SRI LANKA

MODEL UNITED NATIONS

UNHRC

STUDY GUIDE
United Nations Human Rights Council Sri Lanka Model United Nations 2019

United Nations Human Rights Council

With the passing of resolution A/RES/60/251, the United Nations Human Rights
Council (UNHRC) was introduced as a subsidiary organ of the United Nations.
Responsible for the strengthening and protection of human rights across the
globe, the UNHRC looks into a number of important rights, such as the freedom
of association and assembly, freedom of expression, freedom of belief and
religion, women rights, LGBT rights as well as the rights of racial and ethnic
minorities. In addition, the council also receives thematic and country specific
reports through special procedures, as well as from the office of the High
Commissioner of Human Rights. From introducing the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights in 1948, a range of distinguished international documents,
including the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights, the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as the
International Bill of Human Rights, recognizes the importance of upholding the
principles of the UNHRC. With a total number of 47 members, out of which
includes, 13 African, 13 Asian, 6 East European, 8 Latin American and the
Caribbean, as well as, 7 Western European and Other Group (WEOG) countries,
each nation hold their respective seat for a term of 3 years and may go on to
occupy their seat for a second term.

Powers and shortcomings

When looking at the strengths of the UNHRC, it is understood that the committee
is efficient in its operations with counterpart authorities, responsible in its
iterative planning as well as local planning, and is also a committee that
recognizes the importance of maintaining general sensitivity when delegating. In
short, there is little to compare the quality of UNHRC’s local resource
management system and its capacity to gather information and plan for
community basic need provision. While its core strength is, its individual
commitment and professional capacity of its field staff, this is also the very
weakness of the organization. The reason for this is because, though the
committee is successful in building relationships with the local community, they
have struggled to involve those who could help in an institutional capacity.
In addition, the UNHCR has proved to be an excellent quick response unit, as it
is an international fire brigade of personal and professional courage and integrity.
United Nations Human Rights Council Sri Lanka Model United Nations 2019

Although this contributes towards securing citizens, and establishing

preconditions of development, it does not generate a development process.
However, regardless of the UNHRC’s shortcomings, the organization continues
to uphold its mission towards the protection of all human rights of each person,
and is determined to help empower people to realize their rights, as well as, assist
those responsible for upholding such rights in ensuring that they are implemented.

The Agenda

● Practice Debate Topic: Human rights infringements with regards to all

forms of retributive justice.
● Conference Topic: Assessing the Impact of Electronic Surveillance on
Human rights.

Practice Debate Topic: Human rights infringements with regards to all

forms of retributive justice.

Introduction:
According to ‘Encyclopedia Britannica’, retributive justice is the response of
one’s criminal behavior that focuses on the punishment of lawbreakers and the
compensation of victims. In other words, the punishment given to an offender is
given according to one’s wrong doing, thereby providing a fair sentence that is
proportionate to the amount of harm caused by the offense. While forms of
retributive justice differs from country to country, in general, retribution doesn’t
involve individuals who are intellectually disabled or suffers from mental illness,
and also, does not apply to crimes committed by a child under 18. The purpose
of doing this act is to firstly, bring justice to the victims affected by the crime,
secondly, to prevent others from taking the law to their own hands and execute it,
as well as, thirdly, to help society understand what is wrong and the consequences
that one will have to face after. It is however important to note, that punishment
can only be imposed if Actus reus (a guilty act) and Mens rea (a guilty state of
mind) is presented in the crime done by the individual. Despite this, in the current
world, there have been numerous acts done by the government that has violated
one’s rights. Not only are people now convicted due to political reasons, but also
suffers from heavier sentences than the committed offense. In addition, the
imprisonment and abuse of children detained in certain countries, and the
treatment of the mentally ill, are some examples of the rights violated today.
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Delegates are not to only focus on instances where the offender is charged
guilty without sufficient evidence, but also look in to instances where the
offender is violated of his/her rights while facing their term of punishment.

History, past actions and the context at present:

Although retribution didn’t appear as a form of legal justice until the 19800s, the
concept of retribution existed in various cultures and religions, including the
ancient laws, ‘eye for an eye’ and the law of ‘measure for measure’. In the past,
most felonies were punishable by either the death penalty, through exile or
shunning. Although, the above punishment methods do not apply to juvenile
offenders in theory, in practice, children below 18 have, and are still being
executed mercilessly. In most cases, children are not even given the opportunity
to present their own point of view, hence, resulting in the violation of one’s right
to live. Thereafter, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
was implemented, thereby forbidding capital punishment, while a child also
obtained the right to receive a legal representative for judicial disputes, and also,
has the right to present his/her view point at trial. All signatories of this
convention were to take appropriate legislative, administrative, social and
educational measures focusing on the protection of children from all forms of
physical and mental violence. The International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR), which exclusively focuses on the rights of a child was later
implemented. However, in the modern world, countries such as Iran, changed its
laws relating to juveniles, to girls aged 9 and boys aged 15, to be fully responsible
for their crimes, therefore punishing children from a very young age.

Another form of retributive justice that is practiced even today is Capital

punishment. While this is considered as the worst violation of human rights that
inflicts not only physical, but also psychological torture, due to political reasons,
race and ethnic racism, as well as, other forms of hypocrisy, wrongful executions
of innocent persons take place. Moreover, those facing death penalty are
sometimes not given the freedom to appeal to a court of higher jurisdiction.
Although the UNHRC states, ‘where capital punishment occurs, it shall be
carried out so as to inflict the minimum possible suffering’, there has been cases
where even that right is not granted. There are also instances where individuals
go through physical abuse, before being executed. It should be noted, irrespective
of whether a person is innocent or guilty, each individual in the world should be
able to carry out their respective rights.
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Today, there are instances where the judicial system of certain countries fail to
recognize intellectually disabled people. As a result, instead of being put to a
metal rehabilitation center, the mental condition of such an individual would only
stress out that person more. Hence, each government needs to follow a set
procedure to clarify the mental condition of a person during the trail, as early as
possible.

The non-elite class is also regularly discriminated during times of being granted
bail, or when the two parties agree to settle. Rather than fixing a sum that a person
is able to afford, the rich and the poor classes are given the same high fee which
the poor obviously cannot afford.

In terms of those imprisoned, human rights infringements include, discrimination

done by guards, women who are sexually abused, availability of basic needs and
health care etc. Segregation has also become a form of psychological trauma, as
when inmates break a rule in the prison or upsets a guard, they will be put in to a
dark room and would be kept like that alone, for a long period of time. A common
problem faced by those who come out after finishing their time in prison, is the
difficulty of fitting in with the community. Due to society's negative perception
on felons, many are reluctant to offer them job opportunities. As a result, since
they cannot find a legitimate job, they are forced to go back to their old ways.
Hence, actions must be taken to help such individuals receive a good job and
income.

In conclusion, the above facts underline few of the existing infringements of one’s
rights in terms of justice. As a large population in the world face ill treatment,
now, more than ever, we must look into solve the issues of retributive justice.

What rights are we talking about?

Right for life - adults and children alike
Right to appeal
Right for a fair trial

What is expected from the delegates?

United Nations Human Rights Council Sri Lanka Model United Nations 2019

Delegates are expected to focus on providing solutions in all spheres. The

following area must be covered (but should not be limited) in your research,
discussion and when drafting resolutions.
● Ensuring those facing death penalty receive a fair trial
● Political imprisonments
● Discrimination faced by prison guards
● Ensuring one's right to seek health care
● Finding job opportunities for those who leave prison
● Finding alternative punishment methods instead of capital punishment for
those less than 18 years
● Ensuring minimum suffering is inflicted wherever capital punishment
occurs
● Ensuring proper treatment for those facing mental disorders
● Treatment of pregnant women
● Women vulnerable to custodial sexual abuse
● Addressing issues arising as a result of segregation
● Ensuring all prisoners receive basic accommodation (a bed for each person,
food, water etc)

For further reading:

https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/DeathPenalty.aspx
https://www.britannica.com/topic/retributive-justice
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/IPeoples/EMRIP/Session7/A-
HRC-EMRIP-2014-3_en.pdf

Conference Topic: Assessing the Impact of Electronic Surveillance on

Human rights.

Introduction
United Nations Human Rights Council Sri Lanka Model United Nations 2019

Electronic surveillance can be defined as the monitoring of an individual in a

home, a workplace or even in a public place through the use of digital devices.
Whether it’s monitoring someone’s movement through the use of CCTVs, or
using a spy ware system, wiretapping a conversation or hacking the webcam of a
laptop are just few of the many infringements of one’s human rights that take
place anywhere in the world today.

By now surveillance has been developed to a point where one can be monitored
via a computer or the closest electronic device that we possess; “a mobile phone”.
This is typically done through e-mail tracking, internet surveillance, and remote
PC surveillance methods. The means of surveillance are expanding by the day.

This can be mainly discussed under three main categories,

1. Surveillance by the State
2. Intelligence Gathering and Espionage by Private Organizations
3. Hacking and Invasion of Privacy by Individuals

Surveillance is used by governments for Intelligence Gathering, Prevention and

Investigation of crime. It is also used by criminal organisations to plan and
commit crimes, such as robbery and kidnapping and by businesses for corporate
espionage. Apart from the aforementioned parties there are other highly trained
individuals capable of hacking and gathering personal information which are used
for blackmailing and other forms of criminal activity.

The concept of Mass Surveillance refers to the surveillance of a significant

portion of a population by certain governments. Unregulated sharing of this
intelligence can contribute to or facilitate serious human rights abuses, such as
unlawful arrest or detention, or torture and violation of individual privacy and
sometimes leading to serious restrictions in the freedom of expression of the
citizens.

Certain bodies in power tend to share this sensitive information with other
governmental and non-governmental parties. Sharing surveillance intelligence
greatly exacerbates the interference with personal privacy. It might not just be
your own government that holds sensitive information about you, but potentially
many other governments all over the world.
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Mass surveillance has often been cited as necessary to fight terrorism, prevent
crime and social unrest, protect national security, and control the population but
on the contrary it has equally often been used for violating privacy rights, limiting
civil and political rights and freedoms.

The fear of exposure arising from mass surveillance has resulted in numerous
individuals not taking part in productive social discourse thereby reducing the
input they would’ve given if it weren’t for the surveillance by the state.

It has come to a point where anyone who uses a smartphone or a computer in the
world is exposed to surveillance.

History, past actions and Context at Present

In December 2013, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution

68/167, which expressed deep concern at the negative impact that surveillance
and interception of communications may have on human rights. The General
Assembly affirmed that the rights held by people offline must also be protected
online, and it called upon all States to respect and protect the right to privacy in
digital communication. The General Assembly called on all States to review their
procedures, practices and legislation related to communications surveillance,
interception and collection of personal data and emphasized the need for States
to ensure the full and effective implementation of their obligations under
international human rights law.

In 2013, the practice of mass surveillance by world governments was called into
question after Edward Snowden’’s 2013 global surveillance disclosure. Reporting
based on documents Snowden leaked to various media outlets triggered a debate
about civil liberties and the right to privacy in the Digital Age. Mass surveillance
is considered a global issue.

Another criticism is that increasing mass surveillance could lead to the

development of a Surveillance State or an Electronic Police State where civil
liberties are infringed or political dissent is undermined by COINTELPRO-like
programs. Such a state could be referred to as a totalitarian state.
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Even though it is not the most recent Counter Intelligence Program was a very
good example for State Surveillance. Counter Intelligence Program
(COINTELPRO) was a series of covert, and at times illegal, projects conducted
by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveilling,
infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations.

The act of surveillance creates an insecure space for every individual in the
society which in turn harms many civil liberties including Freedom of
Expression.

For example try to place yourself in a country like the United States of America,

“Maybe you are an immigrant yourself, documented or not. Or maybe some of

your family is. Or maybe you have friends or coworkers who are. How likely are
you to get involved if you know that your interest and concern can be gathered
and used by government and corporate actors? What if the issue you are
interested in is pro- or anti-gun control, anti-police violence or in support of the
police? Does that make a difference?
Maybe the issue doesn't matter, and you would never be afraid to be identified
and tracked based on your political or social interests. But even if you are so
fearless, you probably know someone who has more to lose, and thus more to
fear, from their personal, sexual, or political beliefs being exposed.”

In April 2015, the Human Rights Council adopted resolution 28/16 at its twenty-
eighth session, deciding to appoint for a period of three years a Special
Rapporteur on the right to privacy. The resolution directed the Special
Rapporteur, amongst other responsibilities, to report on alleged violations of the
right to privacy including in connection with the challenges arising from new
technologies. States were called upon to cooperate fully and assist the Special
Rapporteur.

What rights are we talking about?

Right to Privacy
Freedom of Expression
Cyber Security
Protection against cyber bullying
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What is expected from the delegates?

Right to Privacy
· Delegates are required to explore practical methods to strengthen online
privacy.
· Taking measures to ensure the protection of privacy on an online platform.
· Demarcating the extent to which Right to Privacy can be exercised.
· Introducing restrictions & mechanisms to regulate the use of Private Data
gathered by Tech Giants.
· Rules and regulations governing cyber bullying.
Freedom of Expression on Social Media Platforms
· Introducing a set of viable rules to govern online freedom of expression.
· Protection against online hate speech, discrimination.

Further Reading

https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/digitalage/pages/digitalageindex.aspx
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2018/11/how_surveillanc_1.html
https://www.britannica.com/technology/electronic-eavesdropping