Shawn Jenjak
Greendale High School
Committee: Human Rights Council
Topic: The Situation in the Syrian Arab Republic
Country: Indonesia
In the past the Human Rights in Indonesia have been considered a concern by
many advocates. However, over the past 13 years Indonesia has made great
strides in becoming a stable, democratic country with a strong civil society and
independent media. Indonesia has even adopted a national human rights
institution, the National Commision on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), which
even hold UN accreditation. The situation in Indonesia isn’t perfect by a long
shot, but considering that Indonesia has gone through significant changes to
improve human rights it is an excellent source to provide insight on the pressing
issues in the Syrian Arab Republic. This issue also hits close to home for
Indonesia because many Indonesians have been evacuated from Syria for their
safety and there is still a sense of danger for the Indonesian Embassy in Syria.
Just days after Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa outlined the nation’s more
activist foreign policy approach for 2013, Indonesia came out with a bold
statement, urging Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down to end the
ongoing bloody civil war in the Arab country. Indonesia feels strongly that if the
Syrian President were to step down that the country could take a better step
towards new political leadership that does not threaten the human rights of its
citizens. Indonesia feels that this is the only way to end this situation because the
other measures taken by the UN have all failed. Resolution 2043 called for a
team initially for a 90-day period, to monitor a cessation of armed violence in all
its forms by all parties and to monitor and support the full implementation of the
Joint Special Envoy’s six-point plan to end the conflict in Syria. This plan
ultimately failed and in August of 2012 (4 months after the plan took effect) the
mandate ended.
The steps taken in the Situation in the Syrian Arab Republic have not been useful
and the UN needs to take a different approach to the problem. Indonesia feels
that a steady and strong change in the political leadership needs to be
discussed. The people of the Syrian Arab Republic deserve a chance to not be
scared to leave their homes.
Shawn Jenjak
Greendale High School
Committee: Human Rights Council
Topic: The Right to Water
Country: Indonesia
Over 100 million people in Indonesia lack access to safe water and more than 70
percent of the country’s 220 million population relies on water obtained from
potentially contaminated sources. This is a huge problem that needs to be more
looked into. If 70 percent of a country is getting their water from a possibly
contaminated source that is just unacceptable. The Right to Water is a pressing
issue that needs to be resolved. In Indonesia there are over 5000 rivers, most of
which do not carry safe drinking water. If even half of those rivers were cleaned it
would provide safe water for the rest of the country. There are some great ideas
that Indonesia has that could possibly inspire other countries to do the same.
Kruha (the People’s Coalition for the Right to Water) is a coalition of more than
30 Indonesian organizations, each working to ensure water access for all
Indonesians, especially the marginalized. Kruha was formed in 2002 as
Indonesia was debating a new World Bank-influenced water law. The law passed
in 2005, and favours privatization of the control and management of the
country’s water resources. This is just one step towards the Right to Water.
The Right to Water was declared a basic human right back in July of 2010 by the
UN. This means that there should be no problem convincing other governing
bodies to help fight for access to water. Indonesia feels that there needs to be a
governing body that works with the UN to monitor other nations and their steps to
help provide an access point to safe drinking water to their citizens. WIth the help
of other member states this task would not be financially difficult. All it would take
would be some heads from some major countries to lead a team that
occasionally checks up on the progress made by different countries.
Since the deadline is approaching for the Millennium Development Goals, this is
just one way to help speed up the progress so we can complete those goals and
help every country have a better access to global clean water.