SPRING MUN 2016 SPRING MUN 2017d284f45nftegze.cloudfront.net/speedlightning/SOCHUM Study Guide (1).pdfSPRING MUN 2016 United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development

SPRING MUN 2016

United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development

Dearest Delegates, It is my distinct pleasure to welcome you to the Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee. Having been a delegate at several conferences before, I know the excitement and thrill that comes with each Model United Nations conference, and I can assure you that the SOCHUM this year will continue to maintain that excellence and enjoyment as we examine the devastating and crippling effect contempo-rary forms of prejudice and racial discrimination across the globe. I am currently a twelfth grader at school and absolutely love studying Biology and Chemistry. Usually, I spend the bulk of my extracurricular life as a dedicated MUNer. I have always been extremely interest-ed in current affairs and foreign policy discussions because it always amazes me how every second the world is changing shaped by conflicts, crises and events occurring across the globe. Hence, I have been an active participant in several Model UNs including Spring MUN, HMUN India and HMUN China. In addition to participating in Model UNs, I have been a Student Ambassador at Gateway House (The In-dian Council on Foreign Relations) and participated in discussions and debates on international affairs. I also spend my free time reading fiction books, re-reading my favorite ones such as the Harry Potter se-ries, learning to play the keyboard, and traveling and shopping as much as possible. The Elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related tolerance – is one of particular relevance to today’s world, where racial distinctions have fractured communities and divided people. The issue poses a significant challenge to the international community as it works towards a better fu-ture of equality and peace. Therefore, over the two day conference, you will design pragmatic solutions to foster a world where minorities don't have to suffer in the face of discrimination and xenophobic be-liefs. This study guide and your own research will provide the background for the discussion of this transi-tional moment in the history of this planet. However, your diplomatic skills and innovative vision will provide the rest. How will you come up with solutions to impact the issue of Xenophobia, while keep-ing the cultural and sociopolitical views of your own country in mind? I look forward to meeting all of you in February, and please do not hesitate to e-mail me with any ques-tions or concerns. Karyna Atha (Director of the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee)

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Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee

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About the Committee

The Social, Cultural and Humanitarian Affairs Committee (SOCHUM) is one of the six special-ized subcommittees of the United Nations Gen-eral Assembly and generally referred to as the Third Committee. It was established after the de-velopment of the Universal Declaration of Hu-man Rights in 1948. The committee’s main task is to strive for better compliance to human rights in every region of this world and thus promote international peace and security. The Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Affairs Committee, (SOCHUM), deals with some of the most press-ing social, humanitarian, and human rights issues facing the global community, including the ad-vancement of women, protecting children, refugee issues, fighting racial discrimination, the right to self-determination and social develop-ment questions that relate to youth, family, per-sons with disabilities, and crime prevention, among others and is incredible vital for coming up with solutions for the same.

Due to SOCHUM’s general mandate, the com-mittee has the ability to discuss many topics pre-sented to the UN. Most issues have a social or cultural aspect, allowing this committee to be involved in developing numerous solutions. SOCHUM consists of a vast mandate, but it is important to note that SOCHUM can not enforce action, but only recommend it to the appropriate authority.

Introduction and Statement of the Problem

Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance is rampant in our societies to-day. It occurs on the grounds of race, colour, de-scent or national or ethnic origin and may extend to language, religion, social origin. Racism is widely recognised as a universal problem. The UN's Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice states that racism includes "racist ideologies, prejudiced attitudes, discriminatory behavior, structural arrangements and institutionalized practices [that results] in racial inequality." In addition to racism, we also need to look at the issue of xenophobia, which is a distinct problem,

but is inherently related to the issue of racism. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines xeno-phobia as the "fear or hatred of strangers or for-eigners." The two issues are often discussed in tandem, particularly when looking at migration policies and issues concerning asylum seekers and refugees. This implies that the scope of this topic is broad. When looking at racism alone,

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there are already many starting points of analysis and many different things that one can choose to focus on.

History of the Problem

Broadly, the issues surrounding the debate on racism, specifically those within the secondary topic, can be split into two main categories - so-ciety’s attitudes, and their consequences. The first is the attitude itself. The attitudes that racism and xenophobia refer to include the deep-seated emotions and prejudices against other individu-als. Whether these individuals choose to act on these emotions and impulses is inconsequential because for this main category, we are looking at the attitude alone. This is far more difficult to resolve because this involves inherent attitudes which are difficult to change. In order for this aspect to be sufficiently and adequately ad-dressed, there has to be increased involvement and investment from the stakeholders involved. The second main category constitutes the conse-quences of these attitudes. This refers to the acts that happen as a result of racist attitudes and xenophobic tendencies. These acts could take a multitude of forms, from the more widely publi-cised terrorist attacks, from the various extremist parties, to the structural injustices that are evi-dent in the policies of individual countries. All these are considered acts of racism and racial discrimination, as highlighted by the Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice. This is also diffi-cult to resolve, but they are much easier to deal with because in many cases, these manifestations are apparent and visible. This makes the acts much easier to prevent and restrict because they are concrete problems that can be dealt with.

However, this does not entirely resolve the situa-tion. While these consequences can be treated as superficial manifestations of the deep seated ten-dencies, the issue of xenophobia is not entirely resolved because the core of the problem is still there.

Today we see a number of situations that are both causes and manifestations of racial discrimina-tion and xenophobia. These cases illustrate the chicken-and-egg nature of the problem, thus fur-ther highlighting the importance of dealing with the issue in parts, but while simultaneously ex-amining the issue as a whole. One case which functions as both causes and manifestations are terrorist and extremist acts. While many of them might not exclusively be racist, they are most certainly xenophobic. The Islamic State and its desire to establish an Islamic Caliphate could be seen as a response to the perceived Westernisa-tion of the world.

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While their motives are questionable, at its very core it stresses a strong desire to aggressively occupy a physical space and indiscriminately de-stroy anything and everything in its path, includ-ing people who infringe on these aims and space. More importantly, while IS has nothing to do with Islam and is falsely using the religion's name in order to carry out these terrorist acts, the attacks carried out by the IS have set off another wave of Islamophobia in the world. These mis-understandings have resulted in the increased persecution of Muslims around the world. Re-cently, during his Presidential campaign, Donald Trump famously called for the ban on Muslim immigrants into the United States.

While this ban was met with widespread horror, the reality is that Trump's popularity increased as a result of the proposed ban. In addition, the call for cultural preservation, coupled with the rising nationalist sentiments have resulted in resur-gences in acts relating to racial discrimination and xenophobia. Many natives and locals do not view migrants as 'permanent.' This means that in most cases, they regard migrants as individuals who plan to stay in the host country temporarily and work there before returning to their respec-tive native countries. As a result, many natives feel that these migrants have no incentive to 'lo-calise' themselves by making themselves accus-tomed to local practices. In fact, the existence of bubbles of expatriate communities only serve to deepen this rift of misunderstanding between the locals and migrants. This serves to exacerbate the chasm between the two parties, thus sowing the seeds of misunderstanding, racial discrimination and xenophobia.

Current Situation

Islamophobia Islamophobia is the exaggerated fear, hatred and hostility towards Muslims or Islam that is per-petuated by negative stereotypes resulting in bias, discrimination and the marginalisation and exclusion of Muslims from social, political and civic life. In a 2011 meeting, the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations, as well as the league of the Arab States identified Islamophobia as an important area of concern. For instance, in re-gards with the USA presidency, the anti-Muslim policy might sound outrageous but appeals to 55% of the Americans who voice an un-favourable opinion of Islam according to the YouGov poll conducted earlier this year. The ex-istence of the Al Qaeda, Taliban and currently the Islamic State is the standard cause of this wide-spread issue. Since the Paris attacks, anti-Muslim prejudice has grown and promoted by the media and gives in to the desires of the Islamic State.

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Islamophobia is a current epidemic which repre-sents an unjust view of Muslims who are being accused of terrible things. This is due to the man-ifestation of fear in the hearts of many people which worsens with each terrorist attack. Human Rights Violations Against Roma Commu-nities Across Europe, the situation of the Roma com-munities worsens with each day. The Roma is Europe’s oldest minorities and endure a long his-tory of discrimination, which has only recently begun to be acknowledged. Amnesty In-ternational has documented how, in both the East and Western Europe, the Roma continue to face obstacles in accessing basic goods and services and securing equal rights to housing, healthcare, education and work. Millions of Roma still live in informal settlements with no or inadequate sanitation, startlingly high levels of unemploy-ment and limited access to healthcare services. Throughout Europe, the Roma are poorly repre-sented in political and administrative structures and face considerable difficulties in integrating into mainstream society while preserving their distinct cultural identities. A United Nations De-velopment Programme (UNDP) study of the sit-uation of Roma in Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic published in 2003 found that in-fant mortality rates among the Roma population were twice that of non-Roma. The marginalisa-tion of Roma is reflected in statistics on their housing situation. The UNDP report on the situa-tion of Roma children across south-eastern Eu-rope estimated that 25% of Roma lived in shacks, compared to 3% of non-Roma, and that 55% of Roma homes were not connected to a sewage

system. The survey below asked respondents about their views of Muslims, Jews and Roma in their country. As it has been the case in previous years, Roma receive the most negative ratings among the three groups asked about. In most countries, at least four-in-ten of the public say they have a very or somewhat unfavourable view of Roma. Negative attitudes are particularly widespread in Italy, Greece, Hungary and France.

Hostile Attitude to and Stigmatisation of Mi-grants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the EU The majority of Europeans believe the influx of refugees across the continent has led to an in-crease in the likelihood of terrorism. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, in eight of the ten European countries surveyed, at least half are concerned about the terror threat. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees told The Independent: "Refugees are people who are fleeing conflict, persecution and/or abuses of their human rights and they have a right under international law to seek asylum in other coun-tries.” In 2015 alone, more than 1 million asylum seekers applied for refugee status in the Eu-

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ropean Union. The majority of these asylum seekers arrived from predominantly Muslim so-cieties – namely, Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Additionally, many Europeans believe refugees are a burden to society because they take jobs and social benefits that would otherwise be available to citizens of each nation. Overall, a median of 50% across the 10 countries surveyed says this. Only in Sweden and Germany do ma-jorities say the opposite – that refugees make their country stronger because of their hard work and talents.

Discrimination of minorities in Saudi Arabia Religious minorities in Saudi Arabia (non-Wah-habi Muslims and non-Muslims) face severe dis-crimination in employment and education, and are forbidden from openly practicing their reli-

gion. Additionally, it has been reported that the Islamist police in Saudi Arabia have stormed a Christian prayer meeting and arrested its entire congregation, including women and children, and confiscated their bibles. Despite Saudi Arabia’s dependence on its labour and expertise, foreign workers in the country are treated very poorly. Upon entry into the country, their employers con-fiscate the passports of non-diplomats or spon-sors and the foreigner becomes a virtual hostage of his or her sponsor until departing the country. Foreign workers often face abusive conditions in the workplace, being denied breaks and meals while working unreasonably long hours, and in some cases not receiving pay for months or years at a time. There are numerous reports of serious verbal and physical abuse, especially of foreign women working as domestic servants in Saudi households. There is no minimum wage, and workers do not have the right to organize or strike. There is no agency that recognizes the grievances of foreign labourers, and they may not access the justice system. Embassies of for-eign workers often side with the Saudis for fear of losing Saudi loans, favourable trade deals, and access to cheap oil.

The Use of Ethnocentrism and Racist Arguments in Political Discourse Ethnocentrism and racism is used widely in polit-ical discourse in order to appeal to the citizens of the country. Looking at the situation in the Unit-ed States of America, Donald Trump rose to power with an Islamophobic campaign. From start to finish, the 2016 presidential election vividly revealed that Islamophobia is alive, and potent and politically resonant as ever. Scape-

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goating Islam and vilifying Muslims was far more than merely campaign messaging; it was more like a winning strategy. Further more, In the United Kingdom, applicants with an African sounding surname need to send twice as many job applications as those with a White British sounding name to get an interview. Statistics across EU Member States show that people with an African origin have systematically higher un-employment rates than the national average, which is due in part to racial discrimination. In Finland, unemployment rates are more than three times higher for people of African origin (41.2%) compared to the national average (8.7%).

Far Right Politics Amid a migrant crisis, sluggish economic growth and growing disillusionment with the European Union, far-right parties — some longstanding, others newly formed — have been achieving electoral success in a number of European na-tions. The “right-wing” refers to political parties that advocates traditional politics and the superi-ority of certain groups of people. These groups often favor a racial group above others in addi-tion to favoring ‘traditional politics’ that support inequality in the society. In recent years, as part of their demonstrations, these political move-ments have become increasingly violent and commit public violence as a means to demon-strate their ideas and cause. Right- wing groups have been gaining support especially rapidly in the past couple of years. Their popularity have come to the extent where some take positions in the European Parliament, and pose a threat of replacing the current governments in power.

One of the symbols of the constitutional deficit that has started to arise in the European continent is unquestionably the rise of Populist Extremist Parties (PEPs). Populist Extremist Parties (PEPs) present one of the most crucial threats in Europe as they have seen an immense rise in the past few years. One major challenge is defining what comprises far-right extremism, since far-right parties across Europe are formed around varying ideologies, according to regions and in instanta-neous correlation to particular difficulties and needs. The ideologies around which far-right par-ties are composed include racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, ethnocentrism and others, while their use as a reference point for PEPs depends on the problems and distinctive issues each coun-try or even region faces. But in spite of historical and contextual divergences between these par-ties, they all appear to be sharing a common pro-gram that focuses mainly on radical changes to national policies on themes reaching across im-migration, religion and nationalistic culture. Radicalisation Responsibility for addressing violent radicalisa-tion leading to terrorism lies primarily with Member States and actors at local, regional and national level. However radicalisation, like ter-rorism, knows no borders. This was evident in the events leading up to the attacks in Paris and Brussels. Due to this reason the European Com-mission is setting out a number of initiatives to support Member States in their efforts across several policy areas, from promoting inclusive education and common values, to tackling ex-tremist propaganda online and radicalisation in

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prisons. In the past decade, initiatives aimed at reducing the risk of attacks and improving re-sponses when attacks occur have been advanced by European government agencies, law enforce-ment authorities, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and research organisations like RAND Europe. These efforts have been aimed at com-batting terrorism at key stages: the initial stage, where radicalisation is nurtured and encouraged; the planning stage, where terrorist plots are hatched; and the final stage, during which actual attacks are undertaken.

Country Specific Case Studies

South Africa

The history of refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa dates back to the 1980s when the country was home to a number of Mozambican refugees, an estimated 350,000, of whom approx-imately 20% have since returned home. South Africa did not recognise refugees until 1993 and when it became a signatory to the United Nations (UN) and Organisation of African Unity Conven-tions on Refugees in 1994. The number of refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa has increased in the past years, puts the total number of cross-border migrants in this category at not more than 150 000. The issue regarding the number of undocumented migrants in the country has proved to be a controversial one in South Africa. Central to this debate is the unquantifi-able nature of this group of migrants together with a number of credible myths widely accepted as reality in South African society.

South Africa is Africa’s most industrialised coun-try, and it attracts thousands of foreign nationals every year, seeking refuge from poverty, eco-nomic crises, war and government persecution in their home countries. While the majority of them are from elsewhere on the continent, such as Zimbabwe, Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Ethiopia, many also come from Pakistan and Bangladesh.

When the xenophobic violence in South Africa occurred, the victims were not only foreigners in the sense of a different nationality are attacked but in fact everybody not belonging to the domi-nant ethnic groups in the main cities, Zulu or Xhosa, was attacked. Members of smaller ethnic groups in South Africa are also viewed as for-eigners by fellow South Africans. White people are not viewed as foreigners in the context of xenophobic violence.There had been attacks on

South Africans who 'looked foreign' because they were 'too dark' to be South African.

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Reasons for the attacks differ, with some blaming the contestation for scarce resources, others at-tribute it to the country’s violent past, inadequate service delivery and the influence of micro poli-tics in townships, involvement and complicity of local authority members in contractor conflicts for economic and political reasons, failure of ear-ly warning and prevention mechanisms regarding community-based violence; and also local resi-dents claims that foreigners took jobs opportuni-ties away from local south Africans and they ac-cept lower wages, foreigners do not participate in the struggle for better wages and working condi-tions. Other local South Africans claim that for-eigners are criminals, and they should not have access to services and police protection. Foreign-ers are also blamed for their businesses that take away customers from local residents and the spread of diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Other South African locals do not particularly like the presence of refugees, asylum-seekers or foreign-ers in their communities.

Europe

The refugee and migrant crisis is one of the most serious challenges that the European Union has faced in its history. Since the start of the crisis, xenophobic sentiment has increased across the continent, far-right and populist parties have gained ground, and member states have replaced solidarity with calls for national solutions. By harshly refusing to accept refugees and opposing a common European solution based on solidarity, the so-called Visegrad Four (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) have become key actors in this conflict and served as role

models for many Western European far-right par-ties.

The main driving force behind xenophobia is fear of certain groups of people that are different from the group perceived as “us”. This fear mainly re-lates to economic, cultural, and security threats that could be abstract or realistic in their nature. Historically, the level of fear has been high in all Visegrad countries. In 2015, the most anxious countries were the Czech Republic and Slovakia, followed by Hungary, while the figures in Poland were considerably lower. People i am these coun-tries are less worried about immigrants taking their jobs than about cultural changes. At the same time, the high level of anxiety around so-cial changes is a sign of welfare chauvinism, a key characteristic of the region. Many people in postcommunist societies fear the appearance of more vulnerable “foreign” groups will lead to a decrease in social status and social transfers.

The level of xenophobia has traditionally been high in these countries. Well before the start of the current refugee crisis, opinion polls showed that anti-immigrant prejudice and welfare chau-vinism were strong in the region. On the basis of European Social Survey (ESS) data from 2010/2011, the Demand for Right-Wing Extrem-ism (DEREX) Index revealed high levels of anti-immigrant sentiment in all Visegrad countries except Poland. The country with the highest lev-els was Hungary, where 49% of respondents ex-pressed anti-immigrant views, compared with 36% in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and 16% in Poland in 2011. ESS data for Western Eu-rope, focusing on the four countries examined in this paper, shows a significantly lower level, but

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a mixed picture: in the same year the percentage of people with anti-immigrant sentiments was 22% in Austria, 21% in France, 16% in Germany, and 4% in Sweden.

While the numbers above show a divide in Eu-rope, when looking at the data more in detail (e.g., attitudes toward certain groups), we can see a significant amount of hostility in Western Eu-rope as well. For instance, according to two sepa-rate 2009 surveys, 37% of French and 21% of Germans would not want an immigrant or for-eign worker as a neighbor; 27% of British and 69% of Italians had a negative view of Muslims; and 30% of Germans disliked Turks. The differ-ences between Central and Western Europe, therefore, might be explained by cultural and so-cial norms that make public expressions of xeno-phobia unacceptable.

India

In the World Values Survey conducted by Swedish economists, reported by the Washington Post, India along with Jordan was the least racial-ly tolerant country. The question that was asked how welcome will a person of a different race will be in the neighborhood. A staggering 43.5% of Indian said they would not appreciate a mem-ber of a different race living amongst them. Ob-viously, such data cannot be held to be represen-tative of all us Indian or every Indian household for that matter, but deep down we know that such a number would not be an incorrect one, espe-cially, when cases such as Muslims not being of-fered houses on rent in a Hindu locality are not infrequent.

Racism in India which primarily arises of the group culture phenomena does not only arise out of two classes, unlike most of the western coun-tries, but among multiple regional, racial, caste and religious units. You can find it at every nook and corner, every neighborhood, cinematic depic-tion and individual attitudes. There is an endemic discrimination faced by Muslims and Dalits in not being able to get accommodation is many neighborhoods. It is not that Indian’s are narrow-minded or uncouth, but the attitude and behav-ioral approach is rather restricted and self-con-tained under the garb of comfort, groupism and convenience.

The eastern culture is a culture of group based identities. India with its system of caste division, albeit originally for economic purposes, is one which has the strongest culture of group based identities. In an environment of prosperity, co-operation, transparency such identities would probably not be a problem, but India, post the British decline, is a country which has a culture of competition, bureaucratic secrecy and a

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democracy where one group identity often has to override the other to make itself be heard and represented. This, firstly, creates a xenophobic environment with respect to other groups who may take a share into the resources of our own group, and also creates an environment which lacks dialog and discussion. This in turn gives birth to all sorts of group based hostilities. Any person who stands out physically is taken to be of a different cultural type, thus, not being met with the same treatment. The hostility is even more in cases of people from African origin or African descent. It is because Indians are not only people who have ingrained group based xenophobia but when this xenophobia marries their fascination with color it produces the love child of supremacism, whereby Africans provide Indians the luxury of being the better class, the better race -truthful hardworking Indians infil-trated by the lost and poor race of Africans who bring to us their scams, drugs, and prostitution. No surprise that the law minister of a state like Delhi supported his raid of four Ugandan women on reasons of them probably being ‘drug-ped-dlers’, ‘sexual predators’, ‘hookers’ – our very own version of Victorian-era ‘Asiatics’ and ‘Ori-entals’.

Racism in India is not institutional, it is not sys-temic, but it is what Lawrence Liang and Golan Naulak in their study on levels of racism would say to be “footnote racism”. Footnote racism en-tails racial prejudices experienced in subtle forms in everyday life. However sometimes, this xeno-phobia becomes more serious when it comes to issues associated with the caste system and the treatment of the shudras.

United States of America

Many Americans today are pledged by xenopho-bia. An example of xenophobia would be the common discrimination against Muslims and Middle Eastern people. Because America have been dealing with the after effects of 9/11 since a very young age, teenagers today are very familiar with discrimination against these people.

Xenophobia is mostly caused by ignorance. If Americans knew how the presence of Al-Queda had ruined the lives of so many Iraqis, and that Terrorist groups and America-hating radical Muslims were an extreme minority in the Middle East, they wouldn't face the discrimination that they do today.

An example for xenophobia that has also been heavily discussed in the news recently is the is-sue of illegal immigration from Mexico to the United States. Many want to put in place more restrictions on immigration laws in order to pro-hibit immigration. People fear that immigrants from countries South of the border, not only

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Mexico, take American jobs and threaten Ameri-can culture. These fears are also fed by igno-rance. Many of these immigrants are working labor intensive jobs which most Americans would be too proud to work, and working them for lower wages than most Americans would ac-cept.Additionally, immigrants could never threat-en "American culture" because the culture of America is a melting pot of cultures, all brought together by immigrants.

UN Relevant Actions

Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice

Passed in 1978, this is the core document that defines the UN's fight against racial discrimina-tion and xenophobia. This is where the defini-tions of many terms are found and more impor-tantly, the basis for many of the eventual claims and the bedrock of any race-related UN discus-sion.

World conference against racism

This is part of the UN's efforts to keep them-selves up to date on the issue, and to engage with it directly. Here, the UN explores all the possible related topics to the issue and brainstorms solu-tions in order to effectively address the issue. This is also an opportunity for the UN to assess the effectiveness of its existing solutions in deal-ing with the issue.

Let's Fight Racism campaign

This is an ongoing campaign that encourages people to look beyond the stereotypes associated with certain races. It urges individuals to look beyond the colour of people's skin and look at their capabilities and qualifications instead.

International day for the elimination of racial discrimination

This is a day for the UN to review the effective-ness of past means and methods to combat racism and xenophobia. In the words of UN Sec-retary General Ban Ki Moon, it is a day to "re-new [the UN's] commitment to building a world of justice and equality." Most recently, the theme for 2015 was 'Learning from historical tragedies to combat racial discrimination today,' highlight-ing the importance of the past in addressing the issue.

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QARMA and Points to Consider in De-bate

In order to formulate a holistic resolution that deals with some of the most pertinent issues, the following questions must be addressed.

• Who are the marginalized individuals, groups or organizations subject to discrimination?

• What actions can be taken at local national, re-gional, and international levels?

• What measures should be taken to ascertain compliance of states to these proposed actions?

• What is the role of political parties, the media and civil society in both countering and foster-ing Xenophobia?

• How can the current systems be refined to combat xenophobia?

• How will states address the “racialization” of religion?

• How important is education in order to combat Xenophobia and discrimination, particularly among adolescents?

Instructions for Position Papers

Your position paper should be one and a half pages, single-spaced, twelve-point Times New Roman font(approximately 750 words). Your names, country name, school, and topic area should be in the upper right hand corner. The pa-per should be outlined in three paragraphs. The first two paragraphs should make up about half of the paper; the third and final paragraph should make up the remainder, and bulk, of your paper. These paragraphs are in a logical procession, and each paragraph should build analytically on the

last. The first paragraph should consist of your country’s experience or particular connection to the topic. The second paragraph should discuss your na-tion’s policy on the issues, as supported by rele-vant national documents. This differs from the first paragraph because it should also include a short description of agreements, statements, and lessons learned from your history and choices in the past. You should also discuss your current diplomatic arrangements with relevant nations in this paragraph. Research for this paragraph could include speeches given by heads of state or am-bassadors, or national studies and policy state-ments. The third, final, and most important paragraph is your country’s plan going forward. Given your history and your policy going forward, what does your country believe is the best course of action to pursue? This should be a unique mixture of international work and your country’s personal past and experiences.

Further Research Leads Given that the issue of Xenophobia has been ad-dressed by the United Nations for several years, it is easy to find a wide range of online materials and recent publications when you prepare for the conference. Xenophobia today has become a very pressing issue which is constantly evolving, shaped by conflicts occurring across the globe. Therefore, while it may be useful to consult older resources and books to learn about the history of the topic, you should use mostly recent materials

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to develop your nation’s current position on the issue. It is often useful to also examine specific re-search articles that discuss how xenophobia is impacting your nation. While the technical jar-gon and quantitative modeling in many of these articles can be confusing, you can still learn a lot about the political views and arguments. Scholar-ly research articles can also be very important to your nation’s policies and stance on a certain as-pect of Xenophobia. EBSCOHOST, JStore and other online databases are the best places to find scholarly research on all the various forms of discrimination. In addition, websites of scientific organisations such as UNHRC and UNESCO will also help you find more information about this topic. Finally, I want to really emphasize that your job is to represent your country’s stake in this issue. This guide provides an overview of how this top-ic affects the world at large and how diverse the arguments are globally. However, it is your re-sponsibility to really explore how the topic is rel-evant to your nation and then report that to the committee during our conference.

Bibliography

• http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-hu-man-sciences/themes/international-migration/glossary/xenophobia/

• http://racerelations.about.com/od/understand-ingrac1/tp/An-Overview-Of-Xenophobia.htm

• https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/14/south-africa-xenophobic-violence-outbreak

• http://www.vknfs.co.za/wp-content/uploads/xenophobia.png

• http://archive.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/06/xenophobia_in_south_africa.html

•

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http://archive.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/06/xenophobia_in_south_africa.html

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SPRING MUN 2016 SPRING MUN 2017d284f45nftegze.cloudfront.net/speedlightning/SOCHUM Study Guide (1).pdfSPRING MUN 2016 United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development