1st Day in HRC

HRC: 1st Day

Finding means to protect journalists in times of armed conflicts – that is how the agenda of Human Rights Council sounds this year.

HRC

More than twenty countries gathered to discuss measures directing to protect the correspondents who are sent to trouble spots. For most of the delegates it is the first time of participating in MUN that’s why at first there were some difficulties in the committee but the Chairs willingly explained all the rules of procedure and the work started.

   At once several countries stood out: Switzerland, Slovakia, Azerbaijan and Japan tended to express their opinions as clear as possible. Points passed one by one as the delegates weren’t very active but… After dinner the situation changed. The discussion took another turn! Disputes became sharper, questions – more provocative and on the whole the real debates began! Special attention was paid to suggestion proposed by the delegate of Gabon who recommended making special uniforms for journalists. And thought Chile was trying to persuade the House that it wouldn’t defend them from sex violence (!) the point passed.

   Another point that caused serious discussion was from Republic of Korea that called for using a special kind of traumatic weapon by journalists to protect themselves against potential threat. What exactly did the delegate mean? Pepper powder, for example! Unfortunately this non-ordinary solution didn’t engender confidence in the delegates that’s why it was the first point out of eight that didn’t passed.

   That was the 1^st day of official debates in HRC. Hope that the 2^nd day will be even more fruitful and the delegates will be more confident as they already have some experience from yesterday!

Anna Parkhanovich