Recently, I watched a Youtube video on the intensifying conflict between Chinese and Muslim ethnic groups. In the video, Muslim merchants refused to sell products to Chinese residents and often verbally abused Chinese passer-bys. I decided that I wanted to know more about the source of this antagonism and soon learned that the sole reason for such sharpening hostility was the “re-education camps” in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. The Chinese government established the camp as part of the Strike Hard Campaign against possible terrorists in Muslim ethnic groups to ensure social stability. Since Xinjiang Province is an economically-strategic region, the Chinese claimed that they wanted to guarantee full protection by enclosing all Muslims who might pose a threat to the Han Chinese population. The so-called re-education camps, however, ended up receiving worldwide condemnation as news reports on the camp’s reality began emerging. While the US and its allies have issued condemnations and called for the UN to intervene, not much has been done regarding the camps, with some arguing for better camp conditions and others insisting on recognizing Chinese sovereignty in dealing with their internal affairs. I learned about a major conference through my school's MUN (Model United Nations) club that deals with the re-education camps and decided to join the Global Education City Model United Nations (GECMUN) 6 conference (more specifically, the UNHRC committee) to do my part in efforts to solve this dire crisis and hear from others. Fortunately, schools from all over the globe joined, and the simulation of an official UN conference allowed me to defend my arguments and craft fruitful resolutions. The committee urged student delegates to recognize the importance of eradicating racial segregation and replacing it with a foundation of racial equality.

GECMUN was held online from March 5 through 6. Giving opportunities for high school students to simulate UN processes, students across the world participated in Zoom meetings to obtain fruitful resolutions for China and ways that China can take substantive steps to improve the camp situation. This year, by weighing each country’s relationship with China and their stance towards the re-education camps, all delegates worked together to come up with the most effective resolution.

I was assigned to represent North Korea. Since North Korea shares an intimate relationship with China, I designed my remarks to show respect for the Chinese government’s right to solve its domestic problems. I also had to defend the Chinese government’s action by arguing that the camp is part of an anti-terrorist and anti-extremist approach to “potentially dangerous” peoples. Before the conference, I thoroughly researched the agenda through various platforms (such as, but not limited to, CNN, BBC, and Youtube). However, during the four months I spent researching, I learned that this camp is a top-grade government secret that the Chinese refused to reveal. Thus, there were very few objective and informative sources I was able to refer to. Even with the limited resources, I was nevertheless able to refer to eye-witness reports by Uighurs and some Chinese governments' official statements about the camp situation.

[Picture of the committee’s logo; Photo from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UN_refugee.jpg]

On the first day, my committee (UNHRC) watched an opening ceremony, and each delegate read the opening remarks that we had written in advance. Next, our committee discussed various issues through both moderated and unmoderated caucuses. During the moderated caucus, delegates were individually called out by the chair to demonstrate their stance and depth of understanding of both the camp and their country’s position relative to China. During the unmoderated caucus, on the other hand, delegates were put into a separate “break-out room” where they freely discussed their ideas about optimal approaches. Once we had seen all delegates’ viewpoints, chairs (the people who lead the committee meetings) instructed us to draft resolutions. Separated into two blocks, we discussed the pros and cons of each operative clause. This was followed by an editing of the resolutions. After our activities passed the inspection of the approval panel, our committee moved onto the debate session.

The debate was conducted by the main submitter presenting a speech and reading out operative clauses, after which he gave me time to support the entire resolution. While I was making the support speech, I could see that there were a lot of POIs. While some asked to clarify one of the operative clauses, most pinpointed the weakness and the necessity for an amendment. 

[UNHRC committee debating and submitting amendments, Screenshot by Minji Kwon]

After many hours of debating and amending the resolution in a way that is applicable to all nations, the delegates finally reached a consensus on the action plans. Sitting in front of the monitor for more than 10 hours was, first and foremost, physically exhausting. This, however, was a minimal consideration compared to how proud I was that the delegates cooperated despite all technical and COVID-19 related difficulties, for the benefit of the world for current and future generations. We all decided to watch the closing ceremony. Luckily, I was nominated for honorable mention. When my name was called, I was exhilarated, because I felt that I was receiving recognition for all of the hard work I did for this conference for the past few months. Looking back at this fantastic experience, I can say that I learned persistence. All delegates cooperated to develop effective resolutions and worked hard to carry out a constructive debate. I also learned how to form a solution by weighing each nation’s stance and improving human rights. I hope the official UNHRC conference that is made up of each country's actual representatives works to ensure freedom of religion, freedom of movement, and respect of cultural rights for all religious and ethnic groups in China.

 


 






Minji Kwon
Junior (Grade 11)
Seoul Scholars International

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