Position Paper- Peru

Name: Harman Dewan

Country:Peru
Committee:UNHRC

Although Peru is not a part of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, it has a growing
population of Islamic citizens. The amount has gone from 400 in the early 1950s to over 5,000
today1. Many of these people reside in the Peruvian region of Lima, which is the hub of the
Muslim population in Peru. The state of Peru being a welcome one has served as a problem once
or twice, for example when in October, 2014, the arrest of a Lebanese citizen called Muhammad
Ghaled Hamdar took place in the city of Lima. He was convicted on charges of terrorism and
document forgery, on behalf of the Hezbollah militant group2.Hamdar fought to prove his
innocence, but failed, and later confessed to his crimes, although many of his doings went
unpunished, due to lack of resources.

Less than 2 years ago, he was sentenced to 6 years in prison. Nevertheless, even though he was
sentenced to prison, the decision to absolve him of his terrorism crimes was annulled. Hamdar
had committed no act of terrorism while residing in Lima, Peru, yet he was sentenced to prison
regardless of the fact that he had only taken part in the militant group. This fact was later
countered when many explosives and target photos were located in Hamdar’s belongings which
were confiscated shortly after his arrest. Some people still fought to prove his innocence, but the
evidence was too hard built for any reevaluations. Peru’s position on the topic of counter-
extremism is hard to define, as it is hard to put in action without suffering any consequences.

-Deeply concerned that there are not enough official groups/organisations to counter the
extremist actions by the Hezbollah militant group, which employs and manipulates citizens of
many nations to spread terror globally, destroying and disrupting the lives of millions,

-Alarmed by the fact that Peru is not part of any group or organisation regarding problems such
as extremism by Muslim terrorist groups and failure of recognition of Muslim members of
general population of the Peruvian society leading to discrimination and lack of awareness of the
position of people of different cultures in their day to day lives,

1
http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/countries/peru/religious_demography#/?affiliations_religion_id=0&a
ffiliations_year=2010
2
https://www.counterextremism.com/countries/peru
-Taking into consideration that members of anti-governance illegal militant organisations such
the Hezbollah militant group, are able to infiltrate nations and evade the policing groups by
creating false identification and forging documents via softwares due to less uniqueness in
authentication of identification,

1.Suggests the formation of an Counter Extremist Military Task Force which specializes in not
only tracking and eliminating threats to the secular states, but also spreading awareness by
broadcasts which update citizens on the progress and gained information on situations and
providing a helpline, so that everyone can assist, increasing manpower and possible solutions to
any situation regarding extremist groups.

2.Recommends that the state of Peru becomes the 54th state to join the Organisation of Islamic
Cooperation, as it will provide one of the most crucial resources to the state: cooperation with
either culprit or victim of extremist crimes, as to help improve situations and make sure they
remain unrepeated in the future. Peru will also provide their opinions and solutions to many of
the situations that may arise in or concerning the Organisation, returning the privilege of
cooperation.

3. Takes note of the fact that fraudulent passports and forged documents are easily ignored in
custom processes, as to increase the speed of official processes, leading to the entrance of
unwanted and dangerous persons, who may be a threat to anti extremist peace, and emphasizes
the use of upgraded facial recognition software & DNA sequencing and sharing information with
the public so that the culprit or threat can be recognised and handled with the assistance and
cooperation of the general population.

Peru may be new to the topic of extremist attacks from unidentified groups, but still has much to
offer with the correct cooperation and methods. The statement ‘more the merrier’ applies to
situations which need solutions, no matter how effective they are. When quantity of a value
increases, the chance of you getting a particular ‘correct’ part of that value increases too. If more
people, including citizens and people with relatively low status/authority, weigh in on a situation,
there will be a diverse array of solutions, each one giving a unique way to handle a situation. A
single stick may break, but a bundle of sticks is too difficult to even budge.