IV MODELO DE LAS NACIONES UNIDAS DEL COLEGIO MARYMOUNT, BOGOTA
GUIDES
COMITEE: SOCHUM – Social and Humanitarian Committee
CHAIR:
 María José Figueroa (Gimnasio Femenino)
 Felipe Charry (Colegio San Carlos)
Topics:
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Protection to refugees from the Middle East disputes: Jordan and
Turkey.
Human Rights questions, including alternative approaches for
improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental
freedoms.
Dear delegates,
TOPIC A: Protection to refugees from the Middle East disputes: Jordan and
Turkey.
For several years the Middle East has been a zone of conflict for various reasons.
Multiple confrontations and bellicose situations in countries such as Syria and
Egypt have generated a refugee crisis. Significant quantities of children and young
individuals have attempted to escape the zones of conflict seeking an improvement
in their living conditions. This situation has suffered a series of complications
especially because the amount of refugees that have been admitted in different
countries is limited taking into account the number of people that seek refuge.
Countries such as Jordan, Turkey and Israel have received a certain amount of
refugees, quantity that has increased in an overwhelming scale causing the
deterioration of the living conditions of these individuals. More than two million
people have escaped the war at Syria, moving towards neighbor countries such as
Jordan, where the frontier restrictions are becoming tougher. “The people that
escape to Jordan and other countries located in the region are encountering the
obstacle of the frontier restrictions and many of then have lost everything.
International Amnesty calls upon the neighbor countries to maintain their
frontiers opened to all the people who run away from the conflict in Syria, it also
urges the international community to double their efforts to address the issue”
says Philip Luther, director of the Program for the Middle East and the North of
Africa of International Amnesty.
Jordan
Despite the arrangements with the government of Jordan, investigations
demonstrate the denial of access to Jordan to certain kind of people: 1) Palestine
refugees in Syria 2) People without identification documents 3) Iraqi refugees that
live in Syria 4) Unaccompanied men with no family. This has left thousands of
people trapped in the frontier of the conflict, denying them the entrance to the
country.
Northern Jordan has been dramatically altered by the Syrian civil war. Since the
uprising began in March 2011 right across the border in the city of Deraa,
Jordanians have experienced the conflict via the thousands that have crossed into
their country through the towns of Jabir and Ramtha.
Many residents of Northern Jordan feel as Syrian as they are Jordanian – they have
lived and married together, crossing the border easily. When the conflict first
began, many Syrians went to Jordan to stay with relatives – many didn’t consider
themselves “refugees.” Yet as the war escalated, the situation became critical:
Syrians without relatives in Jordan began to cross the border.
Local NGOs such as Islamic Relief began to assist as Syrians opted to stay and work
in Northern Jordan, housing refugees and assisting those whose savings were
dwindling. Yet the Jordanian government didn’t officially recognize the growing
refugee crisis until 2012, when increased fighting saw an average of 1000 people a
day crossing the border. To cope, Zaatari refugee camp was set up in July 2012 in a
windswept desert.
Turkey
Following the crossing of about
of
pril
yrians into the atay region towards the end
, Tur ish foreign minister
hmet
avutoglu held a meeting and
announced that Tur ey is ready to allow those yrians in “who are not happy at
home.” Following the regime’s violent attack against Jisr al Shughur, more than
7,000 Syrians arrived in Turkey in June, 2011. By early September 2011, Turkey
had set up six refugee camps that were hosting about 7000 refugees. By December
2011, there were 8,000 registered Syrians. By 15 January 2012, the number had
reached 9,500 and by the end of February 2012, it had almost reached 10,500. By
mid April, 2012, the numbers had more than doubled to reach 24,000. By July
2012, there were 35,000 registered Syrians. This, then, shot up to 80000 by the
end of August 2012. By mid-October, there were 100,000 and by mid-November,
there were 120,000 registered Syrians. The latest figure is for 156,000 registered
Syrians in Turkey. These numbers do not include those Syrians who have rented
apartments outside of camps, typically in cities. There are no reliable figures as to
how many Syrians are residing in cities. Even though UNHCR states that 60,00070,000 Syrians live in cities, my observations and interviews suggest a much
higher number. In November 2012, the Turkish Interior Ministry passed a law that
allows those Syrians who entered the country with passports to extend their stay
to one year. The Turkish finance minister stated that the government spent 533
million Turkish lira to cover the needs of Syrians through 2012.
Currently there are 15 refugee camps, 13 of them tent cities and two container
camps, in seven border provinces. Other than the border provinces, there are
concentrations of Syrians in Istanbul, Ankara and Bursa.
Israel
On the other hand, the crisis in Israel does not only involve the amount of refugees,
but also several factors that affect the special policies for refugees in this country.
The issue is principally aggravated because of the tensions that exist between the
Jews and the Muslims. Currently, people who escape from Syria do not seek refuge
in Israel because they believe it is an enemy state
Maps:
Investigation questions:
1. What allies does your country have in the Middle East?
2. Which special policies does your country have regarding the refugee
situation?
3. In which way has your country helped the Syrians?
4. Does your country have a significant quantity of refugees from the Middle
East currently?
Useful links:

http://www.cidipal.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=40
74
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http://www.amnesty.org/es/for-media/press-releases/restriccionesjordania-refugiados-siria-tension-paises-anfitriones-2013-10-31

http://porisrael.org/2013/10/22/aceptara-israel-refugiados-sirios/
http://www.un.org/es/globalissues/refugees/
TOPIC B: Human Rights questions, including alternative approaches for
improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental
freedoms.
Human Rights in the International Community are one of the major international
concerns from the foundation of the United Nations, especially after the Second
World War when the entire world saw what countries were capable to do in order
implement sociopolitical agendas in the entire world. This was seen with countries
such as the Nazi Germany under itler’s rule, where any sort of uman Rights
were virtually non-existing; concentration camps, death camps, forced labor and
genocide were typical to be found as acts of war from this country. Also, relating to
the Second World War, belligerent acts implementing Weapons of Mass
Destruction are also horrible acts against humanity as a race. An act of violence
such as the perpetrated by the United States of America, by sending two Atom
Bombs against civilian cities of Japan are acts that will be engraved in the history
of the world; industrialization of the military complex looking towards mass
murder is not an example of an advancement of Human Rights.
Even though, enhancing the vision of Human Rights, these Rights include much
more than wartime. They include such things as Cultural Rights, Political Rights,
Right to an Education, ending famine and malnutrition, job security, economic
security, health, gender equality, reducing infant mortality rates, fomenting
international, right to the environment, etc… There are a lot of different emphases
regarding Human Rights, the United Nations have four main axis over which they
embrace the question, they each have their own set of declarations and pacts, their
main ones will be included in the recommended section in this guide. They are:
Civil and Political Rights, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, International
Humanitarian Law and, in a way to express it, General Human Rights, most of
which are posted on the Millennium Development Goals which will play a huge
role in the committee and must be read if the delegates want to have any sort of
useful debate. It is very important that you study over each of these axes so you
have pertinent solutions, it would also be great for the development of the
committee if you study environmental rights as Human Rights from author
Kunicka-Michalska and the philosophy of Human Rights from authors like Plato,
Kant, Rabossi and Rorty.
Now, with no further ado, it will be shown the four axes that have been previously
named.
Civil and Political Rights:
Civil and Political Rights are considered to be among the first historical Human
Rights; there were a couple of previous examples from ancient Greece, but these
constitute the first generation of Human Rights. During the French Revolution, in
which the people of France were tired of having a Monarchy that spent all of the
Nation’s wealth on them and not solving the precarious conditions of the people,
The patriarchs of the Revolution decided to write the Declaration of the Rights of
the Man and the Citizens in 1789 by Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès, which was then
adopted by the French National Constituent Assembly, after the members of
Parliament took the Tennis Court Oath.
This Declaration was then taken to America, where Antonio Nariño first translated
it to Spanish in 1793 in the city of Bogotá. The Document has served various key
roles throughout the history of he world and is one of the most important judicial
and sociological documents even today.
This Declaration included rights such as the inalienable Right to Freedom, the
Right to private property, the Right to Security, the Right to resistance from
oppression and the Right to equality. All of these rights were groundbreaking for
the era. The original Document will be included in the recommended reading
section of the guides.
The XVII, XVIII, and XIX centuries went along and the XX century came with both
its wars and the creation of the United Nations in 1945 brought along a New World
Order. One of the first things the United Nations started to do was defining Human
Rights. The first document presented to the International Community was the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which will be addressed later, but it had
one essential problem, it is not legally binding as a contract. This means that the
Declaration has not a legal basis, but more of a moral basis, which means that it is
not necessary to follow, even though it does coordinate the relations between
states. Any way, the United Nations did intend to further the legal boundaries of
Human Rights so the General Assembly united in order to bring forward this
project. The final draft of the Covenant of Civil and Political Rights was voted the
16 of December 1966 and applied from March 25 1976.
This Covenant, which will also be included, sought to reinforce rights referring to
things like the Right to Political participation, freedom of speech, belief,
association, etc… the Right to be included regardless of gender, belief, race, and
furthermore.
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
These Rights, known as the second generation of Human Rights, have a very
disputed origin. For all intents and purposes this guide will consider it as
following. The birth of these Rights came along with the crisis of capitalism in the
year 1929 when the New York Stock Market had its historical Black Friday. After
capitalism fell and a huge part of the United States fell under the poverty line, the
philosophical question arose of whether the State should provide for its citizens.
Then, the antithesis of Capitalism became a worldwide power. The Soviet Union
gave a huge amount of support to its citizens. An international debate between
academics began considering how much, if any, support towards the citizens of a
State should it give them. In that debate the figure of the Welfare State, which
means the state has the obligation of giving its citizens things such as education,
healthcare, a job, public services such as water and electricity, etc…
Also, the Second World War and its international reorganization came along and
brought forth the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with the same problem as
the Civil Rights. Then, in the same resolution, the General Assembly approved the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which included
things such as Labor Rights, the Right to Social Security, the Right to Family Life,
the Right to an adequate standard of Living, the Right to health, etc… This
Covenant will also be included.
International Humanitarian Law
Since the beginning of times, mankind has fought wars, and since there have been
wars there have been attempts to regularize war. Dr. Samuel Ramirez Quesada
cites the first historical antecedent to attempt to apply a sort of Rule of Law in an
international conflict. He makes a reference to the Colombian Independence war,
specifically to the period nown as the “Reconquista.” In this period the
“peacema er” Pablo Murillo signs a treaty with imon Bolivar the “Libertador”
nown as the “Tratado de Regularización de la Guerra” or “Treaty to Regulate the
War.” This treaty stated points such as the dignity of the Prisoners of War, healing
the injured, burying the dead and making humanitarian exchanges as soon as
possible.
Then, time passed on. The next relevant moment for IHL was the first ever Geneva
Convention. This Convention, originally called The First Geneva Convention, for the
Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field is one of the
most relevant documents in history because it was the first multi-lateral attempt
to regulate war. This Convention included items such as healing of personnel
regardless of nationality, neutrality of medical personnel, etc…
Once again, showing that this was the event changing of history, the Second World
War came around and gave us a new vision of the world, the first Geneva
Convention had been amended previously on 1902 and 1929 but the final
Convention came on 949. Now it wasn’t one Convention, there were four, now it
wasn’t just for international conflicts, the Conventions now included national
conflicts. This year, the figure known as International Humanitarian Law came
around. The first four Geneva Conventions addressed different topics relating to
war. Maritime Conflict, land conflict and non-international problems all were
attacked by the four Conventions. Then, on 1977 two additional Protocols were
also approved which talked about No-international conflicts and International
conflicts.
“General” Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is practically the apex of Human
Rights. This Document, even though it has no binding obligations, is one of the
proudest moments of the United Nations. It is one of the most effective, even
though it is highly criticized, attempts ever to truly have a Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, meaning that this Declaration has the most effective attempt to
really explain what is Human dignity and what are the basic things humanity needs
and to really pinpoint the essence of humanity.
Eleanor Roosevelt edited the Declaration with a group of sixteen representatives
from around the world. The real basis of this Declaration came from the Second
World War, after the States saw the carnage and violation of everything that
seemed fair, the United Nations formed and wrote down a basis for the Ethical
treatment of people, but also for the people to enforce their rights. The declaration
is divided considering the basic rights, such as: freedom of speech, freedom of
religion, freedom of movement, freedom of association, freedom to choose a job,
the right of women to be protected, etc… One of the major issues with the
Declaration was the previously stated Juridical Value of the Declaration. This is not
a legally binding declaration but is used effectively used as en ethical measuring
device to search inside countries. One of these examples is with the International
Monetary Fund; it is extremely normal and almost mandatory to include a
restriction for loans that expressly says that the countries that receive the loans
have to maintain a good Human Rights Index.
All these Human Rights axes that have been mentioned are perfect on paper, it is
your obligation to further investigate about them and find any problems you or
your country has with them. The Topic of this committee is to find better ways to
implement all these Human Rights. Some helpful questions for you to ask are:
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What problems can be found with these declarations?
What are my country’s declarations about Human Rights?
How is the Human Rights index on my country?
How is it possible to maintain Human Rights from being violated?
Why would a country violate Human Rights?
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Which are the countries that respect more Human Rights and which are the
countries that respect them the least?
What are some cases of violations of Human Rights in my country? In
Colombia?
Suggested Reading:
1. http://www2.ohchr.org/spanish/law/ccpr.htm
2. http://www.juridicas.unam.mx/publica/librev/rev/derhum/cont/22/pr/p
r19.pdf
3. http://www.cndh.org.mx/sites/all/fuentes/documentos/cartillas/7%20ca
rtilla%20pacto%20internacional%20der%20económicos%20sociales%20c
ulturales.pdf
4. http://www.un.org/es/documents/udhr/
5. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
If there`s anything you need, please contact us. We will be glad to help you.
Contact Information:
María José Figueroa: [email protected]
Felipe Charry: [email protected]