Dearest Delegates, Welcome! Bienvenue! добро пожаловать! Willkommen! Recepción!! Now that we ve established how cosmopolitan of an experience this will be, I d like to express how glad I am that you ve chosen the Commission for Human Rights for WASMUN 2006. The United Nations was born out of the notion that all human beings are equal, and no level of power should disrespect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Although it may seem rather ordinary to us today that folks deserve to be treated equally, human history has been plagued with a conventional understanding that a hierarchical system and lack of democratic virtues is tolerable. You re here to disprove history and debate over contentious issues of human rights that for some reason or another are not universal. Realizing the importance of these rights and coming to this conference to discuss them with your peers, as depictions of foreign delegates, is totally commendable (and pretty groundbreaking when you consider all of history). My name is Masha Burina and I will be your Chair for the Commission for Human Rights this Spring 2006. I am in my junior year studying Economics and International Studies. My high school experience with WASMUN has led me to become involved here at the college-level, as well as spur interest in activism where my discussions and deliberations from Model UN have led to actions. Among the innumerable campus activities provided to students, I have been involved with a lot of work concerning issues of Fair Trade, and how inequities in trade may result in the risk of reduced livelihood for farmers and other producers. The Student Trade Justice Campaign is a national organization that I m involved in. I mention this because I hope that you too will realize your democratic powers and enable them outside of our committee sessions to lobby government(s) for issues that you believe are pertinent to a healthy world. Although I have several years of Model UN experience behind me, this is my first year serving as a Chair for WASMUN. So as this may be a novel experience for some of you, rest assured that you will not be the sole bearer of newbie-ness in our committee session. The committee will also be honored to have as our moderator, a past WASMUN Chair Cameron Herrington, whose experience will come in handy, as well as the use of our notable Secretary. Serving as a delegate should bear duties of thoughtful response to other representatives viewpoints. I will urge you to speak up as often as possible, but in doing so it is critical that you be aware and listen to debate. Serving as your Chair, my responsibility will be to facilitate effective debate, rather than hold an authoritative power instead you must authorize powerful debate. The issues of Sudanese Refugees and Bride Burning (in India) resound globally, and you will have the duty of resolving these complex problems as efficiently as possible. I hope that the following topic synopses help give you a grasp of the problems at hand and some general background. I urge you to seek out other sources that may identify all aspects of issue and help you deliberate what your country s viewpoint is. If at any time you find that you are having difficulties in researching the topics, please do not hesitate to email me. Best of luck! Masha Burina mashab@u.washington.edu 1
I. Overview of UN High Commission for Human Rights The conception of this committee was a result of a United Nations Charter in 1946 that took place at the first meeting of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The two World Wars proved devastating to so many lives that a global consensus concerning a respect of human rights felt vital. The instrument that guides international conventions on human rights is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights written in 1948. The structure of the Commission is crucial for democratically resolving issues of international concern. The UNHCHR is currently comprised of 53 member states that are chosen by members of ECOSOC. The committee has no eternal members in that new states are elected annually wherein approximately one third of positions are open for election, and chosen members remain on the committee for a term of three years. To operate to full capacity the committee is composed of six limbs that help accomplish its goals: Executive Office, Treaties and Commission Branch, Special Procedures Branch, Research and Right to Development Branch, Capacity Building and Field Operations Branch, and Other Units and Services. Although seemingly bureaucratic, these branches are significant in identifying causes for human rights violations, and providing each area of the world with proper investigatory means for reliable updates. Aside from the core foundation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, seven treaties on various human rights signify HR conventions and laws. Each of these treaties has established a committee of experts to monitor implementation of the treaty provisions by its States parties. It is important to note that the Commission for Human Rights is not the sole bearer of the responsibilities of such rights within the United Nations. Other bodies such as the International Court of Justice and the Economic and Social Council help direct and implement means of seeking justice to human rights violations and the implementation of the decrees. Considering the history and evolution of human rights since the birth of the United Nations is telling of the significance of the varied forms of such rights. Extending from the atrocities of the World Wars and authoritarian dictatorships during the Cold War era, civil and political rights were seen a key to unlocking individuals freedoms, and ultimately creating a more equal world. These principals were seen as the means to pave the way for the other group: social, economic, and cultural rights. However, recent shifts in the focus (of the second group of rights) of international non-governmental organizations like Amnesty International and international agents like the UN and international financial institutions, draw upon a new philosophy. The current idea rests on the notion that giving people their social, economic, and cultural rights serves their basic needs, which must first be addressed. Understandably, a family with malnourished children cannot focus and demand their political and civil rights in a corrupt state, if mere survival is in question. I hope that you will consider the significance of different human rights and how they are prioritized to your country when considering its stance and potential resolutions. 2
II. Topic I: Sudanese Refugees The Problem Through 1 st of January 2005, Sudan is second on the list of greatest numbers of internally displaced persons with 662,300. At least 200,000 refugees have escaped to neighboring Chad, fleeing from attacks on their villages most often from the Janjaweed militia. Fowler notes that it is the Sudanese government's responsibility for the violence, the ethnic and perceived racial basis for it, and the systematic murder, rape, and plundering of civilian populations, primarily members of the Zaghawa, Masalit, and Fur tribes. Although these methodical means of victimizing delineate why many are seeking refuge in other regions, it is important to remember that they are being persecuted even after fleeing. One of the problems that the United Nations and international NGOs (non-governmental organizations) face is the difficulty in providing civilians with humanitarian assistance. This obstructs refugees ability to obtain basic care, violating human rights. For refugees leaving Sudan and seeking asylum in Chad, they had to endure scare water and vegetation capacities in northern and central eastern Chad. In a country where infrastructure is poor, coupled with a rainy season, humanitarian assistance is difficult to deliver. Crop production for refugees has been low with low rainfall in 2004, causing food assistance to be a necessity. Furthermore legal assistance has been critical and the Government of Chad and the UN High Commission for Refugees required a guard to protect refugees from attacks. The Commission for Refugees saw in 2004 that, Challenges remain in a number of areas including the identification of adequate, sustainable water supplies, a prompt end to environmental degradation, moving beyond basic referral services to appropriate interventions for women and girls (with regard to rape and genital mutilation) and the provision of universal primary education for school-age refugee children and the local. population. The UNHCR noted that the peak in violence in 2004 resulted 1.6 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). The hostile environment caused by rebels and the Janjaweed, in addition to poor road conditions, impeded assistance to areas and populations of concern. Current Events Relating to the Problem: With new politics taking shape in Sudan where the Government of Southern Sudan and Government of National Unity have joint control, the status of repatriated and internally displaced refugees will be crucial to monitor. As a recent development the Commission on Refugees plans to repatriate 60,000 South Sudanese refugees by May of 2006. In efforts to help those who want to move back home, recently 131 3
refugees have been taken from a camp in north-western Kenya and returned to Southern Sudan. Resulting from the peace accords from January 2005, the United Nations along with partner agencies sought to reestablish Sudanese communities for their repatriates. History To thoroughly understand the problematic nature of the refugees fleeing from Sudan, a more recent history of the conflict in Darfur is necessary. Since Sudan gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1956, the country has been entangled in a number of internal conflicts. These struggles arise from the economic and social domination of the northern Arab Muslim Sudanese who have been in control of politics through Islamic-oriented military regimes. Those who study Sudan and specifically the recent conflict in the region of Darfur note that much of the original clashes are a result of the disagreements to the access of resources between Arab pastoralists and non-arab agriculturalists. Although peacekeeping troops have stabilized the western region of Darfur whose conflict broke out in 2003, formal U.S. counts incur tens of thousands of deaths and over 1 million (internally and externally) displaced persons. It is crucial to consider the ethnic dimensions of the civil war that has caused the demographics of the victims to be unequal, resulting in several bodies within the UN (the Security Council and International Criminal Court) and international players to consider the conflict genocide. The targets have overwhelmingly been non-arab and non- Muslim Sudanese. The Janjaweed is a government supported militia that was formed in response to (non Arab) rebel movements in retaliation to the Sudanese government. Because they have been politically supported, their capacities in arms/weaponry and mobility has been much greater than that of the rebels, so much to the extent that they have been committing ethnic cleansing. The increasing casualties and insufficient international response to the war has fuelled considerable debate around the inaction and the repeat offense of the global community to stop genocide in Africa (with memories of the genocide in Rwanda fully in tact). In November of 2004, camps where civilians had taken asylum, the Sudanese military and police began attacking beating inhabitants, burning down their huts, and forcibly relocating them (Fowler). The assault occurred even after the November 9 (2004) peace agreement between the government and rebels. Past United Nations Action The United Nations High Commission on Refugees created the 1951 Geneva Refugee Conventions. This is an instrument to protect the basic human rights of refugees, guaranteeing that they will not be forcefully returned to a country where they face persecution. To accomplish this, it helps them to repatriate to their homeland when conditions permit, integrate into states of asylum or resettle in third countries. UNHCR promotes international refugee agreements, helps states establish asylum structures and acts as an international watchdog over refugee issues. In 1998 the Norwegian Refugee Council set up the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. Created at the request of the UN, it serves as the most significant body to monitor internal 4
displacement that results from conflict. On the 9 th of January, 2005 a peace accord between the government and rebels took place ending what some say has been Africa s longest civil war. Sudanese vice president Ali Osman Mohame Taha and rebel leader John Garang signed the agreement in Kenya. The stipulation of the accord was that they decentralize power, share oil revenues, and integrate the military resulting in the two new governments. The 2005 Annual Report for the High Commission on Human Rights indicated that protection activities would be necessary to defend the rights of refugees. Moreover in a section dedicated to Mainstreaming Human Rights it acknowledged that it would be crucial to have group of agents follow-up on the effectiveness of the protection of the rights of internally displaces persons. Specific to the conditions in Darfur, the report signified that OHCHR participated in the Working Groups on Protection, established in Khartoum and in the three field locations, to address denial of access and humanitarian assistance to IDPs, forced relocations, safe areas, safety and security of refugees returning from Chad and other such issues. Guiding Questions to Proposed Solutions How successful are the new polities of the Government of National Unity and the Government of Southern Sudan in dealing with the victims of conflict? What is the status of the national military, and what are its central activities? How do they protect or affect the people of Sudan? What is the current situation for the refugees who have been repatriated and those who have not? What infrastructural implementations are necessary to secure that repatriates and expatriates (refugees and IDPs) have their basic social and economic rights in place? Concluding Remarks The international community has seen an upsurge of violence in war-torn Sudan in the last couple of years, but new changes are continuously taking shape. I urge you to stay current with the situation in Sudan, although information may seem minimal at times. The recent plans to repatriate refugees may be either successful or not depending on how the new governments take shape, and how effective and justified the rule of law is. 5
III. Topic II Bride Burning (in India) History and Statement of the Problem The historical origins of bride burning are not accompanied with an exact date, most likely because women s rights have historically not been fostered throughout the centuries. However an upsurge of new-bride deaths since the early 1980s has caused human rights organizations and Indian researchers to consider the reasons for the countless deaths. There are several causal factors which will be explained in some detail: dowry inadequacies, ill-treatment due to desires to have a son and not daughter, rigidity of divorce laws, and the guilt of the bride s parents, among other overarching factors. Bride burning is a blanket phrase to describe the types of crimes that occur to new brides in Southeast Asia, most commonly India. Women undergo a variety of abuses including strangulation, drowning, forced suicide, verbal abuse, and others. These abuses that may lead to death are often registered as accidents. Over 90% of the cases of women burnt in Delhi were registered as accidents, and only five percent were noted as murders and five percent as suicides. The Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is known for having a high rate of bride burning. Some studies have shown that between 600 and 750 annual deaths are from this form of femicide, while the New York Times once reported 6,975 dowry deaths in one year in India. True statistics in Bride Burning may be difficult to obtain as husbands and in-laws often do not notify the bride s family until after death or cremation has taken place. Dowries are traditionally sums of money paid by the bride s family to that of the groom s as a compensation for their admittance of the new bride into their family; as brides leave their family of origin to live with their husband s family. Dowries are thoroughly woven into Indian cultures, and when dowry inadequacies serve to be insufficiencies, mother-in-laws demand more from the brides. When the new family members fail to extort more presents in cash and kind from their original parents, brides are taunted, tormented, and burned alive. Those rare deaths that are reported as a consequence of insufficient dowries are sometimes suicides that result in the wife s inability to cope with her new husband and in-laws or incompatibility between husband and wife. Because bride s traditionally don t have any bearing in the decision of who they will wed and cannot resolve conflicts with the help of their original parents or any other parties, suicide may result. In these rare cases, what actually happens to be suicide is reported as a dowry death. The ill-treatment due to desires to have a son and not daughter, is consequent of the Indian social system s religious and economic prestige in having a male son. The root cause for this is a patriarchal culture that emphasizes the role of males in a family where sons are seen as a good investment and insurance for the future, whereas daughters change familial loyalties after marriage. In cases where the bride is not prone to procreate a son, she is susceptible to being terrorized and tortured by her new family. Traditionally, women have had no right in Hindu society to break marriages. The rigidity of 6
divorce laws transcends Indian history and has made life after marriage an impossible social decision. Historically marriage was seen as permanent for the current life, and lives to come. Violating the rule of marriage would lead to excommunication from the caste-community and other insurmountable problems. The British colonial era in India was the first sight of granting relief in cases of truly failed marriages. With the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 and other smaller domestic laws, divorce became more of a possibility. However divorce continues to bear difficulties for the lives of women as they are required to wait one year to present a request for divorce, while the husband and in-laws may beat, torture, and burn to death to you brides, painting a picture of suicide. Often times, divorce does not solve the problem for brides but creates more as she may be ostracized from her community and family, or experience a low social status in society. The guilt of the bride s parents is associated with a competition among parents of girls, to buy the best groom. This often includes making dowry promises to the groom s family which cannot be kept, while the competition means that parents like to seek out families of higher-status for their daughters. These factors often lead to difficulties in dowry payments, conversely creating problems for the bride. Concerning the legislative and law enforcement means of justice, a domestic Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961 was ratified to prevent what is essentially the advertising and trade of brides, indirectly curbing the negative experiences that so many brides undergo when faced with in-laws. In this case, tradition precedes state law as dowries are still being negotiated, and bride burning continues to take place. The law enforcement aspect of bride burning is inadequate in that the police force is often plagued with corruption, bureaucracy, and social apathy, failing to serve as a true third party to crimes and the enforcement of the rule of law. Past United Nations Action The most overarching UN law supporting the abolition of dowry payments and bride burning is part of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (adopted by the General Assembly on the 18 th of December 1979). In this document we see that the traditional practices of dowry and bride-price should be condemned by Governments and made illegal. Acts of bride burning should likewise be condemned and a heavy penalty inflicted on the guilty. This convention notes that in addition to domestic laws that should prevent such crimes, The Commission on Human Rights and the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, The Commission on the Status of Women, United Nations specialized agencies, and Non-governmental organizations will bear the responsibilities to uphold women s rights. The 1997 and 2000 Concluding Observations for India urged the domestic rule of law to be strengthened and enforce the banishment of dowries and the safeguarding of women. In doing so the United Nations committees advised a stronger police force as well. 7
Bloc Positions Your position will depend on the status of women s rights in your country. Because this is an ambiguous condition to assert, guiding signs may be the ratio of women to men in the workforce, the level of women s activity in civil society, governance, and education. The ratification of various United Nations conventions on the status of women and female discrimination may be telling signs of how to direct your stance. Traditionally Western nations have been at the forefront of pursuing gender equality, as liberal ideals of individualism are more coveted in Western law. This may be a sort of food for afterthought, but it may be critical to consider why the country you are representing holds its view of women in the particular light that it does, and how multilateralism may eventually (if at all) direct it towards greater gender equality (and human rights). Guiding Questions as Proposed Solutions As you have read, the practice of bride burning is embedded in certain aspects of culture, and even the passing of various laws has not curtailed the victimization of innocent brides. A prominent Indian professor of law once state that, The problem of bride-burning is not an issue of administration of criminal law but it s a problem generated by centuries old status of women in our society. Instead of offering repeat solutions, I sincerely entreat you to consider plausible answers to these questions, so that you understand your nation s position and that human rights may be upheld for all! Concluding Remarks What is the role of women in your country? Are marriages arranged or self-imposed? o If arranged, is there a transaction of financial valued involved? Are there equal rights laws, or any prohibiting dowry payments? How strong is your state in its scope? That is to say, is the national law pursued in regional and local governance? How active are NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that pertain to women s rights in your country? o Do they have any influence in local activities? o Are local women involved in the NGOs or their activities? How effective is the police force in your country? o If it does not serve as a true third party to justice, how can corruption be overcome? I expect you to understand that such discrimination against women is not exclusive to the state of India, but dowry payments and the potential of ensuing forms of torture are a current problem in many nations. I advise you to thoroughly research your country s position and emphasis on 8
women s rights, as well as broadly understand the geographies of discrimination against women, especially in the realm of marriage. In researching this topic you may come across a variety of phrases or depictions of bride burning and its roots. I urge you not to feel limited by the brief explanation in this synopsis and include all of your knowledge in your Position Papers. It is important not to see bride burning as just a legal impediment and mere problem of law enforcement. Instead, it is crucial that you understand the thread of your (or any other) country s tradition and culture, and how this Committee can circumvent these practices so embedded in the normality of every day life, to grant women their deserved equal human rights. If you run into problems researching, you may contact me or Alex Basl, the USG of Research and Advisor Training at basla@u.washington.edu. Note: WASMUN has a very strict policy against plagiarism, and every chair takes that policy seriously. Plagiarized position papers will not be tolerated, and the submission of any work that is not your own may prevent you from participating in WASMUN. 9
IV. Bibliography Sudanese Refugees CIA World Factbook - http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/ Fowler, Jerry. Beyond Humanitarian Bandages - Confronting Genocide in Sudan. The New England Journal of Medicine. 16, Dec. 2004 351.25 Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre - http://www.internal-displacement.org/ UNHCR UN High Commission for Refugees - http://www.unhcr.ch/ UNOHCHR UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights http://www.ohchr.org/english/ Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Janjaweed, Sudan, etc.) - http://en.wikipedia.org/ Darfur: A Genocide We Can Stop - http://www.darfurgenocide.org/learn.php#maps Bride Burning BBC Report - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/431607.stm Human Rights Watch - https://www.hrw.org/ I Am Peacekeeper - http://www.iamapeacekeeper.com/advocacy/2.6honor_crimes.html Umar, Mohd. Bride Burning in India: A Socio Legal Study. A.P.H. Publishing Corporation. New Delhi 1998. United Nations Development Fund for Women http://www.unifem.org/campaigns/november25/facts_figures_4.php United Nations Development Programmer - http://www.undp.org/gender/ UNOHCHR UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights http://www.ohchr.org/english/ 10