Special Summit on Non-Discrimination

Dear Delegates,

Felix Cook

It is my sincere pleasure to welcome you to Harvard National Model United Nations 2012 and the United Nations’ Special Summit on Non-Discrimination. I hope we can enjoy an extraordinary conference together. My name is Felix Cook; I am a junior at Harvard College, studying Government with International Relations and Literature and I am a native of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Outside of HNMUN, I spend a lot of time involved with student drama, the Harvard television network, and school spirit organisations. I try and fail to keep up with my reading. In the past, I have been involved both with the Round Square international service organisation and with the Holocaust Educational Trust of the United Kingdom, positions with which I have been fortunate to travel extensively.

Bias and discrimination come in many forms, and none of us is immune to it or beyond its reach. I hope as we approach this challenging issue, you will be stimulated, informed, educated and build new relationships with your varied and talented pool of fellow-delegates. We approach an issue currently in a state of flux within the United Nations; since the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, the United Nations has been in the process of reviewing, reaffirming and refreshing international understanding of the UN charter and other rights guarantees for a new century. Today we are challenged by the rise of new voices of need, while old struggles continue, and our summit’s purpose will be to provide much needed directionality to UN thinking in these areas and best balance the needs and desires of many competing interests. The issues are complex, but have the capacity to touch human lives deeply.

The nature of this summit and its questions allows an especially broad array of global cultural and political interests to be expressed, and as you begin your preparations for the conference I urge you to especially focus on those applicable to your own nations within the global context. There are no large or small, weak or powerful nations when it comes to cultural heritage and tradition, and I encourage you to bring the unique perspective of each of your countries to the discussion. Be steered by the study guide, but do not be limited by it: it will give you a broad perspective and foundational knowledge, but it will be your own efforts that ensure your final appreciation of, and success at, the conference. I look forward to working with all of you come February, and please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have.

Sincerely,

Felix Cook
Director, Special Summit on Non-Discrimination
Harvard National Model United Nations 2012

Topic Area A: UN Recognition of the Rights of Sexual Minorities

Sexuality and sexual identity are one of the core aspects of the human condition; a topic for reverence, creativity, philosophy, study and mythology for thousands of years. Few things shape our lives so completely and with such totality; few things shape how we interact with society and others so fully. While the understanding of conventional sexuality has shifted from epoch to epoch and culture to culture, the international community remains divided on the place of people of non-majority sexual orientation and identity in our societies today. The last thirty years have seen massive shifts in the legal and cultural recognition afforded to sexual minorities in many Western nations, leading to severe international disparities in the treatment of these individuals and strain on our shared cultural and moral values.

More than 70 UN member states continue to prosecute people because of their sexual orientation, and western LGBT groups continue to exert financial and political pressure on the United Nations for a declaration on this issue. This has led to a sharp conflict between differing belief and cultural systems, and the right and capacity of the UN to intervene on issues of cultural sensitivity. Political sovereignty is a well-established concept and problem-area of the United Nations, but is there such a thing as cultural sovereignty and how can it be weighed against notions of universal rights? What kind of rights do people of sexual minorities need, and how should they be presented? How do we draw the line between individual cultural sensibilities and human totalities, and what right do countries have to promote their own above others? Sensitivity, mutual respect and caution will be required to move the UN forward on this issue in such a way that is acceptable to the international community, while keeping the struggle toward our highest ideals applicable and active in the 21^st century.

Topic Area B: Safeguarding Genetic Rights for a Changing Future

Our understanding of technology is always changing, but now it changes our understanding of ourselves. From the unlocking of the human genome to advances in cloning, genetic modification and stem cell research, we have acquired the way to shape and reshape ourselves as never before. This does not please everyone. In 2008, the United States passed one of the world’s first laws outlawing discriminatory practices against persons by corporate entities such as insurance companies or potential employers based on their genetic code.

As understanding of the human genome widens and research into genetic disease and identity continues, many people fear the implications of a wider utilisation of genetic screening and analysis on civil liberties and established equalities. The near decades may see discrimination against people prone to genetic diseases for example, and many nations already face issues regarding the proper way in which security and law enforcement apparatus should utilise and catalogue citizen’s genetic material. Many near-future biotechnologies, such as infant characteristic selection, provoke difficult moral dilemmas. How can we ensure the beneficial use of this technology, and prevent a new genetic inequality between developed and developing nations? How will we impose correct limits on its use, before we know its potential? This topic area will require both foresight and imagination, and an understanding of the various moral and ethical strictures around the subject.