Dartmouth Model United Nations April 5 - 7, 2019

UNHRC

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Dartmouth Model United Nations Conference

14th Annual Conference – April 5 – 7, 2019 Dartmouth College – Rockefeller Center – Hanover, NH 03755

E-mail: dartmun@dartmouth.edu - http://sites.dartmouth.edu/modelun

December 5, 2018 Dear Delegates: On behalf of the entire Dartmouth Model United Nations staff, I would like to welcome and thank you for registering for the fourteenth annual Dartmouth Model United Nations conference this April 2019. We have been working relentlessly since the end of last year’s conference to provide a better and more worthwhile Model U.N. experience for this spring’s delegates. DartMUN is a unique conference. We pair world-class delegations and dais staff members in smaller, more-interactive environments to facilitate an enriching experience for delegates of all skill levels. We believe DartMUN’s active, small committees ensure delegates feel comfortable immersing themselves in a competitive but supportive environment that encourages trial by error and participation. Furthermore, DartMUN’s well-trained staff is excited to work with your delegates this winter in committee to equip the next generation of college students with the skills to tackle complex global problems. This being said, Model United Nations is only meaningful when delegates are thoroughly prepared. To aid in your research preparation, your committee staff has spent hours researching, writing, and editing this Background Guide. The Background Guide serves as an introduction to your respective committee and an overview of the topics that you will be debating over the course of the conference. The Background Guide is intended to be a starting point for your research and is not, in itself, an adequate exposure to the complexities of your committee’s topics. To be prepared, each delegate should do further research and focus on processing information through the lens of their respective country or position. If you are having trouble digesting all the information, the Background Guide contains relevant discussion questions that break down the topics. Also, as questions or ideas arise, do not be shy in contacting your committee staff via e-mail. Committee staff are knowledgeable and can help you better understand a particular topic or how your country fits into a larger international debate. More often than not, discussing the problem with another person can open up more paradigms and viewpoints that may guide you throughout the brainstorming process. As in years past, all delegates are expected to write a brief position paper before the conference to synthesize all of their preparatory research and analysis. Please see the position paper guidelines on the conference website for specific information about content, format, etc. Committee staff will collect position papers at the beginning of the first committee session on Friday evening. Bring a hard copy because delegates who do not submit position papers will not be eligible for awards. I look forward to meeting you this coming spring. Sincerely, Lauren Bishop Secretary-General DartMUN XIV

Lauren Bishop Secretary-General

Shelley Wang

Director-General

Mila Escadajillo Chief of Staff

Brandon Zhou Charge d’Affaires

Clayton Jacques

Undersecretary-General of General Assembly

Daniel Bring

Undersecretary-General of Special Committees

Nishanth Chalasani

Undersecretary-General of Current Crises

Samuel Zarkower

Undersecretary-General of Future and Historical Crises

Bill Kosmidis

Undersecretary-General of Ad-Hoc

Alec Rossi

Director of Finance and Public Relations

Bethany David

Director of Technology

Shawdi Mehrvarzan Deputy Chief of Staff

DartMUN is a student-run, non-profit, all volunteer organization sponsored by

the Rockefeller Center for Public Policy.

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Dartmouth Model United Nations Conference

14th Annual Conference – April 5 – 7, 2019 Dartmouth College – Rockefeller Center – Hanover, NH 03755

E-mail: dartmun@dartmouth.edu - http://sites.dartmouth.edu/modelun Dear Delegates: Hi, my name is Chantal Elias and alongside Divya Kopalle we will be the Directors of the UNHRC committee. I am a freshman at Dartmouth and am so excited to dive into our committee with you. I am interested in peace and conflict studies and human rights around the world, so this committee hits right at my passions. I did MUN throughout high school and am thrilled to continue it at Dartmouth. Outside of MUN, I am a writer for The Dartmouth newspaper and a member of the Club Basketball Team. Hello! I’m Divya and I’m so excited to be co-chairing this committee in the spring. I’m a sophomore here at Dartmouth and I hail from Hanover, NH so I’m a native to these woods. I did MUN all through high school and I chaired at DartMUN last year—I love getting to know all you creative delegates and I can’t wait to see what you all come up with in April. I’m studying Computer Science and Human Centered Design here, and outside of class I am the photo editor for the school newspaper, I’m on the programming board, I do research at the Thayer School of Engineering, and I have my own radio show! To aid you in your preparation for the UNHRC committee, we have put together a background guide detailing the history and current status of both the Rohingya crisis and status of women in developing countries. Please note that the background guide is intended to only be a starting point for your research. Delegates are expected to perform independent research to gain an in-depth understanding of their country and the topics at hand. Although we will all be discussing the same two topics at the conference, each delegate will bring the specific lens of their country to the table. Therefore, we encourage you to conduct research through the lens of your specific country to better understand your position. We are so excited to welcome you to DartMUN XIV! It promises to be a wonderful committee and we cannot wait to work with each of you in committee. Have fun preparing, sink your teeth into some good research, and get ready for some great debate! Sincerely, Chantal Elias & Divya Kopalle

Lauren Bishop Secretary-General

Shelley Wang

Director-General

Mila Escadajillo Chief of Staff

Brandon Zhou Charge d’Affaires

Clayton Jacques

Undersecretary-General of General Assembly

Daniel Bring

Undersecretary-General of Special Committees

Nishanth Chalasani

Undersecretary-General of Current Crises

Samuel Zarkower

Undersecretary-General of Future and Historical Crises

Bill Kosmidis

Undersecretary-General of Ad-Hoc

Alec Rossi

Director of Finance and Public Relations

Bethany David

Director of Technology

Shawdi Mehrvarzan Deputy Chief of Staff

DartMUN is a student-run, non-profit, all volunteer organization sponsored by

the Rockefeller Center for Public Policy.

UNHRC DartMUN XIV

Committee Overview This meeting of the UNHRC will discuss the

pressing issues of the refugee crisis in

Myanmar as well as the status of women in

developing countries. As the United

Nation’s humanitarian watch group, it is our

responsibility to provide aid to those who

are oppressed and to ensure that the

humanity of every citizen is accounted for.

The Human Rights Council has the

opportunity to mediate discussions between

states, to provide humanitarian support, and

to mobilize member states to act. The

UNHRC cannot, however, move into a

country without the consent of the state—it

is against their sovereign rights. You have a

challenge, therefore, to find ways to make

the biggest amount of impact within the

limits of the UNHRC. The founding mission

of the UNHRC is to promote and protect

human rights around the world. It is

essential that all decisions are made in the

pursuit of these goals. Remember, it is not

always the most ‘headline-worthy’ decision

that is going to be the best outcome to the

advancement of human rights.

Topic A: Rohingya Crisis In Myanmar

Background Topic A is centered on the current refugee

crisis in Myanmar—the Rohingya people’s

current status in Myanmar, humanitarian

aid, and the repatriation of the Rohingya.

We encourage you to see beyond the

Myanmar military—Rohingya relationship

and use Burmese interests and international

relationships as tools to protect the ethnic

minority.

History of the Rohingya Buddhism is the predominant religion in

Myanmar, with 90% of the population

identifying as Buddhists. There is only a

small presence of religious minorities, one

Islam minority group being the Rohingya.

This religious divide is seen as the driving

force behind the persecution of the

Rohingya people by the military. The

animosity held towards the Rohingya dates

back to the late nineteenth century when the

colonial British government brought in

Indian labourers because they viewed the

Burmese as an inferior ethnic group. The

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Burmese responded to these insults with

nationalism, centered around their Buddhist

religion. It resulted in a strong dislike

towards the religious minority groups that

the British were favouring, such as the

Rohingya.

Myanmar gained independence in 1948 and

the military junta soon came to power in

1962. The government, run by the military,

began their discrimination against the

Rohingya. Utilizing the rhetoric that the

Rohingya were ‘illegal Bengali immigrants

who immigrated into the state during

colonial rule,’ the military proceeded to strip

the ethnic group of their citizenship. It is

understood that the Rohingya people

descend from Arab and Persian traders who

arrived in the land, now known as Myanmar,

more than one thousand years ago.

It is evident that the Burmese military has

long had a history of animosity against the

Rohingya. In 1978, this hostility turned into

violence with the launch of Operation Naga

Min to rid the nation of non-Buddhist

residents. In response to the seizure of their

land and the ceasing of food and security,

approximately 2,500 Rohingya fled into

Bangladesh.

Governmental Structure of Myanmar To understand the persecution of the

Rohingya people, it is imperative that you

understand the structure of the Myanmar

government. Myanmar is a parliamentary

republic with Aung San Suu Kyi serving as

the State Counsellor, a position akin to a

prime minister. Aung San Suu Kyi has very

little power in decision-making as the

military junta rules over the country with

immense force. Myanmar’s constitution

recognizes the commander-in-chief of the

Armed Forces as his own boss, one who

cannot be fired and does not need to report

to Aung San Suu Kyi. In essence, the power

of the military is not checked in any level of

government. The Constitution prevents the

military from facing persecution for past

crimes, allows the commander-in-chief to

nominate military candidates in both houses

of parliament, and to take over Sovereign

power in the event of a national emergency.

Current Persecution The 2015 election of the National League

for Democracy brought hope to the

international community that Myanmar was

turning over a new leaf. Unfortunately, this

optimism seemed to be too pre-emptive. The

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Burmese military still hold

the power to block any

amendments to the

Constitution and key laws.

One such law is the 1982

Citizenship Law, which

requires citizens to provide

evidence of an ancestral link

to Myanmar that dates, or

pre-dates 1823. For the

Rohingya, who immigrated

into the region far later, this

is not possible and thus their

Burmese citizenship is not

recognized. The government

has made it impossible for

the Rohingya to successfully

live in Myanmar, with

restrictions on marriage,

family planning,

employment, education, and

their freedom of movement.

It is important to note the

autonomy the Rohingya

have as a group - with their own language

and a robust culture. At the start of 2017,

there was reported to be around one million

Rohingya residing in Myanmar, with the

majority living in the Rakhine State.

The most recent wave of ethnic cleansing

towards the Rohingya began in 2017 with

renewed armed violence against the

Rohingya. In August, 2017 the Arakan

Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) took

responsibility for attacks against police

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posts. In response, the Burmese government

labelled as a terrorist organization and

utilized this definition as a means to destroy

Rohingya villages. Reports of burning of

entire villages, raping and abusing of

Rohingya women and girls, and the use of

arms became plentiful. The ethnic cleansing

of the Rohingya drove them out of Myanmar

and across the Bangladeshi border. The

United Nations has reported that the ethnic

cleansing occurring in Myanmar since 2017

has driven out nearly 700,000 Muslim

Rohingya into Bangladesh. The below figure

details the number of villages destroyed in

Rakhine State between August 25th to

September 25th, 2017.

The Rohingya have temporarily settled in

camps in the South of Bangladesh, with the

largest refugee camp in Kutapalong. As of

April 2018, there were 781,000 Rohingya

refugees living in nine camps. On top

of that is the 117,000 who fled

Myanmar but are living in surrounding host

communities. This is an ongoing crisis and

the Rohingya continue to live in fear and

limbo, without a place to call home.

Humanitarian Aid

The refugee status of the Rohingya in

Bangladesh is not a sustainable solution for

this crisis. The conditions in the refugee

camps are atrocious and do not provide a

humane standard of living for the Rohingya.

There is inadequate water supply, over-

crowding, mass disease, sexual violence,

and killings. Despite this, there have been

major improvements over the last year. A

large-scale vaccination program has been set

up, 47,639 temporary emergency latrines

were built, 100,000 people have been treated

for malnutrition, and 70% of the refugees

April 2018 geographic mapping of Bangladeshi refugee camps

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are receiving food aid. On March 16, 2018,

the United Nations launched a Joint

Response Plan for the Rohingya

Humanitarian Crisis, calling for US $951

million for humanitarian relief in the camps.

To date, only 32% of the $951 million has

been accounted for. The framework to

improve living conditions in the camps is

there, but the funding is not.

Returning to Myanmar Recently, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator

in Myanmar shared that the “[Rohingya]

cannot stay where they are and so it’s

important we try to do our best to bring

them home, but in a way that is voluntary,

dignified and safe and gives them a chance

to rebuild their lives.”

The Bangladeshi are having a hard time

sustaining the nearly 700,000 refugees living

within their border. Although there is aid

provided by organizations such as the

UNHRC, the Rohingya are still putting a

large strain on the Bangladeshi government.

Although the local communities in

Bangladesh have been welcoming to the

Rohingya, the two sub-districts housing the

Rohingya are some of the country’s poorest

communities. Thus, the Bangladeshi are

largely in favour of the Rohingya returning

home to Myanmar.

Despite the military junta not wanting the

Rohingya to remain a part of Myanmar, the

military also has concern over the

radicalization of the Rohingya in their

camps. The Bangladeshi refugee camps

serve as a meeting spot for the Rohingya to

re-establish their strong identity and self-

hood. As a result, the military junta fear that

the Rohingya will unite to become a

stronger force and potentially bring arms

back across the border in an act of

retaliation. In June 2018, the UNHRC,

UNDP and Myanmar signed a

Memorandum of Understanding to support

the creation of conditions that would be

suitable for the return of Rohingya refugees.

This Memorandum also gives the UNHRC

and UNDP access into the country to access

local conditions and help with the

repatriation of the Rohingya. The UNHRC

has continuously pushed for citizenship

rights to be granted to the Rohingya but

have been unsuccessfully thus far. Rohingya

leaders have expressed outrage at the

creation of the Memorandum without their

input and believe it fails to provide what

they need to feel safe returning: citizenship.

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There is also international unease about the

U.N.’s failure to address major issues such

as the Burmese government’s plan to

temporarily house the Rohingya in a transit

camp in northern Rakhine before being sent

to designated settlements.

Ideally, the Rohingya will be allowed to

return home and live peacefully in

Myanmar. It is not realistic for the Rohingya

to remain as refugees in southern

Bangladesh. However, there is concern that

if not monitored, the ethnic cleansing of the

Rohingya will start up once again.

International Response The United States, the United Kingdom,

Canada, France, Italy, Germany, and almost

all countries have condemned the ethnic

cleansing of the Rohingya. However, very

view countries have done anything to

intervene given the might of the Burmese

military and the complexity of the ethnic

relationships within the country. Many have

looked to the United States to intervene

militarily, but any planned military action

has been scrapped to date. The United States

has followed suit with the rest of the

countries that condemn the ethnic cleansing

but do not wish to get involved. As of

September 2017, the U.S. government had

contributed $32 million in aid towards

humanitarian support. China has been an

outspoken supporter of Myanmar in the

U.N. Security Council under the auspice of

national stability for the state.

Moving Forward The UNHRC has the ability to act a

mediating force between the Rohingya and

the military junta, and the state has looked

favourably upon the organization. We

encourage you to use the UNHRC access

into Myanmar to protect the Rohingya, but

also to recognize that there are certain

issues, such as citizenship, that will block all

attempts at negotiation.

Questions to Consider: 1. What systems can be put in place to

ensure the safety of Rohingyas once they

return to Myanmar? Are there certain

Burmese interests that could be called upon

to restrict their violence against the ethnic

minority?

2. Is repatriation the solution to the

Rohingya refugee crisis? Are there other

solutions that would pose less threats to the

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Rohingya but still relieve Bangladesh of

their burden?

3. How can the UNHRC work to include

issues such as citizenship and transit camps

in negotiations with Myanmar?

4. How can more funds and aid be secured

for the refugee camps in Bangladesh?

5. What actions can be taken to ensure law

and order exists in Rohingya refugee camps?

Sources:

United Nations. “Rohingya Emergency.” UNHCR, www.unhcr.org/en-us/rohingya-emergency.html.

“Myanmar – Bangladesh Refugee Crisis.” World Vision International, 24 Aug. 2018, www.wvi.org/emergency/myanmar-bangladesh-refugee-crisis.

“Myanmar and U.N. Agree to Aim for Repatriation of Rohingya.” The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia, The New York Times, 8 Oct. 2018, nyti.ms/2LMLTvg.

Quadir, Serajul. “Bangladesh, UNHCR Dispute Myanmar's Rohingya Repatriation Claim.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 15 Apr. 2018, www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-refugees/bangladesh-unhcr-dispute-myanmars-rohingya-repatriation-claim-idUSKBN1HL19C.

Ellis-Petersen, Hannah. “Myanmar and UN Announce Deal for Return of Rohingya.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 1 June 2018, www.theguardian.com/global/2018/jun/01/myanmar-and-un-announce-deal-for-safe-return-of-rohingya.

Rahman, Shaikh Azizur. “Rohingya Refugees Reject UN-Myanmar Repatriation Agreement.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 5 July 2018, www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/06/rohingya-refugees-reject-un-myanmar-repatriation-agreement.

“UN Agencies and Myanmar Ink Agreement, Setting Stage for Rohingya Return | UN News.” United Nations, United Nations, news.un.org/en/story/2018/06/1011491.

United Nations. “UNHCR and UNDP Sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Myanmar to Support the Creation of Conditions for the Return of Refugees from Bangladesh.” UNHCR, www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/press/2018/6/5b1787e64/unhcr-undp-sign-memorandum-understanding-mou-myanmar-support-creation-conditions.html.

“Myanmar Official Line: Rohingya Are Returning. But Cracks in That Story Abound.” The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia, The New York Times, 8 Oct. 2018, nyti.ms/2n6LlF6.

“What Forces Are Fueling Myanmar's Rohingya Crisis?” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, www.cfr.org/backgrounder/rohingya-crisis.

“Myanmar Rohingya: What You Need to Know about the Crisis.” BBC News, BBC,

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24 Apr. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41566561.

Topic B: Status Of Women In

Developing Nations

Violence Against Women

Background

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The United Nations Women’s organization

estimates that 35% of women worldwide

have “experienced either physical and/or

sexual intimate partner violence or sexual

violence by a non-partner at some point in

their lives” [1]. In countries that lack the

proper infrastructure to support women’s

rights, or in societies that view women as

‘lesser,’ this percentage is much higher.

Violence against women occurs in the form

of domestic violence, sexual assault, human

trafficking, to name just a few. This culture

of violence leaves women fearful,

objectified, and hopeless. There is not one

independent factor that perpetuates this

systematic violence, it is a combination of

biological factors, personal issues,

relationship quality, and a

community’s specific culture. It has also

been shown that lower socio-

economic individuals contribute to a

large proportion of violence in general.

According to the Indian Journal of Medical

Science “strong associations have been

found between domestic violence and low

household income, low educational level of

husband, consumption of alcohol and drugs

and witnessing domestic violence

during childhood” [2]. Gender based

violence has been such a long-

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standing injustice that many women have

learned to accept and tolerate the constant

abuse as it can be seen as shameful to

confess about their situation- as little as 5%

of women report speaking out to health

providers about the violence they face.

Past UN Action

The United Nations has time and

time again recognized a woman’s right to

live free from violence. In 1993 the UN

General Assembly issued a resolution on the

Elimination of Violence against Women [3],

solutions suggested in the document

included actions such as urging states to

“develop penal, civil, labor, and

administrative sanctions in domestic

legislation to punish and redress the

wrongs caused to women who are subjected

to violence”. The resolution also

pushed forward the idea that “the specialized

agencies of the United Nations system

should, within their respective fields of

competence, contribute to the recognition

and realization of the rights and the

principles set forth in the present

Declaration” [4]. More recently in 2017, the

European Union and the UN launched the

Spotlight Initiative, the purpose of the

project is to bring attention to all the forms

of violence against women and move it

towards the center of the women’s

empowerment and gender equality

movement. The initiative has a specific

focus on domestic violence, sexual violence,

and human trafficking.

Reproductive Rights Background

Reproductive rights have been a fiercely

debated topic over the years, and

progressive strides are at the forefront of our

society, but the reality is that complications

during pregnancy and childbirth, gender-

based violence and AIDS are still among the

leading causes of death for young people,

and 90% of young people live in developing

countries and are still facing the severe

consequences of not having any control over

their bodies [9]. The World Health

Organization defines health as “state of

complete physical, mental, and social well-

being, and not merely the absence of disease

or infirmity”[8]. Applying this definition

exposes a vast injustice against women

around the world- women across the world

are still not given the freedom to choose

whether to have children which leads to

unsafe and illegal procedures that end in

fatal diseases, HIV/AIDS, and often

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mortality. [6] Maternal mortality, gender-

based violence, lack of access to appropriate

health care, and absence of family planning

services are driving blatant violation of

reproductive rights across the world. Almost

287,000 women are dying from preventable

causes, and women in developing nations

are 15 times more likely of dying from

pregnancy and childbirth than a woman in a

developed region. HIV and AIDS are also

important aspects of this crisis, and access to

quality sexual and reproductive healthcare

services is crucial for individuals living with

these ailments. There has been an increased

focus in improving the dire state of women’s

reproductive health, but according to the

UNs most recent update there is still a 25%

unmet need in developing countries and a

11% unmet need globally.

Past U.N. Action

There is no one body that is solely dedicated

to reproductive rights, the United Nations as

a whole, and various regional human rights

councils protect reproductive rights. Almost

all nations sign on to various declarations

that outline basic reproductive rights, and

these rights are further developed in the

practice of the United Nations. The United

Nations has been committed to the

improvement of reproductive health

throughout history, in 1994 the ICPD was

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endorsed by the General Assembly, in 1995

the Beijing Declaration and Platform for

Action was also endorsed by the General

Assembly- both documents also highlight

that education is a crucial tool in promoting

and protecting reproductive rights. The 1975

Declaration of Mexico on the Equality of

Women was accepted by a majority of UN

member states and confirms that “every

couple and every individual has the right to

decide freely and responsibly whether or not

to have children as well as to determine their

number and spacing”. [6] In addition, the

outcome document of the 2010 United

Nations Summit on the Millennium

Development Goals included a strong

commitment to both sexual and reproductive

health- four of the eight Millennium

Developpement Goals are concerned with

sexual health and reproductive rights.

The fifth goal specifically focuses on

maternal health and aims to reduced

maternal mortality ration by three quarters,

and to achieve universal access to

reproductive health by 2015. In 2012 UN

reemphasized its commitment to

reproductive rights at the United Nations

Conference on Sustainable Development.

[6]

Figure 2.1: Timeline of Past UN action

concerning women’s sexual and

reproductive health

Bloc Positions:

North America

United States: Since the ruling of Roe v.

Wade, where it was decided that a women's

right to privacy extended to a woman’s

decision to have an abortion, the USA has

some of the most progressive legislature on

sexual health. Today, women across the

country have access to multiple different

types of birth control methods, however it is

still debated how these methods should be

properly distributed without discriminating

against women in a low socio-economic

status. There is also still a clear division in

the country over whether abortion should be

legal in all circumstances- 21% of

Americans feel that it should be illegal in all

circumstances. [7]

Mexico: Unlike its more liberal leaning

neighbors, Mexico has some of the strictest

abortion laws in the world. If it is found that

a woman has had an illegal abortion, they

are sentenced to time in prison. As of 2014,

only 13 Mexican states allowed for

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abortions if the mother’s life was in danger.

[7] Birth control is in fact legal but there is

little to no information to educate women on

to use contraceptives to stay safe and

healthy. The lack of proper family planning

education is extremely detrimental where

reproductive rights are already so restricted,

the impoverished are even more isolated

from reproductive care which has only led to

increased unsafe abortions and child births.

Europe

Romania: Romania happens to be an

exception to the rest of the

European Union, the country has an

extremely restrictive legislation regarding

women’s reproductive rights. Romania has

been recognized in the past for its lack of

attention to sexual health policy, in 2014 the

UN urged Romania to “adopt a national

strategy on sexual and reproductive health

and create a mandatory reproductive

education programs within schools to help

combat teen pregnancy” [7]. The rate of teen

pregnancy in Romania is on the high rates in

Europe and the government has made very

little effort to aid this problem and has been

accused of restricting access to abortions

and contraceptives.

Germany: Women in Germany have highly

accessible forms of contraception as well as

access to well informed medical providers

with comprehensive information on sexual

and reproductive health. Women can get

abortions in Germany, but it is still

considered illegal under specific

circumstances. An illegal abortion, however,

is not considered a punishable offense- so

women do not have to

fear repercussions when receiving what

could be considered an illegal abortion

according to the law. Before

a women receives an abortion, they are

required to go through a counseling session

and many believe that is in fact a

violation for reproductive rights since

counseling can be seen as a breach of

privacy that violates a woman's right to

make her own decision.

Africa

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DRC: The treatment of women in the DRC

is a systematically oppressive and

degrading, there is rampant gender-based

violence and women of the DRC also must

survive the volatile internal disputes that

have brought the country to near destruction

in the past. The DRC only allows an

abortion if it is required to save the life of a

women, and the country does little to

provide birth control resources to its women.

Only around 10% of all women in the DRC

properly use modern both control methods

due to lack of reproductive education and

affordable options[7].

South Africa: The need for

increased reproductive rights in South

Africa is pertinent, Sub-Saharan Africa has

one of the highest maternal mortality rates.

HIV is a prevalent risk in the countries, and

the

lack

of affordable access

to preventative health measures is only

exacerbating this problem. South

Africa has a more liberal leaning abortion

stance and has legalized abortions almost

across the country, this was an effort to

promote better sexual health and the prevent

the spread of deadly STDs.

Asia

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India: In India there is a detrimental lack of

safe and affordable birth control options and

it has resulted in increased rates of maternal

deaths and a rise of unsafe abortions. Many

women turn to “sterilization camps” a

method of family planning since they have

no access to modern birth control methods.

These sterilization camps are extremely

unsafe methods of contraception and

many women subjected to this

government sponsored procedure have been

faced with death.

China: China’s previous one-child policy is

heavily reflected in the fact that 336 million

abortions and 222 million sterilizations

occurred between 1971 and 2013[7].

Though he one-child policy has been

changed, women still do not have the right

to choose the size of their family.

Figure 2.2: Scale red-green, restrictive-non-

restrictive abortion laws

Questions to consider: 1. What is the relationship between

your country’s government and

its female population?

2. Thinking about what the United

Nations has already attempted, what is a

new way for the UN to approach

universal reproductive rights- what has

worked in the past?

3. What exactly is the human rights

violation taking place?

Does your country acknowledge there is

a human rights violation in the

first place?

Sources: [1] “What We Do: Ending Violence against Women: Focusing on Prevention to Stop the Violence.” UN Women, www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/prevention.

[2] “Unite For Sight.” Introduction to Poverty, www.uniteforsight.org/gender-power/module3#_ftn14.

[3] “What We Do: Ending Violence against Women.” UN Women, www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women.

[4] “United Nations Official Document.” United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A%2FRES%2F48%2F104.

[5] “Ending Violence Against Women and Girls - United Nations Sustainable Development.” United Nations, United

UNHRC DartMUN XIV

19

Nations, www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/ending-violence-against-women-and-girls/.

[6] https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publi

cations/NHRIHandbook.pdf (Only

accessible through URL)

[7] Picone, Kiri. “Reproductive Rights Around The World.” All That's Interesting, All That's Interesting, 3 Feb. 2015, allthatsinteresting.com/reproductive-rights.

[8] “paper3.” United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/issues.htm.

[9] “Sexual and Reproductive Rights: Facts and Figures.” Early Marriage and Harassment of Syrian Refugee Women and Girls in Jordan, Amnesty International, www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2013/02/sexual-and-reproductive-rights-facts-and-figures/.