The Indochina Refugee Crisis: Model UN Simulation

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BC Social Studies Lesson Plans

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The Indochina Refugee Crisis: Model UN Simulation

Grade 11

Topic

The Indochina Refugee Crisis: Model UN Simulation

Big Idea

Understanding how political decisions are made is critical to being an informed and engaged citizen (from Political Studies 12)

Essential Question

To what extent do countries have the responsibility (humanitarian and/or legal) to take in and/or aid refugees?

Learning Standards Content

Students are expected to know the following:

economic development in Asia (adapted from Asian Studies 12)
social, cultural, or technological innovations and developments in the 20th century (adapted from 20th Century World History 12)

Curricular Competencies

Students are expected to be able to do the following:

Use Social Studies inquiry processes and skills to ask questions; gather, interpret, and analyze ideas; and communicate findings and decisions

Core Competencies

Communication

I can name relevant international laws and treaties relevant to refugees, and summarize the origins of the Indo-China refugee crisis

Thinking

I can explain the widespread effects of the Indo-China refugee crisis and understand how and why certain nations would have responded in the way they did.

Personal and Social

I can consider how a nation’s response to refugees reflects its values, and how a refugee crisis can affect a nation politically, socially, and economically.

First People's Principles of Learning

Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational

Introduction

Show the CBC News clip Syrian refugee crisis: Lessons from Vietnamese boat people (5:20).
Explain that the refugee crisis actually encompassed three countries (former French colony of Indochina) and affected over twenty. Show “Map of Exodus of Refugees from Indochina”.
Have students brainstorm: What is a refugee?
Show the short video Who is a refugee? (3:07).

Pre-Assessment

Think Pair Share: How could a mass migration of refugees affect a nation politically, economically, and socially? What problems could a nation have with a mass migration?

Explain that in 1979 the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had a committee session to address this very crisis.

Interactive Learning Activities

Part 1: Background

Show the short video Introduction to Model United Nations (MUN) (2:46).
Provide students with the handout “Historical Model UN Simulation”. Explain that students will be participating in a Model UN simulation about the Indochina Refugee Crisis (1945-1997).
Engage students in a class discussion:
- According to the UN, what responsibility do countries have to help people who are displaced by conflict?
- What problems do displaced people face—in the refugee camps, while they are on the move to seek safety, in the new country, etc.?
- What challenges does a receiving country face when it accepts a large number of refugees (e.g., cultural, economic, etc.)?

Part 2: Perspective

Provide students with the handout “Country Backgrounder” and assign each student to a country.
Using their country’s backgrounder and the handout “Indochinese Resettlement from 1975 to 1997” as a starting point, each student should research how the refugee crisis affected their country.
Explain that a position paper is a short, written statement about a country’s perspective on an issue.
Students should use the handout “Position Paper Organizer” to write a three-paragraph position paper about where their country stands on the refugee crisis, how they have been affected by the refugee crisis, and what recommendations they have for solving the problem.

Part 3: Model UN

Show the video How to MUN (5:57).
Allow each student (delegate) to make a brief opening statement based on their position paper.

Part 4: Resolutions

Encourage delegates with similar stances to come together to form working groups in order to combine ideas and possible solutions into draft resolutions.
Provide working groups with the handout “Resolution Paper Organizer”.
Working group should take turns making motions to bring their resolutions to the floor where it can be presented, debated, and voted upon.

Post Assessment

The “Model UN Rubric” can be used for summative assessment as well as self-assessment and peer assessment.

Extension Activities

Compare and contrast the response of nations affected by the Indo-China refugee crisis to nations affected by the modern Rohingya refugee crisis.

Myanmar Rohingya: What you need to know about the crisis

Bangladesh refuses to take back Rohingya refugees

Additional References

Best Delegate. 2021. “Best Delegate Model United Nations.” https://bestdelegate.com/

Model UN at UCLA. 2013. “How to MUN”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6hufLEx_mI

Vancouver Model United Nations. 2022. “VMUN 2018 Delegate Handbook.”

https://www.un.org/en/ga/77/pdf/Delegates_Handbook_2022_EN.pdf

International Treaties and Laws

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. [UNHCR]. 2021. “The 1951 Refugee Convention.” http://www.unhcr.org/1951-refugee-convention.html

United Nations General Assembly. 1989. “Declaration and Comprehensive Plan of Action of the International Conference on Indo-Chinese Refugees, Report of the Secretary-General (A/44/523), 22 September 1989, A/44/523.” Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. https://www.refworld.org/docid/3dda17d84.html

United Nations General Assembly. 1979. “Meeting on Refugees and Displaced Persons in South-East Asia, convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations at Geneva, on 20 and 21 July 1979, and subsequent developments: Report of the Secretary-General, 7 November 1979, A/34/627.” RefWorld. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae68f420.html

See especially paragraphs 1, 5, and 12.

Databases

“Asylum and the Rights of Refugees.” [n.d.] International Justice Resource Centre. http://www.ijrcenter.org/refugee-law/

The Constitute Project. [n.d.] https://www.constituteproject.org/search?lang=en

Library of Congress. Publications of the Law Library of Congress. 2016. “Refugee Law and Policy in Selected Countries.” https://www.loc.gov/item/2016296551/

[Access by clicking either on the Download button or, the “View Enlarged Image” bar.]

United Nations Digital Library. [n.d.] https://digitallibrary.un.org/?ln=en

Wilson Centre. [n.d.] “Digital Archive.” https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/

Other

Carvahlo, R. 14 September 2015. “How Europe can learn from the hard lessons of Hong Kong’s Vietnamese refugee crisis”. South China Morning Post

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1857873/how-europe-can-learn-hard-lessons-hong-kongs-vietnamese-refugee

CBC Digital Archives. [n.d.] “Boat People: A Refugee Crisis.” https://web.archive.org/web/20150501174606/http://www.cbc.ca/archives/topic/boat-people-a-refugee-crisis

Central Intelligence Agency. Directorate of Intelligence. 1983. “Indochinese Refugees: The Continuing Exodus.” https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP84S00558R000400020002-7.pdf

Kamm, H. 21 June 1977. “Attitudes of Asians Hardens toward Indochina Refugees,” New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/21/archives/attitude-of-asians-hardens-toward-indochina-refugees.html

Loescher, G and Scanland, J. 1986. “Calculated Kindness: Refugees and America’s Half-Open Door, 1945-Present.” New York: The Free Press.

https://books.google.ca/books?id=bq8JlMB2ndoC&lpg=PR9&ots=eB6odIFCty&dq=Calculated%20Kindness%3A%20Refugees%20and%20America%E2%80%99s%20Half-Open%20Door%2C&lr&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Ongsuragz, C. 1980. "The Soviet Union and Indochinese Refugees." Contemporary Southeast Asia. Vol. 2, No. 1: 54-64. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25797602.

Robinson W.C. 1991. “Laotian Refugees in Thailand: The Thai and US Response, 1975 to 1988.” In: Zasloff J.J., Unger L. (eds) Laos: Beyond the Revolution. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-11214-2_9

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. [UNHCR]. 2000. “State of the World’s Refugees 2000: Fifty Years of Humanitarian Action, Chapter 4: Flight from IndoChina.” https://www.unhcr.org/afr/3ebf9bad0.pdf

Download Complete Lesson Plan

.pdf .docx

Materials and Resources

Map of Exodus of Refugees from Indochina

Handout

Historical Model UN Simulation

Handout

Country Backgrounders

Handout

Indochinese Resettlement from 1975 to 1977

Handout

Position Paper Organizer

Handout

Resolution Paper Organizer

Handout

Model UN Rubric

Handout

Rate this Curriculum

Last Reviewed

March 01, 2023

Produced by JES

curriculum developers

LAW LESSONS

Curriculum Resources for Teachers.

The Indochina Refugee Crisis: Model UN Simulation

Grade 11

Topic

The Indochina Refugee Crisis: Model UN Simulation

Big Idea

Understanding how political decisions are made is critical to being an informed and engaged citizen (from Political Studies 12)

Essential Question

To what extent do countries have the responsibility (humanitarian and/or legal) to take in and/or aid refugees?

Learning Standards
Content

Students are expected to know the following:

economic development in Asia (adapted from Asian Studies 12)
social, cultural, or technological innovations and developments in the 20th century (adapted from 20th Century World History 12)

Curricular Competencies

Students are expected to be able to do the following:

Use Social Studies inquiry processes and skills to ask questions; gather, interpret, and analyze ideas; and communicate findings and decisions

Core Competencies

Communication

I can name relevant international laws and treaties relevant to refugees, and summarize the origins of the Indo-China refugee crisis

Thinking

I can explain the widespread effects of the Indo-China refugee crisis and understand how and why certain nations would have responded in the way they did.

Personal and Social

I can consider how a nation’s response to refugees reflects its values, and how a refugee crisis can affect a nation politically, socially, and economically.

First People's Principles of Learning

Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational

Introduction

Show the CBC News clip Syrian refugee crisis: Lessons from Vietnamese boat people (5:20).
Explain that the refugee crisis actually encompassed three countries (former French colony of Indochina) and affected over twenty. Show “Map of Exodus of Refugees from Indochina”.
Have students brainstorm: What is a refugee?
Show the short video Who is a refugee? (3:07).

Pre-Assessment

Think Pair Share: How could a mass migration of refugees affect a nation politically, economically, and socially? What problems could a nation have with a mass migration?

Explain that in 1979 the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had a committee session to address this very crisis.

Interactive Learning Activities

Part 1: Background

Show the short video Introduction to Model United Nations (MUN) (2:46).
Provide students with the handout “Historical Model UN Simulation”. Explain that students will be participating in a Model UN simulation about the Indochina Refugee Crisis (1945-1997).
Engage students in a class discussion:
- According to the UN, what responsibility do countries have to help people who are displaced by conflict?
- What problems do displaced people face—in the refugee camps, while they are on the move to seek safety, in the new country, etc.?
- What challenges does a receiving country face when it accepts a large number of refugees (e.g., cultural, economic, etc.)?

Part 2: Perspective

Provide students with the handout “Country Backgrounder” and assign each student to a country.
Using their country’s backgrounder and the handout “Indochinese Resettlement from 1975 to 1997” as a starting point, each student should research how the refugee crisis affected their country.
Explain that a position paper is a short, written statement about a country’s perspective on an issue.
Students should use the handout “Position Paper Organizer” to write a three-paragraph position paper about where their country stands on the refugee crisis, how they have been affected by the refugee crisis, and what recommendations they have for solving the problem.

Part 3: Model UN

Show the video How to MUN (5:57).
Allow each student (delegate) to make a brief opening statement based on their position paper.

Part 4: Resolutions

Encourage delegates with similar stances to come together to form working groups in order to combine ideas and possible solutions into draft resolutions.
Provide working groups with the handout “Resolution Paper Organizer”.
Working group should take turns making motions to bring their resolutions to the floor where it can be presented, debated, and voted upon.

Post Assessment

The “Model UN Rubric” can be used for summative assessment as well as self-assessment and peer assessment.

Extension Activities

Compare and contrast the response of nations affected by the Indo-China refugee crisis to nations affected by the modern Rohingya refugee crisis.

Myanmar Rohingya: What you need to know about the crisis

Bangladesh refuses to take back Rohingya refugees

Additional References

Best Delegate. 2021. “Best Delegate Model United Nations.” https://bestdelegate.com/

Model UN at UCLA. 2013. “How to MUN”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6hufLEx_mI

Vancouver Model United Nations. 2022. “VMUN 2018 Delegate Handbook.”

https://www.un.org/en/ga/77/pdf/Delegates_Handbook_2022_EN.pdf

International Treaties and Laws

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. [UNHCR]. 2021. “The 1951 Refugee Convention.” http://www.unhcr.org/1951-refugee-convention.html

See especially paragraphs 1, 5, and 12.

Databases

“Asylum and the Rights of Refugees.” [n.d.] International Justice Resource Centre. http://www.ijrcenter.org/refugee-law/

The Constitute Project. [n.d.] https://www.constituteproject.org/search?lang=en

Library of Congress. Publications of the Law Library of Congress. 2016. “Refugee Law and Policy in Selected Countries.” https://www.loc.gov/item/2016296551/

[Access by clicking either on the Download button or, the “View Enlarged Image” bar.]

United Nations Digital Library. [n.d.] https://digitallibrary.un.org/?ln=en

Wilson Centre. [n.d.] “Digital Archive.” https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/

Other

Carvahlo, R. 14 September 2015. “How Europe can learn from the hard lessons of Hong Kong’s Vietnamese refugee crisis”. South China Morning Post

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1857873/how-europe-can-learn-hard-lessons-hong-kongs-vietnamese-refugee

CBC Digital Archives. [n.d.] “Boat People: A Refugee Crisis.” https://web.archive.org/web/20150501174606/http://www.cbc.ca/archives/topic/boat-people-a-refugee-crisis

Central Intelligence Agency. Directorate of Intelligence. 1983. “Indochinese Refugees: The Continuing Exodus.” https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP84S00558R000400020002-7.pdf

Loescher, G and Scanland, J. 1986. “Calculated Kindness: Refugees and America’s Half-Open Door, 1945-Present.” New York: The Free Press.

https://books.google.ca/books?id=bq8JlMB2ndoC&lpg=PR9&ots=eB6odIFCty&dq=Calculated%20Kindness%3A%20Refugees%20and%20America%E2%80%99s%20Half-Open%20Door%2C&lr&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Ongsuragz, C. 1980. "The Soviet Union and Indochinese Refugees." Contemporary Southeast Asia. Vol. 2, No. 1: 54-64. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25797602.

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BC Social Studies Lesson Plans

The Indochina Refugee Crisis: Model UN Simulation

Topic

Big Idea

Essential Question

Learning Standards Content

Curricular Competencies

Core Competencies

First People's Principles of Learning

Introduction

Pre-Assessment

Interactive Learning Activities

Post Assessment

Extension Activities

Additional References

Download Complete Lesson Plan

Materials and Resources

Rate this Curriculum

Last Reviewed

Produced by JES

LAW LESSONS

The Indochina Refugee Crisis: Model UN Simulation

Topic

Big Idea

Essential Question

Learning Standards Content

Curricular Competencies

Core Competencies

Communication

Thinking

Personal and Social

First People's Principles of Learning

Introduction

Pre-Assessment

Interactive Learning Activities

Post Assessment

Extension Activities

Additional References

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Funded by

Produced by

Funded by

Territorial Acknowledgement

Learning Standards
Content