Davis Model United Nations Conference XVII UNHRC. May 18-19, 2019 University of California, Davis

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1 Davis Model United Nations Conference XVII May 18-19, 2019 University of California, Davis

2 The following content was developed by members of the Davis Model United Nations conference planning team for the sole purpose of framing delegate discussions and debate at the conference and does not represent any official position of the University or anyone engaged in preparing the materials. Delegates should use this information to guide their research and preparation for the conference but should not assume that it represents a complete analysis of the issues under discussion. The materials should not be reproduced, circulated or distributed for any purpose other than as may be required in order to prepare for the conference. MAY 18-19,

3 Letter from the Chair Esteemed Delegates, Welcome to the 2019 Davis Model United Conference (DMUNC)! I have the pleasure to introduce you to the United Nations Human Rights Council. My name is Lauren and I am a third year student at UC Davis majoring in Community and Regional Development with a minor in Human Rights. My areas of emphasis are public policy and global communities. I have been a part of MUN for the past six years, competing at both high school and collegiate levels. This past fall, I spent four months studying and interning in Mumbai, India. I was inspired to create this committee after spending time working with students in Dharavi slum. At the start of committee, I will spend a short amount of time talking about the context of India s slums based on my experiences. Hopefully, this will help guide debate through this complex issue. I value innovative and well-researched solutions and am excited to see all your hard work in committee. I am also experimenting with a specialized openagenda format for this committee. The committee will focus on one main topic of slum development in India. This topic encompasses many facets; therefore, in order to focus debate, we will discuss one subtopic at a time. I hope this will allow us to discuss the issue in depth. I am here to answer any questions you have about debate format or the topic in general. Sincerely, Lauren Low Head Chair United Nations Human Rights Council Davis Model United Nations XVII Dmunc.hrc@davismun.org MAY 18-19,

4 Committee Flow This committee will function on an open agenda around the topic of slum development in India. Rules of procedure will follow standard DavisMUN GA rules. The only difference between this committee and other GAs is that instead of having two topics, we will be focusing on one large topic. In order to ensure multiple facets of the topic are discussed and debate does not grow stale, we will break the large topic up into more manageable subtopics. A list of suggested subtopics is included in the topic guide; however, delegates may opt to discuss a relevant subtopic not included here if they so choose. Committee will begin with a round robin, which will allow each delegate to introduce their general country policy. Next, the agenda will be set, and delegates will vote on which subtopic they wish to discuss first. After this subtopic has been debated for sufficient time in both moderated and unmoderated debate, committee will vote to exhaust the subtopic and will set the agenda for the next subtopic. Delegates will write small resolutions on each subtopic we discuss, which will eventually be combined into a final working paper voted on by the entire committee. Regular rules of procedure will be followed in moderated and unmoderated caucuses. At the start of committee, the chair will re-explain the subtopic format and ensure all delegates are comfortable. MAY 18-19,

5 Committee Background The United Nations Human Rights Council () was founded in 2006 to protect and promote human rights internationally. The 47 member committee reviews human rights violations across the globe and presents recommendations for correcting them. Rights such as freedom of expression, gender equality, and rights of minorities are key priorities for the committee. Issues relevant to slum development, such as adequate housing, cultural rights, education, extreme poverty, water access, health and migrant rights are dealt with under the committee as well, primarily through the appointment of special rapporteurs. Upholding human rights is a daunting task that requires careful deliberation. MAY 18-19,

6 Topic: Slum Development in India MAY 18-19,

7 Background Information What is a slum? Slums are densely populated, poor, and informal sections of urban areas. While the exact definition of slums varies based on context, slums are generally defined by insufficient living space and makeshift housing. Slums often lack access to adequate sanitation services and contain very poor living conditions. According to UN Habitat, a home qualifies as a slum household if it lacks one of the following criteria 1 : 1. Durable housing of a permanent nature that protects against extreme climate conditions. 2. Sufficient living space which means not more than three people sharing the same room. 3. Easy access to safe water in sufficient amounts at an affordable price. 4. Access to adequate sanitation in the form of a private or public toilet shared by a reasonable number of people. 5. Security of tenure that prevents forced evictions Slums act as the centers of urban poverty, particularly in developing countries, and pose significant challenges to residents and governments alike. These underserved communities 1 MAY 18-19,

8 typically lack access to services provided to the rest of the city, including sanitation services and security. Governments tend to view slums as a blight on a city or country s image and are therefore tempted to try to eliminate these communities, leading to deep tensions between slums residents and officials. The constant threat of eviction looms over slum communities. Poverty, inequality, and social exclusion are all trademarks of slum settlements. Finding new ways to empower slum residents and connect these settlements to the rest of the city remain daunting humanitarian challenges. Slums in India While urban slums are prominent throughout the developing world, the image of a typical slum has become synonymous with India. Popularized in movies like Slumdog Millionaire and books like Behind the Beautiful Forevers, desolate images of Indian slum life have become familiar to western audiences. The reality of slum communities is nuanced and incorporates complex social relationships that cannot be easily understood by outsiders. While slums exist across continents, this committee will focus specifically on slums in the Indian context due to the enormous scale of slums in the continent. As of 2017, an estimated 104 million people lived in Indian slums. Slumdwellers make up around 9% of India s total population 2. Trends of rural to urban migration have occurred throughout the country for decades as more people move to the cities for opportunities. 2 million/articleshow/ cms MAY 18-19,

9 This migration continues to accelerate, which increases the expansion and creation of slums. Major cities lack adequate and affordable housing for the influx of migrants. In New Delhi, the nation s capital, slums have begun to cross the urban boundaries and bleed out into surrounding suburbs. As slums proliferate, planners and government officials struggle to provide infrastructure to these communities. While each of India s slums face unique local challenges, a few key issues remain consistent across the country. Lack of proper sanitation is perhaps the largest issue plaguing India s slums. These communities do not have enough supply of functioning toilets for the population size, which leads to the proliferation of diseases like tuberculosis and cholera 3. Cramped living conditions and substandard housing also contribute to the rapid spread of infectious disease. Slums lack proper waste disposal infrastructure; therefore, large amounts of garbage overtake the communities, worsening the sanitation of the areas. Opportunities for slum residents are also limited. Public schools that serve these communities are often inadequate and do not provide the same level of education as private schools. Schools may also lack proper facilities and materials. This leads many children to drop out. An estimated 35 million children between 6 and 14 in India do not attend school, despite the fact that education is compulsory 4. Poor access to healthcare is another prominent theme across India s slums. While India recently unveiled The National Health Protection Mission to provide health coverage to the country s poorest citizens, healthcare in India has historically MAY 18-19,

10 been privatized, meaning families without enough money to cover the cost of treatment often go without. While public hospitals to provide free care, the treatment at these facilities is substandard and overcrowding remains a persistent issue 5. Isolation from the mainstream city population heightens many of the issues plaguing these communities. As India s economy booms, slums serve as a symbol of extreme inequality. As home to much of India s urban poor, slums house people working in low wage or informal work. Employment in small-scale manufacturing work, the service sector, or manual scavenging (sorting through trash for recyclable material) is common. Ironically, many of these jobs are vital to the functioning of the city and the country s economy. Some of the biases against people who perform these jobs are deeply rooted in caste discrimination. While caste discrimination is often thought to be isolated to rural areas, members of the Dalit untouchable caste remain overrepresented in slum populations across India, demonstrating the continued existence of caste-based inequities 6. India s government wants the country to be slum free; however, local and federal policies on how to reach this goal are not always aligned. Officially, the national government want to give slum residents property rights so that they can access loans to make improvements to their communities. Property rights would also protect slum residents from forced eviction by developers. Major cities like Mumbai have not embraced this model, MAY 18-19,

11 limiting the policies effectiveness. Furthermore, it is unlikely that access to financial resources alone can solve the daunting problems that plague India s slums MAY 18-19,

12 UN Involvement The UN has taken an active role in slum development internationally. The body UN Habitat is highly involved in slum upgrading, including infrastructure development and improving access to municipal services. Other areas of concern include countering pollution in slums and promoting land rights. UN Habitat believes in a slum development approach that includes multiple stakeholders and has developed the three PSUP principles for slum development: 1. Participatory Urban Profiling 2. Participatory Action Planning and Program Formulation 3. Participatory Pilot Project Implementation 8 These principles highlight the importance of including multiple stakeholders in finding solutions to slums, including governments, nonprofits, international organizations, and community members. Slum development also aligns with multiple Sustainable Development goals, particularly goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Slum development in India in particular has also been an area of interest for the UN, which has made calls for the nation to increase efforts to upgrade slums and create 8 MAY 18-19,

13 more housing options for the urban poor 9. The UN has made creating safe and sustainable cities in the face of rapid urbanization a global priority. Case Study: Dharavi Asia s largest slum, Dharavi, sits in the middle of India s most cosmopolitan city. The 2.1 square kilometer neighborhood is one of the most densely populated places on earth. While census data fails to provide an accurate count of the slum s residents, Dharavi is home to an estimated 1 million people, making it 10 times more densely populated than the rest of Mumbai 10. As India s most infamous slum, Dharavi has been a major point of contention amongst the city s officials for decades. The community has existed since the British colonial era and remains an ever-present reminder of the glaring inequality throughout India 11. Dharavi s inhabitants are primarily migrants from rural areas. Major religions live in their own districts, marked by churches, temples, or mosques. Residents from different cultural, religious, and linguistic backgrounds live alongside each other mostly harmoniously, with a low crime rate; however, the residents of Mumbai are not always welcoming of these migrants. Tensions between far-right Maharashtrian nationalist parties, who believe Mumbai should not include migrants from outside the state of Maharashtra, and slum residents are a central political theme in the city. Mumbai has done little to provide opportunities for MAY 18-19,

14 migrants and residents frequently oppose further integration of slum residents into the city, fearing such measures will encourage more people to come. While families from other states are still viewed as outsiders to the city, 60% of Dharavi s families have inhabited the slum for over 60 years; therefore, the term migrant may not accurately capture these residents connection to the community 12. Dharavi s key issues mirror the consistent problems in slums throughout India. People live in less space than the US mandates for prisoners. There is only one toilet for every 500 residents and not nearly enough clean water. Life expectancy for slum residents is less than 60 years 13. While many of the structures in Dharavi are permanent, the neighborhood is unplanned and the structures illegal. Open sewage and piles of trash contribute to the unsanitary nature of the slum and perpetuate the spread of disease. Dharavi is unique amongst India s slums due to its high level of industry. The slum boasts an economic output of over $1 billion annually. The majority of this comes from smallscale factories that manufacture goods for both domestic sale and export. These small factories are operated by slum residents and share cramped space with residential units. Industry and residential life have little to no spatial differentiation. Textiles, leather, and pottery are key industries. Dharavi s recycling industry is also prominent. Small recycling MAY 18-19,

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16 Case Study: Slum Rehabilitation Authority Currently, Mumbai s approach to dealing with Dharavi relies heavily on the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA). The SRA attempts to relocate slum residents to new apartment buildings by giving families who can prove they settled in Dharavi before 1995 free units. The apartments are small but provide a less densely populated environment than Dharavi and have basic amenities such as proper sanitation. While the plan may seem promising, two key issues have emerged. First of all, this plan excludes and displaces many Dharavi residents. Those who arrived after 1995 have no provisions made for them under this plan, partially due to anti-migrant sentiments. The majority of slum residents who should theoretically have access to this free housing do not have the proper documentation to show that they own their residence or that they arrived in Dharavi before the specified date. Secondly, few slum residents actually opt to live in these SRA developments. Even those that do provide the proper paperwork (legitimate or forged) and receive apartment units chose to remain in the slum and rent out the SRA apartment to earn extra income for their families. Dharavi is a very closely knit community; therefore, most slum residents would rather remain with their neighbors in Dharavi rather than lose their social connections by moving into an SRA. Additionally, business and industry has been integrated into Dharavi in a way that cannot be replicated in an SRA development. People resist moving away from MAY 18-19,

17 Dharavi because doing so would compromise their community and their livelihoods. SRA projects have been a failure and demonstrate the complexity of the social, economic, and cultural factors surrounding Dharavi. MAY 18-19,

18 Potential Subtopics Sanitation Poor sanitation is a defining feature of Indian slums. There are not enough toilets to serve the thousands of residents. Toilets that do exist often fall into disrepair, leaving them unusable. Upkeep for toilets is usually paid for by usage fees, which discourages some slum residents from accessing public toilets. Lack of toilets contributes to rampant open defecation, which further adds to the spread of disease. Open sewers and improper waste disposal systems further contribute to poor sanitation in slums and encourage the spread of rats. Domesticated and feral animals, including goats, dogs, and cats, live alongside people in cramped slum conditions, increasing exposure to disease and the proliferation of feces. Additionally, slums lack adequate water taps to serve all their residents. Like toilets, many taps fall into disrepair or only omit water for a few hours per day. Residents may also be forced to pay outrageous fees for water taps that are taken over by mafia-like organizations. The lack of clean water for drinking, cooking, and bathing leads slum residents to turn to unsanitary or polluted water sources, furthering the spread of diseases, like cholera. General knowledge of sanitation and access to basic hygiene items such as soap are also lacking in many communities. MAY 18-19,

19 Education People chose to migrate to crowded city slums in order to gain better opportunities for themselves and their families; however, chances for upward mobility in urban spaces are stunted, in part due to inadequate educational opportunities. While middle and upper class families can afford to send their students to elite private schools, kids from poor families must contend with public schools that fall short of academic standards. Untrained teachers, lack of proper classroom space, and inadequate books or materials hinder children s educational experiences. Furthermore, hidden fees for textbooks, pencils, and uniforms still pose a financial barrier to children attending supposedly free public schools. Kids either receive a poor education or drop out altogether, leaving them unqualified for better paying jobs and vulnerable to child labor. Older slum residents also have few opportunities to advance their status, as these communities also lack adult education or vocational training programs. Infrastructure development Slums are characterized by informal structures, which can be unsafe for residents. Slum housing is constructed illegally, without government oversight or abidance to any building codes. Slum housing is haphazard and severely overcrowded. Other community spaces, including children s playgrounds, also fall into disrepair and become hazardous. Open sewage, broken pipes, and crumbling buildings all pose safety threats. Monsoon rains lead to flooding due to poor drainage, which often cause a river of feces and trash to run MAY 18-19,

20 through slums, contributing to health and safety risks. Substandard housing units leak and may also collapse during heavy rains. Additionally, slums lack roads, cutting them off from transportation services. While metered electricity can be found in some more established slums, access to electricity is still limited for slumdwellers, pushing many to steal electricity 14. Inadequate water supply infrastructure also plagues slums, connecting back to issues with sanitation. As India s cities rapidly modernize, slums are left behind and lack the amenities given to other city residents. Poor infrastructure isolated slumdwellers physically and symbolically. As rural to urban migration continues, established already overcrowded slums are being pushed beyond capacity, putting further strains and crumbling weak infrastructure. As new slums develop, they also face struggles with inadequate housing and limited access to amenities. Development plans for old and new slums must provide infrastructure upgrades; however, most past and current redevelopment schemes have displaced slum residents and destroyed homes, leaving slumdwellers skeptical of promises to upgrade housing. Additionally, neighborhood improvement projects run the risk of increasing property values, forcing those who rent space in slums to look for another place to live. Thus, upgrading slum infrastructure while preserving the community remains a challenge MAY 18-19,

21 Healthcare Due in part to poor sanitation and overcrowding, disease runs rampant in India s slums. Diseases like Tuberculosis, Dengue Fever, Hepatitis, Pneumonia, and Cholera spread rapidly through slums. Diarrhea is an exceedingly common problem due to unsafe food and drinking water 15. This can lead to dehydration and death in small children. Air pollution can lead to respiratory problems. Asthma is particularly common amongst residents of Delhi, where the air become dangerous in the winter months due to crop burning. Dental problems are also prevalent. India s public healthcare system has failed slum residents. Hospitals are overcrowded, understaffed, and undersupplied. Patients are routinely forced to share beds due to the high demand for space. Doctors are often underqualified, with 58% of doctors in urban India lacking a medical degree 16. Private hospitals are inaccessible to poor residents. The combination of unhealthy living conditions and inadequate healthcare resources impacts life expectancy for slum residents. Manufacturing and Industry Despite the challenges faced by slum residents, India s slums have become economic hubs. Small scale manufacturing operations export goods to Europe and North America. These factories are typically owned and operated by slum residents and provide MAY 18-19,

22 employment opportunities; however, workers earn low wages that trap them in poverty. Factory employees work long hours in dangerous and unpleasant conditions. Global competition keeps the prices for manufactured goods low, perpetuating a system of low wages for those producing the goods. Additionally, child labor remains a problem in many of these small manufacturing plants. Children may work to help support their families or assist with running the family business, but are kept out of school, decreasing their chance of moving out of poverty. Some children are trafficked from rural areas. Families are told their children will have a better life and receive an education in the city by traffickers who then take children and force them to work. The international community bears responsibility for the poor conditions and low wages in slum factories. Thus, regulations must be established that allow small slum industries to thrive in a global economy dominated by large corporations while still maintaining living wages and good working conditions for slum residents. Preserving Community and Culture Slum residents live in extremely close conditions; therefore, the social dynamics of their communities are complex. While tensions do sometimes run high in cramped quarters, slum residents have developed strong communal societies in which families rely on their friends and neighbors for survival. The community values that govern slum life drive resistance to redevelopment projects. Efforts should be made to strengthen community leadership, allowing slum residents to make decisions about what will happen to their neighborhoods MAY 18-19,

23 Slum communities are further challenged by a lack of space to hold community events. The limited room in slum communities means entertainment, community gathering, and creative expression are rare. Children lack safe play spaces and adults lack gathering spaces. Slum residents do find ways to take ownership of their community space, combating the dehumanizing conditions they live in. For example, residents of Dharavi decorate their homes with tile work. Residents of the Alsalpha slum use brightly colored paint to enhance their community s appearance 17. These efforts demonstrate the importance of creating inviting space and inviting culture into slum areas. Strengthening slums sense of community and culture can be an empowering alternative to traditional development. Caste and Gender Discrimination While caste discrimination is outlawed in the Indian constitution, deeply rooted beliefs regarding caste continue to affect inequality throughout the country. While caste discrimination is more visible in rural communities, it can still affect urban areas. Cities are segregated by caste with member of low castes, like the Dalits (untouchables) frequently confined to slums. Ahmadabad and Delhi were found to have the greatest level of spatial segregation by caste, but this type of segregation exists across the subcontinent 18. Discrimination in rural areas also drives Dalits to seek opportunities in cities, driving members of this caste into slums. Slum residents who work in untouchable jobs, such as MAY 18-19,

24 sanitation and manual scavenging, also face social discrimination for their work. Slum communities also tend to hold onto more traditional values, limiting chances for intra-caste marriages, furthering segregation between castes. Thus, caste identity is an important subtopic that comes up frequently in politics and divides communities along arbitrary lines, limiting their ability to work together 19. Women face additional struggles in slums. While life in urban centers does provide some opportunities and freedoms that women may not be able to access in their rural villages, such as the opportunity to work, traditional gender roles still limit opportunity. Women are sometimes sent to cities by their families to earn at young ages, trading a chance at an education for a life of low paying domestic work. Women typically must also take on additional duties at home, such as cooking and raising children. Men rarely take on these tasks. Domestic abuse is common, especially due to high rates of alcoholism among impoverished men 20. Lack of access to toilets and sanitary products leads to greater discomfort during the menstrual cycle. Although slum life is rough on all its residents, but women must bear additional burdens and limitations. Slum Destruction The incentive for developers to destroy slums in India s rapidly expanding cities is enormous. As real estate prices skyrocket, new housing developments have the potential to MAY 18-19,

25 yield huge profits through high rents that slum residents would never be able to pay. Slum residents live in constant fear of forced eviction and destruction of their homes. Even fairly established slums are not safe from destruction. In June of 2017, Mumbai s government bulldozed 1,500 homes in a south Mumbai slum to make way for a new apartment complex, despite the fact that the government had previously built water and electricity infrastructure in the slum 21. Corruption amongst government officials is rampant and slum residents do not have the resources to compete with the financial and political power of large developers. Furthermore, the SRA allows developers to take land from slum residents if they build free housing to replace what was destroyed. More often than not, slum residents lack the proper paperwork to claim ownership of their homes, which can influence most slum residents to have never been properly compensated for their destroyed property. For instance, an estimated 70% of slumdwellers are ineligible for free housing 22. Despite the power imbalance, slumdwellers have organized successfully in the past to protect their communities. In Dharavi, residents have stalled redevelopment and are negotiating with the government, saying they want more spacious homes and workspace allotted for their MAY 18-19,

26 businesses 23. Slum residents live in constant insecurity, afraid that at any moment they may lose their homes, community, and possessions MAY 18-19,

27 Solutions Delegates must think about the future of Dharavi. How can better services be provided to the slum? How can the community develop alongside the rest of the city? Delegates should examine how best to empower Dharavi s residents and are encouraged to look at examples of slum development across the world to see which efforts have been successful. Delegates should also be sure to look into their country s history of dealing with slums and development in general to ensure the solutions they present match their nation s policy. Delegates can choose to improve the current SRA model of development or provide alternatives that they believe to be more effective. Delegates are encouraged to prepare at least one solution for each subtopic. MAY 18-19,

28 Questions to Consider 1. How can India provide better service to slum residents and improve slum infrastructure? 2. What is the role of the international community in protecting slum residents from poor conditions and eviction? 3. What rights should slum residents have? How can these rights be protected? 4. How can India create a unified policy on dealing with slums? 5. How can slum community s culture be preserved and enhanced? 6. Who should make decisions about how to develop slums? How can we empower slum residents and include them in the decision making process? What other groups, if any, should be included in the discussion? 7. How can inequality in India and around the globe be reduced? What groups within slums are not treated equally and how can that be corrected? 8. What has your country or region done to deal with urbanization? How can these solutions be implemented in India? MAY 18-19,

29 Conference Information DMUNC is an annual conference hosted by the student-run organization, Model United Nations at UC Davis, on the University of California, Davis campus. Every May, more than 500 students from across California and the U.S. come to UC Davis to participate in a weekend of stimulating debate. Through simulation of UN bodies and other historical committees, we hope to spread international awareness, appreciation for diplomacy, and a dedication to improving the world. Our goal is to create an enriching educational experience for students to realize their personal potential to be strong leaders, confident public speakers, and concerned global citizens. With a reputation as one of California s outstanding Model United Nations conferences, DMUNC strives to continue its history of seventeen years of distinction as a novice learning conference for delegates. We thank you for your interest in this conference. As we have from the beginning, DMUNC promises an exceptional educational opportunity for delegates. For more logistical information, questions or concerns, please visit the DMUNC website at dmunc.org or the Secretary General, Ms. Romae-Anne Aquino, at dmunc.sg@davismun.org MAY 18-19,

30 Secretariat Romae-Anne Aquino Secretary General Elsa Denis Director General Katie Ciulla Under Secretary General of Staff & Under Secretary General of Finance Justin Yap Under Secretary General of Committees & Under Secretary General of Technology Sapna Bhakta Under Secretary General of Public Relations & Under Secretary General of Delegate Services MAY 18-19,