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Introduction to the Committee: The Human Rights Council (UNHRC) was established by the General Assembly in 2006. It consists of 47 members elected for three-year terms and their headquarters are located in Geneva, Switzerland.

They have sessions three times a year in March, June, and September. The UNHRC is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe and for addressing situations of human rights violations and make recommendations on them. It addresses important human rights issues in specific countries of the entire world to guarantee a fair life for every citizen. For example, freedom of association and assembly, freedom of expression, freedom of belief and religion, women’s rights, the rights of migrants, and the rights of racial and ethnic minorities. While the UN has adopted the broad goal of addressing human rights in the UN Charter, UNHRC serves as the main forum for dialogue and intergovernmental cooperation on a variety of human rights issues and situations that require its attention throughout the year. It replaced the former Commission on Human Rights, which operated from 1946 to 2006.

Topic A: Plight of Human Rights in .

Introduction: The Yemen Crisis started in 2011. The conflict has its roots in the failure of a political transition supposed to bring stability to Yemen following an uprising that forced its longtime authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to hand over power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, in 2011.

As president, Mr Hadi struggled to deal with a variety of problems, including attacks by jihadists, a separatist movement in the south, and the continuing loyalty of security personnel to Saleh, as well as corruption, unemployment and food insecurity.

The , which champions Yemen's Zaidi Shia Muslim minority and fought a series of rebellions against Saleh during the previous decade, took advantage of the new president's weakness by taking control of their northern heartland of Saada province and neighboring areas.

Disillusioned with the transition, many ordinary Yemenis - including Sunnis - supported the Houthis and in late 2014 and early 2015, the rebels took over .

The stalemate has produced an unrelenting humanitarian crisis, with at least 8.4 million people at risk of starvation and 22.2 million people - 75% of the population - in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN. Severe acute malnutrition is threatening the lives of almost 400,000 children under the age of five.

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Human Rights Violations: Due to lack of proper management and law enforcement, human rights had essentially gone down the drain. The multiple violations included: unlawful or arbitrary killings, including political assassinations; forced disappearances; ; arbitrary arrest and detention; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; political prisoners; arbitrary infringements on privacy rights; criminalization of libel, censorship, and site blocking; substantial interference with freedom of assembly and association; the inability of citizens to choose their government through free and fair elections; pervasive corruption; recruitment and use of child soldiers; and criminalization of consensual same sex-sexual conduct. 1. Unjust and Unlawful Killings: Mainly, one of the most pertinent violation of human rights remains to be arbitrary and unlawful killings. There were numerous reports that current or former members of the security forces committed arbitrary or unlawful killings. Politically motivated killings by non-state actors, including Houthi forces and terrorist and insurgent groups claiming affiliation with AQAP or ISIS, also increased significantly during the year. Following the assassination of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in December 2017, Houthis actively targeted members of his political party, the General People's Congress (GPC). Press reported that during the year Houthis either abducted or executed hundreds of GPC members in a crackdown on Saleh loyalists.

2. Increase in Missing Persons and Kidnappings: There were reports of politically motivated disappearances and kidnappings of individuals associated with political parties, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and media outlets critical of government security forces and the Houthi movement. Houthis and their allies sometimes detained civilian family members of government security officials. Non-state actors targeted and detained foreigners, including those believed to be working for foreign diplomatic missions. The government’s National Commission to Investigate Alleged Violations to Human Rights (NCIAVHR) documented 3,697 cases of arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearance committed by parties to the armed conflict from February 1 to July 31. Of these, 3,036 cases were committed by Houthi militias.

3. Derogatory and Unfair Punishments: Due to the lack of implementation of law and lack of fair trial, the criminals are often given punishments that are not included in the law. Even though the constitution prohibits torture and other such abuses. Yet still, the law lacks a comprehensive definition of torture. However, there are provisions allowing prison terms of up to 10 years for acts of torture. During 2018, UNOHCHR continued to receive information concerning ill treatment and torture of detainees at the Political Security Organization (PSO) and the National Security Bureau (NSB), as well as the Criminal Investigation Department and in the Habrah and al-Thawra prisons in Sana’a, as well as other facilities under Houthi control. Torture and other forms of mistreatment were common in Houthi detention facilities and by Houthis, according to NCIAVHR, international NGOs, and media reporting. An HRW report released in September documented 16 cases in which Houthis treated detainees brutally after arbitrarily arresting them, often in ways that amounted to torture, including whippings and hanging on walls with arms shackled behind the back. A December 7 AP report documented numerous cases of torture, including hanging prisoners by their genitals and burning them with acid. In some cases,

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Houthi minders would torture detainees to obtain information or confessions. An advocacy group associated with families of detainees alleged that 126 individuals died from torture in Houthi detention since 2014.

4. Bad Conditions of the Detention Centers: Prison conditions were harsh and life threatening and did not meet international standards. The ROYG exercised limited control over prison facilities. In past years, government officials and NGOs identified overcrowding, lack of professional training for corrections officials, poor sanitation, inadequate access to justice, intermingling of pretrial and convicted inmates, lack of effective case management, lack of funding, and deteriorating infrastructure as problems within the 18 central prisons and 25 reserve prisons (also known as pretrial detention centers). Without special accommodations, authorities held prisoners with physical or mental disabilities with the general population. The UNOHCHR reported during the year that conditions of detention facilities deteriorated, including overcrowding, damaged buildings, and shortages of food and medicine.

5. Denial of Fair and Free Trial: The UNOHCHR reported the criminal justice system had become largely defunct in the areas where pro-government forces reclaimed control, with Coalition-backed forces filling the void. In most cases, as documented by the UNOHCHR, detainees were not informed of the reasons for their arrest, were not charged, were denied access to lawyers or a judge, and were held incommunicado for prolonged or indefinite periods. The constitution provides for an independent judiciary, but under Houthi control, the judiciary was weak and hampered by corruption, political interference, and lack of proper legal training. Judges’ social and political affiliations and occasional bribery influenced verdicts. The government’s lack of capacity and reluctance at times to enforce court orders, especially outside of cities, undermined the credibility of the judiciary. Criminals threatened and harassed members of the judiciary to influence cases.

6. Lack of Health Care Facilities: Yemen's health system has all but collapsed, while the world's largest cholera outbreak has killed thousands. An outbreak of cholera began in Yemen in October 2016, and is ongoing as of April 2019. In February and March 2017, the outbreak seemed to decline during a wave of cold weather, but the number of cholera cases resurged in April 2017. As of October 2018, there have been more than 1.2 million cases reported, and more than 2,500 people—58% children—have died in the Yemen cholera outbreak, which the United Nations has deemed the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Vulnerable to water-borne diseases before the conflict, 16 months went by before a program of oral vaccines was started. The cholera outbreak was worsened as a result of the ongoing civil war and the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen against the Houthi movement that began in March 2015. Airstrikes damaged hospital infrastructure, and water supply and sanitation in Yemen were affected by the ongoing conflict. The government of Yemen stopped funding public health in 2016; sanitation workers were not paid by the government, causing garbage to accumulate, and healthcare workers either fled the country or were not paid.

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7. Lack of Health Care Facilities: The U.N. children's fund reports the country's ongoing civil war is keeping millions of children out of the classroom. More than three years of fighting between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels is having a devastating impact on children's health and well-being. The U.N. reports more than 11 million children or 80 percent of the country's children are dependent upon humanitarian aid. Another major casualty of the war is children's education. The U.N. children's fund says the education sector is on the brink of collapse because of conflict, political divisions and chronic underdevelopment. Yemen suffers from a shortage of learning facilities. UNICEF reports more than 2,500 schools have been damaged or destroyed by the war. Many schools also are being used as shelters for displaced people and some have been taken over by armed groups. The agency warns children who are out of school run many dangers. It notes boys are at risk of being used as child soldiers. It estimates more than 2,600 children have been recruited by all armed groups.

Questions a Resolution Must Answer: • How can there be peace and stability brought in the area by reducing armed conflict? • How can the lack of education and sanitation facilities be countered? • Even after the several resolutions being passed, why is the issue still pertinent? • Why have the previous resolutions failed? • Why operations have by UN organizations such as: UNICEF and UNHCR failed, or haven’t been able to cater to all the problems? • Should militias involved in conflict be punished? • Why are UN peacekeeping forces important? • Should the UN peacekeeping forces be punished for their crimes in these areas? • How to establish economic safety and stability in the region?

Topic B: Addressing the Labor Rights Crisis in the Gulf States.

Introduction: The number of migrant workers in the was estimated by ESCWA to be around 25 million in 2010, the highest proportion of migrant workers in the world. Foreigners form a majority of the population in all of the GCC states apart from and are above 90 percent in the UAE and Qatar. It is appalling to consider that such a large number of people are entering a labor migration system that carries such a significant detrimental risk to their long-term physical and psychological well-being. Despite their size, migrant workers have limited options for protection or influence under the Sponsorship system.

The Kafala (Sponsorship) System emerged in the 1950’s to regulate the relationship between employers and migrant workers in many countries in West Asia, mainly the Gulf countries. It remains the routine practice in

UNHRC the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the (UAE), and also in the Arab states of Jordan and Lebanon. The sponsorship system’s economic objective was to provide temporary, rotating labor that could be rapidly brought into the country in economic boom and expelled during less affluent periods.

Under the a migrant worker’s immigration status is legally bound to an individual employer or sponsor (kafeel) for their contract period. The migrant worker cannot enter the country, transfer employment nor leave the country for any reason without first obtaining explicit written permission from the kafeel. The worker must be sponsored by a kafeel in order to enter the destination country and remains tied to this kafeel throughout their stay. The kafeel must report to the immigration authorities if the migrant worker leaves their employment and must ensure the worker leaves the country after the contract ends, including paying for the flight home. Often the kafeel exerts further control over the migrant worker by confiscating their passport and travel documents, despite legislation in some destination countries that declares this practice illegal. This situates the migrant worker as completely dependent upon their kafeel for their livelihood and residency. The power that the Kafala system delegates to the sponsor over the migrant worker, has been likened to a contemporary form of slavery. The kafeel meets their labour needs in the context of immense control and unchecked leverage over workers creating an environment ripe for human rights violations and erosion of labour standards.

Lack of Provision of Permanent Citizenship: The Kafala system serves a social purpose by emphasizing the temporary nature of a migrant workers presence in the country, so that even if the worker is present for a long time, she/he doesn’t acquire the rights of citizenship, with its alleged negative impact on social cohesiveness etc. The restrictive immigration policies of the Kafala system act in theory to limit the stay of overseas workers to the duration of their contract. Non- compliance by both employers and migrant workers in response to demand for labor has led to a significant minority of long-term or permanent residents, along with a significant number of second-generation migrants and development in irregular employment. Thus, in reality migrant workers may remain for years vulnerable in this situation living with the threat of unpaid wages, arrest, detention and ultimately deportation should they complain or leave. If the migrant worker decides to leave the workplace without the employer’s written consent they may be charged with ‘absconding’, which is a criminal offense. Even if a worker leaves in response to abuse they remain at risk of being treated as a criminal rather than receiving appropriate victim support. The migrant worker is unable to leave the country given this would require the employer’s consent and possession of their passport.

Lack of Protection and Complaint Facilities: all the GCC countries and Lebanon the Ministry of Interior rather than the Ministry of Labor is responsible for managing their employment in addition to the sponsor. This structure contributes to the securitization of migration and denies migrant workers the cover afforded by the protections of domestic labor law and the opportunity of entering a labor dispute process to address their complaints. The destination countries governments’ focus is on the costly, bureaucratic flawed restrictive immigration regulations rather than the plight of the migrant workers tied to a sponsor.

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Sending countries and recruiters contribute to the Kafala system by providing the workers despite the well- documented reports of abuse and exploitation of migrant workers. Criticism of their role has led to questions about their ability to provide decent employment opportunities domestically, to enable workers to choose not to work overseas under the Kafala system. The dehumanizing threat that the migrant worker can be ‘replaced by somebody else’ is heard from recruiters, kafeels, and destination countries’ officials. The fear that this claim might prove to be true is felt and expressed by civil society members and sending countries officials. This emanates from a labor market debate over whether migrant workers could be recruited from alternate countries, regions or whether GCC policies of nationalization of the workforce (in response to the emergence of unemployment among young nationals) will lead to a decline in demand for migrant workers. For the migrant worker this becomes a means to secure their compliance with the oppressive nature of the Kafala system in managing their labor migration.

Lack of Minimum Wage Law: Most of the Gulf states have not adopted any minimum wage requirements, and migrant workers often fall within the category of “low pay” labor. In 2012, reported that Bahraini migrant workers comprised 98% of the “low pay” labor group and most of the migrant workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch earned between BD40 and BD100 ($106 and $265) as their monthly salary. However, in 2016 Kuwait became the first Gulf state to set a minimum wage for domestic work and is set at KD60 (approximately $200) per month.

Another issue concern delayed or absent salary payments. For example, in Oman it was reported that falling oil prices and the nationalization program not only led to a drop in new projects in the oil sector, but also to stranded migrant workers who often had not been paid for six months, who did not have employment and whose work permits had expired in the meantime. Some of these workers went on to find new employment, and without the permission of their previous employer, lost their work permit and thus became undocumented. Both the delayed and absent salary payments were found to be the greatest violations of labor laws during inspections in Oman in 2013.

Unfair Deportations: In recent years, Gulf states have implemented policies of large-scale deportations of both undocumented and documented migrant workers, for a variety of reasons. According to Kuwaiti media, 14,400 migrants were deported from Kuwait between January and April 2016. In 2016, a total of 29,000 migrants were deported from Kuwait, in comparison to about 25,000 migrants in 2015. In 2013, almost a million migrants were deported from Saudi Arabia, according to Migrant-Rights.Org, in order to boost employment of Saudi nationals and protect national security. In the same year, 7,346 undocumented migrants were deported from Bahrain. In 2016 reportedly more than 600 migrants were deported from Oman in just seven day.

Migrant workers are reportedly often deported for minor transgressions, such as traffic violations, barbecuing in public spaces, complaints about working conditions, organizing strikes or violations of the terms of the residency and work permits, The arrested migrants often only spend three days to a week in prison before the actual deportation, leaving them without time or means to appeal the deportation decision. Nevertheless, these mass deportations still lead to overcrowded prisons, human rights organizations have reported. It is

UNHRC argued that these mass deportations are part of the Gulf States’ policies to increase employment of their nationals and to improve national security.

Lack of Legal Remedies: Although access to legal remedies is provided by the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, and the 1975 Migrant Workers Convention (Supplementary Provisions), these conventions have not been ratified by the Gulf states. Nevertheless, access to legal redress for labor rights violations is provided in some Gulf states, the accessibility of these remedies in practice is often hampered by multiple factors.

One set of issues relates to language and mobility barriers, which hinder migrant workers’ access to institutions, information and services. Many migrant workers do not speak enough Arabic to understand the information needed to receive redress, while the lack of public transportation and the long working hours impede the mobility of migrant workers. In this regard, the reportedly existing perception that the courts will favor nationals over the migrant workers does not improve the accessibility of remedies.

Actions Taken: Multiple initiatives have been undertaken on the local, regional and international level, by both non- governmental organizations as well as governmental organizations. Responses from international organizations, civil society organizations, trade unions concerning the protection of migrant workers have increased, as have initiatives to report migrant workers' rights violations.

International Level: The UN has passed a number of documents and resolutions catering to this particular issue in general.

The International Convention is one of these resolutions. It’s based on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families is a United Nations multilateral treaty governing the protection of migrant workers and families. Signed on 18 December 1990, it entered into force on 1 July 2003 after the threshold of 20 ratifying States was reached in March 2003. The Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) monitors implementation of the convention, and is one of the seven UN-linked human rights treaty bodies. However, it’s problematic when the GCC fails to ratify these documents.

The second document presented is the Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975. Its s an International Labor Organization Convention for the rights of migrant workers. However, unlike the United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, there are restrictions of migrant worker to be applied on Article 11.

On the international level, several large NGOs, including Human Rights Watch and , have frequently reported on different issues regarding migrant workers' rights. Human Rights Watch has reported, inter alia, on different foreign workers' rights abuses, on specific vulnerable categories of migrant workers, and on new policies and legislation implemented by the Gulf states aimed at protecting migrant workers. Amnesty International has produced similar reports, recently focusing strongly on the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The International Organization for Migration has also published reports on migrant

UNHRC workers, covering both the Asian sending states and Gulf receiving states Although the United Nations has produced independent reports on some issues with migrant workers' rights in the Gulf, the International Labor Organization is the main agency focused on the position migrant workers. One of their projects, introduced in 2016, is the Regional Fair Migration Project in the Middle East, to promote national policies which are fair to migrants, to assist states with the implementation of migrant-friendly legislation and to improve the working conditions of migrant workers.

National Level: One important NGO working on the regional level is Migrant-Rights.org, an organization created in 2007 which draws attention to abuses of migrant workers in the Gulf region, works together with governments to effect legislative and policy changes, informs migrants workers and gives them a voice. The organization publishes regular reports on migrant workers' rights violations, on legislative changes within the Gulf states, and on personal stories from migrant workers. They also provide detailed information, numbers and infographics. Additionally, they published a graph including all the different organizations and civil society groups they are connected with, including organizations for the general protection of migrant workers and location-specific organizations. Another organization is the Migrant Forum Asia, a regional network of NGOs, trade unions, associations and individuals created for the protection of migrant workers' rights and the promotion of their wellbeing. They have reported on multiple issues involving Asian migrant workers in the Gulf region.

One example of a national organization is Lawyers for Human Rights International, an India-based NGO which campaigns for the protection of Indian migrant workers overseas. One of the main objectives of the NGO is to raise awareness about human rights abuses taking place in the GCC. Furthermore, in 2003 the UAE chapter of the Migrante International was created, an alliance of Filipino migrant worker organizations across the world. The objectives of the organization are mainly to strengthen labor protection, and to increase penalties for recruitment agencies which violate Filipino laws and for employers who violate UAE labor laws. The organization additionally provides services such as training, legal advice, counseling and temporary shelter for Filipinos who experience abuse from their employers.

Questions a Resolution Must Answer: • What is the importance of this issue in the current status quo? • Why are workers motivated to risk their lives and come to gulf countries to establish a source of income? • Does discrimination of any sort exacerbate the issue? • Why is there a lack of legal remedies and how to counter that? • Should a minimum wage law apply to these migrant workers? • What is being done by the labor workers for their rights, themselves? • Why did previous UN resolutions fail to solve the crisis? • What is the role of Non-Governmental Organizations in this crisis?