UN Human Rights Council
UN Human Rights Council (HRC)
Lisa Wang, Director
Dear Delegates,
Welcome to Harvard Model UN’s 59th Session and the Human Rights Council of 2012! My name is Lisa Wang, and I am very excited to meet you next January here in Boston. I am from central New Jersey, but I went to school for a while in Kunming, China, where my extended family still lives. I got involved in Model UN during sophomore year of high school, travelling to conferences in New York City and attending local ones as well. I am currently a member of the Class of 2014, planning to concentrate in Government (a synthesis of international relations and political science) with a secondary in Ethnic Studies. While I am not involved in the Model UN program, I like to run, take ballet classes, and tutor Harvard employees and Boston natives for the U.S. citizenship exam.
I want to take a moment to congratulate you for making it to next year’s conference and assure you that we have an exciting nine months ahead of us. This January, you will find yourself in a relatively new, engaging, and dynamic committee that was born from the original UN Commission on Human Rights in 2006. The topics which we will be delving into are: human rights implications in the military use of children and human rights in prison systems. The military use of children is a complex issue that includes not only child soldiers, but also delves on issues of landmines, trafficking, and sovereignty. Discussing the abuse of human rights in prison systems will give you the chance to bring a traditionally domestic issue into international lens and couch it in terms of universal ethical standards. While both issues have been thoroughly addressed, there remains much in both areas that needs to be resolved through further debate – and that’s where you come in.
As the conference approaches, I encourage you to familiarize yourself with your country’s history and policy on both human rights issues in general, and the topics we will be discussing. The study guide that will be released in a few weeks is a good place to start, but try to seek additional information. The topics we will be engaging in are very dynamic, and it helps to have the most up-to-date information in order to facilitate debate.
Please do not hesitate to email me with any questions or concerns you may have about the conference, the committee, the topics, or life at Harvard – or simply just to introduce yourselves! I would love to hear from each and every one of you before the conference begins so I will be familiar with you before meeting you in person. I hope you are as excited as I am about HMUN 2012, and I cannot wait to meet you and get started on our debate! Take care, and see you at Opening Ceremonies!
Best regards,
Lisa Wang
About Me
Class Year: 2014
Concentration: Government
Hometown: East Brunswick, NJ
Favorite Place: Honolulu, HI
Favorite Food: Frozen Yogurt
Favorite MUN Moment: When the crisis staff woke us up at 2AM at an unnamed conference to tell us that our Security Council crisis that year would be a forest fire. Delegates proceeded to draft resolutions on the rights of mountain gorillas.
Why did you choose these topics? They are highly relevant in today’s international climate, applicable to many regions, very nuanced and intricate, and yet sufficiently controversial to be able to spark a real debate between blocs of delegates.
Some advice for new delegates: If you have the time, read a book or two on your topics. The extra insight will give you a huge advantage and remove any fears you have about talking. It worked for me and I continue to do it every conference!
HMUN is the best because…Our crises are way hotter than forest fires. And you don’t have to be in the SA to get them.
Topics
Topic Area A: Military Use of Children
The use of children in armed conflict as soldiers, porters, sex slaves, guards, spies, and land mine testers is rampant and pervasive. Currently, it affects more than a million children in countries around the world, not only perpetuating violence, but also violating several human rights documents passed by this Council and other bodies in the course of the 20th century.
Topic Area B: Prison Systems
In civil and military criminal systems around the world, prisoners form a subgroup that experience some of the worst human rights abuses that are rarely brought to national or international attention. Not only has torture become a standard of use in even the most advanced democracies, but religious, health, and educational rights (or privileges, depending on how rights are defined) are frequently abridged. In an age of terrorism, it becomes vital to decide once and for all where the HRC will stand on this important issue of an international bill of rights for prisoners.