Download PrepMUNC_X_files/UNHRC 2017

UNHRC
Climate Change
On June 5, 1972 The United Nations hosted the first ever conference on climate change
in Stockholm, Sweden. The conference was held to address research exhibiting that CO levels
2
were rising and that greenhouse gases were having grievous effects on the environment. This
conference known as The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment would become
the first of many attempts by the global community to address the issue of climate change.
Since the industrialization of societies beginning around 1750, human beings have added
significant amounts of CO2 and other heattrapping gases into the atmosphere. The
primary human activity affecting the rate of
climate change has been greenhouse gas
emissions from burning fossil fuels.
Climate change has already begun
and will continue to have significant effects
on humans all over the world. Climate change has negative effects on human beings such as
health issues, food supply deficiencies, economic disparity, unpredictable migration, security
concerns, drinking water availability, and the spread of infectious diseases. Many regions around
the world will no longer have access to clean air, water, and a steady food supply. Smog and
other air pollutants will drastically reduce the quality of air, resulting in an increase in respiratory
ailments as well as more extreme weather due to warmer temperatures. When faced with extreme
weather such as hurricanes or typhoons, people living in coastal areas will be forced to seek
refuge inland and it’s very likely that coastal areas will become abandoned. This mass influx of
UNHRC
people from coastal areas inland could very well lead to the largest refugee crisis ever seen, with
the IPCC estimating over 150 million environmental migrants by 2050. Climate change also has
a very large impact on access to freshwater and the growth of food. In 2007, the IPCC reported
with high confidence that climate change has a net negative impact on water resources and
freshwater ecosystems in all regions. As global temperatures rise, sea levels will follow, resulting
in an increase in salt-water intrusion into groundwater. Melting glaciers also has an effect on
freshwater access as regions that depend on melted water runoff will soon see that runoff
depleted. People not only need water
for hydration but also for irrigation.
Without access to freshwater, crops
will die and people won’t have access
to food. In addition, rising
temperatures result in flash flooding,
which leads to rainwater falling onto
hardened soil which is incapable of
replenishing its soil moisture for agriculture.
Infectious diseases could spread throughout the world due to warmer climates allowing
the mosquito population to increase and spread to other parts of the world. This would result in
an increase in diseases like Malaria and other vector borne diseases. The most noticeable effects
of climate change right now can be seen in global conflicts. The Military Advisory Board
predicted that global warming will serve as a “threat multiplier” in volatile regions. Climate
change has already been linked as a cause of the War in Darfur, The Syrian Civil War, the
Islamist insurgency in Nigeria, and the Somali Civil War.
UNHRC
Main Goals of the Committee Session:
During this conference, the delegates must formulate a solution to counteract the effects of
climate change on human populations.
Questions to consider:
1.Where does your country rank on global CO2 emissions?
2. Is your country a part of any international committee to reduce climate change such as the
Kyoto Protocol?
3. What has your country done so far to reduce its carbon footprint?
4. Is your country a region that will be significantly affected by climate change?
5. Does your country have the financial means to combat climate change?
Useful Links:
http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/ClimateChange/InfoNoteHRBA.pdf
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/science/each-countrys-share-ofco2.html
UNHRC
Modern Slavery
Contemporary slavery or modern slavery refers to the institutions of slavery that continue
to exist today. According to the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation, there are around 20-30
million people living as slaves right now. The conditions of slavery vary from people living as
forced laborers, forced prostitutes, child soldiers, and child brides in forced marriages.
In over 162 countries investigated by Walk Free, slavery was found in every single one.
Although slavery is common throughout the entire world, according to the Global Slavery index,
58% of those living enslaved are located in 5 countries; India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and
Uzbekistan. According to survey data done by Gallop, the countries with the highest estimated
prevalence of slavery by the proportion of their population in 2016 are North Korea, Uzbekistan,
UNHRC
Cambodia, India, and Qatar. Haiti and Mauritania have also topped the list in recent years.
The causes of modern slavery vary greatly. In many parts of West Africa and South Asia,
many people are still being born into hereditary slavery. Around the world, many others are
kidnapped or captured prior to being sold into slavery. According to the U.S. state department,
around 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders of which 80% are
female and half of which are children. Many other victims around the world are tricked or lured
into situation with the promise of a better education or job. Many of these people come from
impoverished areas or war-torn regions, making promises of higher education or wages all the
more alluring. Trafficking is one of the hardest crimes to convict someone of with only 4,750
convictions globally in 2013. Slavers traffickers will use any means necessary to conceal,
rationalize, and justify slavery. As a result, the abuse of power that takes place between slavers
UNHRC
and their victims can often be hard to see. Adding further difficulty to the problem is the fact
that victims are heavily reliant on their abusers for
their daily survival needs, creating a feeling in
many victims that they must stay with their abuser
for their own safety. Corruption, conflict, poverty,
discrimination, declining economic conditions,
and extreme climate change are all factors that
contribute to the growth of slavery. Although
attempts have been made by countries in recent
years to combat slavery, like the United
Kingdom’s Modern Slavery Act 2015, the
majority of the 30 million slaves worldwide will continue to be forced into service against their
will, unless immediate action and long term preventions are made.
Main Goals of the Committee Session
During this conference, delegates will attempt to create a resolution that helps to restore freedom
and individual rights to the 20-30 million people involved in modern day slavery. Delegates will
need to create guidelines for dealing with the various subtopics of modern slavery such as child
soldiers, sex slavery, hereditary slavery, forced marriage, and forced migrant labor. A resolution
should also try to combat the root causes of modern slavery and establish directives for
preventing the international trade of human beings.
Questions to consider:
UNHRC
1. Where does your country rank on the global slavery index?
2. Does your country share natural land borders with any countries that have large slave trades?
3. Does your country have a government capable of policing its own borders and contributing
resources to surrounding countries?
4. Does your country have a history of sexual tourism?
5. Has your country been involved in any previous resolutions to combat slavery?
6. Does your country contain any ethnic groups that have traditional practices like forced
marriage or hereditary slavery?
7. Is your country involved in any ongoing conflicts?
Helpful Links:
1. http://www.ungift.org/doc/knowledgehub/resourcecentre/2013/GlobalSlaveryIndex_2013_Download_WEB1.pdf
2. http://www.endslaverynow.org/learn/slavery-today/sex-trafficking
3. http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/lang--en/index.htm
4. http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/findings/
Violation of Human Rights in the War on Terror
UNHRC
Since the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11 at the hands of terrorists,
countries around the world have been engaged in a global war on terror. As of today, these
countries include all the members of NATO as well as a few other non-NATO participants. Due
to the very nature of how terrorists operate, governments around the world have resorted to using
mass surveillance, torture, and drone strikes.
This effort has led to a number of human rights abuses around the world in the name of
fighting terrorism. Mass
surveillance is defined as the
subject of a population or
significant component of a
group to indiscriminate
monitoring. Any system that
involves a systematic
interference with people’s right to privacy or any system that generates and collects data on
individuals without attempting to limit the dataset to well-defined targeted individuals is a form
of mass surveillance. As a result, mass surveillance infringes on Article 17 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the article which gives people the right of privacy. While
protecting citizens from terrorist attacks is a responsibility every state holds, a report from the
UN Special Rapporteur found that no state has ever provided legal justification for using mass
surveillance. In recent years, Laws like the Patriot Act in the United States and the Investigatory
Powers act in the United Kingdom have given governments significant amounts of power.
Beginning in 2007, Privacy International concluded that there had been an increase in
surveillance in over 47 countries.
UNHRC
The UN Convention Against Torture states that torture in all cases is illegal. Since 9/11,
the United States has been involved in numerous operations that include torture against its own
citizens as well as the citizens of other sovereign states. This torture occurs at the United States’
prison facility located in Guantanamo Bay and also in a large number of CIA black sites located
around the world. People are
often held for periods of
months or years without right
to due process. The United
States is not the only country
guilty of torture in the war on
terror. According to a report
by the Open Society
Foundation, 54 countries have participated in the CIA’S extraordinary rendition program,
allowing the CIA to transfer prisoners to countries with known torture programs in order to avoid
being tried on U.S. soil.
Today there are currently 86 countries that have drone capability with 8 of those
countries having deployed drones in combat. The use of drones by various governments poses a
serious threat to people’s rights. Drones allow governments to strike anywhere, at any time
allowing governments to execute individuals without giving people a right to due process. In the
past decade numerous civilians have been targeted in these drone strikes and there has been a
lack of accountability to prosecuting those responsible for these killings. Since 2002, Around
4,000 people have been killed from U.S. drone strikes with 1,000 killed in Pakistan alone. These
UNHRC
numbers have been inflated by a large amount of civilian casualties as collateral damage.
Innocent civilians in areas like Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Syria all have to face the threat of
dying in a drone strike from a foreign nation, thus violating their right to life.
Main Goals of the Committee Session:
During this committee session, delegates will work together to create a resolution that limits the
extent of mass surveillance on populations so that it is not in breach of article 17 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political rights while still allowing governments to protect
its population from terrorism. Delegates will also seek to bring an end to the detainment and
torture of civilians in the war on terror. Lastly, delegates must address the threat of drone strikes
on civilian populations.
Questions to Consider:
1. Is your actively involved in the war on terror?
2. Does your country have any surveillance programs? And if so to what extent?
3. Is your involved in extraordinary rendition?
4. Does your country have a drone program?
5. Does your country have a history of recent torture?
Helpful Links:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/security-and-human-rights/drones
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/DigitalAge/Pages/DigitalAgeIndex.aspx
https://www.hrw.org/topic/torture
https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/07/17/united-nations-rein-mass-surveillance
https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/24/truth-about-united-states-drone-program
https://www.privacyinternational.org/node/52