UN Human Rights Council

Dear Delegates,

Adam Ziemba

It is with great excitement that I welcome all of you to what will become the most interesting and enjoyable committee at Harvard National Model United Nations 2012, the United Nations Human Rights Council. My name is Adam Ziemba and it is great honor for me to be your committee director at HNMUN 2012.

To briefly introduce myself, I am currently a sophomore at Harvard. Growing up in Poland and studying in the USA force me to travel at least 14 hours whenever I make a trip from Boston to Poland. Throughout my first year at college, I have been involved in Harvard National Model United Nations 2011 and Harvard Model United Nations 2011. Personally, I am a fan of various sports such as skiing, snowboarding, volleyball, basketball, tennis, swimming, and more. I truly enjoy traveling to different places around the globe, getting to know people and different cultures, and learning foreign languages. Feel free to speak to me in Arabic, French, Polish and, naturally, English.

Our committee, the United Nations Human Rights Council, will engage in two topics that are of paramount importance in the contemporary world. The first one, the Third-Generation Human Rights, will discuss human rights which are passed over in many countries, even though they were recognized by the United Nations and thus many states around the globe. The second one, the Rights of Non-Migrant Workers, will bring up a topic of workers whose rights are not fully respected in some parts of the world. Both topics require our attention and action as nearly everyone can relate to these issues in one way or the other.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to let me know. I wish you best of luck in your preparations for Harvard National Model United Nations 2012.

I look forward to seeing you all at the committee sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Sincerely,

Adam Ziemba
Director, UN Human Rights Council
Harvard National Model United Nations 2012

Topic Area A: The Third-Generation Human Rights

The third-generation human rights are collective rights of peoples, which serve as a guarantor of sustainable development of a country and its society, economy and politics. These rights were established at several international conferences and their agreements, including the Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in 1972 and 1992, respectively. In fact, these collective rights of peoples became internationally recognized.

It is important to note that the third-generation human rights house a broad spectrum of rights, including: economic and social development, healthy environment, natural resources, communication rights, cultural heritage, education, and entertainment. Although these rights were recognized by the United Nations and thus many countries around the globe, many people are not only deprived of these rights since countries are not legally obligated by these documents, but also unaware of their existence and significance.

Currently, many of the third-generation human rights are respected in countries which managed to establish constitutional or structural mechanisms for safeguarding these rights. The mechanisms and agreements include, for instance, the New Zealand Parliamentary Commissioner for the environment, the Directorate-General for the Environment or the High Commissioner on National Minorities. In spite of the international effort to emphasize the importance of the third-generation human rights, people are still deprived not only of sound natural environments, but most importantly perspectives on better life, which are guaranteed by these rights.

How can the international community improve the situation in the developing countries to guarantee people the third-generation human rights? What mechanisms and control mechanisms should be implemented by the developing countries? What institutions should propagate knowledge about significance of the third-generation human rights?

Topic Area B: The Rights of Non-Migrant Workers

Since the contemporary world is now more focused on the problems and accommodation of migrant workers who travel abroad to make a living, there is little attention paid to the situation of non-migrant workers. The simplest definition of a non-migrant worker is a person who is a national of a country in which (s)he remains to settle down and work. Since attention of national and international communities shifted to migrant-workers, there is little discussion on situation of non-migrant workers. However, it is important to begin this discussion because working conditions may deteriorate any day.

Undeniably, the rights and privileges of non-migrant workers vary from country to country as there are no codified standards which would be recognized and, thus, respected by all states. Obviously, there are countries in which workers are granted many rights and privileges such as rights to gather, rights to labor unions, rights to rest and many more. In contrast, there is a number of states in which workers face issues of discrimination, unfair and unequal employment, corruption, labor markets, underpriced wages, and inaccessibility to health care as well as education.

What could be an internationally-recognized definition of “a non-migrant worker?” How could all non-migrant workers around the world be afforded comparatively similar labor rights? What mechanisms should the United Nations as well as national governments implement in order to protect labor rights and privileges?