Dear Delegates

Dear Delegates,

It is a pleasure to welcome you to the 2015 Montessori Model United Nations Conference.

The following pages intend to guide you in the research of the topics that will be debated at MMUN 2015 in committee sessions. Please note this guide only provides the basis for your investigation. It is your responsibility to find as much information necessary on the topics and how they relate to the country you represent. Such information should help you write your Position Paper, where you need to cite the references in the text and finally list all references in the Modern Language Association (MLA} format.

The more information and understanding you acquire on the two topics, the more you will be able to influence the Resolution writing process through debates [formal and informal caucuses], and the MMUN experience as a whole. Please feel free to contact us if and when you face challenges in your research or formatting your Position Papers. We encourage you to learn all you can about your topics first and then study your country with regard to the two selected topics. Please remember that both committee members need to be well versed and ready to debate both topics.

Enjoy researching and writing your Position Papers.

We look forward to seeing you at the Conference!

MMUN Secretariat Team [email protected]

THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

The Human Rights Council (HRC) is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe and for addressing situations of human rights violations and make recommendations on them. It has the ability to discuss all human rights issues and situations that require its attention. The Council is made up of 47 United Nation Member States which are elected by the UN General Assembly. The main responsibilities of the HRC are:

• To promote universal respect for the protection of all human rights; • To address abuses of human rights, including significant and organized; • To promote human rights education and learning, advisory services, technical assistance, and capacity building—that is, to help a country gain an understanding of its responsibilities on the issue of human rights, specifically children;

• To serve as a forum for dialogue on all human rights • To take on a universal periodic review of every UN member state's fulfillment of its human rights obligations and commitments; and

• To contribute, through dialogue and cooperation, toward the stoppage of human rights violations and respond quickly to human rights emergencies.

Source: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/HRCIndex.aspx

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Assisting Myanmar With Human Rights Issue

Topic Background

In 1988 the military took control of the government of Myanmar. The military was a junta, which controls people by using force. The United Nations responded to this takeover by putting sanctions on the military. After many years, these sanctions forced Myanmar to make many changes. These changes included the release of one of the world’s and country’s most important peace activist, Aung San Suu-Kyi in 2010 and democratic elections in 2010 and 2012. Aung San Suu-Kyi is the pro-democracy leader of the country and Nobel Prize winner. The hope was that these changes would result in even more democratic reforms throughout the country and the end of Myanmar abusing the human rights of the people within the country. However, the human right abuses have continued because the Myanmar government’s treatment of one of minority groups in Myanmar, the Rohngya. The Myanmar government does not recognize the Rohingya people as citizens of the country. They are forced to work in labor camps and denied their basic human rights. Because of this increase in human right abuses against the Rohingya, there is concern in the United Nations that Myanmar will stop with democratic reforms and go back to the country that was once called the worst abuser of human rights.

In the past, Myanmar was highly criticized for its use of child soldiers. Children, as young as 10 years old, are forced to serve in the Myanmar military, known as the Tatmadaw. The military will go to busy places in Myanmar and kidnap children who will likely never see their families again. In some cases, the family will sell their child to military recruiters for less than $50 because they are so poor. The United Nations has worked extremely hard to end the use of child soldiers in Myanmar. After five years of negotiations, the Myanmar government signed an agreement with the United Nations in 2012 to end the use of child soldiers. The UN gave the Myanmar government 18 months to take the steps needed to stop using children in the military. While the Myanmar government has released many children from its military, the United Nations says that children continue to be illegally recruited from poor families.

Myanmar has made great progress towards democratic and human right reforms since the democratic elections of 2010. In 2013, a United Nations General Assembly resolution welcomed the progress made in Myanmar and encouraged it to take further steps to protect the human rights of its people. Unfortunately, in 2014 the Myanmar government has not taken the recommendations of the General Assembly seriously. Many journalists and human right defenders have been jailed many times by the Myanmar government. This has caused the United Nations to question if Myanmar is serious about protecting people’s human rights and freedom.1

Past International Action

The United Nations, including the Human Rights Council, has created many resolutions urging Myanmar to end its abuse of human rights. Specifically, the UN has regularly called for the Myanmar government to end its abuses of the Rohingya people. Recently, the international community held an Asian summit in Myanmar where many leaders called for Myanmar to end its violence against minorities, specifically the Rohingya.

As mentioned earlier, the Myanmar government signed an agreement with the United Nations to end its use of child soldiers. UN organizations such as UNICEF help the Myanmar government with its commitment to end

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using children in the military. Unfortunately, the international community has threatened to reapply sanctions on Myanmar if it does not do more to honor its agreement. The UN and countries such as the United States have applied economic sanctions on Myanmar when it has failed to end the abuse of human rights against its people.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have helped bring awareness to the human right abuses in Myanmar. Continued engagement from NGOs, the UN, and the Human Rights Council have helped keep Myanmar on its agreed path towards democracy and the end of human right abuses against people such as the Rohingya and the use of child soldiers.

Possible Solutions

The United Nations actively works to help improve the lives of people who are not in a situation to help themselves. The Human Rights Council is responsible for identifying and holding countries responsible for the treatment of its people. The delegates of this committee will need consider the importance of a country’s responsibility to protect the rights of its people. If a country cannot respect the rights of its people, what is the responsibility of the international community? The rights of a child and ethnic minorities are two of the most important things to consider when this committee discusses possible solutions to the situation in Myanmar. Remember that while considering possible solutions that Myanmar is an extremely poor country and will likely not have the financial resources to make large immediate changes.

The people of Myanmar desperately need the delegates of the Human Rights Council to work together in order to provide them with the same human rights that every person has the right to enjoy.

Further Research

Guiding Questions

1. What is your country’s position on the situation in Myanmar? 2. What is the responsibility of Myanmar towards its people? 3. As someone who is around the same age, what can you imagine is the impact on a child who is forced to serve in the military at the age of 10? Research Sources

• The United Nations Human Rights Council: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/HRCIndex.aspx

• UNICEF Statistics on Myanmar: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/myanmar_statistics.html

• Human Rights Watch: http://www.hrw.org/home

• Human Rights Watch: Myanmar: http://www.hrw.org/burma

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• Child Soldiers in Myanmar: http://www.child- soldiers.org/country_reader.php?id=4

• Rohingya: Stateless and Unwanted: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/spotlight/rohingya/

• Myanmar: Amnesty International: http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/myanmar

• UN General Assembly Resolutions on Myanmar: http://www.un.org/sg/srsg/myanmar/peace-talks/

1 (International) http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA16/027/2014/en/27b5b343-9168-48d7-828b- 23a7a255097c/asa160272014en.pdf

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