Is Myanmar 'whitewashing' the Rohingya crisis?

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone has had a great week so far. I wanted to share this extremely informative video that provides a comprehensive overview of the Rohingya crisis in its present state. Additionally, this video brings into focus questions and perspectives that are crucial to the overall dialogue.

This video contextualizes key questions related to the crisis itself as well as proposed solutions from the international community. For example, many Rohingya people have fled to neighboring Bangladesh to escape religious persecution and what can effectively be called ethnic cleansing spurred by Buddhist-majority militants. The present conditions for the Rohingya population residing in Bangladesh include living conditions that can only be recognized as interment camps. Clearly, this is a short-term solution to a larger problem. However, many Rohingya still refuse to leave these camps despite the conditions, suggesting they are still preferable to the situation they expect they would face if they returned to Myanmar.

Moreover, this video speculates the explosive decision of former US ambassador to the UN, Bill Richardson, to take an unexpected departure from the UN advisory panel on the Rohingya crisis, despite being one of the panel's most high profile guests. He claims that he couldn't standby while the body did little else than be "cheerleaders" for the government while his critics are accusing him of furthering a personal agenda. More broadly, many are now calling into question whether or not the problem-solving efforts of the international community have been more destructive than constructive since the majority of its members have been external guests invited to Myanmar to try and deal with the problem. It is undeniable that despite efforts put forth by these various external bodies, the original problems remain unchanged and the solutions more or less ineffective.

What are your criticisms/justifications of how international participants have dealt with the present situation? Is it harmful that external players have largely dominated the resolution efforts? What are the primary inhibitors of delaying Rohingya migration back to Myanmar? Is there an alternative that we're not seeing yet that needs to be considered as well?

I'd love to hear your thoughts as you interact with the material. Moreover, if you have additional research on this topic that you'd like to contribute, please submit both in the comments below. Thanks and I look forward to reading your comments!

Article link: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2018/01/myanmar-whitewashing-rohingya-crisis-180126190014218.html

- Lucia

German AFD Politician Accused of Hate Incitement over Anti-Muslim Tweet

Hey guys, 

I wanted to bring this event to light, as though it seems like a fairly regular occurrence of someone abusing their privilege of active social media opinions, the implications behind it are paramount to a proper legislative decision on the topic of religious freedom.

This article describes how German AFD politician Beatrix von Storch had her account suspended for a week as a direct result of an inflammatory tweet sent out in December. Storch's tweet read:

“What the hell is wrong with this country? Why is the official page of police in NRW tweeting in Arabic [...] are they seeking to appease the barbaric, Muslim, rapist hordes of men?”

The Alternative for Germany (AFD) party is a German far right, nationalist party that gained traction after German Chancellor Angela Merkel decided in favor of opening Germany’s borders to more than a million asylum-seeking migrants. The party is weakly aligned with Euroscepticism, but deny any support for Muslims within the framework of the German Constitution and is strongly anti-immigration; their support among the populace seems to be growing as it won 12.6% of the vote and received 94 seats in the 2017 German federal elections.

The Alternative for Germany (AFD) party is a German far right, nationalist party that gained traction after German Chancellor Angela Merkel decided in favor of opening Germany’s borders to more than a million asylum-seeking migrants. The party is weakly aligned with Euroscepticism, but deny any support for Muslims within the framework of the German Constitution and is strongly anti-immigration; their support among the populace seems to be growing as it won 12.6% of the vote and received 94 seats in the 2017 German federal elections.

When analyzing this article, take care not to question the validity of Storch's opinions based on your own views; as a delegate to the UNHRC, your committee's job is to protect the universal freedoms of belief within its jurisdiction.

Rather, questions that you should think about is the role of external services and organizations (in this case, Twitter) in maintaining universal freedoms and censoring dissident speech, especially in the views proposed by a politician in a foreign party. Do social media platforms have a social duty to cut-off hate speech and fake news, or are they simply a vessel for conversation to take place? What role does an international body such as the UNHRC have in regulating a platform based domestically in the US? Delegates should ask how a possible resolution would balance the freedoms of speech and religion, and what role new technologies should take in this.

Discuss down in the comments below, and try to think on these questions! And as always, if you have any questions, either on this topic or on conference logistics, feel free to reach our to us !

Source 

~ Soham

Getting Tough on Sex Traffickers

"Those who deny freedom for others deserve it not for themselves" - Abraham Lincoln

Hey All, 

The article I am sharing with you today is one that shows different ways in which we, as a community, and the Government, can come together to protect the youth of today from the most horrid form of Human Rights violation one can face in this day and age. 

As Suma highlighted in her topic synopsis, there are various different forms of trafficking, one involving sex and sadly, this fight is nowhere near over. In 2014, the Urban Institute estimated that the underground sex economy ranged from $39.9 million in Denver, Colorado to $290 million in Atlanta, Georgia. This just shows that the noose on such gruesome acts needs to be tightened and the government plays a key part in doing so. 

The article states that Congress passed a Sex Trafficking Statute which is a part of the 18th Chapter of the US Code, which introduces mandatory minimum punishments for those who commit such crimes, and that is a good way forward. But possible problems are not what we do with those who are caught, but how do we catch those who repeatedly perform such crimes? There have been many laws passed, but why do such atrocities keep happening? 

These are just some initial thoughts on this topic, but I would encourage everyone to delve in deeper and see how or why these issues arise and how they can possibly be tackled. I would encourage everyone to post comments and discuss their opinions and if you have any questions, you can state them below or email me at rsharma@bmun.org!

Article Link :- Getting Tough on Sex Traffickers 


~ Ruchir :D

Position Paper Guidelines

Hi delegates!

I hope you all had a well-deserved, relaxing winter break! We now have only 35 days until BMUN LXVI! I hope you're all as stoked for conference as we are :)

In this post, I just wanted to go over our expectations for your Position Papers, which are due in the coming weeks. Before we get into the nitty-gritty of what to write in your papers, here are the deadlines:

• February 5th 2018 - this deadline is ONLY if you want your paper to be considered for the Best Position Paper Award. 
• February 12th 2018 - this deadline is for all other papers, for consideration for any committee award. 

Please do keep in mind that these deadlines are very strict, especially the first one. If your paper is submitted after February 5th, it will not be considered for the Best Position Paper Award.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's go over what the dais expects from you for Position Papers. Each delegation is required to write two papers, one for each topic (1. Religious Freedom and 2. Exploitation, Forced Labor and Trafficking). Each paper should be between 5-10 typed pages (Times New Roman font, size 12, double-spaced with one inch margins), and note that your bibliography does not count in the page count.

The paper is broken down into four sections, along with the following weightage in terms of grading:

• Past and Current International Action (15%) 
• For this section, you must provide a brief overview of any past and current action taken by the international community in solving the issue. You are more than welcome to explore issues beyond the jurisdiction of the United Nations, and the UNHRC.

• Country's Position (25%) 
• This is perhaps the most important section in terms of preparing you for conference. In this section, explicitly state your country's position on the topic. This can be their general attitudes towards the issue, actions they may have taken (like ratifying certain treaties), or even certain negative forms of behavior. For example, you may state your country's position on the Trafficking in Persons tier list for the second topic. 

• Proposed Solutions (30%) 
• In this section, you are to propose a plan of action for solving the issue. We encourage you to be as detailed as possible, and to truly think critically of every solution you propose in terms of feasibility, measurability and other such parameters. This is an extremely important part of the paper, especially for us as a THIMUN committee. 
• I'm going to ask you to write at least two solutions in the form of operative clauses. This means that you must use proper formatting (consult the BMUN Learn website, links provided below), and that they must be well constructed. This is to get you prepared for resolution writing during our first committee session. 

• Questions to Consider (20%)
• For this section, you are to choose two of the Questions to Consider given at the end of each topic in the topic synopsis to answer thoughtfully. Please only respond to two questions, no more and no less. 

In addition to these guidelines, there is a 10% of the grading which is up to the Chair's discretion in terms of discerning the overall quality of the paper. I'm also going to ask you to please use these subheadings for the four sections in your paper, as it helps the dais understand exactly where you finish each section. 

Now, a very important note on citations and plagiarism. The Position Paper is a research assignment. Therefore, you are required to consult reputable sources during the writing process. You must NOT cite the topic synopsis in your paper - the purpose of the paper is to go beyond the scope of the topic synopsis and for you to hone in on your specific country's stance on the issue. You are required to cite your sources in MLA format, to use footnotes/in-text citations, and to provide a fully formatted works cited section at the end of your paper. 

Plagiarism is not tolerated in any way, shape or form. All position papers go through an extensive screening process when they are submitted, and if you are caught plagiarizing, you will not be eligible for any committee award. 

The full, detailed Position Paper Guide is available here on the BMUN website, and additional help is available here on the BMUN Learn website. You'll find a lot more help on there, such as sample position papers and the full rubric :) 

Also, a quick reminder to check out the THIMUN rules of procedure on the BMUN Learn website! It's best to start familiarizing yourself with it as soon as you can.

That's all from me for now! Thank you for bearing with me for this long, long post. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to us via this blog, or shoot me an email at sthati@bmun.org! I'm very quick with my responses :)

Have fun, good luck, and see you all in March!
Suma