United Nations Human Rights Council UNHRC

The Human Rights Council (UNHRC) an intergovernmental United Nations body responsible for the promotion and the protection of Human Rights around the world. The council’s role is to investigate breaches and violations of human rights and make recommendations on how they should be addressed. Furthermore the UNHRC stands for a promotion of our fundamental and basic rights and freedoms as humans at an international legal level. Considering at large these missions and responsibilities, at MUNUC 33 the UNHCR will aim to address issues of global relevance bearing in mind the importance of standardized conceptions of humane treatment and an international binding fabric of human rights and freedoms.

Topic A will discuss the human rights of soldiers fighting for private militias and paramilitaries. Private militias have been obscurely around since war has been around. Whether they are fighting for money, resources, politics, religion, land, oppression or any cause (positive or negative), these are still non governmental organizations and therefore quite problematic in terms of international law as they are non state agents. Which is why non governmental military organizations and private militias may be considered as far as: terrorists, political terrorists, religious terrorists, dissent/ opposition terrorists and even criminal terrorists as they are not representatives of a legal state/nation. This topic calls to work closely with International humanitarian law, the parameters of war crimes and crimes against humanity. This council will take a stand in defining what is the role of private militias and paramilitaries in international politics and conflict… that is if they should play a role at all.

Topic B discusses the issue with modern slavery. As the world evolves and becomes more globalized, sadly one of the drawbacks is that slavery has taken many different contemporary forms. Cheap labor, forced labor, working in precarious conditions, working with withheld documents/ passports, working without a work contract and many others are all forms of modern slavery. In this council we will aim to debate what constitutes as slavery in the modern day by defining it, how modern slavery manifests itself, why it is so common nowadays and most importantly how to identify it, abolish it and ultimately prevent it around the globe.

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