SANSKRITI MODEL UNITED NATIONS 2019

OFFICE OF THE HIGH

COMMISSIONER FOR
HUMAN RIGHTS

High Commissioner: Tavishi Sharma

Deputy High Commissioners: Aparna Joshi, Aditi Tuli and
Mallika Sharma
Table of Contents
1. Meet the Executive Board
2. Letter from the EB
3. About the Committee
4. Position Paper Guidelines
5. History of the Agenda
6. Current Situation
(a) Forced Labour Exploitation
i. Case Study A; Thailand and Indonesia
(b) State-Imposed Forced Labour
ii.Case Study B; Mongolia
(c) Forced Sexual Exploitation
iii.Case Study C; Cambodia
(d) Child Labour
(e) Forced Marriage
iv.Case Study D; Myanmar and China
7. Past International Action and Relevant Legal Aspect
8. Possible Solutions
9. Bloc Positions
10. Questions A Resolution Must Answer
11. Resolution Formatting Guidelines
12. Bibliography
Meet the Executive Board
A MESSAGE FROM THE HIGH COMMISSIONER

Greetings Delegates!
I am Tavishi Sharma, and I will be serving as
the High Commissioner for this simulation of
the Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights at Sanskriti Model United
Nations 2019. I am currently in grade 12
pursuing Humanities with Maths and
Economics. My passions lie in music, reading,
debating, travelling and history. It is my distinct pleasure to be
serving as the High Commissioner and hope you are just as
excited as I am to see you all in April! As delegates of this
committee, you shall be expected to be well prepared for a fast-
paced committee and to bring a solution-oriented approach. This
agenda is a vast, interconnected and complex one, a
comprehensive understanding of the economic motives, state of
human rights and the mandate of this committee will be
necessary to come up with effective solutions. SMUN has given
me some of my best Model UN experiences and I hope to provide
you with an educational and enriching experience that you may
carry with yourselves as you venture forth into the world of Model
UN. Please feel free to email us at [email protected] for
any queries.
Good luck, see you in April!
 MESSAGES FROM THE
DEPUTY HIGH
COMMISSIONERS
Greetings delegates! I am Aparna Joshi, studying Humanities
in class 12. I shall be serving as your Deputy Commissioner for
this session of the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees at SMUN’19. This shall be my last
conference….culminating a long and eventful career in the
field of debating, MUNing and acting. Other than spending
long night delving deep into policy matters, my interests
include research on multiple areas of interest such as
Sociology, Painting, History and Humanitarian Crises. Further,
I enjoy nothing more than reading and listening to music.

Through this committee, I hope to see lively debate and

fervour to protect and uplift people like ourselves in dire need.
All the best for April!!
Hi, Delegates! I’m Mallika Sharma, a class 11 student studying
Humanities with Mathematics and I will be serving as your
Deputy Commissioner for this simulation of the Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at
Sanskriti Model United Nations 2019.
My interests include music, debating, writing and occasionally
dabbling in the intimidating world of theatre, as it will always be
for the gawky introvert that
I am. I hope you are as
excited to participate in
the cogent debate set to
take place during the
conference as I am and
that you will use this
platform of deliberation to
fully utilise your abilities
whether it be in terms of
research, policy making,
or even general diplomacy.

I am confident that every delegate will bring a novel

perspective to the pressing issue at hand and will allow their
innovative mind to counter the neglect that the agenda has
faced.

Please feel free to approach us regarding any queries that you

may have.
Hello, delegates!
I’m Aditi Tuli, and I’m delighted to be serving as your
Deputy Commissioner for the Office of
the High Commissioner for Human Rights at this edition of
SMUN. I’m currently in the 11th grade, studying Physics,
Chemistry, Maths and Psychology. I first became
acquainted with Model UN back in grade 8, and I have
loved it ever since. Apart from
MUN and debate, I enjoy painting
and playing the piano.

Model UN is a unique opportunity

to come up with innovative ideas,
to think critically and dynamically,
and to collaborate with other
delegates. I look forward to seeing
how the committee tackles the
various facets of the agenda, and I
hope that it is an enriching,
memorable experience for each of you.Good luck, and see
you in April!
Letter from the Executive Board
Dear delegates,

It is our distinct pleasure to host you at the 8th edition of

Sanskriti Model United Nations. As your executive board,
we are thrilled to have each and every one of you in our
committee, and hope to see you exceed our expectations.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is
the leading entity for upholding human rights in the United
Nations. Headed by the High Commissioner for Human
Rights, the Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures
and Right to Development Division of the body deals with
the formation of appropriate policies and forming
implementation plans.
Considering how vast our agenda for this simulation is, we
expect delegates to be well researched when they come
into committee. Each delegate should have an
independent outlook and end goal for the committee. We
expect the solutions to be specific, targeted and well
thought out on every front from the basic reform to its
funding.
We recommend that you use this background guide to
formulate a basic understanding of the agenda and build
on that with your research. Take what is related to your
research and your solutions but do not consider the
the background guide as the end of your research. We would
be expecting the committee to deliberate on issues we may
have missed out in the background guide. Further, we expect
to see delegates making the most of their powers as
members of a bloc and as individual nations, by focusing on
what they can bring to the table (in terms of national and
available resources) during negotiations to build a strong
reform plan.

In conclusion, we are here to help each and every one of you

takes home an amazing experience. Feel free to contact us
for any queries you may have about the background guide,
research, MUNing in general or pre-conference details. You
can email us at [email protected]. We look forward
to seeing you in April!

Happy Researching,
Executive Board
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Sanskriti Model United Nations 2019
ABOUT THE COMMITTEE

The Office of the High Commissioner for

Human Rights is the part of the United Nations
Secretariat mandated with upholding and
maintaining human rights all around the work,
including standard setting, monitoring and
supporting the on-ground implementation of
human rights reforms.

OHCHR supports the United Nations human

rights mechanisms, such as the Human Rights
Council, the Special Procedures and the expert
committees monitoring international human
rights treaties. The Office works with
Governments and other partners such as
national institutions to ensure all human rights
are fully respected. OHCHR engages with civil
society organizations to assist them in
promoting and protecting human rights more
effectively.

Further, the Office looks to objectively analyse

all human rights violations and support other
human rights bodies like the HRC. OHCHR
provides technical, substantive and secretariat
support to the Council. The agenda for this
simulation of the Office is Forced Labour and
Human Trafficking with special emphasis on
South East Asia.

The Geneva-based headquarters of the Office

has the following three substantive divisions:
Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to
Development Division (TESPRDD), which develops policy and
provides guidance, tools, advice and capacity-strengthening
support on thematic human rights issues, including for
human rights mainstreaming purposes; and provides support
to the Human Rights Council’s special procedures.
Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division
(CTMD), which provides substantive and technical support to
the HRC and the Council’s UPR mechanism, and supports the
human rights treaty bodies.
Field Operations and Technical Cooperation Division
(FOTCD), which is responsible for overseeing and
implementing the Office’s work in the field.
POSITION PAPER GUIDELINES
Position papers are of utmost i mport ance as t hey
al l ow the Executive Board t o roughl y unde rst and
each del egates' capabili t y , and t he del egat e’ s
views on the matter. These posi t i on papers mus t
be submitted on time and fai l ur e t o do so wil l
resul t in EXEMPTION from t he awar d proce ss.
Extensions shal l onl y be grant ed unde r extreme
circumstances. The fol l owing guidel i nes shoul d
be adhered to, to write an effecti ve paper t hat
insightful l y deal s with the sensi t i ve i ssue s of t he
crisis at hand.

1. Begin the 1st paragraph with a brief history of the

topic to introduce the conflict in your words. Write
about how your country is related to the agenda, if
it is, and why you think the conflict emerged, to begin
with.

2. Expand your body to talk about the current situation

and what your nation plans to do about it. This is a
good place to include any statistics and specific
scenarios that may be critical to the agenda. Write
about the various aspects of the issue to be dealt with
and how these issues have impacted humanity.

3. The 3rd paragraph or section is by far the most

important section because it allows delegates to
introduce solutions to combat the problems. Be
creative, but at the same time, realistic. Write about
humanitarian aid, financial help, social programmes,
rescue operations etc.
When writing a position paper, delegates must
identify:
➔ The conflicts and issues that must be addressed by the committee.
➔ The country's vested interests or concerns in the area relevant to
the topic and why.
➔ A concise solution that would help overcome the problem with
much more ease.

A delegate’s position paper also must contain the following:

➔ The country's stance/policy on the topic.

➔ The country's interpretation of the incident/ topic, e.g.: Violence
directed towards another individual or group may be perceived as an
act of self-defence or an act of aggression.
➔ The country’s foreign relations with the countries that are under the
scanner, and how does that alter the stance of the country.
➔ Possible resolutions that can deal with the conflicts and issues
mentioned above.

The Positions Papers are to be mailed to

[email protected] as a pdf file by 11:59 pm on
16/04/2019.
HISTORY OF THE AGENDA
FORCED LABOUR

What is Forced Labour?

The International Labour Organisation defines Forced Labour as all

work or service which is extracted from any person under the
menace of any penalty, and for which the said person has not
offered themselves voluntarily. The term ‘slavery’ is often used today
to connote forced labour or slavery-like conditions. Slavery was
defined by the League of Nations in 1926 as a situation where rights
of ownership are exercised by one person over another. In 1956, a
UN instrument addressed slavery-like practices, including debt
bondage and serfdom. There are many ways in which people are
coerced into forced labour, including the confiscation of personal
identity documents, the threat of denunciation of irregular migrants
to the authorities in the host country, deception of a trafficked
person about the type of work they will undertake, and withholding
of wages over long periods. Debt bondage is the most prevalent
form of this: debts accumulated over the trafficking process are so
high that the labourer cannot hope to pay them off. They are then
forced to pay off this debt by working of the employer for an
indefinite period of time. A distinction must be made between forced
labour, and those that accept meagre wages and poor working
conditions due to an economic compulsion and lack of
opportunities. The latter, though exploitation of vulnerability, is not
forced labour.
Slavery in South East Asia
Although slavery and forced labour are not one and the same,
understanding the history of forced labour in South-East Asia is not
possible without examining the history of slavery in the region.
During the Khmer Empire, Cambodia was home to a large slave
population. The capital of the Khmer Empire, Angkor, was built
largely on slave labour. Slaves in Cambodia included those taken
captive from the mountain tribes, and those that were indebted to
the upper ruling class. In Siam (now Thailand), war captives
became the property of the king. Slavery was particularly
prominent during the reign of Rama III (1824 to 1851). The practice
was only abolished in 1905. In the pre-Spanish Philippines,
members of the lowest social caste, the alipin, were “serfs’ or
‘bondsmen’. Serfs were linked with a hereditary piece of land.
Different from slaves in that they could not be bought or sold
independently, serfs were still essentially bound by the will of their
landlord. In Indonesia, slaves were family property. They were
acquired either through slave trading or were captured during
wars. People could pledge themselves as slaves as a way of paying
off their debt. Slave status was hereditary: those born to slaves
became slaves themselves. Slavery in Southeast Asia reached its
peak in the late 18th and the early 19th centuries. The Iranun and
the Banguingui people, from the modern-day Philippines, engaged
in coastal raids in the region, largely for acquiring slaves.
Approximately 200,000 to 300,000 people were enslaved by them,
from 1770 onwards. The enslaved were forced to perform labour
on the ships of their captors. These raids were cut off only in the
mid 19th century, by the use of steam-powered warships by
European powers.
Forced Labour in the European Colonies

The colonisation of South-East Asia lead to forced labour at an

extensive scale. Even after slavery was outlawed in most
colonies, the practice continued in less overt forms. In
Indochina, the French completely overturned the existing
subsistence economy, creating a system based on land
ownership, increased production, exports, and low wages. The
Vietnamese people, instead of owning small plots of land now
worked on plantations owned by the French colons. Some were
recruited forcefully, whereas some were lured by the promise of
false wages. These labours, derogatorily called ‘coolies’, worked
long hours in inhumane conditions. Corporal punishment,
though prohibited by colonial laws, was practised. The VOC (
United East Indies Company) used forced labour extensively in
modern day Indonesia. Slave labour was used for the
construction of cities and forts, for work on fields and
plantations, and for domestic work. In addition to this, forced
sexual labour was common.

Japanese Occupation (World War II)

Forced labour was common over the course of Japan’s
annexation during World War Two.
During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, between 4 and 10
million ‘romusha’ were forced to work by the Japanese military.
The ‘romusha’ were paid conscripted labourers, roughly 10% of
whom were women. The type of work they engaged in ranged
from light housework to heavy construction. The concept of
‘comfort women’ also emerged during this period. These were
essentially brothels serving the Japanese military forces.
Women from countries including the Philippines and
Burma (now Myanmar) were subject to forced sexual
labour. Many of these women were also forced into
arduous physical labour, on fields and roads, on
starvation rations.

The Khmer Rouge

The Khmer Rouge regime saw forced labour on an
almost unprecedented scale. Ruling in Cambodia
from 1975 to 1979, it was responsible for one of the
worst mass killings of the 20th century. The Marxist
regime forced millions of people from the cities of
Cambodia to work on communal farms in the
countryside. The Khmer Rouge enforced strict
policies where workers laboured in the fields for 12
hours a day.

Globalisation
When discussing the demand for forced labour, two
aspects must be considered: First, the demand for
cheap, flexible labour driven by the employers, and
second, the demand for cheap or illicit goods and
services, driven by consumers. Both these facets have
multiplied in the later years of the 20th century, with
globalisation and the reorganisation of global
production. These changes were not organic; they
were the result of powerful actors pushing through
big changes, and primarily benefited the wealthy.
These rising inequalities created a vast number of
people in the labour market that were too poor to
refuse exploitation.