Hi delegates!
Have you ever wondered how the topics for BMUN committees such as UNHRC are selected? (If the answer is no, that’s okay!)
Fun fact: All the BMUN head chairs actually picked their topics nearly half a year ago. It took a lot of research and annotating, but each topic was carefully considered and selected to be debated in committee. Since then, my vice chairs and I have been meticulously researching, writing, and keeping ourselves updated with both topics so we’re ready to lead discussions and answer your questions. To provide some context on your end, I’ll be explaining why and how each topic was selected!
Topic A: Internment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China
Let me preface this by saying that my interest in this topic started in November 2011 (when I was 10). Although China’s “re-education centers” hadn’t been constructed back then, several Uyghurs had escaped the country and spoke of the discrimination and life-threatening actions made toward their people. This wasn’t in the news, so where did I hear it?
The answer: From several Uyghurs themselves, testifying at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium — where my mom and several friends from her former church were invited to speak on the imprisonment and persecution of religious groups in China.
Fast forward to May 2021, as my family and I attend a banquet in Fort Worth, Texas. We were commemorating the advocacy and work of ChinaAid, a Christian nonprofit human rights organization, that has helped free countless people in China persecuted for practicing religion. Among the audience was a Uyghur family who had recently escaped Xinjiang and come to the US after being forcefully taken to China’s detention centers. As Gulzira Auelkhan, a Uyghur mother, shared her survival story through an interpreter, tears filled the room. The cruelty and inhumane treatment she and her husband had experienced and described were shocking and incomprehensible. I was overwhelmed by emotion, yet couldn’t help but admire her bravery and ability to keep moving forward in life after all she had been through. Having heard Gulzira's testimony and meeting her young daughter, I simply could NOT choose this topic. That being said, this topic is very personal and I hope my chairs and delegates keep in mind that the detainment camps and human rights abuses in Xinjiang, China, are actually affecting millions of individuals — just like the family I met in Texas, as well as the Uyghurs I met in Belgium over 10 years ago.
To learn more about Gulzira Auelkhan and her family, check out these articles!
"China's persecuted Muslims find haven in the US." ABC News
" 'Their goal is to destroy everyone': Uighur camp detainees allege systematic rape." BBC News
(This article discusses sensitive topics that may not be suitable for all readers.)
Topic B: The Right to Die: Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)
Let’s be honest — even for us chairs, researching topic A for months on end takes an emotional toll due to the severity of the whole situation and witness accounts of the human rights abuses taking place. That being said, we wanted to take a different approach for topic B. Instead of giving our delegates another heavy topic to research, we wanted to do a human rights topic centered on moral debate.
Moral debates are always around us, whether we decide to engage with them or not. Pro-life or pro-choice? Is the use of stem cells ethical? Is torture ever justified? (That last one is actually kind of interesting … but again, we’re not asking our delegates to have to research another heavy topic).
Euthanasia was a topic that I had actually wanted to debate in Model UN when I was in high school, but I was never placed in a committee with those topics. It was never really talked about in school or on the news, so I was pretty much left with a bunch of unanswered questions — and of course, I wasn’t going to start asking my friends what they knew about euthanasia.
So here we are, talking about the morality of euthanasia. Suitable for a MUN human rights committee, but also can be researched and discussed from an analytical standpoint. While you study your country’s policy on euthanasia or PAS and try to understand how it’s different from the nations around it, you can’t help but form your own opinion too.
In 2021, Spain and New Zealand legalized active euthanasia, contributing to the slow shift that the world is seeing toward one’s authority over their own death. More and more countries have developed policies on physician-assisted suicide as well — Switzerland perhaps being the most notorious for its accessibility to PAS. Over the span of our lifetime, we’ll get to continue seeing this gradual shift in policies and attitudes toward euthanasia and PAS.
So I hope you’ll not only enjoy researching the topic, but also learning how to approach issues that aren’t just black and white. Oftentimes there isn’t a right answer, but there will always be someone, somewhere who can and will claim that there is. So just for a moment, put yourselves in the shoes of a debater or a politician, and try to create or understand arguments that support your country’s stance. Anticipate counterarguments and be prepared to address those. Communication will be your best friend with this topic, whether that’s forming arguments through writing, practicing your public speaking skills, or learning to answer difficult questions from your fellow delegates during committee. Have fun with this topic!
As always, if you have any questions or comments about either topic, feel free to comment on this blog and engage with other delegates and your chairs. Throw out ideas or feedback, ask questions, and get ready to debate!
- Karissa
P.S. If you want, look up "euthanasia youth in asia meme." I'm not allowed to post it due to certain words in the caption of the meme, but it might give you a good laugh while you're taking a break from writing those position papers!
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