GA-4: SPECPOL

STUDY GUIDE
Introduction to the Committee

The Special Political and Decolonization Committee

(Fourth Committee)

SPECPOL
Academic Assistant - Ali Öz
Agenda Item: Discussion of events that endanger human rights and
peace in the Asian continent.

The Mission and How It Becomes Accessible

When it was first created, the Fourth Committee was solely responsible for trusteeship-
and decolonization-related matters. However, after independence was granted to all the
United Nations trust territories and the subsequent dismantling of the trusteeship
system, the committee's workload decreased. Consequently, the Fourth Committee was
merged with the Special Political Committee, which had been created as a seventh main
committee to deal with certain political issues. The Fourth Committee deals with:
decolonization-related items, the effects of atomic radiation, questions relating to
information, a comprehensive review of the question of peacekeeping operations, review
of special political missions, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian
Refugees in the Near East, the report of the Special Committee on Israeli Practices and
international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.

The Committee

The Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) considers a

broad range of issues covering a cluster of five decolonization-related agenda items, the
effects of atomic radiation, questions relating to information, a comprehensive review of
the question of peacekeeping operations as well as a review of special political
missions, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the
Near East (UNRWA), Israeli Practices and settlement activities affecting the rights of the
Palestinian people and other Arabs of the occupied territories, and International
cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.
Uighur Genocide
An incident that has been going on for years, such as the Uighur genocide, has still
not been solved, and the biggest responsible for this is undoubtedly the European states
and organizations. The Uighur Genocide is the general name given to the violence and
human rights violations carried out by the Chinese Communist Party against the
Uighurs. This policy has led to the detention of more than a million Turkic Muslims,
the majority of whom are Uighurs, in secret detention camps without any legal action.
Critics of this policy have generally described it as a result of the Chinese government's
efforts to De-Chinese Xinjiang and have described it as a Cultural genocide. These
policies were implemented by Chen Quanguo, the local Communist Party secretary of
Xinjiang.Many activists, independent NGOs, human rights experts, government officials
and the Government-in-Exile of East Turkestan have called these events a Genocide.
The violence against Uyghurs was carried out during World War II. It was the incident in
which the largest number of people were arrested, violent and killed because of their
ethnic and religious identities since World War II.
Even though many countries reacted to this incident and described it as genocide,
many countries either remained silent about this incident or became supporters of
China. While almost all countries in the world recognize this incident as genocide, some
Asia countries remain silent about this incident despite belonging to the same religion,
so what is the reason for this? Despite their belonging to the same religion, Uighurs are
not adequately protected in the international arena by states with a Muslim-majority
society. Three possible reasons for this can be mentioned: Economic dependence, The
need for China's diplomatic strength in the international arena, (especially at the UN.)
and Security policies of countries.

Chinese Propaganda Campaign:

The Chinese government launched a propaganda campaign to defend its actions in
Xinjiang. China initially denied the existence of the Xinjiang prison camps and tried to
cover up their existence. After the Chinese government had to admit the existence of
these camps in 2018, it launched a propaganda campaign to portray the camps as
humane and to deny the human rights violations in Xinjiang.

Reactions of International Organizations:

In July 2019, 22 countries attended the 41st session of the United Nations Human
Rights Council (UNHRC), denouncing China's mass detention of Uyghurs and other
minorities, calling China "the freedom of arbitrary detention and free movement of
Uighurs and other Muslim and minority communities". described as. Xinjiang." In
October 2019, 23 countries issued a joint statement to the UN, urging China to "fulfill its
national and international obligations and commitments to respect human rights. In
response, 54 countries (including China itself) China In the statement, "The results of
the counter-terrorism and radicalization measures in Xinjiang were expressed positively
and it was noted that these measures effectively protect the basic human rights of
people from all ethnic groups.

Countries That Accept and Reject Genocide:

Rohingya Genocide:
The Rohingya Genocide is a series of ongoing persecutions and killings of the
Muslim Rohingya people by the Burmese military. The genocide has consisted of two
phases to date: the first was a military crackdown that occurred from October 2016 to
January 2017, and the second has been occurring since August 2017. The crisis forced
over a million Rohingya to flee to other countries. Most fled to Bangladesh, resulting in
the creation of the world's largest refugee camp,] while others escaped to India,
Thailand, Malaysia, and other parts of South and Southeast Asia, where they continue to
face persecution. The United States, United Kingdom, and other countries refer to the
events as "ethnic cleansing".

The persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar dates back to at least the

1970s.Since then, the Rohingya people have been persecuted on a regular basis by the
government and Buddhist nationalists. In late 2016, Myanmar's armed forces and police
launched a major crackdown against the people in Rakhine State which is located in the
country's northwestern region. The Burmese military was accused of committing ethnic
cleansing and genocide by various United Nations agencies, International Criminal Court
officials, human rights groups, journalists, and governments The UN found evidence of
wide-scale human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings; summary executions;
gang rapes; arson of Rohingya villages, businesses, and schools; and infanticides. The
Burmese government dismissed these findings by stating they are "exaggerations".
Using statistical extrapolations which were based on surveys which were conducted with
a total of 3,321 Rohingya refugee households in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, a study
which was conducted in January 2018 estimated that the military and the local Rakhine
population killed at least 25,000 Rohingya people and perpetrated gang rapes and other
forms of sexual violence against 18,000 Rohingya women and girls. They estimated that
116,000 Rohingya were beaten, and 36,000 were thrown into fires. women and girls,
116,000 Rohingya beaten, and 36,000 Rohingya refugees. He claimed that he had also
been thrown into the fire.

Reactions of International Organizations:

The repression of the Myanmar army against the Rohingya people drew criticism from
various circles. Organizations such as the human rights organization Amnesty
International and the United Nations described the military's crackdown on the Rohingya
minority as a crime against humanity, and noted that the military made civilians the
target of a "systematic campaign of violence”. The US State Department expressed its
concerns about the violence and displacement of Rohingya in Rakhine State. The
Malaysian government has condemned the repression in Rakhine State with ongoing
protests in the country. Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak criticized the Myanmar
authority for military repression of Rohingya Muslims at a protest rally in early
December, describing the ongoing persecution as "genocide". Malaysia said the
situation was a cause for international concern and described the violence against the
Rohingya Muslim minority as "ethnic cleansing".

International legal responses:

On 11 November 2019, Gambia filed a lawsuit against Myanmar on behalf of the
Rohingya at the UN International Court of Justice, with the support of 57 countries
affiliated with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. opened in the World Court. More
than 740,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh, but the government has insisted since
2017 that crackdown in Rohingya is necessary to target terrorism.

Poverty of Middle East Countries After Independence:

During the period when the Middle East countries gained their independence, they
could not adequately prepare themselves for this process. As a result of the socialist
planning practice during the Soviet Union, all kinds of organizations were carried out by
the central government. The industry of central government. The fact that every stage of
production in the planning is carried out in another country exists in post-independence
countries. It has made the production far from the activity. Therefore, during this period,
there was no structure for the Middle East countries to plan their own development
processes.
The countries of the region gained their independence not as a result of their own
coercion, but at the request of the central state. The ongoing ethnic hostility and conflicts
within the Middle East countries negatively affect the post-independence process. The
new era of countries Problems in adaptation brought along with-it identity crisis.
Individuals who position themselves according to the conditions of the former Soviet era
have significant problems in adapting to the conditions of the new era. In addition, the
fact that the functionality of the market economy cannot be fully ensured is another
problem.
Constitutes the problem group. Again, because the democratic civil society structure
could not be institutionalized and the other reasons listed, it was not possible for the
countries of the region to take the leaps that would enable them to develop and develop
after independence.
The countries of the region have become the center of attraction of developed
countries with their energy resources reserves. However, this potential could not cause
a significant increase in the welfare levels of the people living in the countries of the
region.
 One of the most important problems of the countries of the region in the fight against
poverty is the non-democratic forms of government. Democracy culture cannot be
established in a short time. However, the establishment of this culture can only be
achieved by the country's governments adopting democracy. Institutionalization of
democracy culture for Middle East countries seems to play a key role in solving
important problems.
Middle East countries should attach more importance to civil society, establish more
democratic management mechanisms, crown their existing natural resources with more
investments, strengthen their infrastructure in education, and reduce injustice in income
distribution. In this way, a more planned and programmed growth model should be
adopted and implemented. Only in this way, Middle East countries will be able to
increase their welfare levels by reducing the poverty of their people. The only way to
make this possible is to provide the necessary financial and military aid to Middle East
countries and to end genocides, wars and colonialism. Unless these three events come
to an end, Middle East will not be able to develop and protect themselves against
international threats.

Ballistic Missile Tests in Middle East:

Israel, North Korea, China and India are the countries that have ballistic missiles. At the
same time,the United States, Russia and Iran have also conducted ballistic missile tests.
this competition also affects. Middle East. These countries have conducted dozens of
test firings in the Middle East in order to test the ballistic missiles they have developed.
This incident is absolutely against human rights. It is hard to believe that these test shots
conducted in the location of the Middle Eastern countries, which have not. Even
developed their own air defense systems, are a coincidence. In the event of a possible
war, countries with ballistic missiles will not hesitate to fire missiles at countries in the
test-conducted. regions. Ballistic missiles can destroy the entire human population at the
place where they are fired, and the use and testing of these missiles in the Middle East
region is absolutely a crime. Especially nuclear ballistic missiles, even if they are fired at
places where there is no civilian life, cause great destruction to the surrounding
settlements. It is obvious that human rights are being violated both as a threat to human
health and as a threat to the country's ecosystem and that it threatens the whole
country. If the use of nuclear ballistic missiles is not banned, a second Hiroshima and
Nagasaki disaster will be inevitable. We should ban the use of these missiles, which
violate human rights, or allow them within the framework of certain rules.
Summary of Events in Middle East:
It would not be right to limit human rights violations in the Middle East to a few
incidents. But all these events have one thing in common, the fact that the victimized
countries did not receive enough assistance before and after the war. For example,
while Iraq and the United States are slaughtering civilians in Syria, instead of the other
countries being united and resisting, they are striking a blow to the country that has
already been torn apart. If international institutions and organizations continue to turn a
blind eye to this situation, the massacres in the Middle East will not end, they will
continue to increase day by day. As SPECPOL, we know that this situation will not
continue like this. We know that we should not prevent illegal alliances and alliances of
interests in the Middle East. We expect SPECPOL members to come together and find
solutions to stop the massacres and murderous alliances in Middle East.