CONTENTS Message from the Chairs 3 United Nations Human Rights Council 4 Topic A: Human rights violations in the use of new espionage technologies 7 Introduction 7 History 8 Legal Aspect of Espionage 10 Consequences and Effects 10 Current Situation 11 Points a Resolution Must Address 15 Conclusion 15 Suggestions for Further Research 16 Bibliography 18 Topic B: Assessing human rights violations in combating illegal immigration 20 Introduction 20 History 22 Legal Aspect 24 Consequences and Effects 24 Current Situation 25 Points a Resolution Must Address 28 Conclusion 29 Suggestions for Further Research 29 Bibliography 32 Conference information 33 Position papers 34 Contact details 35 MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRS Dear Delegates, I warmly welcome you to the United Nations Human Rights Council of the 15th annual LIMUN conference. With one of the most interesting and happening agendas, I am really looking forward for this committee and your active participation in it. This document will just guide you as how to begin your research and collect information, however your actual preparation and final research prior to the conference should not be limited to this. It is expected that you will prepare thoroughly and contribute to a very productive debate in the committee with full knowledge about agenda, foreign policy, basic rules and procedures and parliamentary decorum. Snehadeep Kayet, Director Email- [email protected] Dear Delegates, A very warm welcome to the committee of United Nations Human Rights and congratulations for being selected at LIMUN’14. My name is John Farfal and I shall be the assistant director for this committee. This year UNHRC will discuss and debate over agendas of human rights violation for combating illegal immigration and espionage. With these two up-to-date and happening agendas, we expect you to research well and bring up all your knowledge, enthusiasm and MUNing skills. You can revert back to us for any queries. Hoping to see you all soon, John Farfal, Assistant Director Email- [email protected] UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL The Human Rights Council 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 thematic human rights issues and situations that require its attention throughout the year. It meets at the UN Office in Geneva. The Council is made up of 47 United Nations Member States which are elected by the UN General Assembly. The Human Rights Council replaced the former United Nations Commission on Human Rights. The Human Rights Council was created by the United Nations General Assembly on 15th March, 2006 by Resolution 60/251. Its first session took place from 19 to 30 June, 2006. The Council’s membership is based on equitable geographical distribution. Seats are distributed as follows: 1. African States: 13 seats 2. Asia-Pacific States: 13 seats 3. Latin American and Caribbean States: 8 seats 4. Western European and other States: 7 seats 5. Eastern European States: 6 seats. Members of the Council serve for a period of three years and are not eligible for immediate re-election after serving two consecutive terms. Mandates and Powers of the UNHRC Following resolution 60/251 passed by the UN General Assembly, the Human Rights Council is responsible for promoting universal respect for protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms. It has the power to address situations of violations as well as make recommendations to United Nations General Assembly for further development of international law in the field of human rights. The Human Rights Council took over the roles and responsibilities of the Commission of Human Rights relating to the work of Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights as decided by the General Assembly in its resolution 48/141 of 20 December, 1993. Human Rights Bodies Following are the different human rights monitoring mechanism in the United Nations supported by Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): Charter Based Bodies Human Rights Council Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council Human Rights Council Complaint Procedure Note: The Human Rights Council is a separate entity from OHCHR. This distinction originates from the separate mandates they were given by the General Assembly. Nevertheless, OHCHR provides substantive support for the meetings of the Human Rights Council, and follow-up to the Council's deliberations. Treaty- based bodies Human Rights Committee (CCPR) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Committee against Torture (CAT) Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, all UN Member States have ratified at least one core international human rights treaty, and 80 percent have ratified four or more. There are currently ten human rights treaty bodies, which are committees of independent experts. Nine of these treaty bodies monitor implementation of the core international human rights treaties while the tenth treaty body, the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, established under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, monitors places of detention in States parties to the Optional Protocol. For further information, follow the link below: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/Pages/HumanRightsBodies.aspx TOPIC A: HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN THE USE OF NEW ESPIONAGE TECHNOLOGIES Introduction Espionage in very simple terms is the act of spying on the government or transferring state secrets on behalf of a foreign country. It basically implies to collection of military, political and industrial data of one nation for another’s benefit. Espionage can neatly be categorized into political and industrial/economic espionage. Both of them have been criminalized by domestic laws of many countries, yet industrial espionage serves as a ‘smart business strategy’ for many of them. While political espionage violates the ‘Right to Privacy’ of an individual/ state whereas industrial espionage violates property rights. In recent years, espionage activity has been greatly aided by technological advances, especially in the areas of radio signal interception and high-altitude photography. Often cyber espionage is the most suitable term used for it. Cyber espionage is probably the most modified form of espionage and also among the biggest challenges which today the globe is facing with respect to international peace, nuclear security and even economic prosperity. There have been many recent events where news and intelligence agencies around the globe have reported suspicious cyber activities of certain governments with a probable motive of extracting highly specific information from the target countries. Cyber espionage and its increasing activities have been directly connected with agencies like MISS (Ministry of State Security) of China, NSA (National Security Agency) of the United States of America, GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) of United Kingdom to the ISI (Inter State Intelligence) of Pakistan. There have been many notable incidents and reports published by international news agencies which have openly quoted USA and other western countries committing extra territorial surveillance in the United Nations during the post Iraq War in 2003 including intercepting communications between UN diplomats and former UN Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan. Countries like Cyprus have been blamed to illegally extract more than sixty five thousand UN documents containing vital information about the Turkey Cyprus dispute issue. In one of the most recent United Nations General Assembly Plenary Sessions, many diplomats have commented on espionage as “a rampant violation of sovereignty and interference into internal matters as insulting and unbearable”. A report from the news agency of Thompson Reuters dated 27th November, 2013 states the recent measures which the United Nations General Assembly’s third committee dealing with human rights has adopted to end excessive electronic surveillance and spying in the foreign states. It is assumed that the draft resolution put to vote in this committee is the first of its kind in the framework of the United Nations which will protect the rights of people offline as well as online. Many independent media sources believe that former NSA agent Edward Snowden’s leaked information about the global spying program of the NSA and also information shared with the website of Wikileaks is one of the firm reasons which have not only sparked international outrage but have also questioned the legitimacy of the NSA and its purpose for such acts of extra territorial surveillance. History Espionage and its origins date back to the American civil war when Thomas Knowlton was the first known American spy. From that period to the present age of technology, espionage has come a long way with many reformations and more advancement. As being mentioned earlier, cyber espionage is one of them. One of the most earliest and notorious cases of cyber espionage was discovered in