United Nations Human Rights Council - Harvard Model United Nations

United Nations Human 

Rights Council 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Introduction 5 

History of the Committee 5 

Topic Area A 6 

Topic Area B 18 

Position Paper Requirements 29 

Closing Remarks 30 

Bibliography 35 

Topic A: 

Topic B: 

Military Use of Children 

Prison Systems 

Statment of the Problem 

History of the Problem 

Current Situation 

Relevant International Actions 

Proposed Solutions 

Questions a Resoultion Must Answer 

Bloc Positions 

Suggestions for Further Research 

6 

8 

11 

13 

15 

16 

17 

18 

Statment of the Problem 





Questions a Resoultion Must Answer 



18 

20 

23 

25 

26 

27 

28 

29 

Economic and Social Council 

& Regional Bodies

United Nations Human Rights Council 

Harvard Model United Nations 2012 

A Letter From the Secretary General 

Dear Delegates, 

Hunter M. Richard 

Secretary-General 

Stephanie N. Oviedo 

Director-General 

Ana Choi 

Under-Secretary-General 

Administration 

Ainsley Faux 


Business 

Alexandra M. Harsacky 

Comptroller 

Sofia Hou 


Innovation and Technology 

Juliana Cherston 


General Assembly 

Ethan Lyle 



Charlene S. Wong 


Specialized Agencies 

I could not be more honored to welcome you to the fifty-ninth session of Harvard Model 

United Nations. Our entire staff of 205 Harvard undergraduates is eager to join with you 

this January at the Sheraton Boston for an exciting weekend of debate, diplomacy, and 

cultural exchange. You and your 3,000 fellow delegates join a long legacy of individuals 

passionate about international affairs and about the pressing issues confronting our World. 

Founded in 1927 as Harvard Model League of Nations, our organization has evolved 

into one of America’s oldest, largest, and most international United Nations simulations. 

Drawing from this rich history, Harvard Model United Nations has strived to emphasize 

and promote the unique impact of the UN and its mandates in the eradication of 

humanity’s greatest problems. Despite its difficulties and often-unfortunate image in the 

press, the United Nations is truly a global body with representation of 193-member states 

and is the closest the World has ever achieved to a “Parliament of Man.” 

At HMUN, we strive to recreate this body and the international environment it fosters 

through our emphasis on welcoming more and more international delegations to our 

conference each year. For the fifty-ninth session, HMUN is proud to welcome delegations 

from over 35 countries to share their experiences with others from across the World. Not 

only can you debate global issues in committee, but also discuss the China-US relations 

with a delegate hailing from Shanghai or EU economic policy with a delegate from 

Germany. I encourage you to go above and beyond research and discussions within your 

committee to learn from your fellow delegates. 

In this guide, you are about to embark on a valuable intellectual endeavor. Your committee 

director has worked tirelessly to research and compile this extensive background guide. 

Please use it as a foundation in your own research for committee and to contribute to 

your debates and final resolutions. I wish you the best of luck in your preparation and in 

committee this January. 

Sincerely, 

59 Shepard Street, Box 205 

Cambridge, MA 02138 

Voice: (617)-398-0772 

Fax: (617) 588-0285 

Email: info@harvardmun.org 

www.harvardmun.org 

Hunter Richard 


Harvard Model United Nations 

secgen@harvardmun.org 

22 Economic and Social Council Specialized & Regional Agencies Bodies



Dear Delegates of the Economic and Social Council & Regional Bodies, 

It is my distinct honor and high privilege to welcome you to the Economic and Social Council & 

Regional Bodies organ of Harvard Model United Nation’s 59th session. 





Ana Choi 



Ainsley Faux 


Business 


Comptroller 

Sofia Hou 






Ethan Lyle 






The Economic and Social Council occupies a unique position within the United Nations’ history. 

While questions of security were of primary concern at the time when the UN Charter was drafted, 

the final version set out a critical role for ECOSOC. World leaders in 1945, it seems, understood 

that global peace absolutely requires social stability and economic growth in order to truly last. This 

daunting mission carries on into the present day for the Economic and Social Council. At HMUN, 

our organ also incorporates a collection of Regional Bodies that bring more localized debates to the 

forefront. These committees are entrusted with the critical task of exploring regional dialogues on a 

wide array of issues for which larger and more generalized UN bodies simply cannot do justice to. 

Our organ for HMUN 2012 is ambitious in its scope: our committees will jump from the League 

of Nations in pre-World War II Europe to the dawn of the year 2100 and the complex problems it 

will bring. Our organ is diverse not only in time, but also in topics, with modern day discussions 

on human rights, development, and many pressing regional issues. This session, we will even set out 

to incorporate the unique contributions of Non-Governmental Organizations into the Economic 

and Social Council & Regional Bodies organ, with the hope that they bring a fresh perspective to 

our substantive discussions. 

I could not be more excited to invite you to join us in January for what will most certainly be an 

amazing experience. The members of staff for our organ this year are some of the most intelligent 

and dedicated individuals I have ever met. They have been working tirelessly for months and will 

continue to make preparations as we quickly approach January 26th, 2012. I am confident you will 

come to appreciate them greatly, just as I have learned to in my time with them thus far. I know 

the Assistant Directors, Moderators, and committee Directors cannot wait to meet each and every 

one of you! 

At Harvard Model United Nations, we set out to tackle meaningful issues that world leaders have 

struggled mightily to resolve. Our challenge is considerable. And yet, HMUN 2012 will be one 

of the fondest memories we will come to share. Meeting friends—old and new—hailing from 

different cities, states, and continents is a profound experience. I wish you the best of luck in your 

preparations for HMUN, and please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns 

you may have along the way. Opening Ceremonies will be here before you know it. Get ready. 

Sincerely, 



Voice: (617)-398-0772 

Fax: (617) 588-0285 



Ethan Lyle 


Economic and Social Council & Regional Bodies 

ecosoc@harvardmun.org 


3



Dear Delegates, 





Ana Choi 



Ainsley Faux 


Business 


Comptroller 

Sofia Hou 






Ethan Lyle 






Welcome to Boston and the 59th session of Harvard Model United Nations! My name is Lisa 

Wang, and I will be your director for the Human Rights Council. Growing up in East Brunswick, 

NJ, I began Model UN and Congress conferences in high school, taking on roles from Antonin 

Scalia in the Supreme Court, to the United States in the Security Council, to Count Vincent 

Benedetti in the 19th century French Cabinet. The experiences inspired me to select my current 

concentration, Government—a mixture unique to Harvard of international relations, political 

science, economics, and social science. I am also seeking a secondary field in Ethnic Studies, which 

incorporates migration, race, and human rights issues. 

Aside from HMUN, I also chaired the Security Council at Model Security Council, an introductory 

conference held for freshmen in the fall. In March, I will be traveling to Vancouver, Canada to 

chair INTERPOL at WorldMUN, one of Harvard’s college Model UN conferences. I also direct 

the Constitutional Convention at Harvard Model Congress and tutor Boston-area immigrants in 

preparation for the U.S. Citizenship exam. Outside of class, I work as a research assistant, take 

dance classes, and try to explore as much of Boston as possible. 

For four days, we will be simulating the United Nations Human Rights Council in discussion 

of two vital topics affecting every nation on the globe: the military use of children and prisoners’ 

rights. Though I have been interested in both topics since serving in our high school chapter of 

Amnesty International, my experience this past summer interning at the Legal Aid Society of 

New York City has truly brought these topics to a head. Assisting attorneys representing juvenile 

delinquents as well as children suffering abuse and neglect by their parents, I was exposed to the 

inherent need to protect children and adults from being exploited not only as victims in a stateless 

society but also as criminals subject wholly to a state’s jurisdiction. Though HRC typically takes a 

proactive and rights-based approach to these issues, it is important, especially on the latter issue, to 

evaluate the countering needs for societal protection, economic efficiency, and justice into account 

to the greatest extent possible, while still advocating and protecting children’s and prisoners’ rights 

on an international level. 

While approaching these topics with the necessary finesse and prudence will be challenging, I have 

confidence that this session will be able to resolve several unanswered questions on both fronts by 

collaborating across blocs and incorporating the solutions and ideas of as many players as possible. 

Best of luck during your research and preparation process! I hope this guide will be useful to get 

you versed in the basics of both topics. In the meantime, do not hesitate to contact me with any 

questions or to introduce yourselves! 

Warmest regards, 



Voice: (617)-398-0772 

Fax: (617) 588-0285 



Lisa Wang 

Director, Human Rights Council 

hrc@harvardmun.org 



INTRODUCTION 

Topic A: The Military Use of Children 

Amnesty International reports that 350,000 children 

under the age of eighteen are serving in direct combat 

action. In over twenty countries, more than 1.1 million 

children under the age of fifteen are used as porters, sex 

slaves, guards, spies and land mine testers. Robbed of an 

education and thus the hope for a better future, these 

children grow into adults that perpetuate the cycle of 

violence in war-torn countries. Gripped in a society of 

perpetual conflict, the only adults that they can trust to 

provide food, water, and shelter are military, paramilitary, 

and guerilla soldiers. They are often forced to kill their 

family members and commit devastating atrocities such 

as forced labor, rape, and torture. Clearly, the physical, 

psychological, and social damage can be insurmountable. 

While this is certainly a pressing security issue, it is above 

all a moral one. The UN Convention on the Rights 

of the Child explicitly bans the use of child soldiers 

but this practice continues to be rampant. The abuse 

of these children’s rights needs to be addressed by the 

international community immediately in the light of a 

growing number of international civil conflicts in the 

post-Cold War era. 

Topic B: Prison Systems 

Despite being frequently relegated to domestic 

jurisdiction, the human rights abuses of civil and 

military prisoners warrants international discussion on 

the types of treatment acceptable under various human 

rights protocols (including the Universal Declaration 

of Human Rights; the International Covenant on Civil 

and Political Rights; and the Convention against Torture 

and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment 

or Punishment). In prisons, jails, juvenile facilities, and 

immigration detention centers around the world, brutal 

practices are observed in the name of national security 

and the “common good.” Recent accusations of torture 

have been directed at countries as varied as the United 

States, France, Afghanistan, China, Angola, Israel, 

and Brazil (to name a few). Several questions can be 

addressed under this topic. Broadly, what has been the 

historical development of international prisoners’ rights? 

Is it an appropriate time now for an international bill of 

prisoners’ rights? If so, states should be prepared to address 

the following specific questions: How should pregnant 

women be treated while imprisoned? What should the 

voting rights of ex-prisoners be and who should determine 

them? Should immigrants in detention have access to the 

same kinds of rights as prisoners (e.g. access to lawyers)? 

What is a fair way to implement petitions and reviews for 

parole? What should be the global consensus on capital 

punishment, in particular for subgroups such as juvenile 

delinquents, mentally disabled prisoners, the elderly, and 

pregnant women? In the end, the main theme of this 

discussion is: “Should we develop an international code 

of standard for prison treatment? Is this expression of 

human rights feasible and/or needed at an international 

level?” And where do we draw the tenuous line between 

human dignity and international security? 

HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE 

From the ashes of World War II, the United Nations 

was created in 1945 to provide a platform for dialogue 

between countries in order to prevent future wars. A 

year later, the UN Commission for Human Rights 

(UNCHR) was formed under the Economic and Social 

Council and given the task of promoting and protecting 

human rights around the world. In 2006, the General 

Assembly voted overwhelmingly to replace UNCHR 

with the United Nations Human Rights Council 

(UNHRC) through resolution A/RES/60/251, as 

UNCHR was heavily criticized for allowing countries 

with poor human rights records to become members. 

To prevent the same criticism, UNHRC members can 

now be removed by the General Assembly (on a 2/3 

vote) for “gross and systemic” violations of human rights. 

UNHRC is an inter-governmental subsidiary body of 

the General Assembly comprising 47 member states 

with three-year terms, working closely with the Office of 

the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) 

to strengthen the promotion and protection of human 

rights around the world. One year after holding its first 

meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, UNHRC bolstered its 

mandate by adopting an institution building-package 

with three key elements: 


5


The Universal Periodic Review (UPR), during 

which each of the UN’s 192 member nations will 

receive human rights reviews by an HRC Working 

Group once every four years, based on reports 

from the nation, the United Nations, and any 

relevant stakeholders such as non-governmental 

organizations (NGOs); 

An Advisory Committee that serves as UNHRC’s 

think tank, producing expertise and advice on 

thematic human rights issues; 

A Complaints Procedure that allows individuals and 

organizations to bring accounts of human rights 

violation to the attention of the Council, which 

will then be collated into reports on gross and 

reliably attested violations of human rights and 

fundamental freedoms for the Council to review. 

Aside from performing reviews of nations’ human 

rights statuses and receiving complaints from individuals 

and organizations, UNHRC also issues resolutions on 

human rights violations around the globe. It has been 

heavily criticized by the United States and various UN 

Secretaries General for over-emphasizing Israel’s human 

rights violations in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As of 

now, Israel is the only state to have been condemned by 

the HRC, which has voted to make an annual review 

of Israel’s alleged human rights abuses a permanent 

fixture of the Council. UNHRC can also establish High- 

Level Commissions of Inquiry to probe allegations of 

systematic human rights abuse. It did just that for the 

2006 Lebanon conflict, establishing an Inquiry into 

Israel’s human rights abuses. 

Despite the conflict and political finger-pointing, 

UNHRC has been successful in many areas of human 

rights protection in the past. It has adopted resolutions 

in opposition to the “defamation of religion,” as well 

as expressed concerns in the linkage between human 

rights and climate change through Resolution 10/4. 

HRC has sent fact-finding missions to places such as 

Cambodia, Angola, and Cuba to find out about human 

rights situations on the ground and report back to the 

Council. It has established Working Groups in the lesserdiscussed 

areas of enforced disappearance, indigenous 

peoples, right to development, arbitrary detention, and 

the use of mercenaries, among others, to delve deeper 

into unaccounted issues that nevertheless deserve 

international attention and mitigation. 

TOPIC A: THE MILITARY USE 

OF CHILDREN 

Statement of the Problem 

Child soldiers are defined by the United Nations 

Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as boys and girls under the 

age of 18 who become part of a regular or irregular armed 

force or group in any capacity 1 —whether in combat 

or support roles. Throughout the world, thousands of 

children are used as frontline combatants, saboteurs, 

porters, human shields, sex slaves, spies, carriers, “wives,” 

cooks, and land-mine testers in arguably the worst 

perversion of child labor. 2 

In the last decade of warfare, more than two million 

children have been killed, a rate of more than 500 a 

day, or one every three minutes. 3 Of these two million 

deaths, tens of thousands are caused directly by fighting 

from bullets, bombs, landmines, machetes, knives, 

grenades, and other weapons. 4 Over the same period 

of time, half a million children from 87 countries have 

been recruited by government forces or armed groups, 5 

resulting in significant numbers of child soldiers across 

every continent with the exception of Antarctica. 6 Every 

year, 300,000 children are coerced or induced to take up 

arms for various causes, ranging from civil war, rebellion, 

revolt, and insurrection to bandit or guerilla warfare. 7 

This number has grown significantly from 200,000 in 

1988. 8 Child soldiers are currently serving in over 36 

major wars. 9 Another 8,000-10,000 die annually because 

of landmines. 10 According to statistics from a situation 

update report submitted by Pawan Bimali and Bishnu 

Pathak to the Conflict Study Center in 2009, 80% of 

conflicts involving child soldiers include combatants 

under the age of 15, with some as young as seven or eight, 

and 40% of all child soldiers are girls. 11 

With the breakdown of many cultural barriers 

opposing the use of child soldiers, such victims are 

now found globally, with particular prevalence in the 

regions of Africa, Asia, and Latin America; they are 

also now emerging in the Middle East. 12 As recently as 

2005, reports surfaced that the Taliban were using up 

to 8,000 children in armed conflict in Afghanistan. 13 

Approximately 120,000 of the 300,000 child soldiers 

are found in Africa, followed by the Asia-Pacific region 

at a distant second with 75,000. Additionally, Africa 

has the highest rate of growth in child soldier usage. 14 


Though much of existing literature implies that the 

explosion in non-state actor recruitment of child soldiers 

is responsible for the dramatic increase in victims, 

state recruitment remains high in several conflicts. For 

example, the Sudanese civil war of 1993-2002 started 

with child soldier use between rebel and government 

forces at a ratio of 64:36 respectively, but ended with a 

ratio of 24:76. 15 

The geographic and historical prevalence of child 

soldier usage can be explained by the various advantages 

these young combatants confer on a state or non-state 

armed group. Compared to adults, children are much 

easier to capture, train, and handle. 16 With the advent 

and proliferation of small arms, technological barriers 

to operation of weaponry by children were removed. 

Small weapons are light and cheap—weighing as little 

as seven pounds and costing roughly US$6—and are 

also easily assembled, loaded, and fired; they can be 

used by children as young as ten years old. 17 Children 

are also valuable as “cannon fodder,” sent to distract or 

divert the enemy when weapons are low. 18 Both state and 

non-state actors require strict obedience and discipline 

from their soldiers. Young, impressionable, and eager to 

please, children are often attractive recruits because of 

their loyalty. 19 Children are also more readily available 

for unpaid service via easy capture, as well as harder 

to spot and kill by the enemy. Some commanders also 

believe they are more efficient fighters, benefiting from 

the hesitancy shown by enemies who are unsure or 

unwilling to harm children in the opposition. 20 For these 

reasons, child soldiers are frequently coerced, abducted, 

or forcibly recruited into service. 

On the other hand, many child soldiers are pulled 

into military service and are compelled to volunteer for 

a variety of reasons, including political beliefs, religious 

obligations, family affiliations, and survival. In a time 

of conflict and war, families may offer their children as 

soldiers in order to gain physical and economic security. 

Or, children orphaned by the war or its accompanying 

diseases may enlist just to have a steady source of food, 

clothing, and shelter. Children may also join an armed 

military group due to peer pressure or an urge to avenge 

abuses and atrocities they themselves have experienced 

during civil conflict. 21 Traditionally, a majority of children 

enlisting for political or religious reasons fall into nonstate 

groups, while those seeking economic security will 

tend to enlist in state armies. 22 

Regardless of whether the child was forced or 

volunteered, military service is a violation of children’s 



rights as outlined in several international documents. 

Article 38 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the 

Child (CRC) obligates State parties to “take all feasible 

measures to ensure that persons who have not attained the 

age of fifteen years do not take a direct part in hostilities” 

and to “ensure protection and care of children who are 

affected by armed conflict.” Article 39 further requires 

State Parties to promote recovery and reintegration 

of children affected by armed conflict. 23 In addition, 

the Convention requires State parties to take effective 

measures to abolish social practices that are prejudicial 

to children’s health, which as the UN argues, would 

“necessarily include practices that put children in harm’s 

way in the context of armed conflict.” The 1998 Rome 

Statue of the International Criminal Court classifies the 

use of children under 15 by armed groups in intentional 

attacks as war crimes. 24 All these documents agree that 

the core rights of the child include the right to education, 

play and recreation, and love and care. Even if they are 

trained and indoctrinated by their armed recruiters, 

these children do not experience a holistic education that 

allows them to become sufficiently prepared to make 

their own decisions in life. An armed existence not only 

necessarily robs them of their right to recreation but also 

affects their view on their own rights to relaxation and 

leisure later on in life. Often physically separated from 

their families, child soldiers are stripped of their right to 

familial love and care. 25 

Not only does armed conflict violate children’s 

rights, but it also severely impacts children physically, 

psychologically, and socially. War has a vastly more 

detrimental impact on children than on adults, as it 

strips away the traditional protection of family, society, 

and law that children rely on during peacetime. 26 The 

physical drains in a child soldier’s life include: taxing 

and strenuous activities such as carrying heavy objects 

and traveling far distances; exposure to harsh conditions 

and the elements; hunger; and lack of sleep and rest. 27 

Meanwhile, psychological stresses from family separation, 

military involvement, becoming wounded, witnessing 

deaths, torture, and constant worry have long-lasting 

consequences. As child soldiers, living in a dangerous and 

suspenseful environment induces much stress on mental 

health, causing former child soldiers to report episodes 

of paranoia that still afflict them long after their days on 

the battlefield are over. 28 Reports of former child soldiers 

suffering from alcoholism, emotional disturbance, and 

criminality are not uncommon. 29 Further symptoms 

range from introversion and isolation to depression, 

7


headaches, and phobias. 30 When children are forced 

to train in preparation for a kill, they tend to become 

more antagonized and emotionally distraught than their 

adult counterparts. 31 These psychological symptoms are 

compounded by poverty and create far more serious, 

long-lasting consequences on the child’s overall mental 

health than those a child experiencing regular Post- 

Traumatic Stress Disorder in a western context would 

encounter. 32 The life of a child soldier is also particularly 

difficult for girls, who often suffer from horrendous 

crimes like rape and sexual assault, in addition to 

menstruation in unsanitary conditions, limited freedom 

of movement, and disproportionate physical demands 

from adults that tend to ignore their gender. They are 

generally assigned more non-combative duties and have 

less ability to advance through the military ranks than 

their male counterparts. 33 

The military use of children afflicts an entire society 

by perpetuating violence and hindering development. It 

has long been understood that socialization of violence in 

youth creates a generation of violent adults that perpetuate 

the instability in a nation. 34 Loss of childhood innocence 

and education as well as the horrific experience of being 

forced from their homes and into combat cut deep into 

children’s psyche. The results of this can be loss of trust, 

aggressive behavior, and tendency toward revenge, which 

can manifest in another cycle of violence. 35 Exposure to 

violence and experience with firearms severely shifts the 

psychological make-up of child soldiers from children 

raised under a less harsh social environment. 36 Once a 

nation’s children have learned to accept violence as a 

fact of life and comfortably use firearms for security and 

power, the foundations of a violent society have been laid 

and will be difficult to eradicate. 


EARLY EXAMPLES 

The earliest examples of the military use of children 

go back to the wars of antiquity. Children living in the 

Mediterranean basin were frequently employed as aides, 

charioteers, and armor bearers. Their use was detailed in 

the Bible, Egyptian Art, and Greek Mythology. Though 

Ancient Roman practice forbade the use of youths under 

age 16, young boys were still often found on the battlefield 

in various conquests in the Roman Kingdom, which 

lasted from 753 to 509 BC. The Spartans of Ancient 

Greece, as a very militarized society prominent from 546 

to 371 BC, separated boys from their families to undergo 

military training at the age of seven. Centuries later, 

medieval Europe in the 1200s and 1300s continued these 

earlier practices by hiring thousands of boys as young as 

twelve to become “squires.” Though these youths rarely 

saw combat action, they tragically were sold into slavery 

when wars abated. 37 

19 TH CENTURY 

The 19 th century witnessed a more systematic 

recruitment, training, and indoctrination of youths 

by various military leaders to advance their ambitions. 

French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte practiced routine 

and systematic recruiting of boys around age fifteen 

during the early 1800s. Napoleon’s armies swelled with 

youths as young as twelve, and the young navy cadets 

were called “powder monkeys.” 38 Similarly, in 1827, Tsar 

Nicholas II of Russia put forth an annual conscription 

quota for Jewish males aged 12-25, requiring them to 

serve for 25 years. Recruits under the age of 18 were placed 

into special training as “Cantonists” until 18, when they 

were considered battle-ready. After being dispatched to 

the battalions where they would receive training, many 

would die en route due to torture or starvation. While 

training them, Tsar Nicholas II took care to indoctrinate 

the surviving young Jewish boys and forcibly baptized 

them in the “Russian” religion, or Orthodox Christianity, 

to ensure their loyalty. 39 

Other examples of 19 th century child soldier use 

did not stem from ambitious dictators, but rather the 

legitimate desire to defend or maintain one’s homeland. 

In 1861, US President Abraham Lincoln allowed 

soldiers under age 18 to enlist in the Union Army 

during the American Civil War. During its attempted 

unification in the early 19 th century, Nepal did not 

have any systematically organized state armed forces 

in the battlefields. Overwhelmed by the huge and 

well-equipped British army, all local people (including 

children, women, and the elderly) in war zones served as 

irregular battalions in the defense of Nepal. 

20 TH CENTURY 

The practice of child soldiering skyrocketed in the 

20 th century. The most memorable example of child 

soldier usage in the past century was the Hitler Jugend 

(Youth) in the closing days of World War II (1939-1945), 

where 1,000 children aged 10-18 were responsible for 

combat and various support services. Remnants of the 

organization at the close of the war were mowed down by 

Russian forces, though the survivors were not prosecuted 

by the international community. 40 During China’s 



Global Distribution of Child Soldier Use (Source: Radda Barnen for Sweedish Save the Children; Human Rights Watch) 

Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), Mao Ze Dong utilized 

children for revolutionary purposes. Red Guards aged 

eight to fifteen were responsible for the most heinous 

acts, including the capture, torture, and murder of adult 

civilians deemed “enemies of the revolution.” In addition, 

African independence movements were accomplished 

with the aid of child soldiers. In particular, Angola and 

Mozambique enlisted several children in the 1970s to 

achieve colonial independence. 41 

Since the end of the Cold War, a rise in intrastate 

conflict has resulted in warfare impacting children 

in unprecedented ways. 42 Many young teens fought 

in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in the war for 

independence against the Serbs in 1997-98. Many 

children went on to join other Albanian rebel groups, 

serving in both the Liberation Army of Presevo and 

the Albanian National Liberation Army. 43 The Lord’s 

Resistance Army (LRA) of Uganda—a sectarian religious 

and military group operating in northern Uganda— 

frequently abducts children from villages and forces 

them into conscription to engage in armed rebellion 

against the national government. 44 Reports from former 

child soldiers reveal shocking living conditions, sexual 

exploitation, and general squalidness. 45 

The civil war in Sierra Leone lasted from 1991-2001 

and resulted in the forced recruitment of 15,000-22,000 

children from their villages, who were then funneled 

into military conscription; about half were between the 

ages of 8 and 14. 46 The few that voluntarily joined rebel 

forces spoke frequently of the need to seek revenge for 

lost parents or environmental destruction; those who 

joined government forces spoke of honor and defense 

of their homeland. 47 Many were obliged into sexual 

slavery or taking alcohol and drugs. After the conflict 

abated, short-term Disarmament, Demobilization, and 

Reintegration (DDR) programs were implemented, but 

long-term problems in education still persist and need 

to be addressed. 48 Additionally, Sierra Leone’s fractured 

family system due to the war would require ex-child 

combatants to reintegrate into society without a “home” 

or a “family” to return to. 49 

The Sudanese civil war was also fraught with the 

forced recruitment of child soldiers by both government 

forces and the Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA). 

Government forces, in addition to training youth in 

only 14 days to prepare them for combat on the front 

lines, engaged in the practice of selling child slaves from 

marginalized areas in the southern part of Sudan. 50 Many 

of these Sudanese child soldiers are orphaned and elected 

to join in the fighting to satisfy their basic needs and to 

avenge the deaths of their parents, who were often killed 

in front of them by the enemy. 51 


9


INTERNATIONAL ATTEMPTS TO MITIGATE 

CHILD SOLDIER USE 

The Geneva Conventions of 1949 were the first step 

towards the protection of civilians and other special 

groups during times of armed conflict. The original 

Geneva Convention had four Parts; in particular, Part III 

described the special category of “protected persons” in 

time of war, though the definition of “children” varies. 52 

In 1977, the two additional Protocols to the original 

four Conventions were drafted. Protocol I applied to the 

protection of victims of international armed conflicts, 

reaffirming the original Geneva Convention while 

clarifying certain provisions based on developments in 

modern international warfare. Protocol II applied to 

victims of internal armed conflict, taking the original 

Convention beyond the quite limiting scope of wars 

of “international character,” as conflicts were originally 

defined. Specifically, Article 77 states that all Parties shall 

“take all feasible measures in order that children who have 

not attained the age of 15 years do not take a direct part 

in hostilities.” Additionally, if a child is captured in war, 

“they shall continue to benefit from the special protection 

accorded by this Article.” 53 

In the 1980s, children became increasingly 

victimized by armed conflict, and thus, legislation that 

dealt explicitly with the problem became necessary. The 

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) 

makes children’s best interest a primary consideration for 

all government bodies. An almost universally accepted 

human rights instrument, the CRC is ratified by all 

states except for the United States and Somalia. Its most 

relevant article to the case of the military use of children 

is article 38(2) which reads: “States Parties shall take all 

feasible measures to ensure that persons who have not 

attained the age of 15 years do not take a direct part 

in hostilities.” 54 Many states have taken this provision 

further by ratifying the convention under the proviso 

that the mandatory minimum age should be 18. 55 

In 1998, significant advances were achieved when 

the International Criminal Court declared that the use of 

children under 15 in military conflict a war crime under 

its Rome Statute. 56 In this treaty, the delegates agree to 

prohibit not only children’s direct participation in warfare, 

but also their active participation in military activities 

such as sabotage, reconnaissance, spying and the use of 

children as decoys, messengers, or at security (military) 

checkpoints. It also prohibits the use of children in direct 

support of efforts to carry supplies to the front line and 

defines sexual slavery as a crime against humanity. 57 A 

year later, the International Labour Organization Worst 

Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999) prohibited 

forced or compulsory recruitment of children under 18 

for use in combat. 58 Article 3(a) defines the worst forms 

of child labor as “all forms of slavery or practices similar 

to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, 

debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory 

labor, including forced or compulsory recruitment of 

children for use in armed conflict.” 59 The African Union 

followed suit with its African Charter on the Rights and 

Welfare of the Child (1999), which prohibits recruitment 

or participation in direct hostilities of anyone under 18. 60 

It is the only regional treaty in the world that deals with 

the issue of child soldiers. 61 

With the turn of the century, even greater efforts were 

channeled by international bodies and states to address 

this increasingly visible issue. In 2000, the International 

Conference on War Affected Children: From Words 

to Action, was held in Winnipeg, Canada—a powerful 

gathering of interested individuals, relevant organizations, 

and former child soldiers that resulted in several strong 

outcomes. Subsequently, the Optional Protocol to the 

CRC on the use of child volunteers by state actors (2000) 

was drafted. It sets the minimum age for compulsory 

recruitment or direct participation in hostilities at 18; 

calls upon States parties to raise the age for voluntary 

recruitment and to provide special protections and 

safeguards for those under 18; categorically prohibits 

armed groups from recruiting or using in hostilities 

anyone under 18; and calls upon States parties to 

provide technical cooperation and financial assistance 

to help prevent child recruitment and deployment, and 

to improve the rehabilitation and social reintegration of 

former child soldiers. 62 

Additionally, there are several movements led by 

non-governmental organizations (NGO) and the general 

public aimed at pressuring international bodies and states 

to act upon the existing legal framework for protecting 

children’s rights. Red Hand Day (February 12 th ) is an 

annual commemoration day for current and former 

child soldiers. The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child 

Soldiers and other organizations frequently organize mass 

demonstration activities, such as a walk to symbolize the 

distance child soldiers walk daily, or a 25-hour silence to 

mark the 25 th year of the Uganda conflict. 63 Increasingly, 

these movements are driven by youth, for youth, and 

champion former child soldiers as their spokespersons 

and advocates. 



TRENDS AND THEMES 

Present-day usage of child soldiers is marked by several 

global themes, the first of which is the commodification 

of the use of child soldiers and its implications for wartorn 

countries gripped by violence. Increasingly, there is a 

connection between government inadequacy and neglect 

and the rise in child soldiering. Studies have noted that 

non-state armed groups are starting to offer a semblance 

of government by providing basic social services such 

as health, education, dispute settlement, and a sense of 

protection in areas where the government has failed to 

meet with its obligations to its citizens by to provide labor, 

housing, food, and education. 64 As a result, children in 

war-torn countries ironically turn to non-governmental 

armed groups for some form of stability and routine in 

their lives. 

The 21 st century has also seen strong connections 

between the use of child soldiers, the availability of 

education, and the level of development in many 

nations. In April, 2000, the World Education Forum 

identified the conflicts of the 1990s in particular as 

major obstacles to the Millennium Development Goal 

of providing universal primary education. 65 As scholars 

Guy Goodwin-Gill and Ilene Cohn suggest, the act of 

voluntary child participation in armed conflict is caused 

by poverty, which—enhanced by war—incites families 

to enlist their children as combatants to reap the benefits 

of looting. 66 A survey of 300 demobilized child soldiers 

in the Democratic Republic of Congo revealed that 61% 

came from families with no income and more than half 

had at least six siblings. 67 In a 2002 study of Filipino 

child soldiers by Rufa Cagoco-Guiam, an overwhelming 

majority of child soldier respondents came from poor, 

economically marginalized communities whose parents 

were also involved in armed groups. 68 Though other 

scholars do not see such a clear-cut connection between 

poverty rates and numbers of child soldiers, it is certain 

that states that do not suffer from poverty rarely use child 

soldiers. 69 

Another emerging trend that gives cause for great 

worry is the general acceptance of child soldiering as a 

demographic need or a cultural practice. More and more, 

the disturbing phenomenon of the acceptance of child 

soldiering in Africa as a cultural tradition has emerged, 

an outgrowth of the theory of cultural relativism—the 

idea that an individual’s activities (such as the use or 

recruitment of child soldiers) should be understood in 



the context of his or her culture. 70 This argument is also 

emerging in the Muslim context. According to Islamic 

belief, childhood stops at the onset of puberty (14 or 15 

years old). At this time, followers are expected to observe 

and exercise Islamic teachings—including heeding the 

call of holy war. 71 Most of the international human rights 

doctrines that guarantee children’s welfare also pertain to 

the right to culture, so how does one reconcile conflicting 

rights and obligations? In addition, proponents of child 

soldiering use the social argument of age structure to 

claim that in areas where life spans are shorter, children 

graduate to the population’s typical range of adulthood 

much sooner and thus become eligible for military 

service. Under this claim, it would be unfair to expect a 

nation in a time of military attack to be disadvantaged 

because it can draw on only a smaller subset of its adult 

population for its infantry. 72 

The appropriate response to such claims of cultural 

relativism lies in two sources of universalism: science and 

international human rights law. Scientific studies have 

outlined a universal timeline of neurological development 

for the human child; no matter what culture, religion, 

or background, most children have the same level of 

development and maturity at every age point—a fact that 

makes a standard minimum age for adulthood based on 

scientific measures of mental development appropriate. 

As for the question of whether the right to culture or 

children’s rights are to be respected, the UN Convention 

on the Rights of the Child encodes the idea that a child’s 

interests are to be given paramount consideration. The 

African Union echoed this sentiment by prohibiting 

cultural practices that might be prejudicial to a child’s 

health or life in its Charter on Children’s Rights. 73 

Another trend is the prevalence of terrorism and 

the ensuing use of children in terrorist activities, which 

creates tension between the universal protection of 

children and the need to respect cultural practices— 

both of which are valuable UN ideals. In Palestine, for 

example, Hamas proclaims youth suicide bombers in a 

way that wins families enormous respect, and so children 

frequently voluntarily join suicide missions. 74 Under 

Saddam Hussein’s tyrannical rule, children aged 10-15 

underwent intensive three-week military training to 

prepare for suicide missions. 75 This issue merits careful 

consideration by the Human Rights Council as to 

whether or not different standards should be set for child 

terrorists vs. child soldiers (see case study #1). 

11


Case Study #1: Guantanamo Bay 76 

Trained and disciplined by his father since the 

age of 10 to believe in Al Qaeda doctrine, Omar 

Khadr joined the organization at the age of 15 and 

was sent directly into battle. On July 27, 2002, 

U.S. forces launched an attack on a suspected 

compound where Khadr was staying. Though 

shot three times, Khadr, still alive, was captured 

by U.S. forces and brought to Guantanamo Bay. 

Seven years later, at the age of 22, Omar has 

yet to leave the camp. Nearly blind from the 

shrapnel and disabled from his wounds, he has 

been interrogated or tortured for information for 

a third of his life. 

Did the U.S. government violate any international 

treaties or protocols by capturing a fifteen year 

old prisoner of war? 

During interrogation, Omar confessed to 

throwing a grenade that killed one U.S. officer 

and injured two others. Should these statements 

be used against him? If so, in what type of court 

system, and with what sorts of protection? 

enlisted below the age of 18. In Armies of the Young: 

Child Soldiers in War and Terrorism, David M. Rosen 

takes a different stance. He criticizes humanitarian 

organizations for viewing child soldiers merely as victims. 

Instead, he argues, children have their own moral 

agency, as demonstrated in case studies of Nazi Germany 

and modern day Uganda, when children refused to 

be recruited. He uses this to disclaim the automatic 

assumption of childhood innocence in child soldier cases, 

implying that there is some level of guilt that must be 

taken into account. 77 

Others make the abstract argument that “children’s 

rights” in their current westernized, liberal understanding 

are geared toward assuming self-consciousness and 

autonomy, which inherently implies that children are 

viewed as rational beings capable of moral reasoning. 

As such, their guilt is no less than an adult’s when they 

choose to join a military and commit violent acts. 78 In 

other words, if children are entitled to the same rights 

as adults, fair justice and the spirit of equality would 

demand that children be held accountable and metered 

the same punishments as adults. Opposing scholars 

rebut that rights and justice are as much about dialogue, 

dependence, and welfare as they are about individualistic 

autonomy and reason, and as such, an impartial justice 

must recognize and protect a special sphere for children. 79 

(See case study #2). 

In his affidavit, Omar Khadir named several 

instances of torture perpetrated against him 

by officials at Guantanamo Bay. Should these 

officials be held accountable? If so, at what level 

of government and under what international/ 

national laws? If not, why? 

THE QUESTION OF POST-CONFLICT GUILT 

The question of post-conflict guilt among child 

soldiers is answered by different people in various 

ways based on the specific circumstances of the child’s 

involvement with armed groups. For example, was the 

child forced into recruitment or did he volunteer for 

service? If he was forced, what alternative options were 

available, and how feasible were they? Did he work under 

state or non-state actors? How old is the child? What type 

of crime was committed? Traditionally, international 

courts have supported the absolutist legal doctrine that 

no matter the circumstances, children cannot be found 

guilty of any acts they committed during wartime if they 

Case Study #2: Uganda 80 

February 2004: Heavily armed guerillas from 

the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) struck 

Barnlooyo camp in a weekend attack, massacring 

192 villagers in what officials called one of the 

bloodiest atrocities of northern Uganda’s war. 

Using mortars and assault rifles, rebels set huts 

ablaze with hundreds of residents trapped inside. 

Father Sebhat Ayele, a Catholic missionary 

from Eritrea, said: “I saw one hut with seven 

family members still burning and three people 

in the next hut were also burning.” Many of the 

rebels, 90% of whom were under the age of 18, 

were subsequently captured and killed by the 

governmental Ugandan People’s Defense Force 

(UPDF). 

What was your initial reaction upon reading 

about the attack? Did this change when you 


discovered that many of the rebels were children? 

If so, how? 


Did the government violate any international 

laws or treaties by capturing and killing the child 

soldiers? 

If so, where does the justice lie for the 192 victims 

of these atrocities? 

DISARMAMENT, DEMOBILIZATION, 

REHABILITATION, & REINTEGRATION (DDRR) 

The question of what to do with former child soldiers 

is also fraught with uncertainties and complications. 

Traditionally, nations have utilized a Disarmament, 

Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) model. 

Disarmament strips combatants of their weapons; 

Demobilization constitutes the assembly, registration, 

and transportation en masse of former child soldiers in 

preparation for a return to civilian life; and Reintegration 

means social and economic assimilation of former child 

soldiers into civilian life. 81 For the purposes of our 

discussion, we will take a more comprehensive approach 

to DDR advocated by certain scholars, by including a 

second “R”, Rehabilitation—the restoration to good 

condition using therapy or education. 

For their DDRR programs, countries have tried 

measures such as amnesty, cash incentives for the 

surrender of firearms, livelihood assistance, counseling, 

scholarships, and technical training. 82 A general rule for a 

comprehensive DDRR program is the inclusion of seven 

elements: 

Community sensitization 

Formal disarmament/demobilization and transition 

Tracing and family mediation 

Return to family and community with follow up 

Ongoing access to health care 

Traditional cleansing ceremonies 

Schools or skill training. 83 

However, gaps in DDRR programs remain due to 

fragmented government focus on the program, lack of 

child soldier involvement, non-compliance by local 

government agencies, and a lack of collaboration and 

communication between parties. 84 

Child Soldier Tasks and Duties (Source: American Federation 

of Teachers) 

An issue this committee needs to address is the 

inadvertent exclusion of girls from many DDRR programs 

because of their classification as non-combatants, which 

causes many of them to be re-recruited. 85 Because girls 

do not serve in direct combat as often as boys, they do 

not qualify for many types of DDRR programs, and yet 

their trauma is just as damaging. Additionally, interim 

care centers for children transitioning from military 

service proved dangerous for girls, as they were housed 

with boys that were still learning to control their violent 

tendencies. 86 Because girls are often saddled with the 

burden of children born in wartime and tend to have 

greater psychosocial needs than boys, many sites simply 

turn them away because they are not equipped with 

child-care or mental health services. 87 In addition, as the 

case of Liberian ex-child soldiers demonstrates, disabled 

ex-combatants form an additional neglected subgroup 

that needs more attention in the overall DDRR process. 88 

Many DDRR programs are simply not equipped with the 

materials or experience to work with children suffering 

from advanced psychiatric or physical disabilities because 

of their involvement in conflict. 


After a groundbreaking report on child soldiers was 

released by Graça Machel in 1996, the UN General 

Assembly recommended in 1997 an appointment 

of a Special Representative to the Secretary-General 

for Children and Armed Conflict. Former Secretary- 

General Kofi Annan appointed Olara A. Otunnu to the 

position. 89 The Special Representative works with the 


13


Differing Population Age Structures in Developed v. Developing Countries Affects Child Soldier Usage and Raises the 

Argument for State-by-State Minimum Ages for Military Recruitment (Source: United States Census) 

Security Council, HRC, General Assembly, member 

states, NGOs, and the public to create policy on the 

prevention and DDRR of child soldier usage. 

The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child 

was strengthened in 2000 with the Optional Protocol 

on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, 

the product of six years of debate in working groups 

established by the UN Commission on Human Rights. 

The Protocol raises the age for military conscription to 

18 and requires states parties to take all feasible measures 

to ensure that state forces and nongovernmental armed 

groups do not recruit or use persons below 18. It also 

promotes international cooperation and assistance in the 

rehabilitation and reintegration of former child soldiers. 90 

Today, the Protocols are independent from each other 

and the CRC, meaning that any state can ratify the 

Convention, Protocol I, or Protocol II independently. 

In 1997, UNICEF published its Cape Town 

Principles and Best Practices on the Recruitment of 

Children into the Armed Forces and on Demobilization 

and Social Reintegration of Child Soldiers in Africa. A 

decade later, A/HRC/RES/11/1 (2009) was passed by 


the HRC, establishing an Open-ended Working Group 

to explore the possibility of elaborating an optional 

protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to 

create a reporting procedure. During troop withdrawal 

from various international conflicts, UN-negotiated 

action plans provided for the demobilization of children 

in Uganda (2009) and Afghanistan (2011). 

The UN Security Council also elaborated on the use of 

child soldiers in its Resolutions 1261, 1265, 1296, 1314, 

1379, 1460, 1539, 1612. In particular, 1261 (1999), 

1265 (1999), and 1296 (2000) deal with the protection 

of civilians in armed conflict and have also emphasized 

children’s particular vulnerability and need for special 

protection. 91 Stressing that children should be a main 

priority in the international community, the Security 

Council also exhorted member states in its resolutions to 

incorporate children in any comprehensive strategy for 

conflict resolution. 92 Additionally, the Security Council 

goes further to enumerate six grave violations against 

children during wartime, and apply these as a basis to 

protect children in future conflicts using the appropriate 

monitoring and reporting mechanisms: 

The killing or maiming of children; 

Recruitment or use of child soldiers; 

Rape and other forms of sexual violence against 

children; 

Abduction of children; 

Attacks against schools or hospitals; and 

Denial of humanitarian access to children. 93 

The Department of Peacekeeping Operations, 

a body operating under the Security Council, is 

heavily involved in demobilization of child soldiers in 

nearly every peacekeeping mission. For example, the 

peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of 

Congo, MONUC, works actively with both rebel forces 

and the national government to implement existing 

demobilization plans, with a particular focus on women 

and children. 94 

As for recent resolutions, the United Nations High 

Commissioner of Human Rights has established an 

Open-ended Working Group to explore the possibility 

of allowing communication for the Convention on the 

Rights of the Child, a process by which individuals can 

allege to the HRC that their rights have been violated 

under such a convention. Currently, the HRC allows 

communication for five human rights treaty bodies. The 

Working Group is currently drafting an optional protocol 



to the CRC to see if such a procedure can be established. 

During its most recent session, the Working Group came 

out with a draft proposal—but not without leaving some 

unresolved issues: 

How should the HRC classify children when they 

come before the Council—mere dependents or 

rights-holding and dignified human beings, or 

some mixture of the two? 

How do we ensure that the remedies to children’s 

suffering under the CRC are directed to the 

child and not to his/her representative, parent, or 

national government? 

Should the child be allowed to express his/her 

experience, needs, and expected remedies or should 

the best interest of the child be taken foremost into 

account? How much weight does the child’s age 

and maturity bear into determining the appropriate 

approach? 95 

Despite its many advances in the protection of 

children from armed conflict, much remains to be done 

by this session of the HRC. 


In peacekeeping operations, monitoring activities, 

and UN field operations, child soldiers could be treated 

as a distinct and prioritized concern, and agents could 

be specially trained in children’s needs. The HRC can 

also encourage state and non-state dissidents undergoing 

peace talks or negotiations to consider the role of child 

soldiers and offer suggestions for DDRR. 

To improve DDRR efforts, the international 

community has the option of emphasizing the 

diversion of resources to the maintenance of education 

and psychosocial community initiatives during and 

after conflict. This could include a social campaign to 

emphasize the benefits of education to children in childheaded 

households. During DDRR, there could be more 

effective family tracing initiatives to assist internally 

displaced children, accompanied with necessary therapy 

and counseling to ease the transition to family life. 

The HRC and other relevant UN bodies such as 

UNICEF could launch and spread a campaign to support 

adoption and adherence to the Optional Protocol to the 

Convention on the Rights of the Child, which raises the 

age of recruitment and participation in armed forces to 

18. 

15


On the other hand, many have lamented the myriad 

obstacles to holding states accountable for child soldier 

use. They argue instead for the imposition of criminal 

liability on those who use child soldiers via a provision 

of the ICC charter or a regional charter. There have been 

some successes in this arena in recent years. The ICC 

has issued war crimes for the use of children in armed 

combat to armed groups in the Democratic Republic 

of Congo (DRC) and Uganda. Additionally, truth 

commissions of Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, and Liberia 

have all addressed the issue of child soldiers. 96 Individuals 

such as the DRC’s Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, Liberia’s 

Charles Taylor, Uganda’s Joseph Kony, and Sierra Leone’s 

Alex Tamba Brima are just a few individuals that have 

been indicted or sentenced by international courts for 

war crimes that include the recruitment and use of 

child soldiers. 97 The commissions (for instance the truth 

and reconciliation commissions, state restructuring 

commission, disappearances investigation commission, 

etc.) can be built up in the post conflict period to ensure 

social integration for sustainable peace and development. 

In efforts to prevent the forced and voluntary 

recruitment of child soldiers, special attention should 

be given to the social circumstances that exacerbate the 

use of child soldiers, including arms transfers, the use 

of landmines, and lack of education/healthcare. This can 

be done through public awareness events on all scales. 

Countries should be encouraged by the UN to withhold 

unilateral military assistance to countries that employ 

child soldiers. 

Less popular or well-accepted solutions have 

been proposed. Though they are lauded by some and 

dismissed by others, they are worth further exploration 

in committee session. This includes the formation of an 

international enforcement mechanism for treaties such 

as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, involving 

annual reviews of states and punishments in terms of 

fines, sanctions, or removal from human rights bodies 

for sustained abuses. 

Most importantly, giving children a voice—and 

listening to them—will allow children to have a say in 

their own protection and in the life of their community 

and country. This includes finding nongovernmental 

organizations willing to provide free advocacy to former 

child soldiers on an individual or class-level basis. 98 

Questions a Resolution Must Answer (QARMA) 

BASIS FOR INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S 

RIGHTS 

How do earlier human rights documents, especially 

those detailing children’s rights, apply in the issue of 

the military use of children? 

Are children entitled to special rights and protections 

because of their age? If so, what are they and why? 

Who is responsible for these protections – the state, 

the parents, or society at large? If not, on what basis 

and with what kinds of implications? 

LEGAL ISSUES 

Should there be an international standard minimum 

age for combat action and/or military support? If so, 

at what age should it be? If not, at what level should 

the minimum age be established if at all? 

To what extent are children responsible for the actions 

or inactions they commit while serving in combat 

action? 

Should the international community make 

a distinction between children’s guilt when 

participating in regular combat action vs. terrorism 

against civilians? 

ENFORCEMENT 

What sort of punishments and/or incentives can 

the international system give recalcitrant states, 

paramilitary organizations, and individual actors for 

their use of child soldiers? 

What are the external factors that exacerbate the 

worldwide situation of child soldiers? What can the 

HRC and other organizations do to mitigate these 

circumstances? 

REHABILITATION 

What steps can the international community take to 

prevent child soldiers from returning to military 

combat either as children or as adults? 


How can we provide the necessary medical, 

psychological, and physical rehabilitation necessary 

for children to make a break from their pasts of 

violence and bloodshed? 


DEVELOPED NATIONS 

This bloc of developed nations traditionally includes, 

but is not limited to, nations like the United States, 

Canada, the European Union, and Japan. Though these 

nations have all extensively used child soldiers in their 

collective histories, they have now effectively banned 

state and most of non-state recruitment within their 

territories. Nevertheless, legal issues abound on the topics 

of terrorism, torture (see case study #1), and recruitment. 

For example, poor regulation could result in the voluntary 

enlistment of 16 or 17 year olds before they are legally 

eligible to enlist, according to international standards. In 

addition, domestic civil liberty organizations within these 

nations have targeted national recruitment campaigns 

aimed at children, and take issue with the stationing of 

military recruitment officers in public schools for this 

purpose. 

Far more can be done from this bloc of nations on 

an international scale to combat the recruitment of child 

soldiers. The United States, for instance, has yet to ratify 

the Convention on the Rights of the Child, resulting in 

the act having less force than it could in the international 

arena. Additionally, this bloc should look into using its 

economic leverage to sanction or cut off military support 

to nations that employ child soldiers in their state armies. 

As always, funding support for DDRR initiatives is 

always needed, and derives in large part from this bloc of 

nations. Thus, they will always have significant sway over 

the direction and contents of DDRR policies. 

AFRICA 

Africa is considered the epicenter of child soldier 

usage. As mentioned above, 200,000 of the 300,000 

global numbers of child soldiers serve in Africa, in 

state or non-state armed groups. The rate of increase in 

conscription is also highest in this continent. African 

child soldiers are so frequent because of the exacerbating 

circumstances of poverty, lack of education, disease, and 

frequent civil conflict. Any comprehensive resolution 

that deals with the issue of child soldiers must take into 

account the African experience and must address the 

social ills that exacerbate child soldier usage. 



Despite its overwhelming challenges, Africa has 

made several strides in recent years to address and 

eradicate the problem. The African Union is the only 

regional organization that has drafted a convention on 

the rights of the child in armed conflict. The truth and 

reconciliation commissions of several former African 

conflicts have taken care to include the recruitment and 

usage of child soldiers as a war crime for which adults 

need to be accountable. However, Africa still faces several 

challenges that cannot adequately be addressed without 

the input and support of the international community. 

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA 

The most notable uses of child soldiers in Central and 

South America are by non-state actors such as warlords, 

rebel groups, drug lords, and gangs. In a fractionalized 

region with very little central control racked by issues 

of illicit trade, children are frequently recruited as drug 

mules, suicide bombers, and combatants because adults 

correctly assume that governments, reluctant to suspect 

or punish youths, will allow the rebel actions (illicit trade, 

terrorist attacks, etc.) to continue unhindered. 

DDRR in these cases is especially precarious because 

communities have come to harbor immense distrust 

and displeasure for children, many of whom have killed 

women and the elderly on behalf of their organizations. 

Since voluntary recruitment is more frequent here than 

in Africa, communities are quick to write off child 

soldiers as innately violent and refuse to help them 

reintegrate into existing societal structures. Thus, trustbuilding 

mechanisms are sorely needed in these regions 

by the governments in order to promote stabilization 

and development. 

THE MIDDLE EAST 

As mentioned above, the War on Terror has resulted 

in an increase in child soldier usage in the Middle East. 

Children under Islamic doctrine are exhorted to carry out 

holy war and thus voluntarily sign up for suicide missions 

to bring glory to their families. As western troops are 

preparing for demobilization, they are starting to notice 

scores of child soldiers in the employment of Al Qaeda 

and other terrorist organizations. DDRR will be vitally 

important in this region moving forward. Especially 

important is the plight of female ex-child soldiers, many 

of whom have borne children as a result of rape. In the 

traditional Muslim context, they are shunned from their 

families because of this “shame,” and thus, alternate 

methods of reintegration are needed for these girls, but 

may be difficult to secure. 

17


CENTRAL AND EAST ASIA 

Child soldier usage in Central and East Asia was 

more prevalent historically, but abuse still occurs in these 

regions. Examples range from the Tamil Tigers’ usage 

of children in Sri Lanka to the employment of child 

terrorists in the region of Kashmir between India and 

Pakistan. Generally, though, governments in these areas 

are cooperative and eager to find solutions to child soldier 

usage in order to allow development to foster. 

TOPIC B: PRISON SYSTEMS 

“[Prisoners] have lost their liberty whilst they 

are in prison. However, so far as I am concerned, 

they have not lost their human dignity or their 

right to equality before the law.” 

—Justice Michael Kirby, High Court of Australia 


There is a wealth of information available on child 

soldiers on the worldwide web. Before you begin delving 

into research, visit the Human Rights Council website 

to see what the history of this committee on this issue 

has been. Afterwards, try to do some research on UN 

documentation via the Document Search System, 

available at www.un.org/en/documents/index.shtml. 

Any UN body’s published resolutions, letters, and 

research can be found at this site. Further, try looking 

at the websites your nation and/or region’s human rights 

organizations to find more about country policy. Some 

international NGOs to also peruse are: Human Rights 

Watch, Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, and 

Amnesty International. 

In terms of print resources, Amnesty International has 

put forth several publications, including Child Soldiers: 

Criminals or Victims? and Child Soldiers: One of the 

Worst Abuses of Child Labour. Also, consider perusing 

the library at your local university for more academically 

oriented resources, if available. 

Helpful and reliable online and print journals 

include Time, Newsweek, The Economist, The New York 

Times, BBC, and Foreign Affairs. For DDRR programs 

(especially rehabilitation), medical journals are also very 

useful in deciphering the details involved in therapeutic 

interventions for former child soldiers. Also consider 

reading articles from human rights journals, such as 

Human Rights Quarterly. 

As always, if you need assistance, do not hesitate to 

reach out to me at hrc@harvardmun.org. 

Statement of the Problem 

PRISONERS AND “RIGHTS” 

Despite the traditionally conservative view that 

prisoners sacrifice all rights upon breaking the law as a 

“social contract,” most current authors that agree on the 

existence of basic human rights also agree that these rights 

are only partially lost through imprisonment. The extent 

of the loss is never adequately specified, however, resulting 

in continued conflict about which rights prisoners still 

retain based on the severity of their punishments. 99 

However grave this uncertainty is, the general principle 

remains that any alteration in a prisoner’s rights can be 

justified only by reference to a state’s recognized aims of 

imprisonment, which include: deterrence, retribution, 

reformation, or social protection. 100 In the international 

system, although there have been frequent attempts to 

iterate the rights of prisoners, much remains to be done 

in order to ensure their enforcement and incorporation 

into each country’s military and civil justice systems. 

MILITARY VS. CIVIL JUSTICE SYSTEMS 

Military justice systems, distinctive from civil 

justice systems, refer to the body of laws and procedures 

governing members of a state’s armed forces and any 

captured prisoners of war. This can amount to entirely 

separate courts and court personnel, or simply the use of 

civil personnel and facilities but under different rules and 

procedures. Military justice systems are characterized by 

fewer due process protections and more timely decisions, 

reflective of an executive need for rapid decisions and lax 

protocols when dealing with what states view as prisoners 

of a different, more dangerous type than typical domestic 

lawbreakers. For the purposes of this paper, the focus will 

remain on civil justice and prison systems, as it will be far 

more difficult and complicated to tackle military prison 

abuses on an international level because of their inherent 

secrecy and lack of outside accountability. However, it 


is important to keep in mind this distinction, especially 

when discussing issues of terrorism and state security. 

PRISON ABUSE, NEGLECT, AND 

MALTREATMENT 

In prisons around the world, inmates frequently suffer 

from extralegal physical abuses by prison administrations. 

This abuse ranges from beatings and overworking to rape 

and torture—all of which frequently go undocumented, 

as prisoners are unequipped with the knowledge and 

means to bring abuses to the attention of legal counsel or 

the media. Human Rights Watch documented the use of 

harsh restrictions and physical punishments in Russian 

prisons, where “almost any violation of the rules— 

including cursing at or showing disrespect for the guards, 

refusing to work, arguing with other inmates, or not 

meeting a production quota—can result in a term in a 

punishment cell…during solitary confinement prisoners 

are forbidden to have possessions with them and are 

denied almost all other rights, including the right to 

exercise.” Similar repression and human rights violations 

have been reported in Romania and Ireland. 101 In China, 

“inmates may be punished for not remembering all the 

words or the regulations; not admitting guilt; standing 

by the window; speaking loudly; or not arranging one’s 

bedroll properly…inmates were beaten if they refused to 

work. Beatings in Chinese prisons have been frequent, by 

all accounts.” 102 In Mexico, “it is common for prisoners to 

be subjected to arbitrary punishment.” 103 In the United 

States, one in 20 adult prisoners and one in eight juvenile 

delinquents were sexually assaulted while imprisoned in 

2010. 104 

Though segregation or isolation for prison misbehavior 

is distinct from physical abuse, its consequences are 

perhaps even more serious and long-lasting than 

routine prison beatings. The practice of segregation as 

punishment—for periods of up to 10 years in certain 

cases—has caused extreme social isolation, enforced 

idleness, and deprivation of all forms of environmental 

stimulation, resulting in psychological damage such as 

hypersensitivity, hallucinations, revenge fantasies, rage, 

severe and chronic depression, appetite and weight loss, 

headaches, nightmares, and self-mutilation. 105 

Another frequently protested issue is the blockading 

of access to medical treatment that afflicts prisoners with 

physical and mental health issues. There is no agreement 

on the level and quality of medical treatment and attention 

that prisoners are entitled to from the state. In Spain, for 



example, International Prisoners’ Watch criticizes: “Illtreatment, 

harassment, and humiliation are constant… 

Access to medical care is distinctly inadequate… 

Consultations are conducted anywhere—in the corridors, 

the dining-room, the cells or the administrative offices.” 106 

Although many inmates enter prisons with mental 

disabilities, others end up developing mental illnesses 

such as Alzheimer’s in prison due to insufficient medical 

care. 107 While many judges and human rights experts 

believe that prisoners are entitled to the same level of 

healthcare as the general public, disagreement remains 

as to how healthcare should be delivered and which 

public agency is responsible. However, egregious claims 

of barred access should be addressed on the international 

level, especially when they amount to public health crises. 

One such critical public health issue is concern over the 

AIDS virus. Prisons and jails spread HIV and AIDS at a 

rate that is nearly fourteen times higher than the general 

population. AIDS is the leading cause of death among 

prison inmates. 108 This raises important questions about 

the appropriate treatment for and segregation of HIV/ 

AIDS prisoners in prisons. 

There is also the issue of insufficient daily physical 

care while incarcerated, including inadequate feeding, 

clothing, and sanitation. No country is immune to the 

charge that its prisoners are being maltreated and subject 

to negative conditions. Every year, for example, the 

United Kingdom’s National Council for Civil Liberties 

answers about 2,000 letters from prisoners complaining 

about damp, cold, lice, poor toilet facilities, overcrowding, 

lack of exercise, and difficulty in seeing a doctor. 109 In 

Germany, “food quality has given rise to many criticisms… 

Health problems are more or less attended to without 

inmates having any choice in the matter.” 110 Mexican 

prisons serve despicable food that is “barely sufficient to 

feed 30% of the prison population.” 111 

ACCESS TO LEGAL RESOURCES 

The physical conditions of imprisonment are only one 

aspect of prison life that bears down on prisoners. Being 

in prison does not automatically exempt prisoners from 

standard business and legal processes. Prisoners often still 

file civil lawsuits against prison officials or may still have 

business interests in the free world that would require 

legal counsel. 112 Prisoners often complain about the lack 

of visits, inability to establish any privacy, lack of access to 

education, and perceived unfairness of loss of privileges— 

all of which not only make physical conditions more 

difficult to bear but also may lead to destructive behavior, 

19


including violence between prisoners and against prison 

administration. 113 

TORTURE 

The use of torture in military and civil prison systems 

has well-documented psychosocial, physical, and mental 

consequences that last far beyond immediate pain. Torture, 

used to incite political re-education, interrogation, 

punishment, or coercion, is also occasionally used merely 

for the gratification of the inflictor. Many torture victims 

experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 

including symptoms of flashbacks, anxiety, insomnia, 

nightmares, depression, memory lapses, guilt, and shame. 

Physical effects are also prevalent and range from brain 

injury, epilepsy, and dementia to death by heart attack, 

inflammation, or extreme stress. 114 

PRISONERS’ POST-RELEASE STRUGGLES 

Unfortunately, the difficulties encountered by 

inmates are by no means confined to cell walls. Postrelease 

struggles are common, albeit less frequently 

documented. In most countries, it is generally accepted 

that ex-prisoners have been permanently disenfranchised 

in national elections, with some countries such as Scotland 

pushing forward to have this provision revoked or at the 

very least revised to reflect the severity of the crime. 115 

Others are blacklisted from government industries as 

well as several private industries. They may also find 

themselves blocked from accessing schools, churches, 

and clinics, or from living in certain neighborhoods. 

There is often little to no systematic relief for claims of 

blacklisting by ex-prisoners. 


EARLY EXAMPLES 

In Ancient Greece and Rome, leaders usually treated 

war prisoners as a reward for conquering new territories 

and would force them into slavery by the battalion. 

Prisoners were traded and sold in the slave market and 

were void of any rights, or even their own personal 

identity in many instances. In Medieval Europe, religious 

warfare also resulted in the capture of prisoners of war. 

Prisoners of the state suffered the devastating effects 

of torture contraptions such as castration, drowning, 

flaying, roasting, dismemberment, and starvation. In the 

1500s in North America, the Aztecs took prisoners from 

captured villages and injured them in preparation for the 

religious practice of human sacrifice, or nextlaualli (read: 

“debt payment to the gods”). The capture of prisoners 

was considered a matter of status for Aztec men and 

boys. As such, prisoners were no more than commodities 

whose sole purpose was to satisfy the religious rites of the 

dominant culture. Across the Atlantic, brutalities were no 

less shocking as the Spanish Inquisition threw “heretics” 

in secular prisons, deprived them of goods and properties, 

and eventually tortured or executed the prisoners. 

19 TH CENTURY EXAMPLES 

In the 19 th century, courts generally viewed prisoners 

as “slaves of the State,” paying a price for their crimes 

by having no rights while incarcerated. 116 Despite this 

adamant stance, stirrings of reform were beginning to 

arise from civil society. During the Napoleonic Wars 

of the early 19 th century, the first prison-of-war was 

established in England at Normon Cross in 1797. 

Hundreds of thousands of prisoners were captured on 

both sides, and prisoners were even once used by Russian 

forces, who released them to inconvenience French troops 

during their invasion. Despite the inauguration of the 

19 th century with continued violence and bloodshed, the 

religious movement of the Great Awakening—considered 

the spark of liberalism in the West—provoked many to 

reconsider the position and role of prisoners in society. 

In particular, the Second Great Awakening in the United 

States during the early 19 th century ignited a movement 

of prison reform through social activism. Led by reformminded 

liberals such as Dorothy Dix and Louis Dwight, 

idealism spread and inaugurated the use of prison libraries, 

basic literacy, reduction in beatings, commutation of 

sentences, and separation of women and children. 117 The 

movement for the abolition of slavery was very helpful, 

in this respect: many abolitionists also took on the fight 

for prison reform, as they saw in the two movements 

identical goals of the eradication of injustice, brutality, 

and inconsistencies with a civilized world. 118 

20 TH CENTURY EXAMPLES 

Despite much progress throughout the 19 th century 

in prison reform, major setbacks in the form of two 

major world wars and the onset of the decades-long 

Cold War standoff allowed prison abuses to increase 

dramatically. The most notorious example of this 

phenomenon is the Holocaust, during which millions 

of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and political prisoners 

were captured, tortured, gassed, and executed by the 

Nazi regime. At the same time, approximately 110,000 

Japanese-Americans were relocated and interned by the 

United States government to “War Relocation Camps” 

in the wake of the Japanese attack on American naval 


ase Pearl Harbor. The internment, authorized via 

executive order by President Franklin Roosevelt, placed 

families in thousands of guarded camps, in which 

Japanese-Americans, 62% of whom were American 

citizens, suffered from unsanitary and inadequate living 

conditions as well as an atmosphere of fear. 

These horrors were not just confined to the early 20 th 

century; the Cold War era that marked the 20 th century 

for the entire globe was overall a negative time period for 

the advancement of prisoners’ rights. The Red Scare, an 

anti-communist period in the United States from 1947 

to 1957, resulted in the restriction of civil liberties and 

the increased interrogation and imprisonment of actual 

and alleged “American communists” and “sympathizers.” 

In Eastern Europe, the Great Purges of the 1940s and 

1950s were characterized by the persecution of peasants, 

Communist party members, and suspected “saboteurs.” 

Overall, there was a sharp increase in imprisonments 

without trial and arbitrary executions. Decades later, 

the War on Drugs in North America results in the 

incarceration of one million Americans every year on 

drug-related charges. 

21 ST CENTURY EXAMPLES 

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks against the 

United States on September 11 th , 2001, prisoners’ rights, 

especially in military systems, arguably took another 

downturn. On the other hand, much attention was 

wrought to the subject due to abuses such as torture that 

are perpetrated by some of the most advanced nations. 

As such, the present state of affairs forms ample grounds 

to discuss prisoners’ human rights on an international 

scale. So what is the state of prisoners’ rights in the 21 st 

century? 

A Public Library of Science (Medicine) research 

article written by Vincent Iacopino, senior medical 

advisor to Physicians for Human Rights, and Stephen 

Xenakis, a retired US Army Brigadier General, examines 

nine prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the military 

prison housing suspects in the war against terror that is 

operated by the United States. The article cites torture 

techniques used at Guantanamo such as sleep deprivation, 

exposure to extreme temperatures, serious threats, forced 

positions, beatings, forced nudity, sexual assault and/or 

the threat of rape, mock execution, mock disappearance, 

and choking. 119 As a result, 100 prisoners were classified 

by the US Army as having psychiatric illnesses such as 

severe depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorders. 

Several reports of attempted suicide have been revealed. 120 


In Iraq, the Abu Ghraib prison facility (a.k.a. 

Baghdad Correctional Facility) has been notorious for 

human rights violations that have been reported since 

2004, including physical, psychological, and sexual 

abuse. Rampant charges of prisoner abuse were heaped 

upon US army personnel, as detailed by a New York 

Times report of January 12, 2005, including testimony 

reporting urinating on detainees, beatings with metal 

batons, pouring phosphoric acid unto detainees, forced 

sodomy, and dragging detainees across the floor. 121 

Case Study 3: The death of Manadel al-Jamadi at 

Abu Ghraib 122 

Manadel al-Jamadi was an Iraqi prisoner suspected 

of a terrorist attack that killed 12 who died in 

US custody during interrogation by the Central 

Intelligence Agency (CIA). After only 30 minutes 

of interrogation, al-Jamadi died from being 

hanged by the wrists from a barred window and 

repeatedly beaten; the cause of death was a blood 

clot from trauma. After he died, a photo of two 

U.S. Army Specialists holding thumbs-up next to 

al-Jamadi’s body was released. Eight members of 

the responsible platoon received administrative 

punishments while the interrogator, Mark 

Swanner, faces no charges. What international 

statues and documents did the interrogators 

violate, if any? Is the punishment they received 

for their actions appropriate? If not, what sort 

of system is appropriate to charge and punish 

perpetrators of prison abuse in military systems 

and does such a system exist? 

Other incidences of abuse in Asia were related to prodemocracy 

protests. In Malaysia, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, 

and other countries, peaceful protestors were recently 

met with police who unleashed tear gas and ammunition 

unto the crowds. Several leaders were forcibly captured 

and imprisoned for their “political crimes.” 

In the Middle East, the conflict between Israel 

and Palestine has resulted in egregious human rights 

abuses on both sides, including the abuse and torture of 

prisoners and lack of due process for those imprisoned 

for political reasons. Currently, around 8,000 Palestinian 

prisoners are being held in Israeli jails, in which 200 

Palestinians have died so far. Accusations of physical 

and psychological abuse, medical negligence, and refusal 

to allow visits from relatives are frequent and will need 


21


investigation going forward. 123 Pro-democracy protests 

in Iran and Egypt met with similar fates as their cousins 

in Eastern and Central Asia. 

SUMMARY OF OVERALL TRENDS 

Overall, the prisoners’ rights movement certainly 

improved from the view of prisoners as commodities 

and objects in larger warfare or religious rites. Despite 

a liberal awakening in the 19 th century, this progress has 

not come to its fruition due to extenuating circumstances 

in the 20 th and 21 st centuries. Prisoners have seen their 

treatment regress in many respects, but the world has 

also benefited from more transparency into the prison 

system due in large part to recent international efforts 

to establish a standard basis for prisoners’ rights. As a 

result, states have transformed from an overly punitive 

view of prisoners in the 19 th century, with absolutely no 

conception of “prisoners’ rights,” to a “hands-off” doctrine 

where the courts shunted responsibility of protecting 

prisoners’ rights to other governmental branches or to 

local officials, to a more liberalized view in the late 20 th 

century—particularly due to the social movements of 

the 1960s, of which prisoners took militant part. 124 

INTERNATIONAL ATTEMPTS TO MITIGATE 

THE PROBLEM 

One extreme example of the international reaction to 

prison abuse is the prison abolition movement, which sees 

the judicial system as inherently racist, sexist, and classist. 

Historically, Quakers were the first group to advocate 

prison abolition. Today, anarchist groups play a significant 

Global Use of Capital Punishment (Source: The Telegraph (UK)) 

role in prison abolition, arguing that prisons house too 

many non-violent offenders, are inherently racially or 

ethnically motivated, and do little for rehabilitation. To 

learn more about prison abolition, a good place to start 

is to analyze the activities of pro-abolition groups such 

as Anarchist Prisoners’ Legal Aid Network, International 

Conference on Penal Abolition (ICOPA), Justice Now, 

Libertarian International Organization, and Prison 

Activist Resource Center (PARC). 125 

A less extreme answer to prison abuse, the African 

Prisons Project is a charity working to improve the lives 

of African detainees. The group undertakes infrastructure 

projects in African prisons, focusing on activities such as 

building libraries. There are also smaller projects targeted 

toward education, health, justice, and reintegration. The 

Project also has provided free legal advice and counsel 

to several hundred prisoners to date. Around the world, 

other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are 

providing similar services. 

In the United States, the American Civil Liberties 

Union (ACLU) founded the National Prison Project 

(NPP) in 1972, which has represented over 100,000 

confined men, women, and children. The project has 

also launched several class-action lawsuits which have 

resulted in improved care for inmates with tuberculosis, 

cancer, HIV/AIDS, and mental illness, as well as attacked 

overcrowding and failure to provide prisoners with safe 

and secure living environments. NPP also heads public 

education campaigns, publishing biannual newsletters 


that feature articles, reports, legal analysis, and legislative 

news about prisoners’ rights. 126 

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is also active on the 

issue of prisoners’ rights and criminal justice reform. 

One core activity is the urging of states to conform to 

their stated standards in criminal justice. In April 2011, 

for instance, the African division of HRW wrote a letter 

to the Ugandan Minister of Justice urging him to free 12 

defendants found not guilty on the basis of insanity yet 

jailed regardless of their verdict. 127 

Case Study 4: The Torture of Tibetan Prisoners, as 

reported by Human Rights Watch 128 

In Tibet, torture of prisoners by the Chinese 

government—in a number of cases resulting in 

death while in custody—has become entrenched 

in popular culture as the price that political 

activists must pay. Monks have been imprisoned 

and tortured for professing belief in the Dalai 

Lama, or simply for refusing to accept state control 

of what they perceive as vital aspects of their 

religious lives and beliefs. Torture and beatings 

during incarceration has afflicted more than 

600 political prisoners that have been identified 

by Human Rights Watch. HRW has published 

Tibet Since 1950: Silence, Prison, or Exile to 

shed light on the issue and is actively urging 

officials in the United States and international 

organization to address the situation in Tibet 

during annual reviews of the state of torture in 

the world. What more can organizations such as 

HRW and foreign officials do to reduce or call 

attention to the issue of torture of political and 

religious minorities? 

The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional 

Office for Europe initiated a special project on prison 

health in 1995 aiming to establish closer links throughout 

Europe between prisons and public health systems. As 

a result, the WHO has published several guidelines, 

recommendations, and handbooks relating to prisoner 

health, dealing frequently with the issue of HIV/AIDS 

and injecting drug use during and after imprisonment. 

There are also several country-specific organization 

offering free or reduced-cost legal advice to prisoners in 

their jurisdiction. In the United States, these organizations 

include the ACLU, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and 

the National Lawyers’ Guild. In addition to offering legal 


advice, these groups provide free attorneys to prisoners 

that are lodging complaints. 


SPECIAL NEEDS OF CERTAIN GROUPS 

Globally, women form about 5% of the prison 

population—a significant subset whose vulnerability and 

inability to cope while imprisoned is substantially higher 

because of their gender. 129 Women are considered a special 

class because the discrimination and marginalization they 

suffer in society is reflected and magnified in the criminal 

justice system. Generally, women have fewer resources 

and assets independently available to them, and their 

powerlessness cuts across lines of class, caste, race, region, 

and ethnicity. In many countries, children are sent to 

jail with their mothers, who are forced to raise them in 

adverse conditions that are not only not conducive to 

their education, but threatening of their physical safety. 130 

Generally, due to their immaturity, juveniles are seen 

by many national judicial systems to be less blameworthy 

than adults for their crimes, and therefore exempt 

from many of the harshest penalties, such as capital 

punishment. Juveniles are also judged to be prone to 

acting impulsively and rashly, behaviors that somewhat 

condone their crimes. 131 This is the view held by over 

180 countries that have signed unto the International 

Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is thus 

recognized by the international community that national 

justice systems need to create a separate mechanism for 

safeguarding the rights and interests of children coming 

within the purview of the law at various stages of their 

apprehension, processing, disposition, placement, 

treatment and reintegration into their communities. 132 

Because of their limited mental and physical 

capabilities, mentally or intellectually disabled defendants 

are generally more likely to confess to a crime of which 

they are innocent. They are typically inept witnesses and 

have impeded abilities to assist their lawyers in preparing 

and presenting their defense. 133 In addition, standard 

punishments may not achieve their mandated goal of 

retribution if disabled persons do not understand why 

they are being punished. 134 For these reasons, a disabled 

prisoner should be referred to psychiatric or therapeutic 

treatment facilities rather than jails if a society’s ultimate 

goal for prisoners is rehabilitation and reintegration. 

Another special group of prisoners includes racial, 

ethnic, and religious minorities. In Georgia (USA), a 

1987 study found that the death penalty was imposed in 


23


22% of the murder cases involving a black defendant and 

a white victim but only 3% of the cases involving a white 

defendant and a black victim. 135 In a similar vein, several 

countries in Central and Eastern Europe are currently 

looking into the overrepresentation of Roma (gypsies) in 

their prison populations on a regional level. 136 Despite 

having transitioned from a system of apartheid in 1994, 

South Africa is still dealing with the racial imbalances 

that remain in its criminal justice system. In one of the 

capitals, Pretoria, 97% of the 1,070 people executed 

from 1988 to 1998 were black. 137 

CURRENT POPULAR ISSUES 

Prison Maintenance 

Today, overcrowding is a particularly prevalent issue, 

as it leads to unsanitary conditions that are conducive 

to violence between prisoners. Federal penitentiary 

facilities in the United States, for instance, are running 

on average at 120% of capacity. 138 The consequences 

of overcrowding have been aptly described above, and 

have resulted in mass hunger strikes and challenges on a 

constitutional ground in the United States, which may 

spark similar movements around the world as prisoners 

take charge of their daily treatment. 

Case Study: ADX Florence: “A cleaner version of 

Hell” 139 

A federal penitentiary facility in Colorado’s Fremont 

County, ADX Florence houses male prisoners who are 

deemed the most dangerous in dismal facilities. It was 

subject of a federal investigation in recent years due 

to its conditions. As a “control unit” prison, inmates 

are relegated to solitary confinement for 23 hours 

every day. There is no communal dining, exercising, or 

religious service. Cells are made entirely of concrete, and 

telecommunication with the outside world is prohibited. 

There have been hundreds of involuntary forced feedings 

due to hunger strikes, as well as four reported suicides. 

What level of criminality, if any, justifies such an intense 

level of restriction on the freedom of prisoners while 

incarcerated? What can prisoners do to protest their 

perceived injustice and inhumanity by prison personnel? 

Prison reformers and state officials alike—as well as 

the general public—are also keen on the issues of false 

imprisonment, capital punishment, and posthumous 

exonerations. Upon studying the case study above, it is 

imperative for each state to determine their stances on 

these finicky criminal justice issues that also touch upon 

the running and maintenance of various prison systems. 

Life After Prison 

In addition, many authors have brought up life after 

prison and its difficulties. Released prisoners as a cohort 

experience significantly higher natural and unnatural 

mortality rates when compared to the regular population. 

In particular, ex-inmates suffer from increased death 

from acute or chronic drug effects, injury, and poisoning. 

About 50-60% of prisoners in Europe have experienced 

“hard” drugs such as amphetamine or heroin while 

imprisoned; due to lax enforcement, prisoners languish in 

surroundings conducive to illicit drug trade of unsanitary 

or corrupted needles and pills. Coupled with poor to 

nonexistent drug treatment programs in place at the 

prison level, ex-prisoners often find addiction to be one of 

the biggest hurdles of adjusting to a post-imprisonment 

lifestyle. 140 Consequentially, prisoners find themselves 

frequently returned to prison on drug charges because 

they are unequipped with the resources and opportunity 

to fight the addictions they developed while in jail. Life 

after prison is particularly difficult for released political 

prisoners who are freed while the government they 

criticized is still in power. For example, 23 opposition 

activists released in Bahrain for their writings or peaceful 

political activities were released without official amnesty 

from the government, leaving them vulnerable to future 

arrests and retribution from police or local vigilantes. 141 

INTERNATIONAL BILL OF PRISONERS’ RIGHTS: 

AN ARGUMENT FOR & AGAINST 

For: 

As in other aspects of society such as education, 

corruption, or press freedom, societies need some 

accountability to the larger global audience. As such, 

prisons need to conform to certain standards that are 

minimally acceptable in terms of facilities, consistency, 

and equity of treatment between prisoners. Such an idea 

is not entirely novel; attempts have been made in the past 

century to issue statements on the international sentiment 

regarding prisoners’ rights (see below, “Relevant UN 

Actions”). Despite various crimes and political systems, 

prisoners share in common their humanity, and as such 

deserve to share in a minimal standard of treatment while 

imprisoned. The consequence of a lack of such standards 

or a failure to implement them is that prisoners will be 

subjected to the risk of physical and mental harm, and 

the entire world stands to violate the terms and principles 

set forth by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 


Against: 

In reality, prison systems remain and should remain 

largely an issue on the domestic agenda. With countries 

having vastly different political systems and criminal 

justice apparatuses, as well as different ranges of criminal 

activity, it is unreasonable to expect every state to conform 

to a minimum standard of treatment for prisoners. A 

rather extreme example demonstrates this complication: 

in many Islamic countries, the penalty for adultery for 

women is traditionally and culturally accepted as death 

by stoning, while in Western democracies, adultery is 

not defined as a crime. Whereas a Western liberal thinker 

would argue that such a punishment is not reflective 

of the severity of the crime and therefore a violation 

of prisoners’ international human rights, others may 

counter that such an accusation would undermine the 

ability of many nations to decide their own laws and 

punishments according to their cultural and historical 

traditions, essentially violating the guiding principle 

of international law established in 1648—sovereignty. 

Even if it were to be created, such a set of rights would 

be infeasible on an international level because exigent 

circumstances would render it impotent for every nation. 

Releveant International Actions 

Articles 1, 3, 4, 5, and 9 of the Universal Declaration 

of Human Rights are all relevant to the treatment of 

prisoners in military and civil systems. Article 1 reads: 

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and 

rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and 

should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” 

Article 3 of the Declaration reads: “Everyone has the 

right to life, liberty and security of person.” Article 4 

commands: “No one shall be held in slavery of servitude; 

slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their 

forms.” Article 5 prohibits torture: “No one shall be 

subjected to torture or to a cruel, inhuman or degrading 

treatment or punishment.” Article 9 demands, “No 

one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention, or 

exile.” 142 

The International Covenant on Civil and Political 

Rights recognizes the right of individuals to selfdetermination 

“to freely determine their political status 

and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural 

development.” The Covenant further dictates, “No 

one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life…Any one 

sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon or 


commutation of the sentence.” This provision includes 

a special protection for persons below eighteen years of 

age and pregnant women (Article 6). 143 The Covenant 

provides detailed provisions to ensure due process of 

justice. In addition to significant measures to protect 

“the security of person,” the Covenant stipulates specific 

measures to protect the individual from arbitrary 

arrest or unfair trial. These include the protection 

from “arbitrary arrest or detention,” the entitlement to 

“prompt information of any charges” against the arrest 

person, “prompt hearing and trial before a judge or other 

official authorized by law to exercise judicial power,” and 

“compensation of unlawful arrest or detention” (Article 

9). Article 10 provides that “All persons deprived of their 

liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect 

for the inherent dignity of the human person…The 

penitentiary system shall comprise treatment of prisoners 

the essential aim of which shall be their reformation and 

social rehabilitation.” 144 

On December 17, 1979, the UN General Assembly 

adopted Resolution 34/169, titled “U.N. Code 

of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officers.” The 

document defines and prohibits torture, urges the 

prompt provision of medical attention to inmates, and 

defines and discourages corruption among national 

Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs). Despite its good 

intentions, the document limits its own potency by 

noting that it shall only be observed when “it has been 

incorporated into national legislation or practice.” 145 

It thus puts the burdenon states to hold their LEOs to 

international judicial standards. 

Deciding that a state-based code was not enough to 

prevent the most egregious punishments that trampled 

on individual rights, the General Assembly adopted 

the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, 

Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 

on December 10, 1984. With 147 parties and 77 

signatories, the Convention has since been ratified in 20 

countries. Aiming to prevent torture around the world, 

the Convention requires states to take effective measures 

to prevent torture within their borders and also forbids 

states to return people to their home countries if there 

is a reasonable expectation that they will be tortured. 146 


25


WHAT IS THE CONVENTION’S DEFINITION OF 

“TORTURE”? 147 

“Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether 

physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a 

person for such purposes as obtaining from him 

or a third person, information or a confession, 

punishing him for an act he or a third person has 

committed or is suspected of having committed, 

or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, 

or for any reason based on discrimination of any 

kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by 

or at the instigation of or with the consent or 

acquiescence of a public official or other person 

acting in an official capacity. It does not include 

pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or 

incidental to lawful sanctions.” — Convention 

Against Torture, Article 1.1 

An Optional Protocol to the Convention, adopted on 

December 18, 2002 (with 66 signatories and 55 parties), 

establishes a “system of regular visits undertaken by 

independent international and national bodies to places 

where people are deprived of their liberty, in order to 

prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading 

treatment.” 148 

The Convention against Torture also provided for the 

creation of a “Committee Against Torture (CAT)” under 

the auspices of HRC as a body of human rights experts 

that meets biannually in Geneva, Switzerland to monitor 

implementation of the Convention by state parties. CAT 

examines reports submitted annually by state parties, 

as well as considers complaints or communications 

from individuals claiming that their rights under the 

Convention have been violated (A/39/46). HRC also 

works on a national level by calling for the release of 

political prisoners such as Myanmar’s Daw Aung San 

Suu Kyi. 

In December 1988, the General Assembly took 

the protection of prisoners a leap forward by listing a 

comprehensive set of principles to guide detention or 

imprisonment. The document firmly establishes that 

the individual and human rights of prisoners shall be 

maintained at all steps of the process and stresses that 

inmates shall be treated humanely in the least restrictive 

manner that is in accordance with the law. 149 Two years 

later, the General Assembly adopted a similar stance in 

the groundbreaking document, “Basic Principles for 

the Treatment of Prisoners,” which further provides 

that treatment of prisoners be free from discrimination 

based on race, color, sex, language, religion, political or 

other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, 

or other status. 150 Though the “Basic Principles” is a 

good start in terms of listing basic tenets surrounding 

prison life and rehabilitation after imprisonment, it is 

brief with the length of only 11 clauses. There remains 

much to be debated in the HRC about whether a more 

comprehensive list of prisoners’ protections is warranted. 

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) 

resolution 5988, titled “Standard Minimum Rules for 

the Treatment of Prisoners,” was passed in 1955 and 

lists several specific prison minimal standards relating to 

accommodations, personal hygiene, clothing, bedding, 

food, exercise and support, medical services, discipline, 

restraint, information, contact with the outside world, 

education, books, and religion. It also puts forth special 

protections for various categories of prisoners, such as 

civil prisoners and prisoners awaiting trial. 151 Other, 

more specific, resolutions were subsequently adopted by 

ECOSOC, including 1984/50 on capital punishment, 

1997/36 on inhumane treatment, 2004/35 on HIV/ 

AIDS, and 2006/22 on overcrowding. 

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s Criminal 

Justice Reform Unit has contributed to progress, as 

well, overseeing, for example, the reform of the Pul-i- 

Charki prison in Afghanistan by rehabilitating detention 

facilities and installing new and separate women’s and 

children’s prisons in the area. 152 


SUPPORT FOR NEW AND EXISTING 

ORGANIZATIONS 

There are several basic solutions that the HRC should 

consider in attempts to address human rights abuses in 

prison systems around the world. Primarily, there has 

been a call by many for the creation of an Office of 

the Special Representative to the Secretary General on 

Prison Reform. In addition, HRC could offer support 

for organizations providing free or reduced-cost legal 

services to prisoners, including removal of the stigma 

surrounding them when they are released. 

ALTERNATIVES TO INCARCERATION 

States should work toward providing alternatives to 

incarceration for nonviolent offenders who are not a threat 

to their communities in order to reduce overcrowding, 


Worldwide Views on the Use of Torture (Source: Global Dashboard) 

inter-prisoner violence, the spread of disease, and the cost 

of running prisons, as well as to facilitate rehabilitation. 

These solutions should be tailored to criminal offenders 

who have charges including but not limited to debt, 

petty theft, public indecency, or public intoxication. 

Alternatives to prison deserve further exploration and 

include methods such as fines, house arrest, community 

service, psychiatric or drug treatment facilities, custodial 

care, criminal rehabilitation programs, and group 

detention homes. Alternatives to imprisonment also 

include the possibility of early release for prisoners who 

are too ill to threaten society. 


PRIVATIZATION 

In the United States, United Kingdom, and other 

capitalist societies, there has been a push from rightwing 

political parties and the private sector to privatize 

the delivery of punishment by running prisons atcost. 

Currently, the United Kingdom leads Europe in 

privatization with approximately 11.6% of its prisoners 

being housed in private facilities; the United States trails 

it with 9% of its prisoners in private facilities. 153 At the 

very least, supporters of privatization contend, medical, 

sanitary, educational classes, and other essential services 

could be privatized. However, few would challenge the 

idea that only the state should impose punishments such 

as imprisonment, the death penalty, or probation. It is 

only the delivery of these punishments that is proposed 

to be contracted to private agencies. Privatization could 

take many forms. A private company can build, staff, and 

run a prison, receiving its clients from the penal system. 

Or, a company could rent a prison to the government 

to run. Privatization can be done on the services (such 

as the provision of food and medicine) performed for 

prisoners. 154 

Opponents of prison privatization argue that the 

process raises too many ethical questions about the role of 

incarceration and the ability to protect prisoners without 

public accountability. Some private prisons in the UK 

have been criticized for high staff turnover, tendency 

to cut corners, and weaknesses in security due to staff 

inexperience. Opponents also point out manipulations 

of the legal system by private companies such as the “kids 

for cash” scandal, in which Mid-Atlantic Youth Services, 

Corp., a private prison company in the US, was found 

guilty of paying two judges US$2.6 million to send 

2,000 children to their facilities. 155 

Advocacy 

Most importantly, giving inmates a chance to voice 

their needs and testify about their abuses is vital to 

move forward in the reform process. To that end, efforts 

to provide prisoners and ex-prisoners with effective 

advocacy would be conducive to protecting their human 

rights and those of their fellow inmates. 

Questions a Resolution Must Answer (QARMA) 

BASIS OF INTERNATIONAL PRISONERS’ RIGHTS 

Should we develop an international code of standard 

for prison treatment? Is this expression of human 

rights feasible and/or needed at an international 

level? 

Broadly, are rights an inherent part of human nature, 

or are they privileges that we sacrifice when we turn 

against the society from which they derive? 


27


TYPES OF RIGHTS 

How should women be treated while imprisoned 

during pregnancy and/or labor? 

What should the voting rights of ex-prisoners be and 

who should determine them? 

Do prisoners have the right to information, worship, 

and/or petition while incarcerated? 

Should immigrants in detention have access to the 

same kinds of rights as prisoners (i.e. access to 

lawyers)? 

What should be the global consensus on capital 

punishment, in particular for subgroups such as 

juvenile delinquents, mentally disabled prisoners, 

and pregnant women? 

ENFORCEMENT 

What is a fair way to implement petitions and reviews 

for parole? 

Which forms of torture should be banned from civil 

prison systems? Military systems? 

How can these consensuses, if passed, overcome the 

overwhelming stigma of national sovereignty to 

reach real enforcement in the international system? 

Specifically, whose responsibility is it to recognize 

these rights and begin to implement reforms – 

regional bodies, member states, NGOs, or prisoners 

themselves? 


DEVELOPED NATIONS 

Developed Nations have generally modernized prison 

systems, with remaining issues dealing mainly with 

health, freedom of information and worship, petitions, 

and false convictions. Nevertheless, due to the ongoing 

war on terror and its implications for national security, 

the United States and its allies have situations similar 

to the one described above, but with special exceptions. 

There are far greater charges of abuse and torture in 

these countries than other developed nations, and far 

more than many feel are necessary in order to maintain 

a semblance of national security in the light of outside 

threats. 

DEVELOPING NATIONS: OVERVIEW 

In developing nations, there is a focus on post-conflict 

criminal justice, especially in African nations emerging 

from genocide in the 1990s. A popular manifestation 

of this trend is the gacaca courts of Rwanda—a system 

of community justice in which defendants are tried in 

the village court system, where the victims’ families 

can confront the accused. Prevalent issues that arise 

in developing nations’ prison systems relate to living 

conditions, overpopulation, reconciliation, and lack of 

due process. In addition, political protests and ethnic 

dissent result in charges of torture that have been detailed 

above. 

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA 

In Argentina, Guatemala, Colombia, Uruguay, and 

Venezuela, available data inform about harsh living 

conditions for women, psychological tortures for all 

inmates, overcrowding, poor quality of food, and 

restrictions on visiting. 156 There are frequent prison riots, 

often sparked by members of rival gangs or mafias being 

housed in the same locations. However, many Central 

and South American countries are beginning to follow 

Mexico’s example of overhauling its judicial system, 

reforming the prisons by introducing alternative dispute 

resolution mechanisms (ADRs), emphasizing the due 

process rights of the accused, and strengthening and 

centralizing police forces—eliminating corrupt local 

elements subject to bribes by organized crime by raising 

police salaries, for example. 157 

AFRICA 

African prisons are plagued with the problems of 

overcrowding, administrative repression, health hazards, 

illiteracy, and the other bureaucratization ills experienced 

by other nations. In addition, prison administration 

is further restricted by the meager resources of state 

budgets that prefer to spend public monies on armies 

and royal needs than on hospitals, schools, or prisons. 158 

Though it has many issues in prison reform, Africa 

exhibits tremendous regional cooperation on the issue, 

convening, for example, the first pan-African seminar 

on prison conditions in Kampala, Uganda in 1996— 

where the Kamapla Declaration on Prison Conditions 

in Africa was adopted. The convention appointed a 

Special Rapporteur to the African Union (AU) on Prison 

Conditions. A follow-up meeting in 2002 focused on 

reducing prison populations, promoting reintegration of 

ex-offenders into society, and encouraging better penal 

practice. 159 




There is a wealth of information available on 

prisoners’ rights on the worldwide web. Before you begin 

delving into research, visit the Human Rights Council 

website to see what the history of this committee on this 

issue has been. Afterwards, try to do some research on 

UN documentation via the Document Search System, 

available at www.un.org/en/documents/index.shtml. Any 

UN body’s published resolutions, letters, and research can 

be found at this site. Further, try looking at the websites 

your nation and/or region’s human rights organizations 

to find more about country policy. Some international 

NGOs to also peruse are: ACLU, WHO Regional Office 

of Europe, HRW, UN High Commissioner for Human 

Rights, and the Committee Against Torture. 

JOURNALS 

Online and print journals that were helpful in 

providing criminal justice policy and an insight into the 

basis of human rights are: Penal Reform International, 

International Centre for Prison Studies, Open Society 

Institute, various law school journals or reviews, and 

the Bar Foundation Research Journals. These sources 

also offer various country-specific analyses into prison 

systems and abuses around the world, along with ideas 

for solutions to the problems described in this study 

guide. 

PRINT 

The print resources that I found helpful were 

Criminal Law Handbooks: Prisoners’ Guides. These 

books, written for prisoners, are intended to instruct 

them on their rights and how to secure and enforce 

them. You can also look into the histories of crime and 

criminal justice internationally, regionally, and nationally. 

Country-specific or cross-country analyses would help in 

your research as well. 

As always, if you need assistance, do not hesitate to 

reach out to me at hrc@harvardmun.org. 

POSITION PAPER REQUIREMENTS 

Position papers are a crucial part of any Model 

United Nations committee, as they serve two very 

important purposes. Firstly, writing the position paper 

is very helpful for delegates as it will promote your 

understanding of the main policies of the country that 

you are representing; including where your country 

stands on the issue, what actions it has taken in the past; 

and what it hopes to achieve at our upcoming conference. 

Secondly, the position papers that are written by each 

delegation can prove to be very helpful for other delegates 

as well. For instance, groups of countries may exchange 

position papers to find out more about the specific 

details of different countries’ policies in the early sessions 

when lobbying and negotiations are still in their nascent 

stages. The end goal of the position paper is to improve 

delegates’ understanding of the topics being discussed, 

and ultimately to promote better debate in committee. 

You should take care in writing these position papers, 

making sure that they are clear and concise, and that they 

include the necessary information stipulated below. 

Position papers should include a header with (i) 

your full name/s, (ii) the topic area of the position 

paper, (iii) the country that you are representing, and 

(iv) the high school you are from. They should be singlespaced, 

in Times New Roman size 12 font, and should 

generally be organized into three main parts. The first 

part should include a statement of the problem and what 

your country sees as the most important aspects of the 

topic. You should demonstrate how the problem relates 

specifically to your country and why it is something that 

you are hoping to talk about. The second part should 

describe your country’s policies on the issue and what 

action it has taken in the past, and the third part should 

delineate potential solutions to the problem that your 

country would support. In certain cases, it is possible 

that you may not be able to find specific information 

regarding what future solutions your country would 

support. If this is the case, the best approach would be to 

research the broader policies of your country and try to 

think of solutions on your own that you determine to be 

relevant. To be clear, you are expected to write a position 

paper for each of the two topics being debated in your 

committee; that is to say, you must prepare roughly two 

single-spaced pages in total. 

If you have any questions or concerns as you prepare 

these feel free to email me at hrc@harvardmun.org and I 

will do my very best to help you! You might also consider 

speaking to your school’s MUN Faculty Adviser if you 

have one, or a more experienced student at your school 

who can mentor you. Your position paper is a critical 

first step in performing well in committee. Take this task 

seriously as it will help you tremendously down the road. 

Good luck! 

CLOSING REMARKS 


29


I hope this study guide has been helpful in getting 

you introduced to the intricacies surrounding these 

topics. Though I have tried to be comprehensive, there 

is still much research that remains to be done in order 

to facilitate a dynamic debate. After all, because we have 

all read the materials in this study guide, every delegate 

can breathe fresh air into the debate by bringing their 

nation’s unique position and history working on the issue 

to the Council’s attention. Feel free to begin with the 

bibliographic essay that is forthcoming and the “further 

research” sections at the end of each topic to begin your 

research. With the questions raised by this study guide 

in mind, go through your nation’s human rights news 

articles, resolutions, documents, laws, and organizations 

to explore these issues further in depth. If you are having 

difficulty determining your nation’s exact stance on the 

issue, it is okay to make an educated guess at its position 

based on the positions of other nations with which your 

country tends to align. 

If you have any questions, seriously—do not hesitate 

to contact me! I can try to point you on the right direction 

or send you an article or resolution that may be helpful. 

Good luck, and see you in January at Harvard Model 

UN! 

Warmest regards, 

5 Betancourt 566. 

6 Singer. 

7 Bimali 2. 

8 Vera Achvarina and Simon F. Reich, “No Place to Hide: Refugees, Displaced Persons, and the 

Recruitment of Child Soldiers,” in International Security 31, no. 1 (2006): 128. 

9 Carol B. Thompson, “Beyond Civil Society: Child Soldiers as Citizens in Mozambique,” in Review 

of African Political Economy 26, no. 80 (1999): 191. 

10 A/55/163-S/2000/712, “Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General,” General 

Assembly and Security Council, 19 July 2000. 

11 Bimali 2. 

12 Achvarina 129. 

13 Ibid 127. 

14 Ibid 131. 

15 Ibid 129. 

16 Bimali 3. 

17 Thompson 191. 


19 William C. Allen, “Child Conscription,” in The Advocate of Peace (1894-1920) 78, no. 6 (1916): 

166. 

20 Bimali 1. 

21 Ramil Añosa Andag et al., Deadly Playgrounds: The Phenomenon of Child Soldiers in the 

Philippines (Quezon City: Philippine Human Rights Information Center, 2005) 75. 

22 Ibid 76. 

Lisa Wang 

Director, Human Rights Council 


hrc@harvardmun.org 

23 A/44/25, “Convention on the Rights of the Child,” General Assembly, 20 November 1989. 

24 A/55/163-S/2000/712. 

25 Andag 77. 

26 A/55/163-S/2000/712. 

ENDNOTES 

TOPIC A 

1 Theresa S. Betancourt, et al, “High Hopes, Grim Reality: Reintegration and the Education of Former Child 

Soldiers in Sierra Leone,” in Comparative Education Review 52, no. 4 (2008): 566. 

2 Pawan Bimali and Bishnu Pathak, “Child Soldiers: Crime against Humanity,” Conflict Study 

Center, last modified December 16, 2009, accessed May 1, 2011, http://api.ning.com/files/ 

tX3Jh1Qj3T1ccuE2loRDZN8aRUtqMO-dKIabYVXGkhRhoYphxyMEO-vvlGIs2Jp8xyTK1CB07a3Rgx 

W20aanTSHMVoRTXfcW/SituationUpdate89ChildSoldiers.pdf, 1. 

3 P.W. Singer, “Child Soldiers: The New Faces of War,” Brookings, accessed May 1, 2011, http:// 

www.brookings.edu/views/articles/fellows/singer20051215.pdf. 

4 Selma Brackman, “The Child Soldier,” War & Peace, last modified May 2002, Accessed August 30, 

2011, http://www.warpeace.org/article.php?story=20040120131755153. 

27 Andag 84. 

28 Ibid 83. 

29 Bruce Bower, “Lost Are Found: Child Soldiers Can Reenter, Thrive in Former Community,” in 

Science News 173, no. 18 (2008): 6. 

30 Viriato Castelo-Branco, “The Experience of the Mozambican Association for Public Health 

(AMOSAPU),” in Development in Practice 7, no. 4 (1997): 496. 

31 Allen 165. 

32 Michael G. Wessells, “Review: Children, Armed Conflict, and Peace,” in Journal of Peace Research 

35, no. 5 (1998): 642. 

33 Andag 82. 




35 Jane Sutton-Redner, “Children in a World of Violence,” Children in Need, accessed April 30, 2011, 

http://www.childreninneed.com/magazine/violence.html. 

63 Achen. 

64 Andag 76. 

36 Andag 80. 

65 A/55/163-S/2000/712. 

37 David M. Rosen, Armies of the Young: Child Soldiers in War and Terrorism (Piscataway, NJ: 

Rutgers University Press, 2005) 13-19. 

38 Bimani 4. 

39 Adina Ofek, “Cantonists: Jewish Children as Soldiers in Tsar Nicholas’s Army,” in Modern Judaism 

13, no. 3 (1993): 277. 


67 Brett 14. 

68 Andag 76. 


40 Bimani 3. 

70 Bennett 3. 

41 Ibid 4. 

71 Andag 76. 

42 Wessels 636. 

72 Bennett 7. 

43 Singer. 

73 Ibid 6. 

44 Paris Achen, “Halting the use of child soldiers: Central Medford High School teacher organizes a 

presentation about ‘Invisible Children’ of Uganda’s civil war,” Mail Tribune, last modified April 22, 

2011, accessed May 1, 2011, http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110422/ 

NEWS/104220327. 

45 Bimani 16. 

74 Michael G. Wessells, “Child Soldiers, Peace Education, and Postconflict Reconstruction for Peace,” 

in Theory into Practice 44, no. 4 (2005): 365. 

75 Michael Odeh and Colin Sullivan, “Recent Developments in International Rehabilitation of Child 

Soldiers,” Youth Advocate Program International, accessed May 1, 2011, http://www.yapi.org/ 

rpchildsoldierrehab.pdf, 4. 

46 A. B. Zack-Williams, “Child Soldiers in the Civil War in Sierra Leone,” in Review of African 

Political Economy 28, no. 87 (2001): 74. 

76 “America’s Secret Shame: Torture of a Child Soldier,” Juvenile Law Center, accessed May 1, 2011, 

http://www.jlc.org/files/briefs/khadr/Summary_Updated_10-24.pdf. 

47 Ibid 78. 

77 Vera Achvarina, “Review [untitled],” in Journal of Peace Research 43, no. 6 (2006): 758. 

48 Betancourt 565. 

49 Zack-Williams 81. 

50 Melha Rout Biel, African Kids: Between Warlords, Child Soldiers, and Living on the Street: Causes, 

Effects, and Solution—the Cases of Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, and Kenya (New York: Peter Lang, 

2004) 24. 

51 Bimani 17. 

52 T. W. Bennett, Using Children in Armed Conflict: A Legitimate African Tradition? Criminalising 

the Recruitment of Child Soldiers (Halfway House, South Africa: Institute for Security Studies, 

1998) 34. 

53 Ibid 35. 

54 Ibid 39. 

55 Ibid 40. 

56 A/55/163-S/2000/712. 

57 Bimani 28. 

58 A/55/163-S/2000/712. 

59 Bimani 28. 

60 A/55/163-S/2000/712. 

61 Biimani 30. 

62 A/55/163-S/2000/712. 

78 Stuart C. Aitken, “Global Crises of Childhood: Rights, Justice and the Unchildlike Child,” in Area 

33, no. 2 (2001): 125. 

79 Ibid 126. 

80 Declan Walsh, “Child Soldiers Murder 192 in Uganda,” New Zealand Herald, last modified 

February 24, 2004, accessed May 1, 2011, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_ 

id=2&objectid=3550931. 

81 Odeh 2. 

82 Andag 87. 

83 John Williamson, “Reintegration of Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone,” United States Agency for 

International Development, last modified February 9, 2005, accessed May 1, 2011, http://pdf. 

usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACH599.pdf, 17. 

84 Andag 91. 

85 Bimani 8. 

86 Williamson 14. 

87 Ibid 16. 

88 Beth Verhey, “Child Soldiers: Preventing, Demobilizing and Reintegrating,” World Bank, last 

modified November 2001, accessed May 1, 2011, http://www.worldbank.org/afr/wps/wp23.pdf, 

21. 

89 A/55/163-S/2000/712. 

90 Michael J. Dennis, “Newly Adopted Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child,” in 

The American Journal of International Law 94, no. 4 (2000): 789. 


31


90 Michael J. Dennis, “Newly Adopted Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child,” in The American Journal of International Law 94, no. 4 (2000): 789. 

91 A/55/163-S/2000/712. 

92 Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, “The Six Grave Violations Against Children During Armed Conflict: The Legal Foundation,” University of Essex, 

last modified October 2009, accessed May 1, 2011, http://www.essex.ac.uk/armedcon/story_id/SixGraveViolationspaper.pdf, 3. 

93 Ibid 2. 

94 “MONUC Mandate,” United Nations, last modified February 24, 2000. Accessed August 30, 2011, http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/monuc/mandate.shtml. 

95 A/HRC/17/36, “Report of the Open-ended Working Group on an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to provide a communications procedure, “ Human Rights Council, 16 May 

2011. 

96 Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, “Child Soldiers: Global Report 2008,” last modified May 1998, accessed May 1, 2008, http://www.childsoldiersglobalreport.org/files/country_pdfs/FINAL_2008_ 

Global_Report.pdf, 3. 

97 Office 7. 

98 UNICEF, “Factsheet: Child Soldiers,” Global Solutions, accessed May 1, 2011, http://globalsolutions.org/files/public/documents/unicef_childsoldiers_factsheet.pdf, 7. 

TOPIC B 

99 Mike Maguire, et al., eds., Accountability and Prisons: Opening up a Closed World (New York: Tavistock Publications, 1985) 21. 

100 Ibid, 22. 

101 Mahgoub El-Tigani Mahmoud, ed., The Human Rights of African Prisoners (Lewiston, ME: Edwin Mellen Press, 2006) 11. 

102 Ibid 13. 

103 Ibid 14. 

104 “ACLU and Coalition Urges Holder to Adopt Standards Aimed at Eradicating Prison Rape,” American Civil Liberties Union, last modified August 17, 2010, accessed May 1, 2011, http://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/aclu-andcoalition-urges-holder-adopt-standards-aimed-eradicating-prison-rape. 

105 “Abuse of the Human Rights of Prisoners in the United States: Solitary Confinement,” American Civil Liberties Union, last modified February 23, 2011, accessed May 1, 2011, http://www.aclu.org/files/assets/ACLU_Submission_ 

to_HRC_16th_Session_on_Solitary_Confinement.pdf. 

106 Mahmoud 12. 

107 Ibid 10. 

108 James F. Anderson, Legal Rights of Prisoners: Cases and Comments (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2001) 91. 

109 Maguire 83. 


111 Ibid 14. 

112 Barbara Belbot and Craig Hemmens, The Legal Rights of the Convicted (El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, 2010) 48. 

113 Maguire 83. 

114 Juan E. Méndez, “Statement by Mr. Juan E. Méndez, Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,” Human Rights Council, last modified March 7, 2010, accessed May 1, 2011, 

http://www.penalreform.org/files/Special%20Rapporteur%20on%20Torture%20-%20Juan_Mendez.pdf. 

115 Kevin McKenna, “Stop Prisoners from Voting? That’s Criminal: What It is that Makes Otherwise Rational People Foam at the Mouth at the Mention of Votes for Prisoners?” Guardian, last modified April 3, 2011, accessed May 1, 

2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/03/kevin-mckenna-prisons-votes-scotland?INTCMP=SRCH. 

116 Lynn S. Branham, The Law and Policy of Sentencing and Corrections in a Nutshell, 8th ed. (St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Co., 2010) 242. 

117 “Prison and Asylum Reform,” U.S. History, accessed August 10, 2011, http://www.ushistory.org/us/26d.asp. 

118 Ibid. 

119 Andy Worthington, “Study Says Doctors at Guantánamo Neglected or Concealed Evidence of Torture,” Eurasia Review, last modified April 30, 2011, accessed May 1, 2011, http://www.eurasiareview.com/study-says-doctors-atguantanamo-neglected-or-concealed-evidence-of-torture-plus-my-interview-with-press-tv-oped-30042011/. 



120 James Ball, “Guantánamo Bay files: Grim toll on mental health of prisoners,” Guardian, last modified April 25, 2011, accessed May 1, 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/25/guantanamo-files-mental-health-suicides. 

121 Kate Zernike, “Detainees Describe Abuse by Guard in Iraq Prison,” The New York Times, last modified January 12, 2005, accessed August 10, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/12/international/12abuse.html. 

122 John McChesney, “The Death of an Iraqi Prisoner,” NPR, last modified October 27, 2005, accessed August 10, 2011, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4977986. 

123 “Palestinian prisoners go on hunger strike,” Tehran Times, last modified May 2, 2011, accessed May 2, 2011, http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=238964. 

124 Branham 244. 

125 Jeanne E. Hand-Boniakowski, “Thinking Outside the Box: Prison Abolition,” in Metaphoria 7, no. 12 (August 2000). 

126 Belbot and Hemmens 7. 

127 Daniel Bekele, “Letter to Minister of Justice on the Indefinite Detention of Prisoners with Psychosocial Disabilities,” Human Rights Watch, last modified April 28, 2011, accessed May 1, 2011, http://allafrica.com/stories/201104280879. 

html. 

128 Elliot Sperling, “Human Rights Violations in Tibet,” Human Rights Watch, last modified June 13, 2000, accessed August 10, 2011, http://www.hrw.org/news/2000/06/12/human-rights-violations-tibet. 

129 “Access to Justice and Penal Reform: Review and Recommendations,” Penal Reform International, last modified December 2002, accessed May 1, 2011, http://www.penalreform.org/files/rep-2002-access-to-justice-asia-en.pdf, 13. 

130 Ibid 7. 


132 “Access...” 18. 


134 Ibid 162. 

135 Ibid 149. 

136 Sorin Cace and Cristian Lazar, “Discrimination against Roma in Criminal Justice and Prison Systems in Romania: Comparative Perspective of the Countries in Eastern and Central Europe,” Penal Reform International, last modified 

2003, accessed May 1, 2011, http://www.penalreform.org/files/rep-2003-rroma-discrimination-en_0.pdf, 6. 

137 Amanda Dissel and Jody Kollapen, “Racism and Discrimination in the South African Penal System,” Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation and Penal Reform International, last modified June 2002, accessed May 1, 2011, 

http://www.penalreform.org/files/rep-2002-south-african-racism-en_0.pdf, 23. 

138 “ACLU Analysis of Obama Administration’s Progress Improving Immigration Detention System,” American Civil Liberties Union, last modified August 6, 2010, accessed May 1, 2011, http://www.aclu.org/files/assets/2010-8-6- 

ImmigrationDetentionAnalysis.pdf. 

139 Bruce Finley, “Supermax too full for Guantanamo detainees,” The Denver Post, last modified May 22, 2009, accessed August 10, 2011, http://www.denverpost.com/ci_12424986. 

140 “Prevention of acute drug-related mortality in prison populations during the immediate post-release period,” World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, last modified 2010, accessed May 1, 2011, http://www.euro.who. 

int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/114914/E93993.pdf, 5. 

141 “Bahrain: Ensure Rights of Freed Political Prisoners,” Human Rights Watch, last modified February 24, 2011, accessed May 1, 2011, http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/02/24/bahrain-ensure-rights-freed-political-prisoners. 


143 Ibid 4. 

144 Ibid. 

145 A/34/169, “Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials,” General Assembly, 17 December 1979. 

146 A/39/46, “Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,” General Assembly, 10 December 1984. 

147 Ibid. 

148 Ibid. 

149 A/43/173, “Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment,” General Assembly, 9 December 1988. 

150 A/45/111, “Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners,” General Assembly, 14 December 1990. 


33


151 E/5988, “Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners,” Economic and Social Council, 30 August 1955. 

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