An Artificial Island for Refugees?

[TypicalQuilon]

So I was at this Model United Nations event, and one of the students,who represented the UAE, proposed the idea of an artificial island to rehabilitate refugees and the stateless peoples. Can something like this actually happen? I guess it'll need to be administered by the United Nations, and be close to unstable regions such that displaced people can be quickly rehabilitated.

I'm not sure which forum to post this in, but I guess a POD after the formation of the UN is ideal.

 

[New Cleo Genesis]

I have no idea if it would be feasible, but I came up with the idea of raising a part of Adam's Bridge above sea level for Bangladeshi and Vietnamese refugees.

 

[RanulfC]

So I was at this Model United Nations event, and one of the students,who represented the UAE, proposed the idea of an artificial island to rehabilitate refugees and the stateless peoples. Can something like this actually happen? I guess it'll need to be administered by the United Nations, and be close to unstable regions such that displaced people can be quickly rehabilitated.

I'm not sure which forum to post this in, but I guess a POD after the formation of the UN is ideal.

Ocean Colonization or "Seasteading" has been a concept since the mid-30s (Seadromes or Floating Airports) that has waxed and waned over the years and the concept of an 'artificial island' is quite plausible given the proper funding and support. What seems to be suggested is more like the idea of a Mobile Offshore Base (MOB, or also the Joint Mobile Offshore Base or JMOB) being a more mobile installation than most artificial island concepts.

The main issue is that refugees and displaced people are rarely "quickly" anything and the cost to standup and then maintain such an offshore facility is going to be huge. (A main reason the US has never actually tried to deploy such) Moving such folks off-shore is kind of a negative aspect as it's kind of "out of sight, out of mind" thing whereas having such people on the land in someone's country tends to force people to do something about the problem.
And more in general what does such an offshore facility actually offer as 'incentives' over say a land based camp or a more practical (for various levels of 'practical' ) ship based operation?
"Technically" and artificial island could be larger and have more comprehensive facilities but of course the larger it is the harder it is to move the more expensive just the basic 'structure' becomes. What exactly does the "artificial island" bring to the table as it were?

Randy

 

[alexffnet]

This just sounds like an expensive boondoggle that doesn’t solve the problems refugees have or cause.
…it also feels like an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ solution.

 

[Father Maryland]

The most likely and feasible " version" of this would be some country gathering a bunch of large but old and worn out cheap merchant ships. Then do some half assed mods to allow for people to live their ( sort of) then mooring them all together in international waters and then " quarantine" the refugees on a armada of rust buckets incapable of moving. After dumping them on the ships then occasionally deliver some food, water and medicine.

And have a few patrol boats coast guard cutters on station nearby to make sure the refugees don't break the " quarantine" and try to escape.

When Global warming starts creating enough refugees I could actually see some countries doing this.

 

[Father Maryland]

Hell for sovereignty reasons I could some of the small Pacific island nations that global warming will likely cause to submerge entirely to say anchor a small fleet of rust buckets nominally flagged in said country over the now submerged island. In order to c laim they still exist as a country ( even if only a fraction of their former populace live on the rust fleet with most refugees elsewhere). Basically to try and keep being recognized as a sovereign country in order to keep their few remaining assets ( nominal control over their waters out to the legal limit and their EEZ as well as their vote in the UN. All would be effectively sold in some form. In the UN their delegate for or against whatever country is paying the most wishes.

I could also see said now landless nations trying to dump rock, sand, and dirt on what had been the tallest point of their former island. Basically dump enough crap to form a pretty small hill thats located on what had been there island which now has a pretty small area agains above water. Not to resettle the entire populace but maybe have one guy live their ( even if its a pop culture island the size of a large van that has a single palm on it) as a legal mechanism to try and retain their internationally recognized nation hood ( which is now the sole thing of value they have to trade.

 

[BELFAST]

Most refugees want to go somewhere they can make money and have an education for their children.
An artificial island does not sound like a good place to do that with no natural resources or freshwater etc.
Sounds more like an island of the dammed.
or these places

A short history of Nauru, Australia’s dumping ground for refugees

Its phosphate reserves once made a speck in the Pacific one of the richest countries on Earth. Today Nauru is broke, barren and beholden to its neighbour

www.theguardian.com

Lesbos: 'People are still living in tents' – DW – 09/08/2021

The infamous Moria refugee camp on the Greek island Lesbos burned down one year ago. Living conditions for migrants living there have hardly improved.

www.dw.com

modern version of a leper colony only for refugees.
I think most refugees would prefer to go to wealthy western nations where they and their children could build a future for themselves selves.

 

[Darzin]

You'd be better off just paying a poor country like Papua New Guinea to allow them on an already existing island.

 

[BELFAST]

You'd be better off just paying a poor country like Papua New Guinea to allow them on an already existing island.

or use the Falkland islands.
A small population and a cool temperate climate. Falkand islands are, I think are about the size of Wales.

 

[TypicalQuilon]

or use the Falkland islands.
A small population and a cool temperate climate. Falkand islands are, I think are about the size of Wales.

I think it'd just prompt more conflict between the UK and Argentina, since it's already a controversial dispute.

 

[BELFAST]

I think it'd just prompt more conflict between the UK and Argentina, since it's already a controversial dispute.

Argentina is not in a position to do anything about it.

 

[TDM]

What does rehabilitate mean in this context, it kind of infers the refugees themselves have done something wrong (and thus going to some venue to be made better). But if they are refugees it's normally they are fleeing from something else going wrong?

Basically refugees are doing nothing wrong by fleeing wherever they are fleeing from, so this just seems to be some kind of punitive exile, unless we make this place really nice. And frankly if we make this place really nice we won't be sending refugees there, we'll be going there ourselves!

 

[TypicalQuilon]

What does rehabilitate mean in this context, it kind of infers the refugees themselves have done something wrong (and thus going to some venue to be made better). But if they are refugees it's normally they are fleeing from something else going wrong?

Basically refugees are doing nothing wrong by fleeing wherever they are fleeing from, so this just seems to be some kind of punitive exile, unless we make this place really nice. And frankly if we make this place really nice we won't be sending refugees there, we'll be going there ourselves!

That's what I was thinking heh, but it's very expensive. Perhaps it can provide all basic amenities like schools and adult training centres, shelters and premises for economic activity like perhaps factories. Basically something like Bhasan Char in Bangladesh.


I've noticed a lot of you say it's not feasible to send in refugees into an artificial island, but what about rehabilitating the stateless peoples (like the Rohingya and about half of all Palestinians) into a natural island bought from a poor country (perhaps Manus from PNG?). Is that feasible?

 

[TDM]

That's what I was thinking heh, but it's very expensive. Perhaps it can provide all basic amenities like schools and adult training centres, shelters and premises for economic activity like perhaps factories. Basically something like Bhasan Char in Bangladesh.


I've noticed a lot of you say it's not feasible to send in refugees into an artificial island, but what about rehabilitating the stateless peoples (like the Rohingya and about half of all Palestinians) into a natural island bought from a poor country (perhaps Manus from PNG?). Is that feasible?

the two big problems I can immediately see are

1). it will be hugely expensive

and

2). many of these groups do want to go home at some point (usually once certain conditions have been met) and this looks like an alternative end result to that. So they might not want to go. And as hard and expensive as this will be even with a willing population it will be nigh on impossible with an unwilling one.

 

[Peebothuhlu]

So I was at this Model United Nations event, and one of the students,who represented the UAE, proposed the idea of an artificial island to rehabilitate refugees and the stateless peoples. Can something like this actually happen? I guess it'll need to be administered by the United Nations, and be close to unstable regions such that displaced people can be quickly rehabilitated.

I'm not sure which forum to post this in, but I guess a POD after the formation of the UN is ideal.

At work.

My Puckish nature wants to reply with,

"What? Like Australia? I mean 'Duck beavers'. What sort of place has 'Duck beavers'? Whole thing has to be fake as all get out. Put 'em there. Just make sure they don't get eaten by the 'Duck beavers' or whatever weird things are supposed to live there. "

 

[Orcbuster]

This sounds like an excuse to form a series of cramped ghettos to so that the rest of the world can forget about them, so basically an extremely expensive version of what refugee camps are today. Total nightmare if you ask me.

You'll have to explain how this is a humane or feasible idea on any level...

 

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

The most likely and feasible " version" of this would be some country gathering a bunch of large but old and worn out cheap merchant ships. Then do some half assed mods to allow for people to live their ( sort of) then mooring them all together in international waters and then " quarantine" the refugees on a armada of rust buckets incapable of moving. After dumping them on the ships then occasionally deliver some food, water and medicine.

And have a few patrol boats coast guard cutters on station nearby to make sure the refugees don't break the " quarantine" and try to escape.

When Global warming starts creating enough refugees I could actually see some countries doing this.

I think this was tried before courtesy of the US ship the St Louis

Ref: "Voyage of the Damned"

It didn't go to well.

 

[Nivek]

So I was at this Model United Nations event, and one of the students,who represented the UAE, proposed the idea of an artificial island to rehabilitate refugees and the stateless peoples. Can something like this actually happen? I guess it'll need to be administered by the United Nations, and be close to unstable regions such that displaced people can be quickly rehabilitated.

I'm not sure which forum to post this in, but I guess a POD after the formation of the UN is ideal.

have you been watching code geass?

 

[EagleKeeper]

I think this was tried before courtesy of the US ship the St Louis

Ref: "Voyage of the Damned"

It didn't go to well.

Actually that was a case of Nazi Germany trying to embarrass the western democracies by showing that they weren't willing to accept the Jews.

 

[Pete55]

So I was at this Model United Nations event,

Man, I get skeptical instantly when I hear about an idea from a UN event. Probably unfair of me.

and one of the students,who represented the UAE, proposed the idea of an artificial island to rehabilitate refugees and the stateless peoples.

This sounds really specific to the Palistinian situation tbh. The idea, I presume, being to create a state?

I don't really see another reason.

The trouble is that there already is land for a Palistinian State, and HAMAS is the Democratic result. HAMAS on an Island sounds worse for the refugees, though less predatory towards Israel.

Can something like this actually happen?

Sure, in theory.

I don't know that I see the point though.

I guess it'll need to be administered by the United Nations,

A refugee camp subject to permanent vetos? Those people are starving to death, period. There are much more humane ways of mass murder.

and be close to unstable regions such that displaced people can be quickly rehabilitated.

This presents another problem. Let's say that an island off Somolia pops up to hold refugees. If Iran and the US go to war, those waters are unsafe and the refugees starve.

I'm not sure which forum to post this in, but I guess a POD after the formation of the UN is ideal.

I do think it's an interesting thread, and I'm not just trying to be a tool, mate.