The UN defines an international migrant as “any person who changes his or her country of usual residence”. There is an estimated 191 million immigrants in the world, a number that is almost twice what it was 50 years ago.

Some 60 per cent of the world’s migrants live in developed countries. Beginning in 2015, large amounts of refugees have crossed the Mediterranean Sea and Southeastern European borders to apply for asylum within the European Union. Since then, the political climate has become less welcoming and migrants have been used more and more as scapegoats for economic and security issues. Following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, Donald Trump’s election to the United States presidency, and Italy’s vote to a referendum on its EU membership, the world is a rise in nationalist and populist rhetoric.

Human rights, economic policy, refugee health and national sovereignty are some of the concerns surrounding immigration. The issue is only growing as economic, political and environmental instability continue to rise and more men, women and children are forced out of their homes.

The goal of this year’s Unis UN conference was to examine varying perspectives on the issues surrounding migration: the causes, individual experiences as well as the political and humanitarian responses to migration. As millions of people flee their countries to escape armed conflict, political turmoil and economic hardships, students considered who is responsible for providing aid and to what extent.