Improve the Lives of Uighurs, Journalists & Haitian Refugees: Welcome to the HRC | BUSUN 2017

Dear Delegates,

Welcome to the Human Rights Council for BUSUN 2017! This year we will be discussing how we can improve the current situation of the Uighur population in China, the protection of journalists working in crisis situations and improving the livelihoods Haitian refugees currently residing in the Amazon region of Brazil. You will have two chairs for this committee, and we would like to start off by briefly introducing ourselves to you.

Hi everyone, my name is Guilherme Barbosa and I will be one of your chairs this year for the Human Rights Council. I am a sophomore at Brown, with an intended concentration of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. I was born and raised in S”o Paulo, Brazil and have lived there my whole life. I have done Model United Nations since the ninth grade, and since then have been to conferences both in Brazil and around the world, including The Hague International MUN Conference and the North American Invitational MUN Conference at Georgetown, but this is my first year doing BUSUN.

Hi, my name is Fabienne Tarrant and I will be your other chair for this committee. I’m half German, half American, and have lived in New York City, Zurich, and Florence. I have been involved in Model United Nations since I was in my second year of highschool, during which I travelled to MUN conferences in St. Petersburg and The Hague. I am also a sophomore, and am planning on concentrating in International Relations in the ‘society and security track’ with a focus on Europe. In addition to MUN, I am a part of the Brown International Scholarship Committee, working to fund and support personal/academic internationally-minded projects started by Brown students.

We are both really excited about meeting all of you in November and look forward to what we are sure is going to be an wonderful committee. We ask that you please use our topic guides as starting points for your research and try to familiarize yourselves with the topics and your respective countries as much as possible in order to make our debate as engaging and well-informed as possible. If you have any concerns regarding the topics, the research guides, the position papers or anything else, feel free to email us with any questions you may have. Once again, we look forward to seeing all of you at BUSUN!

Guilherme Barbosa and Fabienne Tarrant

Co-Chairs, Human Rights Council

BUSUN 2017

hrc@busun.org

History of the Human Rights Council

The Human Rights Council, or HRC, was created by the United Nations General Assembly on March 15, 2006 by Resolution 60/251, which replaced the former United Nations Commission on Human Rights. It is an intergovernmental organization with the United Nations, and its primary functions are to enforce the encouragement and protection of human rights all across the world and to acknowledge their violations and propose solutions to these infractions. Based at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the HRC has the power to debate all thematic human rights topics that they deem relevant throughout the year.

The Council is constituted of 47 Member States. Membership is allocated based on a geographical distribution which is as follows: 13 seats for African States, 13 seats for Asian-Pacific States, 8 seats for Latin American and Caribbean States, 7 seats for Western European and other states and 6 seats for Eastern European States. This distribution of states is elected by the majority of members of the General Assembly through direct and secret ballot. The GA’s criteria for election include the States’ contribution to the encouragement and protection of human rights across the world and their voluntary aid and commitments to these issues. Members serve for a three year term and cannot be immediately re-elected after serving for two consecutive terms.

The HRC meets for a minimum of three sessions per year–a total of at least ten weeks. These meeting are set in March, for four weeks, June, for three weeks, and September, for three weeks. However, if at least one third of the Member States request it, a special session can take place at any time throughout the year to discuss worldwide infringements of human rights or emergencies that need to be addressed.

Beyond the participation of elected member states, any individual, group, or non-governmental organization that has been alleged a victim of a human rights violation or that claims to have reliable knowledge of these violations may submit a complaint to the HRC. Those found to be consistent and reliable will pass through a screening process and be presented to members of the Council.

Topic I

Protecting the fundamental human right of freedom of religion and thought with a focus on the Xinjiang/Uighur conflict in China

Table of Contents

Introduction

Xinjiang, a region located in the northwest-most part of China, consists of a variety of ethnic minority groups, one of which are the Uighurs. For many years, there has been a large amount of tension between the Uighurs and the Han Chinese. The large difference between the Han Chinese and the Uighurs is that the Uighurs are Muslim and are therefore often discriminated against on a religious basis. The divide between the two groups has grown more decisive as the Uighurs continue to feel more and more oppression by the primarily economic and religious measures the Han Chinese have taken to retain power over the them. These measures include encouraging Han Chinese domination of the workforce through confiscation of Uighur jobs and reallocation of these jobs to the Han, and their systematic religious restrictions on Islam, often shown through their violent opposition to peaceful protests. With extreme violence, religious oppression and forceful displacement of the Uighurs to other countries becoming more and more common, this issue is has been brought to the committee in an effort to address the many human rights violations that it has led to.

History of the conflict

The largest of China's administrative regions, Xinjiang, borders eight countries–Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India–and until recently its population was mostly Uighur. In the early 20th century, the Xinjiang province, controlled by the Uighur population, briefly declared independence, but they were brought back under Chinese control in 1949 and re-designated as an autonomous region within the Chinese territory. The region’s economy is mostly based on agriculture and trade, with towns such as Kashgar located along the Silk Road.

http://chinachristiandaily.com/2016-10-21/church/an-unknown-preaching-land%E2%80%94history-of-the-xinjiang-christian-church_2917.html

However, perhaps due to modernization, the population of Xinjiang has changed greatly since this time. In the 2000 census, Han Chinese made up 20% of the population as well as large numbers of troops stationed in the region and unknown numbers of unregistered migrants. This comes with a number of complicated issues and is also a result of many complex factors. The first cause of this increase in the Han Chinese population is that many development projects and investments have attracted the group to the big cities in Xinjiang in search of economic prosperity. When this migration occurs, there are often instances of the best job and opportunities are being awarded to the Han rather than the Uighurs as a result of ethnic discrimination, causing them to do better economically as a majority.

Another issue has been the accusation that the Chinese government has imposed restrictions on Islam, namely by reducing the number of Mosques in the region and working to have rigorous control over religious Muslim schools. Establishing facts about the incidents that follow these religious restrictions is difficult, because foreign journalists' access to the region is tightly controlled, but in recent months, there appears to have been a shift towards larger-scale incidents where the Uighur citizens, as opposed to simply their institutions, have become the target of violence and oppression, especially in major cities.

According to an Amnesty International report from 2013, Chinese authorities apparently criminalised ‘what they labelled as ‘illegal religious’ and ‘separatist activities” and strengthened measures against ‘peaceful expressions of cultural identity.’ An example of this form of religious oppression was seen in July 2014, when Xinjiang government departments banned Muslim civil servants from fasting during Ramadan. Some reports even indicate that Uighur civilians were force-fed during the holy month. The timeline below outlines major events that have been caused as a result of the economic, religious, and social oppression of the Uighurs and their subsequent retaliation.

Timeline of Recent Events

2009: large-scale ethnic rioting by the Uighur minority in the regional capital, Urumqi. Some 200 people are killed in the unrest, officials report that most of these casualties are Han Chinese.

June 2012: six Uighurs reportedly try to hijack a plane from Hotan to Urumqi before they are overpowered by passengers and crew.

April/ June 2013: 27 people die in Shanshan county after police open fire on what state media describes as a mob armed with knives attacking local government buildings.

June 2013: Amnesty International publishes a report claiming that Chinese authorities are unwarranted in ‘what they labelled 'illegal religious' and 'separatist' activities" and that they have clamped down on "peaceful expressions of cultural identity.’

April 2014 a bomb and knife attack at Urumqi's south railway station, which kills three and injures 79 others.

May 2014: At least 31 people are killed and more than 90 suffer injuries when two cars crash through an Urumqi market and explosives are tossed into the crowd. This is labelled a ‘violent terrorist incident’ by the Chinese government.

July 2014: Some Xinjiang government departments ban Muslim civil servants from fasting during the holy month of Ramadan. This is allegedly also not the first time China has restricted fasting in Xinjiang. In addition, authorities say a knife-wielding gang attacked a police station and government offices in Yarkant, leaving 96 dead. The Imam of China's largest mosque, Jume Tahir, is stabbed to death days later.

September 2014: approximately 50 civilians die in blasts in Luntai county outside police stations, a market and a shop.

1. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-26414014

2. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-22278037

Current Situation/Statement of the Problem

Recently, the violence between the Han Chinese and the Uighurs has become more frequent. In addition, the violence has spread beyond Xinjiang. For example, recent related events have occurred in Yunnan province, as well as in Beijing. In 2014, authorities launched a ‘year-long campaign against terrorism’, aiming at the prevention of religious extremism starting with Xinjiang to the rest of China, as well as crackdown in Xinjiang. This has caused even more animosity between the two groups, as the administration continues to equate prevention of religious extremism with different forms of religious oppression. It is also important to note that many of the facts we have regarding this situation come from authorities in the region, who are primarily Han Chinese and are also the major party under investigation for oppression of human rights. For this reason, it is important to look at these facts under a critical lense, understanding the biases that may be a part of their underlying composition.

What’s at Stake

If a resolution is not reached, China should be fearful of a radicalized Uighur population as a result of the continued social/religious/economic oppression. This is a pattern that can be seen in history many times, and characteristics of this form of violent radicalization can already be seen from the timeline above. If this radicalization continues to a certain extent, other terrorist groups will potentially start to increase their support for the Uighurs, posing a large threat. Already, over three hundred Uighurs have joined the Islamic State. In fact, the Islamic State is trying to recruit more Uighurs by translating their propaganda into Uighur language. As previously stated, violent acts from religious extremist groups have started to spread beyond Xinjiang, therefore a resolution needs to be implemented quickly before the violence becomes more frequent and widespread.

Many Uighurs have either been imprisoned or fled the region after being accused of terrorism. Those who still remain are a minority and continuously religiously oppressed. Activists that are present in the region say that the central government policies have setback the Uighurs’ religious, commercial, and cultural activities. To excuse or justify this type of oppression, Beijing emphasizes the threat from Uighur separatists, yet is now being accused of exaggerating that threat. Uighur exiles claim police have converted peaceful protests to violent conflicts that have caused multiple deaths by firing indiscriminately at them. Apart from government and police oppression, Uighurs complain that the Han Chinese are taking their jobs and that their farmland has been confiscated for redevelopment, which has led to further economic disempowerment.

Member States Involved

China and Turkey are central nations in this issue in this issue. Turkey would be the most heavily involved foreign state, as many of the the Uighur have been directly seeking refuge in Turkey and are of Turkic ethnicity. Turkey has historically welcomed the Uighurs fleeing from persecution, and at last count, approximately 300,000 Uighurs who have fled from China currently reside within Turkish borders. It is important to note that beyond Turkey, China’s Uighur deportation policies have made all neighboring countries stakeholders in this issue. Not only this, but when these refugees flee, instead of being deported, China has been seen to heavily criticize the host nation, and has even provided incentives for the Uighurs to be turned away. For example in 2009, after Cambodia deported twenty Uighur refugees back to China, China agreed signed a trade deal with them worth over $1 billion.

Countries with large Muslim populations would also be heavily involved, as would countries that are dealing with extremist threats, due to the possible connections between these threats and the consequences of the oppression of the Uighur population. In addition, specific nations with pro-refugee policies (such as Germany and Sweden, for example) would also feel compelled to respond.

Past Attempts to Solve the Issue

The Human Rights Watch attempted to get involved in this situation in 2009, when armed police entered neighborhoods in the Xinjiang province and beat individual civilians for information regarding those involved in the protests, but the Chinese authorities did not respond to their request for information. Beyond this, as a result of China’s economic power and the influence it wields in the international community, especially in regards to its neighboring states, as well as their total control over the majority of information regarding this situation, no comprehensive diplomatic solution has been developed to deal with the situation.

Questions to Consider

What are the consequences of the displacement of the Uighurs?

How can radicalization of the Uighur community be counteracted?

What measures can be taken to prevent the religious persecution in Xinjiang?

Should neighboring nations be asked to become involved in housing these refugees?

How can impartial information be collected when all statistics are controlled by the authorities?

Introduction

After two tropical storms and two hurricanes in the period of two months in late 2008, an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 struck Haiti in 2010, hitting a little off the coast of the capital, Port-au-Prince, completely devastating the country. With hundreds of thousands killed and the number of homeless reaching the millions, nations all around the world offered their help, but perhaps due to the poor infrastructure and the destruction of several important buildings, or maybe simply due to the magnitude of the destruction, the Haitian nation has not fully recovered to this day, leading to the migration of several of its residents.

Some of these migrants have ended up settling in Brazil, mostly in the North and Northeast, where the Amazon is located. With the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, job opportunities were not hard to find for these Haitians. However, with the completion of all the construction and preparation for these events, jobs are now scarce, leaving many of these migrants unemployed, homeless and, in some cases, worse off than when they left their own country.

History of the Conflict

On January 12th, 2010, an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 on the Richter scale hit at around 15 miles southwest of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. This was soon followed by aftershocks of scale 5.9 and 5.5, with more aftershocks occurring in the following days, which hit even neighboring cities such as Petit Go”ve. There had not been such an earthquake like this in Haiti since the 18th century.

As a consequence of Haiti’s lack of building codes, the majority of buildings lacked proper foundations and therefore easily collapsed with the earthquake, leaving their inhabitants either trapped or killed inside. Among the buildings destroyed were the National Palace, the United Nations headquarters, the national penitentiary and the parliament building.

After the earthquake, many international NGOs and foreign governments offered both humanitarian and emergency relief aid, providing water, food and medical assistance to the Haitian people, though these were severely hindered by the country's poor electric power system, the blocking of roads by debris and loss of communication lines. A week after the earthquake, little aid had extended beyond the capital, and even after that this did not improve drastically. After around two weeks, operations to rescue those trapped under rubble and debris mostly stopped, after hope was given up of people surviving without resources, though around 100 people were rescued from these situations overall.

Approximately 3 million people suffered from the earthquake, whether directly or indirectly, a number representing close to one third of the entire Haitian population. Of these, one million were left without a home and forced to move to makeshift towns made of donated tents and debris, and the inadequate provision of supplies inevitably lead to looting – especially given the fact that the damaged penitentiary led to the escape of several inmates. Moreover, governmental relocation plans to remove civilians from dangerous areas and other factor led to a mass migration from urban centers into more secluded surrounding areas. The destruction of several hospitals and healthcare centers also lead to many going without adequate treatments and led to many deaths after the initial impacts of the earthquake. Sources disagree on the exact number of deaths in this crisis, but numbers range from 200,000 to 316,000 killed.

In the following months, due to severe weather conditions, the residents of the tents were encouraged to build longer-lasting housing for themselves, though this was not possible for most of the people, due to poor organization and the return of those who had gone to rural areas initially after the earthquake. As a result, in 2012, even though around half of the debris had been cleared from Port-au-Prince, over 500,000 people still lived in tents. This dropped to around 360,000 in 2013, partly because of a humanitarian aid program from Canada, which gave grants to approximately 30,000 Haitians to afford better housing. By 2014, nearly 100,000 people still had no permanent housing, and in early 2016 this number still remained at some 62,000.

Current Situation

At present, Brazil is facing its biggest economic depression since its return to democratic rule in 1985, meaning jobs are not plentiful for anyone, and this is especially true for the Haitians.

After the 2010 earthquake, many Haitians believed Brazil to be a beacon of hope for new jobs and a new life. This was particularly true due to the upcoming World Cup in 2014 and Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Since construction for these was completed, however, work has been hard to come across. With some refugees having spent most of their savings to make it all the way to Brazil, the future seems bleak.

Brazil grants 2,000 visas per year to Haitians wishing to relocate, even to this day. But many now choose to take the opposite path and search for jobs either in neighbouring countries or further up North.

Brazil’s ambassador to Haiti, Fernando Vidal recently said ‘If we decide to receive them in Brazil, it’s not up to us to tell them, ‘Look don't go to Brazil because conditions are not ideal.’ We cannot say that. It’s up to them to decide.’

Fedo Balcourt, a Haitian immigrant and history professor has founded a group in the city of S”o Paulo called Social Union of Haitian Immigrants, or USIH, which seeks to provide social services to immigrants across Brazil. He has stated that ‘About 35 percent have left, many are still leaving and many are preparing. Life here is very, very hard. You can count on your hands the number of migrants who are working.’

Even those who can find work often suffer from poor working conditions – which Brazilian authorities claim are ‘conditions analogous to slavery’ – where they either aren’t paid or are fed and housed by charged a lot more than they actually earn.

In May of 2016, it is estimated that 5,000 Haitians without visas were granted entry into the United States through the Southern California border crossing, with thousands more waiting to do the same. Due to a change in policy following the 2010 earthquake, Haitians were being allowed into the US under a humanitarian parole provision, being allowed to stay up to three years in the United States, but in September of 2016, the Obama administration announced that it would change its policy and resume deporting undocumented Haitians. This meant that for some, after months of travelling and crossing nine international borders, after reaching the US-Mexico border, they would just have to turn back around, making their futures maybe even more uncertain than when they had left Haiti in the first place.

What’s at Stake

With so many job losses and struggles to find employment, Haitian refugees barely get by to make ends meet and seek shelter in churches. Other countries must now support them and can hopefully provide them with work and a liveable life. The well being of the refugees is at stake as long as they remain unemployed and on the constant journey for a better life somewhere else.

Member States Involved

Obviously, Haiti and Brazil are central in this issue.

The United States and Mexico are now also involved due to the change in policy by the US as well as the migration out of Brazil leading to several other Latin American countries.

Moreover, as stated above, the aid provided by Canada was extremely helpful in reducing the amount of homeless Haitians following the earthquake. Other countries who provided large amounts of humanitarian and financial aid following the disaster include Cuba, Venezuela, Italy and Chile among others.

Past Attempts to Solve the Issue

One of the limited resources Haitian refugees have is the non-profit group Viva Rio. This group helps Haitians in Brazil with training and job tips, ultimately aiming to guide the Haitians towards assimilating ‘without losing their culture’.

Questions to Consider

What other employment opportunities could the Haitian immigrants be given?

What needs to done in Haiti in order to restore confidence in the nation make it a more promising country for its people to return?

How can the foreign aid to Haiti be better administered?

Introduction

The mistreatment, imprisonment and even death of journalists working in crisis situations or under authoritarian regimes is widespread across the globe, dating back several decades.

It is important to note that there is an official distinction between the terms ‘journalist’ and ‘war correspondent.’ War correspondents are formally allowed to accompany military personnel, and therefore, in the instance of capture, are awarded the same legal status. This means that war correspondents are awarded the title of ‘prisoners of war’ when captured, as set forth by the Third Geneva Convention, as opposed to journalists who are legally seen as just regular prisoners. However, for the purposes of this research and our debate, since both war correspondents and journalists are recognized civilians, we will treat both equally and use these terms interchangeably.

History of the Conflict

Ever since humans have fought, there have been depiction of such events. From cave paintings to epic Greek adventure to, eventually, televised wars and the internet, the coverage of conflict situations has run hand-in-hand with the conflict themselves. However, the job of war correspondent, or reporting from a war straight from the war itself is a relatively new occupation.

Though war correspondents in World War I were highly censored and not given much access to the fighting, during World War II, President Dwight Eisenhower gave journalists a much larger reign over their jobs, stating that ‘they should be allowed to talk freely with officer and enlisted personnel and to see the machinery of war in operation in order to visualize and transmit to the public the conditions under which men from their countries are waging war against the enemy.’

With this new freedom as war correspondents, many deaths inevitably followed. Ralph W Barnes, an American journalist stationed with the Royal Air Force (RAF), was the first war correspondent to be killed in WWII when weather conditions drove his plane off course. Furthermore, in early 1943, a group of eight civilians and military journalists, later known as the Writing 69th, were trained by the US Air Force to fly over high-altitude bombing missions against Germany, but on their first assignment, one of the writers, Robert Post, died, tragically putting an end to the group’s missions.

Overall, 69 journalists were killed in World War II, followed by 17 in the Korean War and 63 in the Vietnam War, according to the Freedom Forum. However, as of 2006, the Iraq War became the deadliest event for journalists in modern times, with the death toll surpassing 71 (not including over two dozen members of media staff).

Current Situation

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, since 1992, 1237 journalists have been killed while working in crisis situations or under authoritarian regimes. They also name Iraq as the most dangerous country to work in as a journalist, with 179 deaths since 1992, followed by Syria, the Philippines, Somalia and Pakistan. Of these deaths, a majority covered either politics, war or human rights violations and it is suspected that most of these murders were ordered by some sort of political group.

Recently, a number of journalists or media workers’ deaths have been associated the terrorist group ISIS. In December 2015, the death of journalist Naji Jerf, in Gaziantep, Turkey, marked only one in a series of killing of those drawing attention to human rights violations to the civil-war in Syria. Since 2011, at least 85 journalists have been killed in direct relation to their work in Syria, leading to Syria being considered the deadliest place to work as a journalist for three consecutive years.

In fact this has even led around 17 Syrian journalists to created the group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS) – named after Raqqa, the capital of the ISIS territory – which aims to correctly report on the occurrences from regions inside the Islamic State’s control. Since its creation in April 2014, RBSS has reported coverage of public lashings, crucifixion, beheadings and assassinations, which has led to the killings of at least two members of RBSS.

Furthermore, in May 2017, two journalists, Takieddin al-Hudhaifi and Wael al-Absi, were killed in city of Taiz in Yemen while they covered fighting between monarchy-backed forces and forces supporting the Houthi militia and the former Yemeni president. Following these murders, the Yemeni Journalists' Syndicate issued a statement highlighting these deaths as part of an ongoing attempt by the Houthis to specifically target journalists.

What’s at Stake

Freedom of speech is a necessary human right. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.’

The murders of journalists seeking only to report on the truth brings this issue to light, as it demonstrates a clear infringement of freedom of speech. If this is not dealt with, these killings will only continue to occur, and as the majority of them are left unpunished it is of utmost importance that a solution, or even an attempt at one, is put into place.

Member States Involved

As mentioned above, Iraq is named the deadliest country to work in as a journalist by the Committee to Protect Journalists, with almost 200 deaths since 1992, followed by Syria, the Philippines, Somalia and Pakistan. Though the Human RIghts Council should not focus solely on these countries when addressing the topic, there could be a larger emphasis on them, as well as regions close to these, as these are the area where the safety of journalists is most alarming.

Past Attempts to Solve the Issue

In addition to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UNESCO charter, the United Nations has passed several resolutions trying to address the issue of the protection of journalists working under dangerous circumstances.

One such resolution is Resolution 1738, adopted unanimously by the Security Council in 2006. The resolution begins by condemning any intentional attack on journalists, media professionals and associated personnel, and states that these shall be considered civilians, and therefore have the same rights as them. Furthermore, the Security Council recalls its demand that every party associated with armed conflict must observe their duties under international humanitarian law to protect civilians in armed conflict, and to rightfully persecute those who do not follow these, serving to end impunity.

More recently, in 2015, the Security Council adopted, again unanimously, Resolution 2222, dealing with the same issues. Resolution 2222 again reaffirmed that journalists in armed conflict are to be considered civilians, as long as they do not take any action against this status. Moreover, the resolution further emphasized ‘the importance of a free and impartial media for the protection of civilians.’

As in Resolution 1738, Resolution 2222 also reaffirmed that all parties involved with armed conflict should fully abide by international law on the protection of non-combatants, and additionally stressed how States should safeguard freedom of expression, though it noted that they should not use the media to incite violence. The Resolution also specified that United Nations peacekeeping troops and special political missions should, when possible, include reports on infringements of media workers’ rights.

Questions to Consider

What precautions can be taken in order to guarantee the security of journalists working in crisis conditions?

Should journalists be allowed to be armed when entering crisis situations?

Should there be regulations as to which areas are considered too dangerous for journalists to work in?

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