S.
Military Aid on Political Conict in Colombia (n.d.): n. pag. CVDEV. 15 July
2009. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.cgdev.org/doc/events/07.29.09/Bases_Bullets_Ballots.pdf>.
Moreover, when aid rises, voter turnout falls more in base municipalities during regional
elections and these eects are larger in politically contested municipalities. To address
potential endogeneity in the timing of aid, we use an instrument based on U.S. military
aid to the rest of the world (excluding Latin America). Our results are also robust across a
wide variety of alternative control groups. The findings suggest that foreign military aid
may strengthen the capacity of armed non-state actors, undermining domestic political
institutions.
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Warrant: Lack of military aid to the kurd will lead to an inability to solve the crisis
Reback, Gadeyla. "The US Is Under-Arming the Kurds against ISIS." Arutz Sheva. N.p.,
6 June 2014. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/193747#.VhSLrflViko>.
The Pentagon has claimed the KRG has gotten over 4 million pounds of equipment and is
hardly being undercut, but Rahman has also said the US is wasting time by playing
bureaucracy with Baghdad. What Lenarz worries about is a future cut short if ISIS is able
to catch the Kurds at a time they are under-equipped. She reiterated that while the Kurds
were on the frontlines, their not-so-modern supplies were not going to cut a longer
campaign against Islamic State. Whilst the Kurds have access to 2,000 armored vehicles
and rocket artillery systems, a significant part of their weapon arsenal is outdated and
dates back to the Soviet era.
Analysis: Refugees can best be helped by ending the Syrian conflict. This can be done through
military aid, which in turn lends itself to regional stability, crafting a long term solution to the
problem. This idea of a long term developmental solution is critical because if the neg is the
status quo, invariably it sees the corrosive impacts of the Syrian crisis and in the long term bites
into the very harms that they outline.
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A2 Solving the root causes

Answer: Fails to address the root cause of terror and civil strife
Warrant: Military aid seeks to stop a systemic problem in a stopgap way
Beyer, Cornelia. Ways Forward in Counterterrorism. Columbia University Journal of
International Affairs. 27 February 2012. Web. 1 December 2013. Retrieved from
http://jia.sipa.columbia.edu/ways-forward-global-counterterrorism.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, military counterterrorism serves short term goals,
but does little to guarantee long-term success in the struggle against political violence.[4]
The argument that military interventions increase the motivational basisas a
preconditionto engage in terrorism against the perceived occupational power has been
theoretically and empirically substantiated.[5] But not only do interventions increase
hatred against the West, they also do not address other underlying conditions that
contribute to the emergence of terrorism. Issues such as rampant unemployment,
substandard education, poor social services, healthcare and a general lack of development
need to be addressed in order to tackle the root of the problem of political violence
Analysis: Even if stability is the solution, fanning the flames of the conflict with more guns isnt
the answer; its almost certain to ignite the conflict further. Make the analysis that the Syrian
civil war has been a long time brewing, and that a long term solution isnt going to be reached
with military aid
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Answer: Military Aid destabilizes nations with more guns

Warrant: Guns and Power vaccumes sow the seeds of unrest, as was seen during the Lybian
crisis
United Nations Security Council. Spiking Arms Proliferation, Organized Crime,

Terrorism as Part of Fallout from Libyan Crisis Affecting Sahel, Security Council
Told. January 26, 2013.
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2012/sc10533.doc.htm
HARDEEP SINGH PURI (India) said that military operations carried out ostensibly to
protect civilians had led to adverse consequences for millions in the Sahel. [Following
an influx of military assistance,] In a relatively short time, its countries had had to
contend with the impact of half a million returnees and an influx of large numbers of
weapons. Noting that some 3 million people had lost their sources of livelihood,
exacerbating food insecurity and the nutrition crisis in the region, he said terrorist groups
were increasingly filling that vacuum.
Analysis: Violence begets violence. Make the case to the judge that it is totally unreasonable to
believe that flooding a wartorn region with military technology and armaments will quell
violence, and draw upon historical examples of this failing
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Answer: Military aid does not build reliable allies

Warrant: Military aid functions as a bribe, and is not a foundation of a strong interstate
relationship
Hooser, Dan. "Will America's Billions in Military Aid to Egypt Backfire?" United
Church of God. UCOG, 10 Feb. 2010. Web. 05 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.ucg.org/will-americas-billions-in-military-aid-to-egypt-backfire>.
Tragically, much foreign aid is siphoned off to enrich the leaders rather than to benefit
the common citizen. In fact, the aid often props up corrupt leaders, enabling them to
retain their power over the people. Most of America's foreign aid and military aid to other
countries is an effort to buy cooperation and friendship. In doing so, the United States has
hired lovers (Hosea 8:9). But friends who are purchased are not real friends. The
aid is like a bribe. They know you don't have real love for them. They know you have
the selfish motive of buying their favors.
Analysis: Make the analysis that military aid doesnt do much in the long term. Perhaps the
fighting may stop in the short term but without cooperation with the west, and a strong
reconstruction of Syrian political infrastructure these efforts are bound to fail. This is inherent
because of the mentality military aid is given and received with, which cannot give way to more
meaningful cooperation
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Con Arguments with Pro Responses
November 2015
CON Resource Allocation

Argument: A government has a limited amount of resources and political capital. If
governments invest resources towards aiding humanitarian problems caused by crises and
conflicts they begin to use up the limited supply. However, governments should prioritize
resources towards long-term goals to building up states before they fail. Once a government
spends an excessive amount on one episode, political will and resources dry up.
Warrant: Long-term building up is more rewarding, as humanitarian crises after they develop
are very expensive
Hilton, Steven. Syrian refugee crisis outstrips international aid. The Seattle Times,
March 28th, 2015. < http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/syrian-refugee-crisisoutstrips-international-aid/ >
Turkey has already spent more than $5 billion to serve the refugees making the
country the fourth-largest provider of humanitarian assistance in the world in 2013. These
efforts have put an enormous strain on Turkeys ability to address the needs of its own
underserved populations. This situation is not sustainable. Now that U.N. support is
waning, human suffering will only grow as will the potential for political instability in
the region. Children have been hit especially hard. The 2 million refugees under the age
of 18, most without access to education or jobs, are at risk of becoming a lost generation.
If they do, the repercussions are not difficult to imagine.
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Warrant: The political capital necessary to take action in other places of the world decreases
every time we become involved in alleviating a refugee overflow
Herszenhorn, David. Many Obstacles Are Seen to U.S. Taking in Large Number of
Syrian Refugees. New York Times, September 4th, 2015.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/05/us/many-obstacles-are-seen-to-us-takingin-large-number-of-syrian-refugees.html>
The criticism, which Obama administration officials say is baseless because of screening
procedures asylum seekers undergo, was a powerful measure of the lack of political will
and the practical obstacles that have hampered the United States ability to intervene
more directly in what has become a full-blown migrant crisis in Europe. Such obstacles,
including an American public weary of overseas initiatives after more than a decade of
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, remain formidable, even as heart-wrenching photographs
of dead children this week focused the American conscience on the Syrian crisis as never
before and prompted renewed calls for more aid.
Warrant: The international community simply doesnt have the resources necessary to fully
alleviate the refugee crisis.
Tomkiw, Lydia. Global refugees highest since WWII, pointing to lack of political
solutions. The Christian Science Monitor, June 20th, 2014.
<http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2014/0620/Global-refugees-highest-sinceWWII-pointing-to-lack-of-political-solutions >
Ongoing and new conflicts show the weaknesses of the international system, Mr.
Guterres told The New York Times. "What this demonstrates is that the international
community today has very limited capacity to prevent conflicts and to find timely
solutions. We see the Security Council paralyzed in many crucial crises," he said. With
86 percent of the worlds refugees living in developing countries, finding the resources to
deal with numerous wars and conflicts has become more difficult. There is no
humanitarian response able to solve the problems of so many people. Its becoming more
and more difficult to find the capacity and resources to deal with so many people in such
tragic circumstances, Guterres said.
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Warrant: Multilateral institutions are more likely to assist

Golberg, Elissa; Scoffield, Bruce. Promoting Protection: Multilateral Efforts to Enhance
Refugee Protection and the Search for Durable Solutions. Refuge: Canadas
Journal on Refugees, 2004.
<http://refuge.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/refuge/article/view/21313/19984>
It is clear that Governments, UNHCR, and others will need to continue to focus on
making protection effective and practical, and solutions more accessible, so that refugees are not left to languish for protracted periods of time unable to contribute to their
countries of asylum or to sustainable peace in their countries of origin. Multilateral
processes offer an invaluable forum for States and other partners to engage
collaboratively instead of adopting ad hoc and unilateral approaches which are not
ultimately aimed at meeting broader needs of refugees. All those who participated in
discussions over the last several years have acknowledged that the foundations of the
refugee regime are sound but need to be revitalized. In essence, the status quo is not
sufficient enough to help us address the current international context and the panoply of
challenges presented by contemporary population movements.
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Warrant: Intervention is often unwanted from the states in conflict

Ayoob, Mohammed. Humanitarian Intervention and State Sovereignty. Michigan State
University, July 2nd, 2002. <http://kirstenjfisher.com/wpcontent/uploads/2013/12/Ayoob-Humanitarian-Intervention-and-StateSovereignty.pdf>
It is increasingly apparent that the greatest challenge to the notion of international society
comes from the new found proclivity on the part of major powers as well as international
and regional organizations to intervene in the domestic affairs of juridical sovereign
states for ostensibly humanitarian purposes. In contrast to this global covenant which
emphasizes sovereignty and nonintervention, the proclaimed goal of humanitarian
intervention, undertaken with increasing frequency during the last decade, is to protect
the citizens of the target state from flagrant violations of their fundamental human rights
usually by agents of the state. These rights are defined as being vested in individuals as
members of the human race. They exist independent of their status as citizens of
particular states. While this may be true at one level, it does not provide the complete
picture. For, as David Forsythe has pointed out, Even if human rights are thought to be
inalienable, a moral attribute of persons that the state cannot contravene, rights still have
to be identified that is, constructed by human beings and codified in legal systems.
Therefore, the question of agency who constructs and codifies human rights becomes
important. This, as we will see later, has an important bearing on the issue of
humanitarian intervention because those who define human rights and decree that they
have been violated also decide when and where intervention to protect such rights should
and must take place.
Analysis: Continuing to respond only at the time of dire crisis is an expensive policy that cannot
be pursued in the future. While morally favorable, a government does not have the responsibility,
nor the capability, to continually prioritize the defense and rehabilitation of refugees plagued by
crisis.
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A2 Resource Allocation
Answer: Many sources are jumping to provide aid to the exceptionally terrible crisis, proving a
lack of funds to be less of an issue.
Warrant: More countries are pledging funds for aid.
Gladstone, Rick. Japans Leader Shinzo Abe Triples Aid to Address Mideast Refugee
Crisis. The New York Times, September 29th, 2015.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/30/world/asia/japans-leader-shinzo-abetriples-aid-to-address-mideast-refugee-crisis.html >
Mr. Abe [Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan] told the General Assembly during the
annual speech session that Japan would provide about $810 million in assistance to
refugees and internally displaced people in Syria and Iraq this year, about triple the
amount from last year. He also announced about $750 million in assistance, including
money to pay for water systems in Iraq and other projects to help build peace and fully
ensure this peace across the Middle East and Africa. Mr. Abe did not offer to host
displaced people.
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Warrant: New media is driving the international community to recognize the severity of the
conflict.
Tharoor, Ishan. Death of drowned Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi jolts world leaders. The
Washington Post, September 3rd, 2015.
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/03/image-ofdrowned-syrian-toddler-aylan-kurdi-jolts-world-leaders/>
Western leaders reacted with shock and solemnity a day after the image of a dead Syrian
toddler lying alone on a Turkish beach captured international headlines. The 3-year-old
child, Aylan Kurdi, drowned in the Aegean Sea along with 11 others after two flimsy
boats carrying him, family members and other Syrian refugees sank en route to the Greek
island of Kos. The photographs of his body have become a rallying a call for international
action in the face of a staggering refugee crisis playing out across the Mediterranean. An
online petition demanding that Britain accept more asylum-seekers reached more than
100,000 signatures, meaning that the question may have to be debated in
Parliament. Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland and a trenchant critic of
Cameron's conservative government, decried the prime minister's "'walk-on-by-the-otherside' approach" and pledged that Scotland itself would do what it could to aid Syrian
refugees."I will be far from the only person reduced to tears last night at the picture of a
little boy washed up on a beach. That wee boy has touched our hearts," Sturgeon said.
"But his is not an isolated tragedy. He and thousands like him whose lives are at risk is
not somebody elses responsibility; they are the responsibility of all of us."
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Warrant: Some countries are vying to change the policies of other nations to create beneficial
situations for the refugees when they arrive to their new homes and for the countries who host
them.
Spiegel Staff. Sharing Burdens: Germany to Urge Shift in EU Refugee Policy. Der
Spiegel, September 22nd, 2014.
<http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-to-urge-shift-in-eurefugee-policy-a-993076.html>
The precondition, de Maizire wrote in a letter to EU Home Affairs Commissioner
Cecilia Malmstrm at the beginning of September, would be for countries like Italy to
"swiftly register the people who may have the right to international protection and those
who would not be eligible and for them to be quickly sent back to their country of origin
or the country from which that person first traveled to Europe." Joachim Hermann, the
interior minister for the state of Bavaria, supports this view, noting, "We need to have a
fairer sharing of burdens in Europe if individual countries are overstrained." If the quotas
are to be taken seriously, the refugees would have to be distributed across Europe -- at
times even against their will. And "deportation," a bad word in Europe, would quickly be
at the tip of people's tongues. One of the main hitches, though, is that many EU countries
would have to show a readiness to finally accept an appreciable number of refugees. That
hasn't been the case so far with 10 of the 28 member states. "It's not right that four or five
countries take in the largest number of refugees," de Maizire said. "That doesn't reflect
the kind of Europe-wide solidarity that we so urgently need."
Analysis: The refugee crisis is on the international main stage. New supporters are pledging
more and more aid everyday. Politicians are seeing the tragedy and beginning to pass policies
that recognize it. As the current crisis continues to escalate, we only see increased willingness to
act and provide resources for the conflict to be mitigated.
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Answer: The two are not always mutually exclusive.

Warrant: Funding refugee camps can fund long-term communities.
Sanghi, Apurva. The peculiar economics of a refugee camp: Yes in my backyard.
The Brookings Institution, March 25th, 2015.
<http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/future-development/posts/2015/03/25economics-refugees-sanghi>
The thin line between humanitarian and development assistance. Another striking
observation was that it is hard to distinguish any longer between humanitarian vs.
development assistanceat least in the context of Kakuma. Humanitarian aid is being
used to build high quality schools and hospitals, at the periphery of the camp and the host
community. This is deliberate so that the underprivileged host-community residents can
take advantage of the relatively high-quality schools and hospitals ostensibly built for
refugees. Investing in education and health goes beyond (strict) humanitarian assistance.
And even the trademark humanitarian assistance provided by the U.N. and othersrelief
food aidhas been subjected to the law of economics: a thriving black market of selling
and buying of food aid packages. Indeed, the line between humanitarian and development
assistance is a thin one in Kakuma, and in refugee camps more generally. As much as
some may desire to return refugees to their homeland, the reality and the evidence is that
it is not easy to close refugee camps. And that leads to the blurring between so-called
humanitarian aid that is meant to be short-term but then morphs into longer-term
development assistance. Should humanitarian assistance build schools and hospitals for 3
months, 3 years, or 3 decades? Ought the purpose of humanitarian aid to change?
Analysis: While funding short-term issues of refugees who desperately need aid and assistance,
governments will be stabilizing the refugees economically for when they are able to return to
their home countries and to make sure that the host countries to the refugees continue to stay
stabilized during the refugees time there.
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CON Public Backlash

Argument: If a government were to prioritize the humanitarian needs of refugees over its own
national interests it would create backlash from the inhabitants of the nation. This backlash is
detrimental to the refugees efforts to assimilate into society and the to nation as a whole.
Warrant: Xenophobia causes reluctance towards helping refugees
Bloomberg Editorial Board. As migrants arrive, Germany's embrace of refugees spurs
backlash. Bloomberg, September 2nd, 2015.
<http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-09-02/hungary-s-xenophobiaeurope-s-crisis>
The alternative to that coordinated response is rising populism and growing disorder.
These could pose a real threat to both the Schengen area (Italy now says it is temporarily
restoring controls at a crossing with fellow Schengen member Austria, at Germany's
request) and the wider EU. If Hungary and the other frontier countries want their people
to travel and work freely across the continent, and if they want to go on receiving
generous aid from the richer countries, they will need to share a refugee burden that is
now falling entirely on Germany and a handful of other nations. Xenophobia might work
for a while as smart domestic politics, but only at great cost -- worsening the refugees'
plight, putting lives at risk and ultimately weakening the glue that holds the EU together.
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Warrant: Refugees are particularly vulnerable to discrimination caused by xenophobia

International Migration, Racism, Discrimination and Xenophobia. International
Labour Office (ILO) International Organization for Migration (IOM) Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), August, 2001.
< http://www.unesco.org/most/migration/imrdx.pdf >
Manifestations of anti-foreigner hostility are being widely reported in all regions of the
world. These include incitement to and actions of overt exclusion, hostility and violence
against persons explicitly based on their perceived status as foreigners or non-nationals,
as well as discrimination against foreigners in employment, housing or health care. Antiforeigner hostility can also be symptomatic of a denial of deeper racist tendencies within
the host society. A document prepared by the NGO Working Group on Migration and
Xenophobia for the World Conference notes that tensions and manifestations of racism
and xenophobia are fostered by severe economic inequalities and the marginalization of
persons from access to basic economic and social conditions. Prime targets are those
perceived to be outsiders or foreigners: migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, displaced
persons, and non-nationals.
Warrant: Politicians are openly against the idea

Chu, Henry; Hassan, Amro. As migrants arrive, Germany's embrace of refugees spurs
backlash. Los Angeles Times, August 31, 2015.
<http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/crcl/vol38_2/ogletree.pdf>
Whether the countries can agree on anything even at the prodding of Germany,
Europe's biggest economy and the most powerful player within the EU remains to be
seen. A refugee quota system suggested recently by some European officials met with
immediate and vociferous resistance by nations such as Britain and France, whose
governments are worried about losing votes to right-wing anti-immigration parties
opposed to any system that gives migrants a path into their countries.
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Warrant: Backlash will come in the form of slander against refugees, tarnishing their reputation
Bloomberg Editorial Board. As migrants arrive, Germany's embrace of refugees spurs
backlash. Bloomberg, September 2nd, 2015.
<http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-09-02/hungary-s-xenophobiaeurope-s-crisis>
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been linking immigration to most varieties
of evil, up to and including terrorism, for months. He has built a fence along the border
with Serbia; deployed the army; and blocked those refugees who get across from
boarding trains out of Hungary, only to then let them on the trains. On Tuesday, he shut
down the stations, once more leaving the refugees stranded. In defense of the move to
stop benefits for those whose asylum applications have been rejected, Home Office
minister James Brokenshire said this would indicate that the UK isnt a land of milk and
honey. This is another example of a politician tugging at our selfishness, invoking the
language of economic prudence, making us want to elbow the already traumatized and
vulnerable into total destitution. One week its skivers; the next migrants they all sit
along a continuum of threats to the nation. These people are depicted as no longer
helpless, but chancing it. To stop them we must strip away every element of humane
treatment, a process that will, of course, strip them of dignity. This is what has been
happening, for years, under both Tory and Labour governments. Ban asylum seekers
from working and make them receive a pittance each week (it now stands at a
maximum of 36.95). Dont give them that money in cash but instead load it onto a
payment card that isnt widely accepted in shops and is prone to technical failures. Make
them feel unwelcome and worthless.
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Warrant: As more animosity grows, backlash will manifest violently against refugees
Someone, however, apparently decided it would be better for none of Nauen's residents to
use the center rather than let a single asylum seeker through its doors. Last week, the
building was set ablaze and destroyed in a suspected arson attack another addition to
the mounting tally of assaults on facilities set up to help Germany's newest arrivals. But
the decision has fueled a spate of xenophobic attacks and raised the specter of neo-Nazi
networks spreading their tentacles. More anti-foreigner incidents were reported in the
first six months of 2015 about 200 than all of last year.
Warrant: Refugees rarely incite violence; they are often victims of aggressors from the host
nation
Murshid, Navine. Hurting the Host: The Dynamics of Refugee-Related Violence in

South Asia. University of Rochester, 2011.
<http://www.rochester.edu/college/psc/cpw/pdf/Murshid.pdf?origin=publication_
detail>
Violence or conflict, in this paper, is any act of aggression perpetrated between the host
the refugee population, although generally violence can occur between the sending
country and refugees as well. The paper is based on the premise that refugees rarely
initiate conflict as they are fleeing some form of conflict themselves, unless they are
being manipulated by other actors. According to the United High Commission for
Refugees (UNHCR), it is the host that is the ultimate bearer of responsibility for refugees.
It follows, then, that conflict scenarios that arise with regard to refugees are either due to
some shortcomings on the hosts part or are caused by the behavior of the host.
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Warrant: Widespread evidence shows when refugees begin to enter host nations in vast
numbers they are more likely to be attacked
International Migration, Racism, Discrimination and Xenophobia. International
Labour Office (ILO) International Organization for Migration (IOM) Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), August, 2001.
< http://www.unesco.org/most/migration/imrdx.pdf >
As Governments grapple with the new realities of their multi-ethnic societies, there has
been a marked increase in discrimination and violence directed against migrants, refugees
and other non-nationals by extremist groups in many parts of the world. The lack of
systematic documentation or research over time makes unclear whether there is a real
increase in the level of abuse or in the level of exposure and reporting. Unfortunately,
there is more than enough anecdotal evidence to show that violations of human rights of
migrants, refugees and other non-nationals are so generalized, widespread and
commonplace that they are a defining feature of international migration today.
Analysis: National citizens become angry at the prioritization of refugees for a myriad of
reasons. They become defensive and develop xenophobia towards the refugees, and act out
violently when their home government attempts to solve issues that deserve attention, but are
viewed as not these governments responsibility.
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A2 Public Backlash
Answer: Migrants can provide benefits to host country, reversing public opinion
Warrant: Migrants can offset an aging population
Adam, Nina. Migrants Offer Hope for Aging German Workforce. Wall Street Journal,
September 10th, 2015. <http://www.wsj.com/articles/migrants-offer-hope-foraging-german-workforce-1441928931>
Germanys population is shrinking and aging at one of the fastest rates in Western
Europe, with ominous consequences for pensions, health care and future economic
growth. By some estimates, Britain is on course to eclipse Germany as Europes biggest
economy by 2030, thanks in part to its large numbers of young, energetic immigrants.
Germany is going to be severely challenged by demographics, said Peter Sutherland,
the United Nations special representative for international migration. Managing the
trends requires a great deal of proactive thinking and openness to immigration, he said.
Without immigrants, economists warn, Germany could soon struggle to pay pensions and
care for its elderly. About one-third of Germanys population will be older than 65 by
2060. The number of working-age people could shrink by one-third to 34 million, the
federal statistical office said in April. A falling working-age population is likely to pull
down economic growth rates. The London-based Centre of Economic and Business
Research predicted in December that the U.K. would overtake Germany as Europes
largest economy around 2030, partly because of diverging demographics.
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Warrant: Refugees represent an economic boon to host countries

Cal, Massimiliano; Sekkarie, Samia. Migrants Offer Hope for Aging German
Workforce. The Brookings Institution, September 16th, 2015.
<http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/future-development/posts/2015/09/16economic-impact-refugees-cali>
In fact, the inflow of refugees has arguably helped the Lebanese economy withstand the
negative effect of its neighbors civil war. Refugees have been an important source of
demand for locally produced services in Lebanon, funded from own savings and labor
income, from remittances of relatives abroad and from international aid. In a recent
World Bank report we estimate that an additional 1 percent increase in Syrian refugees
increases Lebanese service exports by 1.5 percent. And the UNHCR and U.N.
Development Program estimate a similar economy-wide impact from the $800 million
that the U.N. spends annually on Syrian refugees in Lebanon. These effects are not
unique to Syrian refugees. Burundian and Rwandan refugees fleeing war in the 1990s
have generated net economic gains for their Tanzanian host communities.
Warrant: Employers are open to the idea of more refugees coming in to help supplement the
work force and want the government to expedite their ability to work
Dettmer, Markus. Rx for Prosperity: German Companies See Refugees as Opportunity.
Der Spiegel, August 27th, 2015.
<http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/refugees-are-an-opportunity-forthe-german-economy-a-1050102.html >
To combat the shortage of skilled personnel, companies and trade associations are urging
policymakers to at least better utilize the potential of refugees and migrants living in
Germany. Daimler was the first major corporation to appeal to lawmakers to allow
refugees to begin working after one month in the country. "It's a waste of valuable time
for asylum-seekers to be condemned to idleness during their asylum proceedings," says
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Ingo Kramer. The president of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations

(BDA) says that rules should be changed so that asylum-seekers and migrants not
threatened with immediate deportation are given faster access to the labor market.
Analysis: Although nationals might initially resist the integration of refugees, in the long-term
their presence will actually benefit the host country, providing mutual benefits for both the
refugee and the host country. Instead of the perceived xenophobia, host nations actually welcome
refugees and want to offer them jobs.
Answer: Violent protestors represent the minoritys opinion
Warrant: Most individuals and the media have an open mind towards accepting refugees.
Officials and others say that the attacks represent the sentiment of a minority. Polls show
that 60% of Germans support taking in refugees, and there has been an outpouring of
assistance across the country from volunteers who have donated food and clothing, set up
websites to match migrants with employers and even housed some of the newcomers in
their own homes. Even Germany's most populist tabloids have joined the chorus, running
stories trying to dispel misperceptions about refugees and condemning violence against
them.
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Warrant: Protests and attacks against refugees are just isolated examples, not an actual trend or
common occurrence
Eddy, Melissa. Violent Backlash Against Migrants in Germany as Asylum-Seekers Pour
In. New York Times, August 13th, 2015. <
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/world/europe/germany-migrants-attacksasylum-seekers-backlash.html?_r=0>
Rights activists who monitor the treatment of refugees say while they are seeing an
increase in hate crimes across Europe, particularly targeting Roma or asylum-seekers
from Europes poorest countries, nowhere have they seen mass demonstrations or the
kinds of arson attacks and other vandalism at housing for refugees like those in Germany.
Weve seen many bad news stories from Germany, but not that many from other
countries not in the sense of calling it a growing trend, said Thorfinnur Omarsson, a
spokesman for the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, based in Brussels.
Analysis: Some cases of xenophobia are over-dramatized by the media. These few examples
should not be taken as the norm. The general attitude towards refugees in many countries may be
neutral or accepting, not exclusive.
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Answer: Recently, there has been increased international effort to help refugees
Warrant: New images of the crisis humanize the refugees and make individuals more open to
lend a helping hand
Okolosie, Lola. A backlash against dehumanizing refugees has begun we must seize
the moment. The Guardian, September 7th, 2015.
<http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/07/dehumanisingrefugees-migrants-aylan-kurdi >
Aylan Kurdi has shaken us from a national stupor. The image of the three-year-old, face
down in the sea, has finally made visible the fact we have so often ignored that
thousands of refugees die in their desperate attempts to reach safety. Before we were
overwhelmed by the current catastrophe, many believed the politicians. They intimated
that, when it came to refugees, we were powerless to do anything differently and
appealed to the basest image of ourselves, as solely self-interested individuals. The
message and media mood music was constant the migrants are coming for your homes,
jobs and taxes and as a result, the experience of those seeking asylum in the UK has, for
a long time, been one of dehumanization and poverty; it has also often included
immigration detention. But now there is a fever of activity, proving the politicians wrong,
which should lead to a questioning of all the brutal structures currently in place. The
outpouring of compassion over the past few days, and the sense of global citizenship it
has fostered, shows that we finally see the swarms of migrants as people, human
beings, just like us, but in need of help.
Analysis: The refugee crisis today is the worst in recent history. People all over the world are
recognizing the problem at hand, and many act welcomingly towards the refugees and actively
denounce the actions of xenophobic nationals. This shaming will lead to fewer attacks and
hopefully bring about less ignorance about the presence of refugees.
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CON Refugees strain local economies

Argument: Accepting more refugees strains local economies by taxing already burdened
resources
Warrant: Refugee interests trade off with broader interests by competing for scarce resources
Betts, Alexander. "The Externalisation of EU Asylum Policy." Centre on Migration,
Policy and Society Working Paper No. 36, University of Oxford, 2006 (n.d.): n.
pag. Oxford, 2006. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.
<https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/files/Publications/working_papers/WP_
2006/WP0636-Betts-Millner.pdf>.
From the moment of arrival, refugees compete with the local citizens for scarce resources
such as land, water, housing, food and medical services. Over time, their presence leads
to more substantial demands on natural resources, education and health facilities, energy,
transportation, social services and employment.
Warrant: This has been the case in nations willing to accept refugees already
Sweis, Rana F. "Syrian Refugees Strain Resources in Jordan." The New York Times. The
New York Times, 02 Jan. 2013. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/world/middleeast/syrian-refugees-strainresources-in-jordan.html
Jordan has drawn waves of refugees in the past, but this one is particularly severe. The
flood of refugees is straining the limited resources of the Jordanian government and aid
agencies, though agencies say they are also trying to steer funds to poor Jordanians.
Foreign assistance is only trickling in, leaving many in need. It is challenging to
distribute aid to refugees who are scattered across urban areas. While the total number of
registered refugees or those awaiting registration with the U.N. agency in Jordan is more
than 150,000, many others have not been counted.
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Warrant: This depresses wages for everyone

"Social and Economic Impact of Large Refugee Populations on Host Developing
Countries." UNHCR News. UN Refugee Committee, 6 Jan. 1997. Web. 02 Oct.
2015. http://www.unhcr.org/print/3ae68d0e10.html
They may cause inflationary pressures on prices and depress wages. In some instances,
they can significantly alter the flow of goods and services within the society as a whole
and their presence may have implications for the host country's balance of payment and
undermine structural adjustment initiatives. One example of market disturbances would
be the need to rent accommodation for office and residential purposes, not just for
expatriates, but also for locally engaged staff, in response to a refugee situation.
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Warrant: These harms can be long term and structural, impeding future growth
Abey, Abdi. "ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF URBAN REFUGEES ON HOST
COMMUNITY: CASE OF SOMALI REFUGEES IN EASTLEIGH,." University
of Nairobi, 2013. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.
<http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11295/58412/Abey_Economic%
20effects%20of%20urban%20refugees%20on%20host%20community.pdf?seque
nce=3>.
As seen in the argument in this chapter, the impact of refugees on the economy of the
host community can be positive or negative. If they are helpless, illiterate, and unskilled,
they are likely to need more food, water, shelter, health care and other services than they
can possibly contribute to the economy. If, on the other hand, they are energetic, skilled,
62 and ambitious, their abilities can conceivably be put to good use in a country which
needs such skills. A nurse or carpenter or typist can make a living in Nairobi, even where
there is an employment problem. Even when refugees have positive skills or resources to
offer, their unpredictable tenure and cultural dissimilarity like not speaking the language
of the country or engaging in religious practices incompatible with local usage may
interfere with their contributing effectively to the local economy.
Analysis: The argument is straightforward, refugees can overburden already taxed systems to the
point of failure. Prioritization of these policies therefor makes the long term worse for everyone
because infrastructure is less accommodating to future refugees as well as current citizens.
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A2 Refugees strain local economies

Answer: Refugees add to local economic output
Warrant: Immigrants are critical to combating demographic issues
Portes, Jonathan. "Immigration Is Good for Economic Growth. If Europe Gets It Right,
Refugees Can Be Too." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 15 Oct.
2014. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.
Some view this as a humanitarian crisis and others see it as a challenge and a threat. And
then there are the economists! Economists tend to see a large influx of refugees not as an
obligation or a threat -- but as an opportunity. In particular, Europe faces a major
demographic challenge: our population is aging, and, in many countries, shrinking. The
EU's total fertility rate is not much over 1.5 children per woman -- you don't need to be a
demographer to work out the long-term implications. Indeed, if it weren't for migration,
the EU's working age population would already be shrinking.
Warrant: Demographic issues threaten the European workforce
HeWitt, Monica. "Germany Grapples With Growing Shortage of Skilled Labor." WSJ.
Wall Street Journal, 6 June 2014. Web. 02 Oct. 2015
The data underscore a costly and growing shortage of skilled labor, and the trend further
squeezes competitiveness in Europe's export powerhouse, already burdened by a strong
euro. Germany faced a shortfall of 117,300 skilled workers in science, technology,
engineering and mathematics, according to the Cologne Institute of Economic Research's
Spring report, which predicts a gap of nearly one million skilled staff by 2020.
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Analysis: Even if the con wins short term tradeoffs the existential threat to European
productivity is a demographic crisis which threatens quality of life for everyone. If pro wins this
argument any short term downturn should be a cross happily beared.
Answer: Immigrants add to GDP by increasing labor productivity
Warrant: Immigrants physically put in more than they take out
Fitz, Marshall. "Immigrants Are Makers, Not Takers." Center for American Progress.
N.p., 8 Feb. 2013. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/news/2013/02/08/52377/immigran
ts-are-makers-not-takers/
Mainstream economists have thoroughly debunked this general stereotype of immigrants
as takers, finding that immigrants are a net positive for the economy and pay more into
the system than they take out. In fact, immigrants contributions have also played a key
role in prolonging the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund. And the truth is that
the cost-benefit analyses that immigration restrictionists have used to make their wild
cost projections simply are not well-rounded or accurate. Immigrants are in fact
makers, not takers. Below, we demonstrate the clear evidence that proves this point and
shoots down some of the recycled claims about the cost of immigrants to the United
States.
Warrant: View America as a case study
Fitz, Marshall. "Immigrants Are Makers, Not Takers." Center for American Progress.
N.p., 8 Feb. 2013. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.
Research by UCLA Professor Ral Hinojosa-Ojeda shows that legalizing our nations
undocumented immigrant population and reforming our legal immigration system would
add a cumulative 1.5 trillion to U.S. GDP over a decade. These big gains occur because
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legalized workers earn higher wages than undocumented workers, and they use those
wages to buy things such as houses, cars, phones, and clothing. As more money flows
through the U.S. economy, businesses grow to meet the demand for more goods and
services, and more jobs and economic value are created. Hinojosa-Ojeda found that the
tax benefits alone from legalization would be between $4.5 billion and $5.4 billion in the
first three years.
Warrant: Economic growth is the most critical factor in quality of life
Carraciolo. GROWTH AND POVERTY (n.d.): n. pag. OECD. DFID, 2009. Web. 6 Oct.
2015. <http://www.oecd.org/derec/unitedkingdom/40700982.pdf>.
Economic growth is the most powerful instrument for reducing poverty and improving
the quality of life in developing countries. Both cross-country research and country case
studies provide overwhelming evidence that rapid and sustained growth is critical to
making faster progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and not just the
first goal of halving the global proportion of people living on less than $1 a day.
Analysis: This argument is a straight block to the Con argument. The debater should make the
analysis that increasing growth and output solves back for many of the disadvantages of letting
in refugees. This can be weighed well as it is good for the migrants who get jobs, the economy
that grows, and the original residents who become less poor through aggressive economic
expansion.
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CON Security Risks

Argument: Large influxes of people in new areas allow criminals to embed themselves in
society
Warrant: Refugee camps are dangerous
Bennett, Ph.D. Georgette. "Syrian Refugee Crisis Strains Jordan's Resources." The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 26 Feb. 2015. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgette-bennett-phd/syrian-refugee-crisisstrains-jordan_b_6753750.html
With a population of more than 100,000, Zaatari is one of the largest refugee camps in
the world and the fourth-largest population center inJordan, a fact that prompts Mr.
Kleinschmidt to half-jokingly describe himself as international mayor of Zaatari. A
U.N. report over the summer said the camp was lawless in many ways and found it to
be plagued by an organized crime network, a claim denied by Jordanian officials.
Warrant: There is also increased aggression from right wing extremist groups in backlash
Dearden, Lizzie. "Norwegian Intelligence Agency Says Arrival of Refugees Is Increasing
National Security Threat." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 24
Sept. 2014. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/norwegian-intelligence-agency-saysarrival-of-refugees-is-increasing-national-security-threat-10515747.html
Norways domestic intelligence agency says the national threat level has increased as a
result of the increasing number of refugees and migrants arriving in the country. But it is
the response of far-right groups, rather than the asylum seekers themselves, affecting the
security situation. Benedicte Bjrnland, head of the Norwegian Police Security Service
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(PST), announced on Thursday that the arrival of thousands of refugees is expected to

have adverse consequences for threats linked to the extreme-right scene.
Warrant: Overburdened systems have result in violent outbreaks
Rahl, Michaela. "Refugee Camps May Blow with Violence, German Police Officials
Warn." RT English. RT News, 2 Oct. 2014. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.
https://www.rt.com/news/317365-germany-police-refugees-fear/
Germany is at risk of violent outbreaks in camps housing asylum seekers, senior German
police personnel warned after a string of incidents at various facilities accommodating the
refugees. "We're running the risk that the situation in refugee accommodation will get out
of control," German police union chief Rainer Wendt told the mass-circulation
newspaper Bild. "Our experience suggests that in many places there are, unfortunately,
very targeted and well-prepared violent clashes with ethnic or religious motivations
almost every day." A similar warning came from Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere
on Thursday. "They go on strike because they don't like the accommodation and they
cause trouble because they don't like the food. They beat each other in the facilities for
asylum seekers,"
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Warrant: Recent efforts to increase resettlement have increased outbreaks further

Browne, Malachy. "Refugee Crisis Escalates as Violence Breaks out." Reported.ly.
Reported News, 4 Sept. 2015. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.
Violent clashes between police and refugees broke out on two Greek islands on Thursday
evening and Friday morning as tensions flared amid a worsening crisis. A
standoff continues at Bicske train station in Hungary, where hundreds of men, women
and children are being held by police in train carriages in stifling heat. Dramatic scenes
erupted on Lesvos island where some 33,000 refugees arrived in August alone. Running
battles around the port area spilled onto the streets of Mytilene as police fired stun
grenades into a crowd of refugees trying to board a ferry to Pireaus. The port area
is closed off Friday afternoon, and refugees are trying to find a place to rest, it reported
Analysis: This argument is relatively straightforward. Influxes of people in new areas tax local
law enforcement which makes violence and retaliatory violence more likely and harder to stop.
This argument can be interacted and weighed well on the level that crime denies access to many
aff impacts which link to things such as quality of life.
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A2 Security Risks
Answer: Almost no refugees have nefarious intent
Warrant: Refugees dont come to commit crime or terror
Speckhard, Anne. "Taking in Refugees Is Not a Risk to National Security." Huffington
Post Time, 9 Sept. 2015. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anne-speckhard/taking-in-refugees-isnot_b_8114006.html
But as a national security expert who has spent more than 20 years working alongside
government defense and security experts, I know that the majority of Syrian refugees
fleeing war are not using the opportunity of refugee status to embed themselves as
terrorists in the West. The majority are trying to escape barrel bombs, chemical attacks,
and barbaric violence, caught between the violence of a dictatorial regime and that
carried out by terrorists. They are, for the most part, much less likely to have been
involved in terrorism than to have been the victims of it. In fact, refugees who become
terrorists are extremely rare. There are only a small number of cases of refugees admitted
into the U.S. who have been arrested on terrorism chargesthe actual data shows that
this is a rare phenomenon.
Warrant: Most people in the eligible refugee pool are not criminals
Pizzi, Mihaele. "With Refugee Vetting in US, ISIL Infiltration Risk overblown." ISIL
Infiltration via Refugees Risk 'overblown' Al Jazeera, 28 Sept. 2015. Web. 02 Oct.
2015.
On top of that, the U.N. prioritizes the tiny of fraction of applicants deemed most at-risk,
which include people with medical issues, torture survivors, single woman-headed
households or LGBT refugees, Yungk explained, so it isn't as if the U.S. will be plucking
hardened rebel fighters straight from the battlefield.
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Analysis: Why are people refugees? Overwhelmingly the answer is to make a new life for
themselves and their families, not to become involved in violent crime or terror. At maximum
the criminal element among refugees is tiny. I also think you could add something about how its
slightly xenophobic to assume theyre going to create criminal problems when theyre being
slaughtered in their home countries
Warrant: A real effort to help refugees would include vetting for criminality
HeWitt, Monica. " Taking in Refugees Is Not a Risk to National Security ." Time. Wall
Street Journal, 6 June 2014. Web. 02 Oct. 2015 http://time.com/4024473/takingin-refugees-is-not-a-risk-to-national-security/
Refugees from Syria will be carefully vetted, and those with terrorist ties refused.
Security concerns should not be a reason to turn away desperate doctors, teachers, nurses,
engineers and salt-of-the-earth laborers who simply want to escape a horrific
humanitarian crisis alongside their innocent children.
Analysis: Major resettlement programs almost always include means of vetting the refugees.
This would almost certainly solve back for any concerns about criminal elements in refugee
programs. One of the key reasons this isnt happening in the status quo is likely the lack of
funding.
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Warrant: Institutional infrastructure is already in place to mitigate these concerns, and it works
well
Pizzi, Mihaele. "With Refugee Vetting in US, ISIL Infiltration Risk overblown." ISIL
Infiltration via Refugees Risk 'overblown' Al Jazeera, 28 Sept. 2015. Web. 02 Oct.
2015. http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/9/18/could-syrian-resettlementbe-isil-backdoor.html
Separate the example of the Tsarnaevs, who had no known ties to banned groups when
they were vetted 11 years before their attack, most experts say Washingtons intensive,
post-9/11 security vetting regimen is more than capable of mitigating the security risks
inherent in taking in people from chaotic and murky conflicts like Syrias. The short
answer is that the issue is overblown, said Daryl Grisgraber, senior advocate for
Refugees International. The detailed answer is that the U.S. has been resettling refugees
for over 50 years now, and ever since 9/11, theres been an even more rigorous vetting
process. It is slow and thorough, and, frankly, for the refugees, it can be quite painful.
Analysis: Many developed nations such as the US have advanced institutional infrastructure in
the status quo to deal with these concerns. There is a reason that developed nations have seen
remarkably few refugee related instances of violence despite accepting a near constant stream of
refugees over the last 20 years.
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CON Aid Worsens Regional Issues

Argument: Aid packages can be misused and funneled in ways that exacerbate and entrenches
problems
Warrant: Aid makes leaders less accountable to their people
Moyo, Dambisa. "Why Foreign Aid Is Hurting Africa." WSJ. Wall Street Journal, 9 Mar.
2009. Web. 05 Oct. 2015. http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123758895999200083
A constant stream of "free" [aid] money is a perfect way to keep an inefficient or simply
bad government in power. As aid flows in, there is nothing more for the government to
do -- it doesn't need to raise taxes, and as long as it pays the army, it doesn't have to take
account of its disgruntled citizens. No matter that its citizens are disenfranchised (as with
no taxation there can be no representation). All the government really needs to do is to
court and cater to its foreign donors to stay in power.
Warrant: Aid can become a resource to fight over
Breckzick, Amelia. "Humanitarian Aid and Development Assistance | Beyond
Intractability." Humanitarian Aid and Development Assistance | Beyond
Intractability. Beyond Intracability, Feb. 2004. Web. 05 Oct. 2015.
http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/humanitarian-aid
Humanitarian aid can prolong and fuel conflicts, undermining its ultimate goal of saving
lives: For fighting parties, aid can become a resource to be fought over. Aid leakage, or
'political taxation' of aid, refers to situations in which a portion of the aid goes directly to
the fighting parties, who then use it themselves or sell it to buy weapons.
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Warrant: History corroborates the idea that aid feeds into corrupt systems without helping those
that need it
Daniel Langenkamp, Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, THE AIMS AND IMPACTS
OF AID IN AFGHANISTAN, May 2002,
http://fletcher.tufts.edu/humansecurity/pdf/Langenkamptotal.pdf
It is important to note that the criticisms leveled against humanitarian aid have also been
aimed at development assistance. As Steven Knack, of the World Bank, Peter Uvin, and
Mark Duffield have noted, development aid can also feed into the exploitative processes
that end up assisting corrupt local elites and harming vulnerable populations. As Uvin
demonstrated in Rwanda, development aid can exacerbate social tensions, encourage bad
policy making, make governments less accountable to voters, intensify competition for
resources, and feed processes of structural violence in a country, ultimately empowering
the very elites who benefit from exploiting marginalized segments of the country.
Warrant: Aid can also be counterproductive by undermining broader institutional reform efforts
that would solve crises better
John Goodman , President of the National Center for Policy Analysis. MESSAGE TO
DEBATERS FROM NCPA, 2007, http://www.debatecentral.org/research/message-to-debaters-from-ncpa-sponsor-of-debate-central
For example, Liberia received over $3 billion in development aid between 1980 and 2004
but had negative growth in per capita GDP during this time. Deborah A. Brautingham,
professor at American University, and Stephen Knack, an Economist at the World Bank,
similarly found a negative relationship between high aid levels in Africa and
deteriorations in governance, even when they corrected for the tendency of donors to give
more aid to African countries with improving rather than deteriorating governance. Aid
Dependence. Foreign aid can lead to significant institutional destruction by undermining
internal reforms. If a country receives a steady income from the outside, there is little
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incentive to improve within. Aid may act as a safety net making it less risky to overspend. When expenditures bear little relationship to revenues, the drive to institute
macro-economic reform policies and create self-sustaining health infrastructure
diminishes.
Warrant: Aid undermines local industries by making them uncompetitive
John Goodman , President of the National Center for Policy Analysis. MESSAGE TO
DEBATERS FROM NCPA, 2007, http://www.debatecentral.org/research/message-to-debaters-from-ncpa-sponsor-of-debate-central
Aid can also hinder economic growth by undermining local markets. Often donations of
goods cause industries that normally provide them to collapse: Donated drugs in Somalia
caused several pharmacies to close because their customers received the drugs free of
charge from donors. Donations of food have contributed to the failure of the agricultural
industry in many Sub Saharan African countries. In addition, individuals working for
foreign aid groups often make salaries that are substantially higher than those in the local
community. This drives up the price of goods and makes it even more difficult for
people in the region to afford necessities. Despite billions of dollars of aid and supplies,
Sub-Saharan Africa's health remains poor. Africa's problems cannot be solved by piling
on development aid. Too often it exacerbates the problem. Other times it is simply
ineffective.
Analysis: This argument talks about how, broadly, funding and resources is often diverted from
the intended recipients. The negative externalities of this diversion are harmful to the intended
recipients because now leaders in charge of their stewardship are delinked from their people.
This means that in the long term less is done for the people that need the most, and corruption is
entrenched.
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A2 Aid Worsens Regional Issues

Answer: Governments as actors allows them to align their own agendas with humanitarian ones
Warrant: Aid decreases corruption, solving back for the institutional issues that the con brings
up
Tavares, Jos. "Does Foreign Aid Corrupt?" Economics Letters 79 (2003): 99106.Dchas. Dchas. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.dochas.ie/Shared/Files/4/DoesForeignAidCorruptFinal.pdf>.
"In this paper we ask whether foreign aid corrupts by using data on a cross-section
of developing countries and instrumenting for total aid inflows. We find that foreign
aid decreases corruption. Our results are statistically and economically significant
and robust to the use of different controls. Why might aid decrease corruption? One
can advance several possibilities. First, foreign aid may be associated with rules
and conditions that limit the discretion of the recipient countrys officials, thus decreasing
corruptiona conditionality effect. Second, if foreign aid alleviates public revenue
shortages and facilitates increased salaries for public employees it may diminish the
supply of corruption by public officialsa liquidity effect. One important caveat is in
order."
Analysis: Even if corruption diminishes the utility of aid, aid solves back for those institutional
roadblocks by incentivizing governments to clean up their acts. The debater should make the
analysis that any aid truly given in humanitarian interests would involve these caveats and would
not simply be money given in a lump sum.
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Answer: Aid has a dampening effect on the number of people effected by the crisis
Warrant: Aid given to regional actors not immediately in the conflict or corrupt can have a
dampening effect on the impacts of the crisis
Chauvet, Lisa, and Patrick Guillaumont. "Aid Effectiveness in an Unstable
Environment." Centre for the Study of Economic Policy. University of Evry, n.d.
Web. 5 Dec. 2013. <http://epee.univ-evry.fr/EPEE/colloques/lisachauvet.pdf>.
"Because civil conflicts often have regional spillovers risk of contagion of
conflicts, destabilization of entire regions political stability and peace represent
regional public goods (Mendez 1999, Hamburg and Holl 1999, Arce and Sandler 2002).
Thus foreign aid, by dampening the negative externalities of civil wars for
neighbouring countries (hence preserving growth) seems to indirectly contribute to
regional political stability and the development of regional public goods."
Analysis: Maybe Aid given to the actors immediately on site is bad, but aid given to other
regional actors can allow them to insulate their infrastructure from the shocks of the crisis. By
building more resilient systems and high growth economies we can better accommodate, care
for, and in the long term send help to people affected in the crisis
Warrant: Aid to fragile states still is effective
Buthe, Tim. "Private Rights in Public Resources." Princton (2003): n. pag. Princton, 27
Apr. 2003. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2011/9/fragile-stateschandy/aid-global-views.pdf
Similarly, a recent report based on the experience in fragile states of the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) found that their grants performed well
across all measures (Bornemisza et al., 2010). GFATMs active grants in fragile states
achieved 83 percent of their targets on average, which is only a fraction lower than the 88
percent average for stable countries
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Warrant: Conflict driven areas are actually better at absorbing aid

"World Bank ELibrary. The World Bank, Oct. 2002. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
<http://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/pdf/10.1596/1813-9450-2902>.
"Countries emerging from civil war attract both aid and policy advice. This paper
provides the first systematic empirical analysis of aid and policy reform in the post
conflict growth process. It is based on comprehensive data set of large civil wars, and
covers 27 countries that were in their first decade of post-conflict economic recovery
during the 1990s. We first investigate whether the absorptive capacity for aid is
systematically different in post- conflict countries. We find that during the first three
post-conflict years absorptive capacity is no greater than normal, but that in the rest of the
first decade it is approximately double its normal level. Thus, ideally, aid should phase in
during the decade."
Analysis: Empirically fragile states seem to handle aid well, in fact if anything there is a
comparative benefit to humanitarian aid. Make the analysis that in terms of timeframe, now is
the best time to invest and get the biggest bang for our buck.
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CON Aid Implementation

Argument: Refugee aid programs though well intentioned are likely to implicitly carry
animosity which ultimately hurts everyone
Warrant: Host nations are implicitly biased against refugees
Branczick, Amerlia. "Humanitarian Aid and Development Assistance | Beyond
Intractability." Humanitarian Aid and Development Assistance | Beyond
Intractability. Beyond Intracability, Feb. 2004. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/humanitarian-aid>.
"Although aid agencies often seek to be neutral or non-partisan toward the winners and
losers of a war, the impact of their aid is not neutral. ...When given in conflict settings,
aid can reinforce, exacerbate, and prolong the conflict; it can also help to reduce the
tensions and strengthen people's capacities to disengage from fighting and find peaceful
options for solving problems. Often, an aid program does some of both. But in all cases
aid given during conflict cannot remain separate from that conflict."
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Warrant: These programs are often brought down by nativist sentiment

Mailonline, Hannah Parry For. "Refugees from War-torn Syria Claim Racism in
Germany Is so Extreme They Want to GO HOME as Growing Unrest and AntiMuslim Feeling Sees Attacks on Foreigners Soar." Mail Online. Associated
Newspapers, 30 July 2015. Web. 03 Oct. 2015.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3179916/Refugees-war-torn-Syriaclaim-racism-Germany-extreme-want-HOME-growing-unrest-anti-Muslimfeeling-sees-attacks-foreigners-soar.html
Refugees from war-torn Syria claim racism in Germany has become so extreme they
want to go home as a growing anti-Muslim movement sees soaring attacks on foreigners.
The nation has been gripped by a spate of anti-foreigners rallies, violence and arson
attacks against refugee homes or would-be shelters as hundreds of thousands seek refuge
in the country. This year has already seen about 200 arson and other attacks against
refugee housing while support for anti-Muslim movement, Patriotic Europeans Against
the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA), has been growing. The growing tensions
between citizens and refugees mean some asylum seekers are so scared of attacks they
are considering going home. Taher arrived in Germany a month ago, risking his life to
fleeing the atrocities of war-torn Syria and making the long, difficult journey across the
Mediterranean.
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Warrant: Bad programs can do more harm than good, and are deteriorating now
"UNHCR Study Shows Rapid Deterioration in Living Conditions of Syrian Refugees in
Jordan." UNHCR News. UN Refugee Committee, 14 Jan. 2015. Web. 03 Oct.
2015.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antnio Guterres says large numbers of Syrian
refugees are sliding into abject poverty, and at an alarming rate, due to the magnitude of
the crisis and insufficient support from the international community. He made the
statement at the launch of a new UNHCR study, Living in the Shadows, which reveals
evidence of a deepening humanitarian crisis. High Commissioner Guterres is on a twoday visit to Jordan, where he will meet refugees profiled in the study in Amman and
others at the Za'atari refugee camp.
Warrant: Aside from physical conditions the climate of structural racism created prevents
meaningful integration
Reader, Gerald. "Structural Racism." Structural Racism. Grantmakers in the Arts, Feb.Mar. 2009. Web. 03 Oct. 2015. http://www.giarts.org/article/structural-racism
Structural racism is the silent opportunity killer. It is the blind interaction between
institutions, policies, and practices that inevitably perpetuates barriers to opportunities
and racial disparities. Conscious and unconscious racism continue to exist in our society.
But structural racism feeds on the unconscious. Public and private institutions and
individuals each build a wall. They do not necessarily build the wall to hurt people of
color, but one wall is joined by another until they construct a labyrinth from which few
can escape. They have walled in whole communities. For example, a government agency
decides that low-income housing must be built, which will house low-income Blacks and
Latinos. It fails to look for locations near jobs and important infrastructure, like working
schools, decent public transportation, and other services. In fact, it is built in a poor,
mostly Black and Latino part of town. When the housing is built, the school district,
already under-funded, has new residents too poor to contribute to its tax base.
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Analysis: This argument functions as both offense and defense. Offensively, you can link into
fewer long term opportunities and worse conditions on the ground, as well as backlash
arguments. Defensively this argument acts as a solvency wall to advocacies that on paper might
impact to increased quality of life, as this argument means those benefits are unlikely to
materialize.
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A2 Aid Implementation
Answer: Many humanitarian programs such as food aid are easy to implement and go a long
way to helping refugees
Warrant: The cost of food aid is not too high
West, James. "This Is How Much Money We Need to Feed Millions of Syrian Refugees
Right Now." Mother Jones. N.p., 22 Sept. 2014. Web. 03 Oct. 2015.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/09/world-food-programme-syriafunding-refugee-crisis
On Monday, the chief of the United Nation's World Food Programme, the largest global
provider of emergency food to the poor, announced that the program urgently needs $278
million over the next three months to feed millions of Syrian refugees. Even some of the
neediest families, executive director Ertharin Cousin warned, will be cut off if the
international community doesn't pony up. The plea for donations comes amid mounting
debate across Europe about how to absorb a massive influx of refugees from war-torn
Syria, and how to provide for the millions of displaced Syrians stuck in refugee camps
across the region in what has been described as the worst European refugee crisis since
World War II.
Analysis: Not all humanitarian programs are easily manipulatable by nativist interests. Many are
straight forward and hard to mess up, such as direct food aid. Many of the counterproductive
policies have warrants attached that are specific to those policies, and do not cross over into
more general aff advocacies
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Answer: Improvement is possible with affirming despite racism

Warrant: Camp conditions can improve despite structural barriers such as in Greece
"Living Conditions at Refugee Camps Improve in Greece - CCTV News - CCTV.com
English." Living Conditions at Refugee Camps Improve in Greece - CCTV News CCTV.com English. CNTV, 10 Apr. 2015. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.
<http://english.cntv.cn/2015/10/05/VIDE1444030081784873.shtml>.
The living conditions at refugee camps in Greece have improved over the past months.
The huge influx of people fleeing conflict in the Middle East has forced the Greek
government to improve basic facilities at the camps. Special rooms are set up to provide
services for feeding mothers. Internet access has also been added, and food and
medicines are provided. Conditions at some Greek refugee camps had previously drawn
criticism for the lack of toilets and running water.
Analysis: Even if there are some structural obstacles to helping refugees, clearly it is still
possible given that it has happened in the past.
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Answer: Regardless of inhospitable conditions, increasing aid is better than the alternative for
refugees
Warrant: Refugees leave because they live in daily fear of death,
Jonson, Brian. "What You Need to Know: Conflict in Syria, Children, and the Refugee
Crisis." World Vision. Web. 03 Oct. 2015. http://www.worldvision.org/newsstories-videos/syria-war-refugee-crisis
Nearly 12 million Syrians have been forced from their homes by the fighting; half are
children. At least 7.6 million have been displaced within Syria, and more than 4 million
have fled as refugees in neighboring countries. Increasing numbers of refugees are
making dangerous attempts to reach Europe. About 51 percent of them are from Syria,
the UN Refugee Agency says. Children affected by the Syrian conflict are at risk of
becoming ill, malnourished, abused, or exploited. Millions have been forced to quit
school. Since the beginning of this crisis, World Vision has helped more than 2 million
people in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. In response to the migration toward Europe,
we are now also providing aid in Serbia
Analysis: This argument is simple and straightforward. Yes, maybe there are factors that
diminish the utility of efforts to help refugees, but there is a reason refugees decide to leave their
homes. That reason is that the areas they leave are war torn, violent, and inhospitable, far beyond
whatever possible hardship they would undergo leaving.
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CON Governments are the wrong actor

Argument: Governments are largely incapable of recognizing and internalizing the scope and
intricacies of humanitarian crises such as those in Syria, which means that their efforts fail. The
preferable alternative is private assistance
Warrant: The structure of governments makes it impossible for them to account for the nuances
of crises
Ruwart, Mary. "Private Sector Alternatives to the Welfare State Archives - The
Advocates for Self-Government." The Advocates for SelfGovernment. N.p., 25
June 2014. Web. 05 Oct. 2015. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-vanburen/christopher-coyne-doing-bad-by-doing-good_b_3314052.html
An economist, Coyne riffs off of Adam Smith's "man of the system," the bureaucrat who
thinks he can coordinate a complex economy. In humanitarian terms, The Man thinks he
can influence events from above, ignorant (or just not caring) about the complex social
and small-scale political factors at work below. Having no idea of what is really going
on, while at the same time imaging he has complete power to influence events by
applying humanitarian cash, The Man can't help but fail. There is thus no way large-scale
humanitarian projects can large-scale change a society. The connection between Coyne's
theoretical and the reality of the U.S. State Department staff sequestered in Iraq's Green
Zone or holed up on military bases in Afghanistan, hoping to create Jeffersonian
democracies outside the wire, is wickedly, sadly perfect.
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Warrant: Governments in their inherent self-interest are unable to positively process

humanitarian needs
The Man takes additional body blows in Coyne's book. One of the most significant is in
how internal political rewards drive spending decisions, not on-the-ground needs. A
bureaucrat, removed from the standard profit-loss equation that governs businesses,
allocates aid in ways that make Himself look good, in ways that please his boss and in
ways that produce what look like short-term gains, neat photo-ops and the like. The Man
is not incentivized by a Washington tied to a 24 hour news cycle to take the long, slow
view that real development requires. The institutions The Man serves (State, Defense,
USAID) are also slow to decide, very slow to change, nearly immune from boots-on-theground feedback and notoriously bad at information sharing both internally and with each
other. They rarely seek local input. Failure is inevitable.
Warrant: This means that few resources reach the needy
With the fundamental base of ignorance and arrogance laid to explain failure, Coyne
moves on to address how harm is done. One begins with subtractive harm, how most aid
money is siphoned off into the pockets of the contractors and Non-Governmental
Organizations (NGOs), plus bureaucratic and security overheard, such that very little
reaches the country in need. For example, of the nearly two billion dollars disbursed by
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the U.S. Government to Haiti, less than two percent went to Haitian businesses. In Iraq, I
watched as USAID hired an American NGO based in Jordan specifically to receive such
money, who then hired an Iraqi subcontractor owned by a Dubai-consortium, to get a
local Iraqi to dig a simple well. Only a tiny, tiny percentage of the money "spent" actually
went toward digging the well; the rest disappeared like water into the desert sand.
Warrant: Private sector does it better
Edwards, John. "The Cost of Public Income Redistribution and Private Charity." Journal
of Libertarian Studies (2007): n. pag. 2007. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
<https://mises.org/sites/default/files/21_2_1.pdf>.
Using government data, Robert L. Woodson (1989, p. 63) calculated that, on average, 70 cents
of each dollar budgeted for government assistance goes not to the poor, but to the members of
the welfare bureaucracy and others serving the poor. Michael Tanner (1996, p. 136 n. 18) cites
regional studies supporting this 70/30 split. In contrast, administrative and other operating costs
in private charities absorb, on average, only one-third or less of each dollar donated, leaving the
other two-thirds (or more) to be delivered to recipients.
Warrant: Private charities came to call in the case of hurricane Katrina
Tanner, Michael. "Government Failure, Private Success." Cato Institute. N.p., 20 Sept.
2005. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/government-failure-privatesuccess>.
Within two weeks of the disaster, Americans had already contributed more than $600
million to relief efforts. Theyve kicked in another $100 million of in-kind donations.
Private schools are offering tuition-free education to the children of survivors. Countless
Americans have volunteered time and effort. Others have opened their homes to the
displaced, donated blood, and helped in other ways large and small.
Analysis: This argument contends that while the goals of humanitarianism may be noble, the
pros execution is wrong. Governments shouldnt be the ones to carry out these aims because
they do more harm than good and other actors do it better.
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A2 Governments are the wrong actor

Answer: Governments as actors allows them to align their own agendas with humanitarian ones,
creating positive externalities for both parties, unlike private charities
Warrant: Government Aid allows to access self-interest impacts as well as humanitarian ones
Apr. 2003. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
http://www.princeton.edu/~pcglobal/conferences/aid2013/papers/Buthe_Princeton
Aid_Apr2013.pdf
There is, however, little reason to think so: Decades of research on governmental
allocation of foreign and specifically development aid have persistently shown that most
countries' aid allocation is above all a function of donor countries' geo-political and
economic self-interest. There is much disagreement about the extent to which recipients'
needs and their development potential (given the political regime, the level of corruption,
etc.) affects aid allocation, if at all. This paper offers a direct comparative analysis of
private and public U.S. humanitarian and development aid to examine whether private aid
holds much promise as an alternative.
Analysis: Its preferable to prioritize humanitarian interests through a government because that
allows both the positive impacts neg wants that deal with national interests as well as the
humanitarian goals of the aff. Private interests cant account for both impacts, only humanitarian
interests, so they only help half the parties.
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Answer: Governments arent the only ones that face structural issues
Warrant: NGOs are similarly bloated to governments
Apr. 2003. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
Aid_Apr2013.pdf
First, as critics of "managerialism" in corporations have shown, prestige, power, and
opportunities for promotion of subordinates all create "a strong organizational bias" to
grow a firm "beyond the optimal size."
Warrant: NGOs are ultimately self serving
Apr. 2003. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
Aid_Apr2013.pdf
42 Second, various organizationsincluding firms, IOs, and NGOshave been shown
to put self-perpetuation ahead of all else.43 These findings suggest that the managers of
NGOs, too, may approach diversification and increasing the size of their organizations as
an end in itself. Such NGO managers may then, as their critics put it, "capitalize upon
others misery" to secure ever increasing donations to grow their own organizations.44 In
sum, the logic of organization theory, when applied to NGOs, suggests that opportunities
for soliciting further donations will be an important (and maybe the dominant)
consideration in the allocation of funds.
Analysis: Maybe public help isnt great, but the alternative of private help is definitely worse.
Private NGOs are self serving and are only in business because of these issues, thus giving them
a perverse incentive to see the issues perpetuate. They also prioritize cost and fundraising to real
change. Government sources at least have the self interest of looking after their citizens.
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Warrant: Despite the aforementioned concerns government aid seems to be working pretty well
"Maternal and Child Survival Initiative Saves Millions of Lives." Maternal and Child
Survival Initiative Saves Millions of Lives. USAID, 26 Aug. 2014. Web. 05 Oct.
2015.
Aid_Apr2013.pdf
Development today released a new report showing that its maternal and child survival
efforts have resulted in nearly two-and-a-half million more children surviving and
200,000 maternal deaths averted since 2008 in USAIDs 24 priority countries. In
addition, the USAID report details how to reach 38 million of the most
vulnerable women around the world with increased access to health care during delivery
by 2020.
Warrant: The two paths are relatively similar ultimately
Apr. 2003. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
Aid_Apr2013.pdf
Jointly, these statistical analyses suggest that private and government aid allocation is
actually rather similar in that neither appears to have been (in 2001) significantly a
function of the expected aid efficacy.
Analysis: Despite these concerns in the real world government aid works pretty well.
Empirically it isnt really worse than the alternative, even if there is somehow a tradeoff
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CON ISIS Resettlement

Argument: This argument is largely predicated on the idea that helping your own citizens is
always more important than helping others when the two come into conflict. In this case, it is a
widely recognized fact that although refugees themselves are not a security concern, the actions a
government can take to help them can lead to security threats. For example, loosening ones
borders can allow refugees in, but also terrorists or other malicious groups, which can have a
clear detriment to the society in question.
Warrant: ISIS can slip through the cracks
Kaplan, Michael. "ISIS Exploiting Refugee Crisis? Europe's Islamic State Threat
Requires Boosted Security, Not Fear-Mongering, Some Warn." International
Business Times. N.p., 08 Sept. 2015. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.ibtimes.com/isis-exploiting-refugee-crisis-europes-islamic-statethreat-requires-boosted-security-2087164>.
The ongoing Syrian refugee crisis has renewed concerns Islamic State group fighters
could be slipping into Europe amid the greatest wave of refugees to the continent in
decades. Right-wing British politician Nigel Farage warned last week there was cause for
very genuine fear of extremists making their way into the EU, and called on citizens
not to allow compassion to imperil our safety, the Telegraph reported.
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Warrant: ISIS has claimed to have already smuggled over 4,000 operatives through the borders.
The surge of refugees in recent months has left European authorities struggling to take
control of the security situation, prompting fear extremists could slip into Europe under
the radar. An ISIS operative told BuzzFeed in January the militant group already had sent
some 4,000 fighters into Europe, who were waiting quietly to stage attacks. Smugglers
reportedly confirmed the ISIS operative's assertion, and admitted to smuggling militants
across waters in the very same boats used by hundreds of thousands of refugees.
Warrant: The conflict makes vetting the refugees for threats very difficult.
Vlahos, Kelley Beaucar. "Surge of Syrian Refugees into US Stirs Security Concerns."
Fox News. FOX News Network, 28 July 2015. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/07/28/surge-syrian-refugees-into-usstirs-security-concerns/>.
Syria's bloody civil war has brought the country's largest number of refugees and
asylum-seekers to the United States in a decade, and thousands more are expected in
2016. But with the influx comes mounting concerns over whether the Obama
administration can properly vet them, and keep out those with terror ties seeking to
exploit the system. Lawmakers are worried that not only is Syria the headquarters of the
Islamic State, but that the country's state of chaos makes screening refugees that much
harder. "I agree that the vast majority of Syrian refugees do not have ties to terror
groups," Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., who chairs the Homeland Security Counterterrorism
and Intelligence Subcommittee, said at a recent hearing. "However, we have been
reviewing the current security vetting procedures for a number of months, and I have a
number of concerns, not the least of which is the lack of on-the-ground intelligence
necessary to identify terror links."
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Warrant: Refugees can pose security time bombs in terms of terrorism.

Laipson, Ellen. "Migration Challenges in the Indian Ocean Littoral." Stimson. Harvard
Scholar, 2010. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
<http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/jill/files/goldenziel_refugees_and_international_s
ecurity__2010.pdf?m=1360042400>.
Iraqi refugees may pose a potential threat to regional security. Human Rights Watchs
London director, Tom Porteous, has described the Iraqi refugee crisis as a security time
bomb, likely to produce the next generation of terrorists because of host countries
deteriorating conditions and capacity. Recent political science research has demonstrated
that refugees can cause security threats in host countries and internationally as well. Idean
Salehyan writes that mobilization among diaspora and refugee groups has become
increasingly common in many conflicts.13 While many Iraqis lived in mixed
communities within Iraq, they have separated into largely Sunni (Jordan) and Shiite and
Christian (Syria and Lebanon) communities in the diaspora. With their previous social
order destroyed, these Iraqis may seek to organize for their own protection.
Warrant: We have already arrested several individuals linked with ISIL/ISIS with the refugee
crisis.
King, Peter. "Rep. Peter King: Refugees Bring Security Risks." USA Today. Gannett, 13
Sept. 2015. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/09/13/syrian-refugees-rep-peterking-editorials-debates/72212362/>.
While the United States and international community must respond, I have very serious
concerns about how refugees coming here will be vetted, since we know that ISIL will
attempt to infiltrate its members into the United States with these refugees. It is vital that
we measure our humanitarian beliefs against the security risks of bringing in thousands of
unknown individuals. Since the beginning of the year, the FBI has arrested more than 50
individuals connected with ISIL and plotting attacks in the homeland; we cannot afford to
compound this threat.
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Warrant: Refugees have posed security threats in the past.

King, Peter. "Rep. Peter King: Refugees Bring Security Risks." USA Today. Gannett, 13
Sept. 2015. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/09/13/syrian-refugees-rep-peterking-editorials-debates/72212362/>.
With the lack of stable foreign governments and on-the-ground intelligence in Syria, our
ability to vet refugees is significantly degraded. The White House announcement that
10,000 additional Syrian refugees will be admitted next year is contrary to the advice of
law enforcement and intelligence professionals. The United States has already
experienced the danger of flawed refugee vetting, as well as the potential for refugees to
be radicalized once they are here. In 2011, two Iraqi refugees were arrested in Kentucky
for conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals abroad in support of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the
predecessor to ISIL. Other cases include blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman; 1993
World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef; Mir Aimal Kasi, the 1993 CIA headquarters
shooter; the Tsarnaev brothers; and the 20-plus cases of Somali Americans who left the
U.S. to join al-Shabaab; and the dozen or so who have joined ISIL.
Analysis: This argument is simply meant to show security risks to a state when they prioritize
the needs of the refugees over those of their own people. While you have to be careful not to
deny that helping refugees can lead to benefits here (you dont want to say saving peoples lives
is bad!) you can strategically argue that while the help may save some peoples lives, as long as
it is agreed upon that a states top concern is its own survivability, and the protection of its
people, accepting large numbers of refugees is not the most strategic decision.
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A2 ISIS Resettlement
Answer: No one is slipping through the borders.
Warrant: The borders have always been porous so this is no different.
But borders into Europe have always been porous, and refugees from Syria and
elsewhere fleeing political turmoil have for years made their way to the continent en
masse. While border control and officials will need to figure out how to amplify security,
experts said there was little reason for heightened concern even as the influx of refugees
continued to grow and warned against allowing anti-immigrant politicians to exploit the
refugee crisis for political gain.
Warrant: We carefully vet the refugees for threats.
Vlahos, Kelley Beaucar. "Surge of Syrian Refugees into US Stirs Security Concerns."
Fox News. FOX News Network, 28 July 2015. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/07/28/surge-syrian-refugees-into-usstirs-security-concerns/>.
But Anne C. Richard, State Department assistant secretary of state for population,
refugees, and migration, told FoxNews.com that Syrian refugees are subjected to the
same enhanced screening as anyone from that part of the world. That's why it takes
upwards of two years or more for adults and their families to get here once they apply. "It
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is not a fast-moving process," she said. "We have a very careful, very deliberative
process." She notes that nearly 4 million people have fled the civil war in Syria as of
March 2015. Embattled President Bashar Assad's crackdown on the Sunni population,
coupled with the ruthlessness of the Islamic State, has squeezed the Syrian people and
sent them to the squalor of refugee camps in neighboring countries. Currently, according
to USAID, there are 1.2 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon; 1.7 million in Turkey;
727,300 in Jordan; and 246,800 in Iraq, which is still reeling from its own conflicts.
Analysis: The entire argument provided by the negative here is predicated on the fact that bad
people can make it through the borders that are being relaxed due to the refugee crisis. However,
these responses demonstrate that there is really no harm coming out of this not only do we
effectively vet every refugee accepted to make sure they are not a threat, but also places like the
EU have had relatively porous borders for an extended period of time with nothing bad
happening. The opponents must prove why the terrorist threats are uniquely higher this time
when there have not been many alterations to border strategies now when compared to the past.
Answer: The threat is being overblown.
Warrant: Even if it is a concern, we should still help people and the concern isnt that large.
Experts said while the risk might rise with a greater influx of refugees, it was critical not
to allow fear to influence wider policy. "It's an issue of real concern, but it shouldn't be
blown out of proportion. It should just raise the awareness of those concerned with
infiltration, and should not stop the flow of refugees -- a vast majority of whom are
legitimate seekers of asylum or safety," Sanderson said.
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Analysis: This response is mostly just meant to mitigate the negatives impact it points out that
even if there is a security threat, it is not something that should change a countrys behavior
when it comes to helping the refugees. An attack extremely unlikely and on top of that, even if
they were likely, the benefits that come from helping vastly outweigh those harms considering
the number of people that could be helped with humanitarian aid.
Answer: This is not the real threat.
Warrant: Homegrown extremism is a larger issue.
The most pronounced threat earlier this year seemed to stem from homegrown
extremists -- sympathizers with ISIS already living in Europe, including some who
traveled to Syria and returned home. Some 20,000 foreign fighters reportedly have joined
Sunni militant organizations, including ISIS, about a fifth of whom were believed to be
from Europe, the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political
Violence reported in January. Belgium became the first country in the EU to experience
an attack by a fighter who had returned from Syria when Mehdi Nemmouche, a French
citizen, opened fire in May 2014 and killed four people at a Jewish museum in Brussels.
Analysis: Similar to the response above, this response does not defeat the impact provided by the
negative, it simply makes it smaller. What is demonstrated here is that while the concern the
negative emphasizes is that of ISIS getting through the cracks in the borders with the refugees,
the real problem arises from homegrown terrorism, which has nothing to do with the refugee
crisis and cannot be prevented through stopping humanitarian aid.
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Answer: To fix this threat, humanitarian help is needed.

Warrant: Humanitarian assistance can help prevent dangerous mass migration.
Laipson, Ellen. "Migration Challenges in the Indian Ocean Littoral." Stimson. Harvard
Scholar, 2010. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
<http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/jill/files/goldenziel_refugees_and_international_s
ecurity__2010.pdf?m=1360042400>.
To keep the Iraqi refugee crisis from becoming violent, international refugee protection
must be reconceived as a problem of international security. If states view refugee
protection as a way to protect their own borders, they will be motivated to comply with
international refugee law. Only in this way can an international refugee protection regime
be developed that will safeguard the individual rights of refugees along with the rights of
sovereign states.
Analysis: This response attempts to turn the impact provided by the negatives argument. In so
far as the harms brought up only come into fruition if mass migration continues to happen, a
great way to fix that issue would be to lessen the migration occurring. Aid achieves that goal as it
effectively makes it easier for refugees to live without having to leave their home countries or the
surrounding area, and lowers their need to move elsewhere.
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CON Refugees create change at home

Argument: Removing refugees from their home crisis decreases the possibility of overthrowing
tyrannical governments, ending wars, or solving any other myriad of social problems. These
refugees are the most viable people to create change and solve their nations problems.
Warrant: An outpouring of young, healthy individuals from a nation removes the capable work
force and is seen as a burden to developed host nations.
Cuss, Crispan. Europe's policy did not kill Aylan Kurdi Al Jazeera, September 4th,
2015. <h http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/09/europe-policy-killaylan-kurdi-syria-refugees-150904054322233.html>
Such an ostensibly humanitarian response requires an honest appraisal of the unintended,
yet detrimental, consequences for those left behind. Accepting those young, fit, and
wealthy enough to flee not only ignores the plight of the elderly, sick, and poor but
exacerbates the original situation by removing those most capable of bringing peace and
prosperity back to the region.
Warrant: Loss of consumer demand can cripple the original countrys economy
Zetter, Roger. Are refugees an economic burden or benefit?. Refugee Studies Centre,
2010. < http://www.fmreview.org/en/preventing/zetter.pdf>
Analysis of the impacts and costs for the country of origin may seem at odds with the
more familiar assessments of the impacts on refugees themselves and their hosts. Yet the
impacts are usually severe, for example through the loss of domestic consumer demand
and perhaps skilled and professional workforce (a notable feature in the case of refugees
leaving Iraq); this has implications for the long-term development of the country as well
as for the potential for the return of refugees.
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Warrant: There is an opportunity cost when they leave their home countries because of
employment in the host nation is not guaranteed
Hiller, Benjamin; Greig, Rebecca. What's Life Like For Syrian Refugees In Germany?
International Business Times, September 4th, 2015.
<http://www.ibtimes.com/whats-life-syrian-refugees-germany-2083610 >
When Nahla has successfully claimed asylum, she can expect to receive 359 euro (around
$400) a month lower than the welfare payment for German citizens. She will not be
allowed to work for three months, but even after that employment is by no means
guaranteed. Many employers do not want to employ refugees with an uncertain future,
and asylum-seekers are only allowed to take up a job if German or EU citizens are not
available for the position. Refugees not only confront discrimination in the job market but
also must contend with racist violence, ranging from arson attacks to street riots, as
resentment toward the newcomers grows among certain groups in German society. Many
Germans have an inflated idea of the kind of money asylum-seekers receive after their
arrival. The notion that refugees are taking away jobs or placing an unnecessary burden
on the economy is not supported by the facts.
Warrant: Some actually want to stay in their home nations.
Frelick, Bill. For Bhutans refugees, theres no place like home. Human Rights Watch,
March 30th, 2011. < https://www.hrw.org/news/2011/03/30/bhutans-refugeestheres-no-place-home />
Sitting in refugee camps for years takes a severe social and psychological toll on people,
and the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal are no exception. I met women and children in the
camps who had been the victims of domestic and sexual violence, and saw that
depression was rife. As the years dragged on with no solutions in sight, services and aid
dwindled. Massive resettlement not only relieved overcrowding but restored hope for
many. The United States and other resettlement countries should indeed be proud that
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they gave many of these refugees a new lease on life and helped them to realize their
dreams. But it's not everyone's dream. For many still in the camps - for older refugees, in
particular, who remember their lives in Bhutan and still mourn their losses - watching
their compatriots leave has been a bitter experience. About 17,000 of the remaining
refugees have not sought third country resettlement, many still holding out for
repatriation. Since resettlement is an option available only to about 1 percent of the
world's refugees, it needs not only to provide rescue for the lucky few who can be
brought to faraway new homes, but also to leverage just and durable solutions for the
refugees who stay behind - in this case voluntary repatriation. Can you make sure you
admit that yes, there are humanitarian crisis, but like theyre never going to get solved if
theres this entire plight of people. Like you lose national identity, culture, and also
nobody is there to help put the country back together.
Analysis: Refugees face intense persecution and risk their lives every day staying in their home
countries. As more refugees leave however, the economy of the home state continues to
deteriorate, and becomes less likely to recover. The nation continues to lose its national identity
and culture. If people continue to migrate away, no one will be left to put the country back
together. Many of the refugees that are able to escape are the politically charged people that are
capable of creating change in the home nation. If they leave, no one will have the incentive to
take on such a daunting task.
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A2 Refugees create change at home

Answer: If refugees were to stay home they would not be able to help the crisis.
Warrant: People who stay in their home nations continue to be attacked and their lives are often
at risk.
Taub, Amanda. Europe's refugee crisis, explained. Vox, September 5th, 2015.
<http://www.vox.com/2015/9/5/9265501/refugee-crisis-europe-syria >
The biggest driver of the crisis by far is Syria. Four million people, nearly a fifth of
Syria's population, have fled the country since the war began in 2011. It's not hard to
understand why Syrians are fleeing. Bashar al-Assad's regime has targeted civilians
ruthlessly, including with chemical weapons and barrel bombs; ISIS has subjected
Syrians to murder, torture, crucifixion, sexual slavery, and other appalling atrocities; and
other groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra have tortured and killed Syrians as well.
Warrant: The costs of staying outweigh the potential benefits
Soergel, Andrew. Refugees: Economic Boon or Burden?. US News, September 15th,
2015. < http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/09/15/would-syrianrefugees-be-an-economic-boon-or-burden >
The risks associated with traversing a violence-ridden region and fleeing to a foreign
country are great, but sticking around might be riskier. A U.N. report published earlier
this year found that 210,000 people have been killed and another 840,000 have been
injured as a result of the Syrian civil war. Combined, that's 6 percent of Syria's total
population, according to the report. "Equally horrendous is the silent disaster that has
reduced life expectancy at birth from 75.9 years in 2010 to an estimated 55.7 years at the
end of 2014, reducing longevity and life expectancy by 27 percent," the report said. The
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study also estimated 80 percent of Syrian citizens in 2014 lived in poverty, while about
30 percent lived in abject poverty without the ability to meet basic food needs for their
households. The Syrian economy declined at an annual rate of more than 30 percent in
2012 and 2013 and was projected to have shrunk by about 10 percent in 2014, according
to the report.
Analysis: Refugees simply cannot effectively create change in their home nations or boost the
economies of these countries until there is a promise of physical safety and the possibility of
promoting fair and strong governmental institutions.
Answer: Migrants can only effectively create change by leaving the nation
Warrant: Refugees have more opportunities in their new home nations
Ahmadov, Anar; Sasse, Gwendolyn. A Voice Despite Exit: The Role of Assimilation,
Emigrant Networks, and Destination in Emigrants Transnational Political
Engagement. University of Oxford, 2015.
<http://cps.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/08/20/0010414015600468.full.pdf+ht
ml>
Similarly, though the effects of education and occupation are not clear-cut, there is a
broad agreement on their importance. For example, higher educational attainment can
increase the probability of political transnationalism (Guarnizo et al., 2003); for example,
by providing better educated migrants with intellectual and economic resources for
engagement (Burgess, 2014) or increasing their access to policymakers (Burgess, 2012b).
But it can also lead to a decline in home-country ties, insofar as it facilitates swifter
integration and upward mobility in the host society (Borjas, 1987; Gordon, 1964). In line
with studies of domestic political participation, some evidence suggests that
economically secure migrants, usually entrepreneurs, maintain the most active
transnational political ties and interests (Guarnizo et al., 2003; Smith & Bakker, 2005).
Finally, the place of origina rural location, a large city or a specific regionmay affect
political socialization and thus shape the level or type of transnational political
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participation (Guarnizo et al., 2003; Lafleur & Snchez-Domnguez, 2015). Time spent in
migrationoften seen as a proxy of assimilation or integra- tionis a prominent variable
in the study of migrant behavior in general. However, there is no agreement about its
effects on emigrants political behavior. On one hand, longer periods of stay can increase
socialization into the host society and lead to gradual disengagement from home-country
identities and politics (Alba, 1985; Gordon, 1964). On the other hand, Guarnizo et al.
(2003) argue that a longer period of residence in the host country can increase migrants
economic stability and resources that can be invested in political causes, thus heightening
the probability of their political engagement with homeland. They find that long-term
residents were more likely to be transnationally active.
Analysis: Refugees are afforded a better education and more employment opportunities in a
stable host country. The longer they stay, the more likely they are to use these newly acquired
resources to join the political effort to end the conflict in their homeland.
Warrant: Migrants can send back monetary remittances to help the economic standings of those
left behind and eventually help restabilize their home countrys economy.
Ghosh, Bimal. Migrants Remittances and Development: MYTHS, RHETORIC AND
REALITIES. International Organization for Migration, 2006. <
http://www.ssrc.org/workspace/images/crm/new_publication_3/%7Bd2915556f851-de11-afac-001cc477ec70%7D.pdf >
Clearly, economic migrants are expected to remit more than refugees and asylum seekers.
Those who are forced to leave the home country due to political persecution, flagrant
violation of human rights and other similar reasons are not very likely to remit funds
home; nor can they be expected to have enough resources in the host country to be able
do so at least during an initial period. However, when the refugees are fully integrated in
the economy of an affluent country and have full, non-discriminatory access to its labour
market, they may well be found to remit funds to those left behind in order to help them
overcome their difficulties, including facilitating their escape from persecution and
violence. Also, temporary refugees, who hope to return home in a not-too-distant future,
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are more likely to remit funds to their relatives at home. Sometimes such transfers pass
through a third country in the neighborhood. Remittances from refugees abroad should
however be distinguished from remittances sent by the established diasporas to refugeeproducing or conflict-torn countries. As discussed in Chapter 5, transfers from the latter
could be quite considerable.
Analysis: Even if refugees would be able to beat back the turmoil of their home nations by
staying home, they are undoubtedly more powerful in other nations and better able to gain
political power for change in states with strong governmental frameworks.
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CON Social Contract

Argument: If a government were to prioritize the humanitarian needs of refugees over the needs
of its own population it would be violating the Social Contract theory. The Social Contract
theory gives the government the ability to govern because it promises to always act in the interest
of its citizens.
Warrant: The government is held responsible by its citizens for not acting in their best interest
Aondohemba, Simon. Evaluating the social contract theoretical ideas of Jean Jacques
Rousseau: An analytical perspective on the state and relevance to contemporary
society. Federal University, January 4th, 2015. <
http://www.academicjournals.org/journal/AJPSIR/article-full-textpdf/99A103649804>
Rousseaus social contract theory, as submitted by Enemuo (1999:74), Appadorai
(1974:27), and Mukherjee and Ramaswamy (1999), is a notion that the state is the result
of a contract entered into by men who originally lived in a state of nature; that there was
only one contract, the social pact to which government was not a party. Individuals
surrendered all their rights to the community and therefore, after making the contract may
have only such rights as are allowed to them by what Rousseau calls the General Will
(Law). Sovereignty, which belongs to the community of such individuals, is absolute, not
the government that is absolute. And that every individual is a sovereign-being that
makes up the whole sovereign community. This means that the individuals still have
freedom from depending on any other body rather than themselves in a contract so
entered into by them in a society. The government so formed by individuals after this
social contract is very much dependent on the people. As such, people only appointed
from their equals some trustees who would ensure the execution of the objectives of the
General Will (the common Law) for collective security in the overall interest of the
community. The contract is of the society, not of government, every one is a ruler of
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himself. Rousseau argues, however, that it may be impossible for men to believe to
govern themselves and so there arises the need to form a body that will execute the social
contract, this body so formed (the government) is not party to the social contract, and the
society can hold such a body (the government) responsible for failure in executing the
agreements of the social contract to which it (the government) is not a party. Specifically,
therefore, the major political ideas of Jean Jacques Rousseau can better be explained
under his analysis of sovereignty, Freedom and independence of life, Inequality,
institution of private property, the civil society, the General Will and individual freedom.
Warrant: Many refugees flee to neighboring developing nations that cannot provide social
protection to their own citizens, much less an influx of refugees.
Makhema, Mpho. Social Protection for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the Southern
Africa Development Community. Special Protection and Labor; The World
Bank, April, 2009.
<http://siteresources.worldbank.org/SOCIALPROTECTION/Resources/SPDiscussion-papers/Labor-Market-DP/0906.pdf >
Firstly, the way in which a state has answered the three questions above for its own
citizens impacts on the way in which it conceives of SP [social protection] for noncitizens. International, regional and national variation in SP [social protection]
mechanisms for R&AS [refugees and asylum seekers] is therefore at least partly a
function of variation in SP for citizens of different countries and regions. One of the key
differences between refugee protection in Africa compared with more wealthy parts of
the world is that many African states have only very limited SP for their own citizens.
This either means that they cannot provide SP [social protection] to R&AS [refugee and
asylum seekers] either, or that SP [social protection] has to come from external actors,
such as international or non-governmental organizations.
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Warrant: No government must guarantee protection to refugees based on the social contract,
because refugees are not part of the governments jurisdiction. In fact, governments have very
different standards for when they are obligated to step in to a conflict.
McKeever, David . The Social Contract and Refugee Protection: A Comparative Study
of Turkey and Germany in the 1990s. UN Refugee Agency, Department of
International Protection, 2005.
<http://www.tiger.edu.pl/publikacje/TWPNo79.pdf>
Indeed, this idea of prioritizing the obligations of the state and allowing for certain rights
of the individual to be violated in certain circumstances, is enshrined in international
human rights law. Crucially, however, the way in which individual states prioritize their
obligations does not always correspond to their (supposed) priorities as set out in
international human rights law. No matter how universal human rights are supposed to
be, the level of importance which different states attach to the protection of these rights,
is far from universal. The guarantee (if not the acknowledgement) of these rights will
thus vary according to the varying social contract doctrines held by different states.
Warrant: The impact to many nations is negative, meaning the government would be doing its
people a disservice to accept refugees
For the host country public sector there are fiscal costs and impacts in providing social
and welfare assistance for refugees eg increased medical and education provision,
increased demand for utilities such as water and longer- term capital costs and impacts
such as infrastructure investment. In the short term, the impacts of increased refugeederived demand are likely to be negative for the host community; for example, a decline
in the quality of service provision is likely with higher demand for existing services such
as healthcare or education or water supply. In the longer term, the impacts are likely to be
reflected in expanded investment in capital assets such as medical centers, classrooms or
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road access to refugee camps. In the absence of a methodology such as that discussed in
the Guidelines, it has not been possible to fully expose and assess these fiscal impacts and
their consequences. For example, the host community is likely to face an increase in
taxation to pay for the investment in capital assets or may pay an opportunity cost by
forgoing alternative public sector investment options, or the costs may be covered by
externally funded humanitarian and development assistance.
Warrant: Refugees cause negative externalities that have long-term impacts that a government
cannot allow for.
Externalities or spillover effects are unpriced costs, the impacts of which are usually
incurred by the people or areas where refugees live. The most obvious such spillover is
the detrimental effect of refugees on the environment, depleting woodland for
construction and firewood, and causing loss of natural habitat. In urban areas, added
congestion, further degradation of already environmentally precarious informal
settlements and a perceived decline in security may accompany the arrival of refugees.
The impacts of these externalities are negative, usually long-term, rarely compensated by
public expenditure and only partially compensated by humanitarian or developmental
assistance.
Analysis: Under Social Contract theory, a government only has an obligation to the citizens of
its nation. Based on this principle, it is unnecessary and wrong for a government to prioritize the
protection of the human rights of refugees over the interests of its citizens. Because refugees
create many negative impacts, it would be detrimental to the citizens of a government to take a
large part in mitigating the refugee crisis.
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A2 Social Contract
Answer: If a government can prioritize the humanitarian needs of refugees while also providing
benefits to its citizens, then that action is in the best interest of both the government and the
refugees.
Warrant: Host nations should receive refugees because they both receive benefits
Thirty years ago ICARA 1 (International Conference on Assistance to Refugees in
Africa, 1981) and ICARA 2 (1984) highlighted the burden that refugees place on their
hosts: imposing additional costs on already hard-pressed public and social welfare
budgets, arresting economic growth, distorting markets, causing environmental
degradation and putting political strains on already fragile and conflict-affected countries.
On the other hand, refugees also bring economic benefits and development potential for
example, new skills and, above all, expanding consumption of food and commodities
such as building materials, which stimulates growth of the host economy. At the same
time, the host community may benefit from assistance programs such as infrastructure
and welfare services provided by agencies responding to refugees needs.
Analysis: If a government can uphold its agreement to its citizens while simultaneously assisting
refugees, there is no reason why a government should not take that course of action.
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Answer: When a refugee leaves their home country, they break the social contract they hold with
that countrys government. This in turn dictates that their new home government ought to offer
them protection under the social contract.
Warrant: When refugees leaves a country, it breaks the social contract to that countrys
government. When a refugee enters a new country, it is symbolic of agreeing to the social
contract of that government.
Long, Katy. The Point of No Return: Refugees, Rights, and Repatriation. , August 29th,
2013.
<https://books.google.com/books?id=K8VoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA37&lpg=PA37
&dq=social+contract+protect+refugee&source=bl&ots=jhDsvvp7Ut&sig=yEaWo
BefGPIwaRk4ARYp3fe7zi0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAWoVChMIg5
HMZWyyAIVRhUeCh07fgH2#v=onepage&q=social%20contract%20protect%20ref
ugee&f=false>
However, a refugee has - by definition - already taken this extreme measure, in order to
escape the consequences of the states failure to protect basic liberal rights, through either
incapacity or active hostility. This action of withdrawing physically from a state in itself
may not be voluntary or consensual: in some extreme cases, refugee groups may be
forcibly transported over the states border by the state itself. Yet what both flight and
deportation signal is the end of any pre-existing political agreement between citizen and
state. The social contract is no longer capable of offering a viable protection to refugeecitizens. Thus, it is possible to recognize a historical moment at which the refugees, the
states, or both groups presumed consent to the existing structures of the political society
was explicitly withdrawn, and any previously existing social contract broke. Extending
this logic to repatration, it would seem that repatriation can be seen as the use of the
physical act of return to signify explicit consent a new contract of rights and duties
preserving the liberal freedoms and duties of state, nation, and refugee-citizens.
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Warrant: Governments ought to grant refugees asylum under a moral framework.

Long, Katy. The Point of No Return: Refugees, Rights, and Repatriation. Oxford
University Press, August 29th, 2013.
<https://books.google.com/books?id=K8VoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA37&lpg=PA37
&dq=social+contract+protect+refugee&source=bl&ots=jhDsvvp7Ut&sig=yEaWo
BefGPIwaRk4ARYp3fe7zi0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAWoVChMIg5
HMZWyyAIVRhUeCh07fgH2#v=onepage&q=social%20contract%20protect%20ref
ugee&f=false>
The role repatriation can play in protecting group rights can also be seen when we
consider norms surrounding asylum. The moral case for admitting individuals who seek
asylum to a state is acknowledged even by those nationalists who support limits on
general immigration because they recognize that a refugees need for political
membership and international protection is both essential and non-exportable. This is in
essence a restating of the norm of non-refouelment: refugees cannot be forcibly returned
to their country of origin because of the threat this would pose to their life and freedoms.
It makes asylum qualitatively different from other forms of international aid. The
international community can at least in theory provide enough food to populations
suffering famine to ensure their survival without having to admit them into their own
territory (Walzer 1983: 48). Asylum demands admission.
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Warrant: Because refugees have broken the social contract with their home nation, the
international community is obligated to protect them by the social contract.
Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Elena. The Oxford Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration
Studies. Oxford University Press, 2014. <
https://books.google.com/books?id=kzDKAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&
dq=social+contract+protect+refugee&source=bl&ots=oEnlReJqs&sig=XvOIC2q76CAvKfjnkjItkOqaKQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEUQ6AEwCWoVChMIg5HMZWyyAIVRhUeCh07fgH2#v=onepage&q=social%20contract%20protect%20ref
ugee&f=false >
In general, most scholars have seen the 1951 UN Refugee Conventions definition as
being too arbitrary or narrow to provide a plausible normative account of who is owed
asylum. Andrew Shacknove, for example, argued in 1986 that a more appropriate
definition would classify refugees as persons whose basic needs are unprotected by their
country of origin, who have no remaining recourse other than to seek international
restitution of their needs (1985: 277). Shacknoves definition has been very influential in
part because it highlights the way that refugee hood involves a breaking of the political
bond or, in traditional liberal terms, the social contract between the individual and
the state that lies at the heart of the legitimate rule (1985: 275). The collapse of this
relationship creates a duty on the behalf of the international society to provide protection
to the individual concerned.
Analysis: The social contract theory designates that a refugees lack of protection by a state
government means the nation they preside in out to offer them legal protection and guarantee of
human rights.
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CON Supporting the Aggressor

Argument: If a government were to prioritize the humanitarian needs of refugees over its own
national interests by providing aid or accepting refugees, it could end up having the opposite of
the intended effect and end up helping the aggressor of the conflict.
Warrant: Governments can profit off of refugees leaving and aid being delivered to gain more
power
Kumar, Akshaya. Aid as a Weapon of War in Sudan: One More Reason to Adopt a
Comprehensive Approach.The Enough Project, October, 2013.
<http://www.enoughproject.org/files/AIDasWEAPON-brief.pdf>
Since Sudans government denies humanitarian aid organizations permission to operate
freely in much of the country, access to those in need remains circumscribed and
constantly in jeopardy. Low progress on negotiated access has allowed the Sudanese
government to wield aid as a weapon of war against its own people. The central
government only allows food distributions in areas it controls, refusing permission for
assistance to be delivered to civilians in rebel-held areas. Life-saving humanitarian
activity has been held hostage to politics. A comprehensive approach, which looks
beyond just negotiated access and pursues solutions that address the issues lying at the
roots of violence in Sudan, can help end that dynamic.
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Warrant: Aid can be redirected or taken by rebel groups or aggressors.

Kirkpatrick, David. In Parts of Syria, Lack of Assistance Is a Catastrophe. The New
York Times, March 8th, 2013.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/09/world/middleeast/in-syrias-rebelstrongholds-foreign-aid-yields-anger.html>
SAWRAN, Syria The United States and other international donors are spending
hundreds of millions of dollars on humanitarian aid for Syrians afflicted by the civil war.
But here in the rebel-controlled north, where the deprivation is most acute, that money
has bought mostly anger and resentment: the vast majority of aid is going to territory
controlled by President Bashar al-Assad, and the small amount reaching opposition-held
areas is all but invisible.
Warrant: Humanitarian aid fuels conflict and has been proven to increase the length of conflict
Nunn, Nathan; Qian, Nancy . US Food Aid and Civil Conflict. Harvard University,
2014. < http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/nunn/files/faidconf_20130806_final_0.pdf
>
Humanitarian aid is one of the key policy tools used by the international community to
help alleviate hunger and suffering in the developing world. The main component of
humanitarian aid is food aid. In recent years, the efficacy of humanitarian aid, and food
aid in particular, has received increasing criticism, especially in the context of conflictprone regions. Aid workers, human rights observers, and journalists have accused
humanitarian aid of being not only ineffective, but of actually promoting conflict (e.g.,
Anderson 1999; deWaal 1997; and Polman 2010). These qualitative accounts point to aid
stealing as one of the key ways in which humanitarian aid fuels conflict. They highlight
the ease with which armed factions and opposition groups appropriate humanitarian aid,
which is often physically transported over long distances through territories only weakly
controlled by the recipient government. Reports indicate that up to 80 percent of aid can
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be stolen en route (Polman 2010, p. 121). Even if aid reaches its intended recipients, it
can still be confiscated by armed groups, against whom the recipients are typically
powerless. In addition, it is difficult to exclude members of local militia groups from
being direct recipients if they are also malnourished and qualify to receive aid. In all
these cases, aid ultimately perpetuates conflict.
Warrant: Aid workers lives are risked during missions
Aid Worker Security Report 2015: Figures At A Glance. Aid Worker Security
Database, 2015.
https://aidworkersecurity.org/sites/default/files/HO_AidWorkerSectyPreview_V1.
pdf
In 2014, 190 major attacks against aid operations occurred, affecting 329 aid workers in
27 countries. This represents a decrease of roughly 30 per cent from last years all-time
high. However, numbers of attacks remained higher than in previous years
Warrant: Targeting aid workers makes governments and organizations reluctant to assist and
has become a strategy for targeting a nations weakest inhabitants
Carmichael, Jason-Louis; Karamouzian, Mohammad. Deadly professions: violent
attacks against aid-workers and the health implications for local populations.
US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, March 8th, 2013.
< http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3952538/ >
As in all wars, there are always unintended outcomes. One such consequence has been
the deliberate targeting of aid-workers. Despite article 24 and 26 of the 1st Geneva
Convention that maintains all medical and aid personnel be protected from violence, the
last decade has seen a surge of violence against aid-workers in the form of abductions,
ambushes, targeted killings, and intimidation, not to mention the pillaging of medical
facilities and resources. Between July, 2008 and December, 2010, the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) documented 655 attacks on health workers, whereas
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November 2015
921 attacks were recorded for the 2012 calendar year. The 2012 attacks alone generated
over 1,000 victims, 614 of which were doctors, nurses, and paramedics. A recent report
released by Humanitarian Outcomes outlines the increasing trend of violent attacks
against humanitarian workers since the 2003 Iraq war. Given the context in which these
acts of violence occur, and in the absence of a centralized reporting system, it is safe to
assume that such figures are a gross underestimation. Such attacks have very real
consequences for the local populations which these aid-workers are meant to serve. For
example, the 2009 bombing of a medical graduation ceremony in Mogadishu, Somalia,
which claimed the lives of 15 medical students and one medical doctor, translated into
the loss of approximately 150,000 loss consultations per year as the average physician
provides 250 consultations per week. More recently, the termination of activities by
Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) in Somalia due to targeted attacks on its healthcare
workers meant that over 700,000 people will go without healthcare until belligerents can
ensure the safety of its workers. A further vacuum in health systems is punctuated by the
mass exodus of health workers due to insecurity in times of war, a scenario that played
out in Iraq when 18,000 (over 50%) doctors fled as a result of conflict. The erosion of
basic health services equates not only to increases in morbidity and death, but it also tears
at the social fabric of communities, disenfranchises people, and perpetuates violence and
competition for increasingly scarce resource.
Analysis: When a government prioritizes humanitarian needs in a crisis over the interests of its
own nation, it diverts resources towards giving refugees aid. However, unless the conflict has
been quelled before the aid is delivered, it is likely that the corrupt host government or aggressor
in the conflict will intercept the aid. This ends up actually fueling the conflict. Furthermore, aid
workers are put at risk each time aid is deployed to a violent area.
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November 2015
A2 Supporting the Aggressor

Answer: Humanitarian aid is one of the ways to solve the problem
Warrant: Humanitarian aid will help the economy and decrease recruitment
Fisman, Ray. Food for Naught. Slate Magazine, February 1st, 2012.
<http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_dismal_science/2012/02/internationa
l_aid_does_sending_food_to_struggling_nations_do_more_harm_than_good_.ht
ml>
At the same time, there is also reason to believe that food aid can prevent conflict, instead
of making it worse. After all, the whole point of food aid is to boost incomes especially
during hard times: If empty stomachs foster discontent and unrest, then feeding the
hungry will make them less likely to do things like attack one another for food, or join
rebel armies to fight in civil wars.
Warrant: Aid is necessary to rebuilding efforts
Sirleaf, Ellen. Foreign aid is not a waste of money. The Telegraph, April 7th, 2011.
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/8434965/For
eign-aid-is-not-a-waste-of-money.html >
I have seen, at firsthand, how aid, effectively targeted and delivered, reduces poverty. In
sub-Saharan Africa there have been major improvements in child health and in primary
school enrolment over the last two decades. To choose one example, between 1999 and
2004, the continent achieved one of the largest reductions in measles deaths ever seen.
These positive results and outcomes would not have been possible without the support of
donors such as the UKs Department for International Development (DFID),
complementing the resources which low-income countries mobilize domestically. In my
own country, Liberia, both humanitarian and development aid have helped us recover and
rebuild from the devastation and trauma of civil war, improving the future for the
millions directly involved and affected.
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November 2015
Warrant: Cash aid can be extremely successful for refugees

Hard-nosed compassion. The Economist, September 26th, 2015.
<http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21666232-cashtransfers-rather-handouts-kind-would-help-aid-refugees-go>
There are 20m refugees worldwide, most of them children. Some 1.6m Syrians live in
Lebanon; even more in Turkey. Humanitarian agencies struggle to meet their basic needs.
In July the World Food Programme (WFP) cut assistance to refugees across the Middle
East, saying that its regional operation was 81% underfunded. One way to make scarce
aid money go further, argues a report* released this month by the Overseas Development
Institute and the Centre for Global Development (CGD), two think-tanks, is for donors to
give less in kind and more in cash. The biggest benefits of cash are practical. It is
relatively easy to siphon off aid, or rig a procurement contract, but harder to pilfer from
electronic transfers. A report on cash assistance to Syrian refugees in Lebanon by the
International Rescue Committee, a non-governmental organization, found no evidence
that it bred corruption. Technology can make things better still. Jordan, which houses 1m
Syrian refugees, is the first country to use iris-recognition devices to ensure aid goes to
the intended recipients, who can only withdraw it after a scan has confirmed their
identity. Cash is also far cheaper to distribute. Americas government has estimated that
transport and other overheads eat up 65% of spending on emergency food aid. Aid in
cash goes much further. Nearly 20% more people could have been helped at no extra cost
if everyone received cash instead of food, according to a study of aid in Ecuador, Niger,
Uganda and Yemen by researchers then at the International Food Policy Research
Institute.
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November 2015
Warrant: Refugee camps range from mostly to entirely dependent on aid, governments are
better able to fund this aid than humanitarian organizations
As food shortages hit 800,000 African refugees, UNHCR and WFP issue urgent
appeal. The UN Refugee Agency, July 1st, 2014.
<http://www.unhcr.org/53b2a1969.html >
WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin and UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Antnio Guterres, at a meeting with government representatives in Geneva, made an
urgent joint plea for US$186 million to allow WFP to restore full rations and prevent
further cuts elsewhere through December 2014. For its part, UNHCR needs US$39
million for nutrition support it provides to malnourished and vulnerable refugees in
Africa. "Many refugees in Africa depend on WFP food to stay alive and are now
suffering because of a shortage of funding," Cousin said. "So we are appealing to donor
governments to help all refugees half of whom are children have enough food to be
healthy and to build their own futures." Across Africa, 2.4 million refugees in some 200
sites in 22 countries depend on regular food aid from the World Food Programme.
Currently, a third of those refugees have seen reductions in their rations, with refugees in
Chad facing cuts as high as 60 per cent Supplies have been cut by at least 50 per cent for
nearly 450,000 refugees in remote camps and other sites in the Central African Republic,
Chad and South Sudan. Another 338,000 refugees in Liberia, Burkina Faso,
Mozambique, Ghana, Mauritania and Uganda have seen their rations reduced by between
five and 43 per cent.
Analysis: Humanitarian aid is necessary to rebuild nations ravaged by conflict. Aid is not
intrinsically harmful to conflict, and the problems with it can be fixed. Leaving more
communities to go hungry or suffer will only reignite conflict when individuals, for example,
turn to rebel groups to gain revenue to satisfy basic needs.
Champion Briefs
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November 2015
CON Terrorism
Argument: Accepting refugees increases the risk of domestic terror attacks.
Warrant: Operatives for the Islamic State claim that over 4,000 covert ISIS gunmen have
traveled among the refugees. These claims have been corroborated by refugee-smugglers.
"'Just wait' Islamic State reveals it has smuggled THOUSANDS of extremists into
Europe ". Express.co.uk, 10 September 2015. Web. 6 Octoeber 2015.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/555434/Islamic-State-ISIS-SmugglerTHOUSANDS-Extremists-into-Europe-Refugees
AN OPERATIVE working for Islamic State has revealed the terror group has
successfully smuggled thousands of covert jihadists into Europe. The Syrian operative
claimed more than 4,000 covert ISIS gunmen had been smuggled into western nations
hidden amongst innocent refugees The lethal ISIS gunmen use local smugglers to
blend in and travel amongst a huge tide of illegal migrants flooding Europe. More than
1.5million refugees have fled into Turkey alone desperate to escape the bloodshed in
Syria. From Turkish port cities like Izmir and Mersin, thousands of refugees venture
across the Mediterranean aiming for Italy, he said. Then the majority make for more
welcoming nations like Sweden and Germany, turning themselves over to authorities and
appealing for asylum. "They are going like refugees," he said. Two Turkish refugeesmugglers backed up the claims made by the ISIS Syrian operative. One admitted to
helping more than ten trained ISIS rebels infiltrate Europe under the guise of asylum
seekers. He said: "Im sending some fighters who want to go and visit their families.
"Others just go to Europe to be ready."
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November 2015
Warrant: Individuals among the refugees may radicalize after arriving in Europe.
"No Refugees, No Terrorism". Frontpage Mag, 9-23-2015. Web. 10-6-2015.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/260198/no-refugees-no-terrorism-danielgreenfield. Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom
Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam.
No amount of preventing violent extremism, outreach, profiling, airport scanning and
mosque surveillance will ever be enough as long as immigration provides fresh recruits
for the Jihad. UNHCR refugees with terror ties have already been caught by Norway.
More are being found in Europe. But even if you could somehow catch all the terrorists,
there is no way to intercept future terrorists who will only turn to Islamic violence once
they are safely living in Europe.
Warrant: Based on empirical data from 2005, a 1% increase in the size of a countrys refugee
population creates a corresponding 18% increase in terrorist attacks.
Ekey, Amanda. "The Effect of the Refugee Experience on Terrorist Activity." Thesis.
New York University, 2006. New York University Department of Politics, 2006.
Web. 5 Oct. 2015. http://politics.as.nyu.edu/docs/IO/5628/Amanda_Ekey.pdf
The contention that an increase in the size of refugee populations causes an increase in
terrorist activity was not falsified, with a positive co-efficient of .183 (Table 2). The
results indicate that a 1% increase in the size of a countrys 2005 refugee population
creates a corresponding 18% increase in terrorist attacks committed by groups based in
that country; these results are significant at the .01 level. There was not a significant
relationship found between refugee populations in 1993 and levels of terrorism in 2005.
The variable Log of No. of Refugees in Asylum 1993 was included in the data in order
to account for a theoretical lag in turnaround time between the refugee experience and
the initiation of an individuals involvement in terrorist activity. However this lag had no
academic basis and was purely a caution, therefore the lack of correlation between this
variable and the number of terrorist attacks is not particularly significant to the study. The
existence of a significant positive relationship between the size of refugee populations
and terrorism found here is an important result and can be the basis for further research.
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November 2015
Warrant: There is a positive correlation in aid received by a refugee population and the number
of terrorist attacks committed down the line.
UN Assisted Refugees 1993 was again found to be positively related to terrorist acts,
with a coefficient of .119 significant at the .10 level. As was mentioned in the analysis of
Table 2, the results for UN Assisted Refugees in 1993 are perplexing. Further
investigation will be required to establish why populations that received more aid 12
years in the past are committing more terrorist acts today.
Warrant: The root cause of the refugee crisis is terror. Prioritizing terrorism, a national interest,
addresses both issues in the long run.
"UN News". UN News Service Section, 9-30-2015. Web. 10-6-2015.
http://www.un.org/News/dh/pdf/english/2015/30092015.pdf
European leaders took to the podium of the United Nations General Assembly today to
call for a global response to terrorism, both by combatting it and taking early action to
pre-empt the scourge, which has seen hundreds of thousands of refugees flooding to the
continents doorstep. As long as there is conflict in Syria, the refugee crisis will not go
away. The efforts of the entire international community should be focused on ending
hostilities in conflict zones, supporting institution building, the rule of law and respect for
human rights.
Analysis: The current refugee crisis is largely driven by violence. Members of terrorist
organizations have reportedly taken advantage of refugee migration to sneak fighters into other
countries. This argument impacts to an increase of terror attacks in a country, and subsequently,
lives.
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A2 Terrorism
Answer: The risk is negligible and security screening solves.
Warrant: Refugees are much less likely to have been involved in terrorism than to have been
the victims of it. Refugees with terrorist ties can be identified through security screening.
"Taking in Refugees Is Not a Risk to National Security". TIME, 9 September 2015. Web.
6 Oct 2015. http://time.com/4024473/taking-in-refugees-is-not-a-risk-to-nationalsecurity/
The U.S. has resettled only about 1,500 Syrian refugees since the crisis began in 2011.
Congressional opponents opposed to taking in more often cite security concerns.
Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said Sunday that the U.S. should be
very careful about who we let enter this country from these war torn regions to ensure
that terrorists are not coming here. But as a national security expert who has spent more
than 20 years working alongside government defense and security experts, I know that
the majority of Syrian refugees fleeing war are not using the opportunity of refugee status
to embed themselves as terrorists in the West. The majority are trying to escape barrel
bombs, chemical attacks, and barbaric violence, caught between the violence of a
dictatorial regime and that carried out by terrorists. They are, for the most part, much less
likely to have been involved in terrorism than to have been the victims of it. In fact,
refugees who become terrorists are extremely rare. There are only a small number of
cases of refugees admitted into the U.S. who have been arrested on terrorism charges
the actual data shows that this is a rare phenomenon. Refugees from Syria will be
carefully vetted, and those with terrorist ties refused. Security concerns should not be a
reason to turn away desperate doctors, teachers, nurses, engineers and salt-of-the-earth
laborers who simply want to escape a horrific humanitarian crisis alongside their innocent
children.
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Analysis: The humanitarian need of the refugees overwhelms the negligible risk of terror. More
importantly, the risk is easily solved for by security screening.
Answer: History proves that fears of refugees bringing terrorism are unfounded.
Warrant: Terrorists have better ways to achieve goals than by disguising themselves among the
refugee population.
Don't overstate risk of terrorism among refugees, experts say". Ottawa Citizen, 9-102015. Web. 10-6-2015. http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/dont-overstate-riskof-terrorism-among-refugees-experts-say. Reg Whitaker, a security and
intelligence expert and one-time advisor to the commissions of inquiry into the
Air India bombing and Maher Arar affair. Scott Watson, an associate professor of
international relations at the University of Victoria.
He and Whitaker have done extensive research on the rise of national security fears that
have accompanied concentrated waves of immigration to Canada. Harpers framing of
the Syrian refugee crisis in security terms is similar to concerns, ultimately unfounded,
that communist infiltrators would accompany the arrival of Hungarian refugees to
Canada in 1956, or with the Cambodian and Vietnamese boat people in the late 1970s.
The vast majority of the people have no interest in contributing to further violence.
There could be a couple of people who are sympathetic to ISIL coming in, but if theres
proper security screening and proper integration once refugees are brought into the
country, I dont think its something we need to be concerned about. Besides, theres
much better ways for them (ISIL) to do what they want to do than to use refugees as the
means of doing it, said Watson.
Analysis: The media has a tendency to exaggerate these types of risk. History proves time and
time again that fears of refugees bringing terrorism are unfounded. This is in part because it is
not a useful option for these groups.
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November 2015
Answer: Prioritizing the humanitarian needs of refugees actually decreases the risk of terror.
Warrant: Aid was shown to have a mitigating effect upon terrorism, declining the percentage
increase in terrorist attacks by 12.9% based on numbers from 2005.
Excluding the Middle East, UN aid in 2005 was shown to have a mitigating effect upon
terrorism, declining the percentage increase in terrorist attacks by 12.9% (significant at
the .05 level as reported in Table 3). In other words, higher levels of UN aid in 2005
would appear to be helping to combat the increase in terrorist acts experienced with
increases in refugee populations in non Middle Eastern countries. This is important to
note, since humanitarian aid to refugees by developed nations has significantly decreased
since the end of the Cold War (Crisp 2003b). The UNHCRs Income and Expenditure
Trends indicates that aid donations from governments to the UNHCR were at their peak
in 1993, amounting to 1.6 billion dollars. That number hit a low in 2000, at 900 million
dollars. The level of donations to the UNHCR is on the rise again after a significant
decrease, and this study helps illustrate why this trend must continue. The amount of aid
that the UNHCR provides to refugees on the ground trends with the amount of donations
it receives from governments and outside donors (UNHCR 2006 b). Thus it is essential
for governments to increase their donations of humanitarian aid funds to the UNHCR in
order for refugee aid levels to increase. While the United States has been the leading
donor to the UNHCR in dollar amount in the last 15 years, its per capita donation is on
the low end of the spectrum, at $1.10, compared with the leading donor, Luxembourgs
$16.66 (UNHCR 2006d, UNHCR 2006c). In light of this study, counter-terrorism
funding could arguably be partially redirected to humanitarian aid agencies assisting
refugees such as the UNHCR and UNRWA. Most importantly, this result demonstrates
that whatever is causing the increase in terrorism amongst refugee hosting countries is
fixable. This result indicates that humanitarian aid has a very real effect on the global
refugee crisis.
Analysis: The refugee population is going to exist whether they are given humanitarian aid or
not. The key difference is that providing humanitarian aid may actually reduce the susceptibility
of these groups to terrorism, effectively turning the argument.
Champion Briefs
235

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Resolved: In response to the

Copyright 2015 by Champion Briefs, LLC

The Evidence Standard

General Information ............................................................................ 33

Pro Arguments with Con Responses .................................................. 48

Foreign Governments are Responsible ............................................................................ 80

Con Arguments with Pro Responses ................................................ 150

Aid Implementation............................................................................................................ 187

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"Refugee population by country or territory of origin". No Publication, xx-xx-xxxx. Web. 10-8-2015.

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The November resolution, Resolved, In response to the current crisis, a government

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Major Clashes of the Resolution

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About Michael Norton

Topic Analysis by Charles Starr

Topic Analysis by Charles Starr

Resolved: In response to the current crisis, a government should prioritize the

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Topic Analysis by Charles Starr

Topic Analysis by Charles Starr

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Topic Analysis by Charles Starr

"Definition of NATIONAL INTEREST." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.

Topic Analysis by Charles Starr

Topic Analysis by Charles Starr

About Charles Starr

Charles Starr is an undergraduate freshman at Boston College. He debated for Miami

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National Interests of the government

According to Locke, the State of Nature is not a condition of individuals, as it is for

Pro Arguments with Con Responses

2. Framwork: Impacts to governments should be weighed over impacts to refugees, because

Pro Arguments with Con Responses

2. Framework: Prioritizing the humanitarian needs of refugees encompasses multiple

Pro Arguments with Con Responses

Pro Arguments with Con Responses

PRO Aiding Refugees Helps Build International Credibility

Pro Arguments with Con Responses

Pro Arguments with Con Responses

A2 Aiding Refugees Helps Build International Credibility

Pro Arguments with Con Responses

Pro Arguments with Con Responses

PRO Refugees patch the economic skills gap