Nanjing International School Model United Nations
Forum: The General Assembly 1 Issue: Establishing international rules for people with no “state” Student Officer: Andy Kang Position: President Introduction With countless ethnicities and national groups existing in the world today, many states are experiencing conflicts between different national groups. Certain territories in some states are disputed between multiple national groups living in one state;; some national groups are divided into different states with boundaries due to political or geographical reasons;; sometimes. Among those groups, there are also national groups with no “state”. Groups with no “state” may identify them as one national group but usually have no physical territory to settle. Definition of Key Terms States The organization that maintains a monopoly of violence over a territory Nation A group of people that are bound together by a common political, psychological, historical, and cultural identity Stateless Person A person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law Stateless Nation When a nation is a minority in one or more states, does not have a nation-­state of its own, and wants one History Colonialism During the period of colonialism, many western powers colonized many states in Africa, Asia, and South America. As a result, many states lost their autonomy and were viewed as stateless nations. Due to various colonial powers colonizing different regions, some nations were divided into different sections as boundaries were artificially made by the colonial powers while some nations were granted with Research Report ◆ Page 1 of 4
Nanjing International School Model United Nations
independence in a state with other national groups. These separation or integration has been causing numerous conflicts such as discrimination, ethnic conflict, separatism, ethnic cleansing, genocide, forced assimilations, and partition. Key Issues Lack of System to Provide Various Needs Because these stateless people are not identified as citizens of a certain state, most of them do not have an ID card, which is required in order to get a bank account, board on a flight, enroll university, or receive a medical care even at an emergency. Thus, such lack of system for stateless people often limit their basic rights Human Rights Abuse/Violation In some countries, languages of minority groups are often prohibited both in public and private life. Also, persecution of such groups is still very prevalent: execution, torturing, forced displacements, destroying villages, and arbitrary arrests. As such violations of human rights are apparent, many concerning the issue are raising their voices. Self-­Determination Another key issue regarding stateless nations is to which extent self-­determination should be recognized to each national groups. Because various nations are intermingled in many places, how to dissolve existing states and assign them territory are still controversial issues. In addition, rapidly growing number of independent countries with a marginal ability to survive on their own is promoting international instability. Sometimes, deciding whether to recognize new countries is a disputable matter as every state has different views. Moreover, the fact that there is no unclaimed territory that can be distributed is causing problems like stateless nations. Major Parties Involved and Their Views Turkey Although Turkey has been condemned for its human rights abuse by many entities, it also has been suffering from armed rebellions, including military attacks targeted at its military base by the Kurds. Moreover, many Turkish nationalists claim that everyone in the country is a Turk whether they like it and admit it or not. The Kurds The Kurds are an ancient non-­Arab people who are mostly Sunni Muslims. Estimates of the Kurdish population range between 14million and 28million. The Kurds are spread among several states Research Report ◆ Page 2 of 4
Nanjing International School Model United Nations
and have no country of their own. About half of them are in Turkey;; Iran and Iraq each have another 20 to 25%. Smaller numbers reside in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Syria. The Kurds have been attempting to establish their own independent Kurdistan have led to several conflicts with the countries in which the Kurds are in. The Palestinians The Palestinians and the Jews have long history of disputing over its land that dates back to the story of Abraham and his two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. Because majority of the land is currently controlled by Israel, Palestinians have been putting efforts to reclaim some of the territories so that they can create their own state. Israel The Zionist belief that Jews are a nation that should have an independent homeland and growing anti-­Semitism in Nazi Germany and Europe led many Jews to immigrate to Palestine. As Arab leaders rejected a UN plan to partition Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state, continuous wars between the two nations was unavoidable. Yet, Israel’s victory in 1948 led many Palestinians to flee. Since then, Israel has been holding considerable amounts of territory in Palestine. Timeline of Relevant Resolutions, Treaties and Events Date Description of event April 26, 1954 The 1954 Convention August 30, 1961 The 1961 Convention Evaluation of Previous Attempts to Resolve the Issue The 1954 Convention provided definition of Stateless person for the first time, allowing numerous stateless people to receive minimum treatment and their rights to be employed, house, choose a religion freely, and be educated. Although some measures in the 1954 Convention does not apply to modern society, many rights that it guarantees are still applicable today. A complement to the 1954 Convention, the 1961 Convention was to reduce the statelessness. The main goal of the convention is to provide general rules to balance out the interests of both individuals and States so that statelessness can be avoided. The convention requires States to grant citizenship to any individual born within the country’s territory. Possible Solutions In order to tackle the issue at hand, finding and resolving from the root cause of the problem, statelessness are important. Also, any discrimination should be prevented in terms of gender or age. Research Report ◆ Page 3 of 4
Nanjing International School Model United Nations
Laws that guarantee the citizenship of children would help reduce the statelessness. Also, a database that contains information about the stateless people may assist in states to grant their citizenships to more people. At the same time, a system that will protect the rights of these people with no state should be established as some cases are related to urgent issues such as receiving medical care at emergency. Bibliography Arun, Neil. "Turkey v Islamic State v the Kurds: What's Going On? -­ BBC News." BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2016. <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-­middle-­east-­33690060>. "Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness." UNHCR News. UNHCR, n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2016. <http://www.unhcr.org/3bbb286d8.html>. Dominique, Callimanopulos. "Kurdish Repression in Turkey." Cultural Survivor. N.p., n.d. Web. <https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-­survival-­quarterly/turkey/kurdish-­repression-­
turkey>. "UN Conventions on Statelessness." UNHCR News. UNHCR, n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2016. <http://www.unhcr.org/pages/4a2535c3d.html>. "What Is Statelessness?" UNHCR News. UNHCR, n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2016. <http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c158.html>. Research Report ◆ Page 4 of 4