Human Rights Council (hrc)

The Middle East has, for some time, been the focal point of debate over global terrorism. Many of the most offensive groups, such as Al Qaeda and the Taliban, have executed major terrorist activity from this region. In the case of many Middle Eastern nations, citizens are often accused of crimes for which they were arbitrarily convicted. Moreover, it is not outside the bounds of the government,

in some countries, to employ tactics of torture to force prisoners to comply with certain demands. The essential problem is that there is perhaps no region in the world more sensitive to the imposition of international political and legal doctrine than the Middle East. The nuances that divide every nation both from within and without have made the issue of protecting prisoner’s rights extremely complex.
European Union

Members of the European Union have been the most politically progressive bloc of any in the world when it comes to the issue of prisoner’s rights. EU members

have been highly critical of the United States’ role in torturing accused terrorists. However, Europe has been guilty of using similar tactics. In 2010, Britain, France, and Germany were accused of using intelligence information gained through torture in third-party nations by the Human Rights Watch.²⁸ Eastern European nations, like the Russian Federation, have also been accused of allowing their law

enforcement authorities to implement similar tactics on both enemies of the state and prisoners alike.²⁹

Although the United States has been heavily criticized by the international community for its treatment of accused terrorists in offshore prisons, like Guantánomo Bay and Abu Ghraib, the government has repeatedly defended its actions as a necessary means of ensuring domestic security. In 2002, shortly following the devastating attacks of September 11th, Attorney General John

Ashcroft wrote in a memo to President George W. Bush that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to Al Qaeda or the Taliban.46 Furthermore, the United States is a signatory of the UN Convention Against Torture. Yet, while torture

is prohibited in domestic US law, allegations of inhuman and cruel treatment towards prisoners continue to be a widespread problem that has now disseminated amongst critics of the Obama Administration. Latin America

Overcrowding and poor prison conditions, including inadequate nutrition and sanitation, are longstanding problems throughout much of Mexico, Central America, and the northern states of South America. In Honduras, for example, there are 24 prisons, each of which has a capacity of 8,000 people and yet hold

more than 13,000 prisoners (est. 2012).48 In February 2012, more than 300 inmates were killed and dozens were injured in a fire at the Granja Prison in Comayagua.³⁰ President Profirio Lobo Sosa has yet to sign the legislation proposed by the Congress of Honduras to reform the prison system. Similar situations are occurring in Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Columbia, and Uruguay. These are circumstances in which the government either refuses to take action or simply cares little for the needs of its prisoner population.

High-profile leadership changes in various countries in the region have done little to improve the human rights landscape regarding prison systems. According to Amnesty International, in China more than 100 people were arbitrarily detained to prevent protests ahead of the Chinese Communist Party leadership change

in November of 2012.³¹ In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kim Jong-un continued to consolidate his leadership after assuming power in 2011 by banishing political opponents to remote prison camps, where they faced severe malnutrition, hard labor, torture, and, in many cases, death.³² Afghanistan, India, Japan, Pakistan, and Taiwan, resumed executions after a more than two-year

hiatus. One silver lining in Asia’s shift from rehabilitation to punishment in prison systems, was the effort of Singapore and Malaysia to remove mandatory death sentences in their respective legal lexicons. Still, hundreds remained under

arbitrary arrest and detention—an indication of just how long the road to reform remains, not just in countries like Myanmar and China, but in the region as a whole.
Substantive Questions

• 
  How can the UNHRC incentivize Member states to give more attention and care to prisoners?
  
• 
  What is the highest priority when considering the rights of prisoners? Is it health? Education? Re-assimilation?
  
• 
  How can the UNHRC reconcile with the fact that different nations have different definitions of imprisonment? In other words, how does this body deal with the fact that some nations may place more emphasis on punishment than on rehabilitation?
  
• 
  How can the UNHRC ask countries to reform their punitive systems to provide for more sensitivity to prisoners’ rights without asking Member states to take on high costs?
  
• 
  In times of great urgent distress, can a nation forgo the rights of the accused for the greater good of the nation?
  
• 
  Is it possible for Member states to come to a consensus on the definition of “torture” and the stipulations of a “fair trial?”
  
• 
  What are some other supranational bodies and entities that can bring greater awareness to this issue?
  
• 
  What action can the UNHRC take to prevent any further infringement of the rights of prisoners worldwide?
  

In 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne suggested that the prison is a necessary, but not entirely desirable social institution. He described prison as “the black flower of

civilized society” and implied that prisons were durable weeds that refused to die.³³ Today, there are no signs that this black flower is at all diminishing. The rate of incarceration worldwide has accelerated in the past three decades primarily due to the expansion of the writ of law within many developing nations. While advancements in the law are to be applauded wherever they may be observed, it is important that as nations take it upon themselves to execute harsher punishment on social deviants, they are also vigilant of the great responsibility that comes to bear as a result of that progress. Prisoners, like all men and women, must be afforded the same human rights as those whose liberty is not impeded. To be sure, criminals need to be punished for their wrongdoing, but there is a fine line between punishment and brutality—between detention and dehumanization. Prison systems from around the world must recognize and respect these differences. It is up to you, the UNHRC, to ensure that the rights of all people are protected. For, if a society cannot save the many who are weak and disregarded, it cannot save the few who prosper in lavish and celebrated splendor.

Works Cited

1 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Who We Are.” Who We Are. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, n.d. Web. 31 May 2013.

2 Ibid

3 Ibid

5 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Special Procedures.” Welcome Page. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, n.d.

Web. 31 May 2013.

6 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Special Procedures.” Welcome Page. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, n.d. Web. 31 May 2013.

8 Ibid

9 Geneva Convention. “Convention (III) Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War.” Icrc.org. International Committee of the Red Cross, n.d. Web. 24 May 2013.

13 Ibid

16 Ibid

18 United Nations Specialized Conferences. “Refworld |Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.” Refworld | Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. United Nations, n.d. Web. 24 May 2013.

19 Ibid

20 Ibid

22 Congressional Research Service. “U.N. Convention Against Torture (CAT): Overview and Application to Interrogation Techniques.” Fpc.state.gov.

Congressional Research Service, n.d. Web. 24 May 2013.

23 United Nations Specialized Conferences. “United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.” Un.org. United Nations, n.d. Web. 24 May 2013.

24 Ibid

25 Ibid

27 Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. Prison and Human Rights. Rep. Delhi: Bhopal, 1998. Print.

28 Ibid

29 Ibid

31 World Health Organization. “Health in Prisons.” Euro.who.int. World Health Organization, n.d. Web. 24 May 2013.

33 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/27/us/27prisons. html?pagewanted=all

Topic 2: Women’s Right to Education in Developing Nations

Background

Malala Yousafzai, while standing up for girl’s rights to education by going to

school, was shot by the Taliban. She has recovered and to this day is the most well-known champion for women and girl’s rights to education internationally. Her inspiring story brought a new importance to the issue, and showed that in this current day and age the expansion of education for girls is both imperative and indispensable. Currently, 66 million adolescent girls are out of school across the globe, and out of the 775 million illiterate human beings worldwide, women constitute two-thirds of this number.¹ These numbers are alarming, considering the fact that education is a basic human right listed in the 26th article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.² Women and girls’ right to education are also listed under the 2015 Millennium Development goals, stating that nations must work together to “Eliminate gender disparity at all levels of education and empower women”.³ There are numerous reasons as to why girls have been at a disadvantage in regards to education, namely due to economic, cultural, and religious reasons, and when a girl is not educated, there are many negative aspects that follow. Education for girls is necessary for human rights

progress, along with social and economic development in developing nations.

A girl’s education is very important because it is both a means of empowerment,

and results in greater economic opportunities for the girl when she gets older. It is

proven that just one year of additional primary schooling can increase a woman’s

wages by 10 to 20%, and one additional year of secondary schooling can increase her wages by 15 to 25%. Just having a few additional years of school when a girl is young significantly affects her life when she is older, and is therefore a great investment for developing nations. Mothers who received an education also have more success with their infant’s health, being that if a mother has a primary education, the chance of her child dying under the age of 5 is cut in half.⁴ Essentially, if a girl is educated, her future child has a doubled chance of survival past the age of five, which will significantly affect infant mortality rates worldwide.

means to send their children to school. Although many countries have the goal to

provide a free primary education for citizens, schools end up costing more than

expected and parents are burdened with the need to pay for uniforms, books, and

materials. A main reason why girls are at a disadvantage when it comes to education is that in many developing nations, there are ingrained cultural norms where the woman’s traditional role is in the home, while men are able to receive an education and participate in various types of jobs. Due to these cultural restraints, many parents (if they have the means) will only send their sons to school and keep the girls home to help in the house to cook, clean, tend to young children, and fetch water.⁵ This is a downward spiral that will continue within generation to generation if immediate action is not taken.
Many girls are not allowed to attend school because they are needed to work a

job to raise income for their families, and attending school would eliminate the family’s possible income. Some of the most successful NGO schooling programs include programs with incentives that give families a reason to send their daughters to school, so they are not missing out on any economic benefits they would get from having her stay home or making her work. To prevent girls from not going to school, the government of Nepal, along with other nations, has offered small subsidies to compensate parents for allowing their daughters the right to education.⁶ Rural Bangladesh is another example, where children were given food for attending school, and girls received scholarships for staying in school a certain period of time and by not marrying until 18 years of age.⁷ These nations have taken positive steps towards giving girls education, and many nations are beginning to follow these examples.

the means or proper methods to do this. In order to spread education, it is necessary to have community involvement and cooperation between the schools and parents. Also, schools must be close to homes, taught in the local language, and should preferably be taught by female teachers (as many families prefer daughters to be taught by women). Additionally, some families worry about the safety of their daughter while at school. For example, in Rajasthan, India, some families did not send their daughters to school in fear of possible sexual harassment in the shared bathrooms, so to compensate for this, the local Non-Governmental Organization addressed the need for sex-segregated

bathrooms to increase female enrollment rates, and ultimately boost literacy rates.¹²
Education is a human right that all girls should be able to enjoy, and when girls

are not educated, serious consequences arise. When girls do not receive education, child marriages and early pregnancies follow. Countless girls are forced into child marriage (for economic means for her family) transforming them into victims of sexual harassment and subjecting them to violence, therefore reinstalling the stifling social norm of male dominance over females. After this, many girls become pregnant at a young age and are burdened with children for the rest of their lives, also posing serious health threats during maternity and childbirth. When a woman has the right to plan her family, she can plan the rest of her life; when married young, she is seen as insignificant and rarely has a say in planning her own future, therefore causing her to be subject to premature pregnancy.¹³ However, evidence shows that if a girl participates in secondary schooling, she is up to six times less likely to get married at an early age,

therefore reducing her chances of becoming pregnant while too young, and allowing her to control the course of her own life.¹⁴ Also, because childbirth is the number one cause of death for teen girls aged 15-19, education will subsequently play a key role in preventing this by allowing a girl to support herself instead of relying on a husband for money and a home.¹⁵
Despite the general agreement that girls and women deserve education as much

as males do, in some societies there is still resistance in fear of “the power that girls will have through education”.¹⁶ Education definitely puts power into the hands of girls and women, and it is understandable that some cultures and nations might not agree with this potential power shift. This is one of the underlying reasons why the Taliban have shown their disapproval of education for girls, specifically seen in the case of Malala Yousafzai, because it poses a potential threat to their power. It is a big step to change social standards that have been intact for generations, but in order to live in a gender equal world, education is essential to change future generations to be much more accepting and supportive of female rights.¹⁷

In September of 2012 the United Nation Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s Global

Initiative on Education (GEFI) was launched.²⁰ GEFI brings together world leaders and education advocates in order to accomplish the three main goals of educating every child worldwide, improving education quality, and using education to create a more peaceful and successful future.²¹ GEFI was put in place in order to help accomplish the Education for All (EFA) movement created by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) which by 2015 aims to implement the six main goals of improving childhood education, ensuring that all children, including those in difficult situations, are provided with free and adequate primary educations, establishing a durable method of providing all people with access to necessary learning resources, achieving a 50% increase in adult literacy, eradicating all gender inequalities in regards to access to education, and creating a generally improvement in all facets of education.²² Through these two initiatives the United Nations is taking comprehensive action towards improving educational opportunities for females internationally.
A month after the GEFI began, on October 9th 2012, a 15-year-old girl named

Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban while on a school bus.²³ Malala was shot due to her advocacy of education for girls and women throughout her community and the world. Nine months later, after multiple procedures and months of recovery, Malala gave a speech to the UN General Assembly on the topic of the woman’s right to education and the importance of advocating both social and political change in order to accomplish this goal.²⁴ In her speech Malala called upon both developed and undeveloped nations “to support the expansion of education opportunities for girls in the developing world,” and to “ensure free, compulsory education all over the world for every child”. Past UN actions such as UNICEF’s 25 by 2005 initiative and Go Girls! Education for Every Child program have made great advancements towards ensuring that female children throughout the world have access to free and quality education. However Malala’s speech acknowledges that there is still

much work to do.²⁵ For this reason October 9th is celebrated as Malala day encouraging countries and organizations all over the world to provide their children with proper and equal education.²⁶
The Office of the UN Special Envoy for Global Education is working to help

accomplish these goals of providing girls everywhere with their right to education

through focusing on countries and areas most at risk of denying education to their

youth.²⁷ Countries such as Somalia, Chad, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Yemen, South Sudan, Timor-Leste, Pakistan, Nigeria, India, Haiti, and Ethiopia, DR Congo, and Bangladesh are all considered at risk nations by the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, and are working with the World Bank in order to implement the goals of GEFI and EFA.²⁸ Appointed by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Gordon Brown leads this envoy having previously spent most of his carrier in the United Kingdom working to improve education.²⁹ Through this envoy Brown is working to provide all children with the education promised to them in the 2015-millennium development goals with an emphasis on the 34 million girls who are not currently in school.³⁰ The third millennium development goal for 2015’s main purpose is to, “promote gender equality and empower women,” with an emphasis on eliminating discrimination against female students in primary education and beyond worldwide.³¹ Through these millennium development goals the United Nations has promised and begun working towards providing all females throughout the world with their natural human right to receive free and quality education as promised to them in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights.³² Article 26 states that, “Everyone has the right to education,” meaning that by international law it is illegal to deny another human being their right to education based on gender.³³ Through these actions the United Nations has taken comprehensive steps towards providing humans all over the world with their right to education regardless of gender.

One of the most prevalent areas that deprives their women the right to be

educated is Afghanistan. Due to the Islamic extremists and their role in the government, it is nearly impossible for a girl to go to school without risking her and her family’s safety. Though the Taliban was officially ousted from Afghanistan in 2001, women still face the threat of militant attacks from Taliban related extremists in the nation. When the Taliban was residing in Afghanistan they placed harsh restrictions on the women of the nation. Not only were women not allowed to be educated, but they were also forced to quit any work they had outside of their home, they were banned from leaving their home unless accompanied by a mahram (a close male relative), they were banned from

talking to or shaking hands with men who were not their close relatives, and various other radical laws were also put in place to prevent female empowerment.³⁴ Because these laws where put in place for many years, women in Afghanistan today are still afraid to do things that would break these laws because it is socially unacceptable. According to the UNICEF chief of education for Afghanistan, Fazlul Haque, “the first challenge for girls’ education in Afghanistan is cultural barriers”.³⁵ This is extremely true because once the cultural and religious barriers are broken, women’s education and right will be properly enforced in Afghanistan. In order to break some of these barriers the Afghan Government established a new constitution, which states that “the

citizens of Afghanistan- whether man or woman- have equal right and duties before the law.”³⁶ Afghanistan also created the Afghan Women’s Bill of Rights in 2003, which gave women the basic rights to education, freedom of speech, and other human rights.³⁷ This was a huge leap forward for the women in Afghanistan, and because of it, the amount of girls enrolled in schools compared to boys has risen from nearly zero to about forty percent.³⁸
Although the government has taken huge strides to improve women’s’ rights in

Afghanistan, religious and cultural barriers are still rampant, extremists terrorize girls into not attending school, and in 2008 alone, there were a total of 283 violent attacks on schools, causing 169 injuries and 92 deaths.³⁹ Due to this outrageous number President Karzai has called for the cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan to fight extremism and terrorism within both countries. Collaboration between countries to fight this cause is essential in order to make a change in the education system for women or, according to Karzai, “our coming generations will face the consequences”.⁴⁰

Non-governmental organizations such as Women for Afghan Women, and Care

International, have been donating money to schools in order to provide children with school supplies and help pay the teachers. International presence is essential in Afghanistan because without it Afghanistan faces the threat of a restoration of the Taliban.⁴¹ Overall, Afghanistan has made many efforts to help improve women’s education, but without the help of the international community, cooperation of their people, and the diminishment of the racial boundaries, education for women will never be fully available within the country.