2010 Model UN Human Rights Council
Seoul National University, July 5-6, 2010
The 2010 Model UN Human Rights Council provides an opportunity for university and college students to learn about emerging human rights issues and trends in Korea and in the world through model participation on the Special Procedures and Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanisms of the UN Human Rights Council. Through this program, participants can expect to build their expertise and leadership skills in the field of human rights, particularly in the roles of the Korean government and NGOs promoting and protecting human rights in Korea and internationally.
Basic Information
❚ Date: July 5-6 (Monday-Tuesday), 2010 (Accommodation not provided) ❚ Venue: Centennial Hall, College of Law, Seoul National University, Korea ❚ Participants: 120 persons (60 teams) ➢ Students of college & university (under graduate) as well as master degree program (post graduate) in Korea, including international exchange students studying in Korea and Korean students studying abroad returning to Korea for the summer. ➢ 40 Korean speaking teams (80 persons) and 20 English speaking teams (40 persons) ❚ Participation Fee: 50,000 Korean won per team ❚ Organizers: ➢ Center for Public Interest & Human Rights, Seoul National University ➢ Korea Center for United Nations Human Rights Policy (KOCUN) ➢ Korea Human Rights Foundation (KHRF) ❚ Sponsors: ➢ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT), Republic of Korea ➢ National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) ➢ UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Regional Office in South-East Asia (Bangkok) ➢ UNESCO Asia-Pacific Center of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU), Seoul ➢ Embassy of Switzerland in the Republic of Korea ➢ Educational Broadcasting System (EBS), Korea
Program Structure and Process
- The two-day program will consist of mainly two sessions: UN Human Rights Council Special Procedure and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). - The Special Procedure session will be concerned with human rights issues of an international nature while the UPR will focus on South Korea. - A Working Group and a Plenary Session will be held for both the Special Procedure and the UPR. - Participants will present the results of the Working Group to the Plenary Session for adoption or review.
Special Procedure (Day 1, Afternoon): Participants will be divided into 6 Working Groups. Each Working Group will discuss one of the following 4 topics (2 themes and 2 country situations)
① Human Rights in Burma (Myanmar) ② Human Rights in North Korea ③ Right to Food ④ Racial Discrimination
- There will be four Working Groups for the Korean speaking teams and two for the English speaking teams. The two topics for the English speaking teams will be selected according to the preferences of the selected participants. - Each Working Group will be composed of 10 teams (20 participants); 8 teams will be selected to serve as delegations from UN member states and 2 teams will be selected to serve as NGO delegations. - The results of the Special Procedure Working Group will be presented in the form of a resolution to be adopted at the Plenary Session (Day 2 Afternoon)
Universal Periodic Review (UPR) (Day 2, Morning): Participants will be divided into 3 Working Groups to review the human rights situation in South Korea (Republic of Korea). - Each UPR Working Group will be composed of 20 teams (40 participants); 16 teams will be selected to serve as delegations from UN member states and 4 teams will be selected to serve as NGO delegations. - The UPR Working Group will be conducted in an inter-active dialogue format consisting of questions and recommendations by UN member states and NGO delegations, as well as answers by the representatives of the South Korean government. - At the UPR Plenary Session (Day 2, Afternoonn, representatives of the South Korean government will present their position on the recommendations provided, which will be followed by further questions and feedback.
Application Procedure
- Interested teams of two participants each should send a duly completed application form to ModelUNHRC@naver.com no later than May 19 (Wednesday), 2010 - Selected teams will be notified by public announcement at the websites of the Korea Center for United Nations Human Rights Policy (KOCUN) (http://www.kocun.org) and the Korea Human Rights Foundation (http://www.humanrights.or.kr) on or before May 24 (Monday), 2010. - A compulsory Orientation Program will be held for all participants from 2-6 pm on May 29 (Monday) 2010.
Awards and Prizes - Several prizes will be awarded by the co-organizers to participating teams exhibiting outstanding performances. - A scholarship in the form of financial support for participation in an international human rights internship program in Geneva/Europe and Bangkok/Asia (July/Aug. or January/Feb) will be provided to the one or two teams exhibiting the best performance.
For further inquiries:
Please contact Ms Kawon Lee, 02-6287-1210 or modelUNHRC@naver.com at KOCUN.
More detailed information is available at http://cafe.naver.com/ModelUNHRC |