Committee: General Assembly of the United Nations.

Social, Humanitarian & Cultural - Third Committee

Topic: Promoting Inclusivity and Safeguarding the Rights of Ethnic Minorities in Pakistan

Country: United States of America

The United States of America believes that each individual, regardless of nationality, deserves the right to free
speech/practice of the religion of their choice/due process and equality under the law. Under the IRP, ethnic
minorities, namely the Hindu, Sikh and Christian communities face significant discrimination, not only through
abuses of legal structures like blasphemy laws, but significant social discrimination in housing, education and daily
life. According to HRW 17 minority individuals currently face death row on Blasphemy charges. Along with this,
militant groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi target minorities like Hazaras. ISIS affiliated groups have also engaged in
terror against minorities, including a December 2017 attack on a church in Quetta, killing 9 and injuring 50 others.
Religious minorities like Hindus also face discrimination in government, being denied executive and military posts,
and Security forces even opened fire on Hindu civilians during the 2005 Baluchistan violence. Pakistan has a track
record of corruption and propagating, endorsing and tolerating violence against minorities.

There are many international treaties that outline and establish criteria for rights civilians and minority groups,
including ICECPR and CEDAW, which Pakistan has violated on numerous occasions. The numerous trafficking's
and forced marriages of minority women in Pakistan violate CEDAW Part I article 6, with many examples given in
US State government’s 2023 “Trafficking in Person’s Report” including cases of minority women being coerced
into sexual favours by state officials to keep jobs and avoid housing/hiring discrimination. Christian women and
girls have reportedly been sent to the PRC, aided in part by Pakistan’s participation in the Belt and Road initiative.

The United States has numerous government and NGO entities operating in Pakistan for the promotion of human
rights, with USAID operating in the nation since 1951, during which its humanitarian impact included supporting
the establishment of a Parliamentary Working Group on Countering Violent Extremism in the Punjab and Sindh
Provincial Assemblies and capacitated 70 Members of Provincial Parliament on fourteen CVE laws that exist in
Pakistan.

The list of new solutions the United States can propose is very low. Due to the high Corruption percentage index of
Pakistan (140/180) and a score of 27/100, any extrajudicial solutions proposed and actions recommended for the
Pakistani national body will have a near negligible de facto result, evident by Pakistan’s lack of improvement from
their 2017 UPR and lack of implementations of the recommendations provided by HRW,NCHR, ADF
International and many such bodies. The next possible set of solutions would be to sanction the country and block
military related commerce of the country. Along with the USA calls upon the international community to stop
humanitarian aid going into the country until the Islamic Republic of Pakistan gives special status and rights to
humanitarian bodies in critical regions such as:

-Military and civil protections

-Protection against surveillance from state bodies

-Increased freedom of movement for UN endorsed humanitarian bodies

-Action against state actors that confiscate aid supplies

-Eliminate discrimination between humanitarian bodies based on ethnicity/religion etc.

-Stop silencing dissenting voices from humanitarian bodies

Along with this, Pakistan needs to take steps against state corruption and aid exploitation via

-Increased funding of National Accountability Bureau

-Increased minority representation in such bodies

-Expand the scope and power of National Accountability Bureau

-Transparency with UN and relevant bodies regarding spending of foreign aid.

The United States of America’s care for the distressed Pakistani minorities is clear, and these proposed solutions
aim to tackle the corruption of the Pakistani state apparatus and allow for international humanitarian bodies to
more efficiently operate in the country without interference from civil or state threats and boundaries. The United
States believes that it is imperative that the Islamic Republic of Pakistan implement these proposed solutions via
legislative measures if they wish to continue receiving foreign aid and participate in military trade.

Bibliography:
Un.org. (2023).
Available at: https://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?OpenAgent&DS=A/HRC/WG.6/42/PAK/3&Lang=E
[Accessed 7 Dec. 2023].

United States Department of State. (n.d.). U.S. Relations With Pakistan. [online] Available at:
https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-pakistan/#:~:text=The [Accessed 7 Dec. 2023].
Singh, K. and Singh, K. (2023).
Biden and Modi urge Pakistan to act against extremist attacks. Reuters. [online] 22 Jun. Available at:
https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-modi-urge-pakistan-act-against-extremist-attacks-2023-06-22/.

Minority Rights Group. (2015). Pakistan - Minority Rights Group. [online] Available at:
https://minorityrights.org/country/pakistan/.
‌

UN (2023). Pakistan - United States Department of State. [online] United States Department of State. Available at:
https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/pakistan/.

Human Rights Watch. (2023). Pakistan: Mob Attacks Christian Settlement. [online] Available at:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/08/22/pakistan-mob-attacks-christian-settlement.
‌
Transparency International (2022). Pakistan. [online] Transparency.org. Available at:
https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/pakistan.

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Committee: General Assembly of the United Nations. Social, Humanitarian & Cultural - Third Committee

Topic: Addressing Mechanisms for Ensuring Safety and Repatriation of Individuals Impacted by Terrorism,
Armed Conflict, and Gang Violence

Country: United States of America

The United States of America believes that it is imperative that the international community band together to
address issues faced by Individuals due to armed Conflict, terrorism and Gang Violence. In current times, there is a
seminal conflict going on, the Ukrainian Freedom Struggle, and the consequences of such violence. 6.3 million
Ukrainian refugees have been recorded and 17.6 million people are in need of humanitarian aid. The mechanisms
at hand, UNOCHA and UNHCR have been shown to be inadequate to handle a crisis of this magnitude. Brutal
violations of articles 40(3) and 40(2) of Geneva Convention I and IV in the killing of surrendered and captured
soldiers and civilians, as well as indiscriminate bombing violating Article 51(2) and Article 13(1) of Additional
Protocol I of the ‘77 Geneva Convention. Similar issues exist for terror groups, including Assad, Al Qaeda, IS,
which have jointly led to the death of more that20,000 civilians in 2021 alone.

International treaties and action regarding the issue include the Standard Geneva Conventions, ICCPR articles 12,
16, which have been ratified by a majority of the members of the committee, with these detailing rules of wartime
and the obligation of nations to take in refugees. Along with this, international humanitarian action worth billions
via UNICEF and localised organisations exists purely to aid displaced civilians, and UNOCT is the counterforce
wing of the UN, and can be authorised by the UNSC for the deployment of UN peacekeeping missions to aid
civilians.

The United States itself has many mechanisms of apprehending such issues. Along with CENTCOM and USAID
engaging in both military and non-military humanitarian missions, including tours in Afghanistan , Syria and Iran.
The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act also allows for the USA to have targeted sanctions on
individuals and entities engaged in the propagation of violence and war crimes, including domestic terrorists like
Wan Kuok-Koi, who’s group the 14k Triad has engaged in arms smuggling, domestic terrorism and human
trafficking. The United States has a zero-terrorism tolerance, with local action including the Patriot Act, and
international allowances include UN Sanctioned peacekeeping operations in Yemen/Libya and Kosovo, along with
Congress and SC enacted JASTA to give victims of terrorism the right to sue anyone who helped the terrorists, no
matter how small their role. These actions aim to reduce domestic and international violence, whether it may be
civil or terror based.

Solutions to the issues at hand are multifaceted, complex and must be contemplated with much caution, since the
sovereignty and rights of member states as established in the ‘45 UN charter, namely articles 1(2), 2(1) and 51,
with special care for Chapter VII, which cannot supersede the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence
as detailed in 51(1) and supported in 51(2). In lieu of these considerations, the United State’s international policy
recommendation includes lowering the minimum requirements for collective sanctions and making relevant
amendments to articles 39 and 41 of the UN Charter with definite change to article 41, to allow for UN economic
action via simple majority rather than the current super majority procedure in place. Along with this, article 4 of
ICCPR must be amended to disallow revoking of civilian rights by states, as this article has been cited to excuse
gross rights violations like in Turkey post-coup attempt in 2016, India during the Covid -19 pandemic, and
Venezuela, which continuously scores poorly in its UPR reporting. With these legislative actions in mind, the
United States also wishes to recommend the UN to be more proactive in sanctioning UN approved peacekeeping
missions, following the successful examples of UNOSOM I & II during the ‘90s, UNPROFOR from ‘92-’95 and
current missions such as UNISFA (deployment 2011) and UNMISS which has seen fantastic success in Sudan and
South Sudan respectively. The USA is willing to comply with these peacekeeping initiatives and urges relevant
committee members to agree to the same.

Bibliography:
www.unrefugees.org. (n.d.). Ukraine Refugee Crisis: Aid, Statistics and News | USA for UNHCR. [online]
Available at: https://www.unrefugees.org/emergencies/ukraine/#:~:text=Emergencies&text=There [Accessed 8
Dec. 2023].
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www.unrefugees.org. (n.d.). Ukraine Refugee Crisis: Aid, Statistics and News | USA for UNHCR. [online]
Available at: https://www.unrefugees.org/emergencies/ukraine/#:~:text=Emergencies&text=There [Accessed 8
Dec. 2023].
‌
UN probe finds new evidence Russia committed war crimes and ‘indiscriminate attacks’ in Ukraine.
(2023). Reuters. [online] 20 Oct. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/un-probe-finds-new-
evidence-russia-committed-war-crimes-indiscriminate-attacks-2023-10-20/.

International Committee of the Red Cross (1949). THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS OF 12 AUGUST 1949.
[online] International Committee of the Red Cross. Available at:
https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/publications/icrc-002-0173.pdf.
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Roser, M., Nagdy, M. and Ritchie, H. (2022). Terrorism. [online] Our World in Data. Available at:
https://ourworldindata.org/terrorism.
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United Nations (1945). CHARTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS STATUTE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT
OF JUSTICE. [online] Available at: https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/ctc/uncharter.pdf.
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UNMISS. (n.d.). UNMISS. [online] Available at: https://unmiss.unmissions.org/.

UNISFA. (n.d.). UNISFA. [online] Available at: https://unisfa.unmissions.org/.