Society for International Law and its Affairs

At
SVKM’s Pravin Gandhi College of Law
Presents the

FRESHERS MUN ‘24

STUDY GUIDE

The
United Nations Human Rights Council
(UNHRC)
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Table of Contents

1. Introduction to the Committee ............................................................................. 2

2. What is MENA Region? .......................................................................................... 3

3. Humanitarian Crisis in MENA Region: ....................................................... 5

4. Forced Internal and International Migration ............................................. 5

5. Climate Induced Displacement: ......................................................................... 7

6. Weaponization of Water: ....................................................................................... 8

7. 1951 Refugee Convention: ................................................................................... 9

8. Displacement due to Israeli-Palestinian conflict: ................................ 11

9. Conclusion: .................................................................................................................... 12

10. References: ................................................................................................................... 13

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1. Introduction to the Committee:

The United Nations Human Rights Council (“UNHRC”), the primary inter-governmental body
of the United Nations responsible for human rights, with 18 independent experts which
supervises the implementation of the “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”
by the States parties. The Council possesses the ability to discuss all overarching issues and
situations related to human rights, and its violations. The Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights (“OHCHR”) provides the Council with substantive, technical, and secretariat
support. The UNHRC consists of 47 member States which are elected directly by a majority of
all the 193 States of the United Nations General Assembly (“UNGA”).

Its primary objective includes strengthening, promoting, and protecting human rights globally.
The Council strives to address human rights, and violations thereof, and work towards solutions
to mitigate them by making recommendations on such violations. Other crucial functions of
the Council include:

➢ Providing a global platform for dialogue on issues related to human rights with officials
of the UN, mandated experts, civil societies, States, and other stakeholders;
➢ Adopt resolutions/decisions reflecting the will of the international community on issues
of human rights during regular sessions (adoption of a resolution is imperative in
sending a strong political signal which can prompt governments to take action to
remedy human rights related issues);
➢ Call for crisis meetings, also known as Special Sessions, in order to respond to critical
human rights situations. (There have been 36 special sessions which have been held till
date);
➢ Reviewing records of situations related to human rights in all UN member States; ⅴ.
Appoint independent human rights experts, known as Special Procedures, who aid the
Council in monitoring human rights situations in specific countries;
➢ Authorizing fact finding missions and commissions of inquiry which present critical
evidence on war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“The mandate of the United Nations Human Rights Council was created by the General
Assembly in 1993 through its resolution 48/141 which also details its mandate.1

1
Undocs.org. (2024). A/RES/48/141. [online] Available at: https://undocs.org/A/RES/48/141 [Accessed 17 Oct.
2024].
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2. What is MENA Region?

MENA is an acronym for the Middle East and North Africa (“MENA”) region. The region is
typically considered to include around 19 countries, but the definition can be stretched to
include up to 27.2 The World Bank includes 21 countries as part of MENA and based on their
2020 population reports, the region accounts for approximately 6% of the world's population.3

The MENA region witnessed a growth rate of international migrants that outpaced the global
average, surging twice as fast during the 2015–2020 period.4

The predominant portion of migrants in the MENA countries (24%) consist of intraregional
migrants. Within the MENA region, the greater portion of international migrants are male
(61.35%), mirroring the preponderance of migrants worldwide originating from the MENA
region.

The MENA region has a relatively youthful population compared to the global average, with a
larger share falling into the working-age category. In 2019, the Arab States hosted 24.1 million
migrant workers, comprising 41.4 per cent of the region’s workforce, in contrast to 4.9 per cent
globally.

Figure 1

Historical, MENA region has witnessed modern growth. It is seen to be one of the world’s
emerging business and economic regions, with much happening. The MENA region has been
involved in global trade, but not much has been published about this. Before the Americas were
discovered (end of the fifteenth century), the Middle East region played an important role in
world trade, including the famed West-East and East-West trade. More specifically, the leading

2
IstiZada. (n.d.). MENA Region Countries List 2020 Update. [online] Available at: https://istizada.com/mena-
region/.
3
data.worldbank.org. (n.d.). Population, total - Middle East & North Africa, World | Data. [online] Available at:
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=ZQ-1W.
4
UN DESA, 2021b
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West-East trade included the ‘Silk Road/Route’, which ran across the region from historical
cities such as Aleppo to Baghdad, Rayy, Nishapur, Marv, and Samarkand, and through Kashgar
to the T’ang capital, Chang’an (Xi’an) regions. Similarly, in the East-West trade, silk, porcelain,
spices, dates, textiles, and horses moved in the opposite direction, as key trade examples.

Figure 2

There was the slave trade, as well as gold being traded from Sub-Saharan Africa and
transported across the desert in exchange for textiles and salt. As a consequence, enslaved
people were brought from East Africa to Egypt and the Indian subcontinent in return for spices
and textiles. Other items such as food, grain, and salt were imported into Anatolia and further
east from northern Europe. Dates, as a commodity, also formed a significant export to Europe
from the Arab world, as well as ivory and gold from sub-Saharan Africa.

Cross-border business involving this region dates back to the regime of the Ottoman Empire,
which saw significant trade between Western countries and was prevalent even during the wars.
After, the Levant Company (founded in 1581, when agreements were enacted with France in
1569 when France took over from Venice as the leading trading nation in the Levant), the
English East India Company (founded in 1600), and the Dutch East India Company (founded
in 1602), all trade with the MENA countries.
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3. Humanitarian Crisis in MENA Region:

“With more than 40 million migrants and 14 million internally displaced people, the MENA
region has some of the world’s largest protracted conflicts, as well as frequent natural and
human-made crises, pandemic outbreaks and climatic shocks. The region continues to witness
increasing instability and fragility driven by conflict, growing economic hardships,
hyperinflation and unemployment, compounded by the consequences of the COVID-19
pandemic and the economic impact of the Ukraine crisis.

On top of the ongoing conflicts, further social and political unrest is looming due to continuous
increases in the cost of living, economic decline, shrinking political and democratic space, and
the spread of extremism. In addition, the MENA region is among the world’s most climate
change-vulnerable regions. It is warming faster than the global average, with two countries
(Egypt and Yemen) exposed to high or very high risks of heatwaves.”5

4. Forced Internal and International Migration

The MENA landscape of forced migration reveals a staggering figure of nearly 24.6 million
individuals6 who have been uprooted due to various causes such as persecution, conflict,
violence, disasters, human rights violations, and disruptions to public order in 2022. While
internal displacement accounts for a significant portion of this upheaval, the aggregate includes
7.7 million refugees and nearly half a million asylum-seekers.

The MENA region stands at the forefront of the global refugee crisis, accounting for the largest
number of refugees worldwide. In 2022, the Syrian Arab Republic took the lead with more than
6.5 million refugees7, retaining its status as the primary source of global refugee origin. Sudan
claimed the top position as the seventh largest refugee-sending country on a global scale. The
region hosts over 3.6 million refugees (see Figure 3). Countries such as the Sudan, Lebanon
and Jordan emerge as substantial hosts for refugees, with Lebanon and Jordan securing spots

5
humanitarianaction.info. (n.d.). Middle East and North Africa | Humanitarian Action. [online] Available at:
https://humanitarianaction.info/article/middle-east-and-north-africa-0.
6
This figure includes refugees (including those not covered by UNHCR’s mandate), asylum-seekers, internally
displaced people (IDPs) and other people in need of international protection in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq,
Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia,
United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
7
UNHCR (2024). Syria Situation. [online] Global Focus. Available at:
https://reporting.unhcr.org/operational/situations/syria-situation.
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among the world’s top five hosts in relation to their national populations. This is exemplified
by Lebanon, where one in eight people, and Jordan, where one in fifteen people, have been
displaced, often hailing from the Syrian Arab Republic or the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Figure 3
According to the International Displacement Monitoring Centre (“IDMC”), the MENA region
has seen the persistence of 16.3 million internally displaced persons (“IDPs”) by the close of
2022, a majority of whom were displaced due to conflicts, numbering 12.7 million.50 It is
evident that the numbers of internally displaced people (“IDPs”) in MENA countries
significantly surpass the tally of refugees. Examining this scenario from a year-to-year
perspective, conflict-related displacements. The IDMC uses two similar but distinct
methodologies to produce displacement estimates related to conflict and violence, and disasters
have decreased by nearly a million in the MENA region, whereas displacement due to disasters
has exhibited an upward trajectory, altering the trend within the past year. Within the MENA
region, encompassing five conflict affected countries, namely Iraq, Libya, the Syrian Arab
Republic, the Sudan and Yemen, a distinctive pattern in the trajectory of new conflict-induced
internal displacement between 2011 and 2022 is observed. The data indicates a sharp rise from
2011 to 2015, followed by a decrease from 2016 to 2018, a notable spike in 2019, and a more
moderate increase in 2021 and 2022. Over this 11-year span, the zenith of new displacement
occurred in 2015, affecting a staggering 16 million individuals. The second-highest peak,
recorded in 2022, reached 16.2 million, signifying approximately 3.6 million new internal
displacements resulting from conflict since 2018.
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North Africa stands out as a significant transit point and departure area for both migrants and
MENA nationals, both from the subregion itself and sub-Saharan Africa, as they embark on
journeys towards Europe and other destinations. The IOM DTM Europe tracks and assesses
mixed migration flows towards Europe, encompassing both land and sea arrivals, the primary
nationalities involved, and their presence in reception facilities. These migratory movements
encompass a diverse range of individuals, including asylum-seekers, refugees, and migrants
including victims of trafficking and unaccompanied migrant children in search of improved
prospects, and they are observed along four principal migration routes: the Central
Mediterranean route (“CMR”), the Western Mediterranean route (“WMR”), the Western
African Atlantic route (“WAAR”), and the Eastern Mediterranean route (“EMR”).

5. Climate Induced Displacement:

The MENA region is the most water-scarce region in the world. Over 60% of its population
lives in areas experiencing high water stress. In addition, it is vulnerable to droughts and floods,
which damage agriculture and the overall economy. In 2021, rising temperatures led to
droughts and desertification, affecting water supplies and food production systems. Over 12
million people were affected in Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Iran.

The populations facing these environmental stressors are also seeing immense damage caused
by social conflict. In such contexts, clashing parties have long weaponized disasters and natural
resources against one another. In the most acute cases, civilians and their families may be
compelled to flee across borders.

Syria and Yemen stand out for their extreme vulnerability to resource scarcity and disaster
weaponization during armed conflict. Both countries have seen massive displacement as a
result. There is evidence of conflict-induced malnourishment and deprivation in Yemen, which
has caused near-famine conditions in some parts of the country and one of the worst
humanitarian crises worldwide, with 20 million people facing food insecurity. In Syria,
displacement levels remain the highest in the world. More than 6.5 million people have fled
across Syrian borders. The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, known as the
Refugee Convention, can generally be applied to conflict settings. But the dominant view in
international refugee law today is that refugee status rarely applies in the context of disasters.
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6. Weaponization of Water:
Water is increasingly becoming a weapon of conflict in Syria. The country has seen attacks on
457 water supply and sanitation assets, including damage to or destruction of two-thirds of the
country’s water treatment plants and half of its pumping stations. Across the country, attacks
on water networks resulted in a weekslong gap in water service. Millions of people suffered
from long and deliberate interruptions to the water supply. In Aleppo, disruptions encompassed
a deliberate 48-day shutdown of a water treatment plant that served 2 million people.8 In 2017,
bombings of water resources cut off the water supply for 5.5 million people. In 2022, sieges in
Aleppo and Dar’a al-Balad restricted the supply of food, water, and electricity, as well as the
entry of basic necessities such as flour, fuel, and medical aid. In Al Bab, water shortages
affected 185,000 people. After 10 years of war, only about half of Syria’s water and sanitation
systems function properly. Water supply has been further affected by the lack of electricity. Up
to 60%–70% of the country’s power generation capacity has been down. Assaults such as these
disrupt civilians’ basic human rights and make it extremely difficult for people to meet their
basic needs for water, food, shelter, and health. Last year, over 90% of the Syrian population
was living below the poverty line. About 14.6 million Syrians (around 67% of the total
population) needed humanitarian assistance, while approximately 12 million people faced
acute food insecurity. The weaponization of water access has also put the lives of vulnerable
people at serious risk. As of March 2019, an estimated 4.7 million children needed
humanitarian assistance of these, 490,000 were located in hard-to-reach areas.

Yemen is facing a devastating food security crisis. Meanwhile, intense floods and persistent
drought are destroying crops, further exacerbating the already catastrophic situation. Currently,
around 19 million people in Yemen (63% of the population) are unable to meet their daily food
needs. As of March 2019, 7 million Yemenis, particularly women and children in rural areas,
were malnourished. The collapse of food supplies in Yemen has been harshly exacerbated by
the civil conflict between Houthi insurgents and the Sunni government. Major airports and
ports that were crucial to food imports have closed, while humanitarian supplies have been
denied or diverted to keep relief from reaching populations under enemy control. In addition,
more than 1,200 air strikes have targeted agricultural infrastructure. Fisheries have also seen
damage. Yemen has the highest rate of water collapse in the Middle East. In the capital, Sana’a,

8
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Water under Fire (New York: UNICEF, 2019),
https://www.unicef.org/media/51286/file/Water-under-fire-2019-eng%20.pdf
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people receive water twice a week, while in the city of Taiz, public networks deliver water only
once every 30–60 days. Water scarcity across Yemen, exacerbated by the protracted conflict
and disasters, has limited access to safe water for 17.8 million people. As a result, an increasing
number of farmers are being forced to abandon their homes. The lack of fresh water has
contributed to the outbreak of cholera, with more than 1 million suspected cases and nearly
1,500 associated deaths.

The resource has been weaponized by the warring parties, which have bombed the country’s
civilian infrastructure, including water treatment and irrigation systems, agricultural sites,
schools, hospitals, and sanitation plants. Water scarcity also highlights another key challenge
in Yemen: discrimination between majority and minority groups.

Figure 4

7. 1951 Refugee Convention:

According to the Refugee Convention, a refugee is someone who is unable or unwilling to
return to their home country or seek its protection due to a well-founded fear of persecution for
reasons of race, nationality, membership in a particular social group, religion, or political
opinion. To be eligible for refugee status, an individual must be able to demonstrate a lack of
state protection based on one of these five grounds. While the Refugee Convention may find
application in conflict settings, the dominant view in international refugee law holds that
refugee status does not fundamentally apply in the context of disasters, since none of the five
listed grounds is necessarily met. They are not catastrophic manifestations of nature beyond
human control; instead, a disaster is the combination of environmental threats with social,
cultural, economic, and political factors. These turn a natural hazard into a disaster. Understood
as such, disasters are not at all “natural.” Rather, they are determined by the social context that
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an impacted person is experiencing. Discrimination, gender constructs, and unequal

distribution of land, resources, work opportunities, or livelihoods all shape people’s
vulnerability, exposure, and resilience to disasters as well as their access to protection. The
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“IPCC”) itself acknowledges that “people who
are socially, economically, culturally, politically, institutionally or otherwise marginalized are
especially vulnerable to climate change and also to some adaptation and mitigation
responses.” So conceived, disasters may discriminate or magnify existing discrimination
patterns that normally may not sufficiently establish a well-founded fear of persecution.
Conversely, in emergency situations, discrimination may put life at risk, raising a situation to
the Refugee Convention’s required threshold.

The relevance of disasters to the determination of refugee status is even greater when an entity
— whether a state or nonstate actor — weaponizes disasters to inflict harm on a specific
community or group of people. This is the danger facing minority groups in both Yemen and
Syria. In these countries, systematic attacks on food and water supplies are intended to harm
civilians or parts of the population under enemy control.

If it were demonstrated that resource scarcity or disasters were being weaponized by one or
more combatant groups to harm perceived opponents or other targeted groups, putting their
health, livelihood and life at serious risk, the Refugee Convention could well find application.

In the aftermath of disasters such as drought or a flood, reported cases involving the denial,
deprivation, or obstruction of humanitarian aid — even in areas under the control of nonstate
actors — demonstrate a lack of state protection that could be considered persecution under the
Refugee Convention. Hampering or obstructing minority groups’ access to basic services
during a crisis can irreparably affect their recovery as well as their life and prospects. As such,
discrimination rooted in ethnic, religious, or political grounds may well amount to persecution
under the convention. If a state is unwilling or unable to protect its citizens from discrimination
during an emergency, it potentially demonstrates a lack of state protection and substantiates a
need for refugee status.

In its country guidance on Syria, the European Union Agency for Asylum (“EUAA”) considers
the lack of denial of water, hygiene, or natural resources as relevant only to complementary
forms of protection, not to refugee status. However, the guidance does not account for the above
analysis or the fact that attacks against natural resources and infrastructure not only undermine
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civilian livelihoods, but also break down social relationships, economic systems, and
governance mechanisms necessary for the provision of basic services and health care.

8. Displacement due to Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

Hamas and other Palestinian non-state armed groups launched an attack on southern Israeli
communities on 7 October 2023, prompting Israel’s security cabinet to declare a war situation
the next day. The ensuing conflict has triggered the highest number of internal displacements
since data became available for both Palestine and Israel in 2008 and has had wider regional
implications.

Figure 5

Most movements took place in the Gaza Strip as a result of a military campaign launched by
the Israel Defence Forces (“IDF”) from the air, land and sea. Evacuation calls, airstrikes and
shelling triggered 3.4 million internal displacements in the last quarter of the year as people
fled in search of safety and humanitarian assistance. This figure should be considered
conservative, because many people were displaced within governorates before moving across
them, but such movements were unaccounted for. Repeated displacement heightened IDPs’
vulnerabilities, including increased protection risks, food insecurity, and reduced access to
water and sanitation. Around 1.7 million people were living in internal displacement in the
Gaza Strip as of the end of the year, all of them facing acute humanitarian needs.

Displacement trends changed significantly as early as 13 October, when the IDF ordered more
than a million civilians to evacuate from the northern part of the strip, which was home to
around half of Gaza’s population. In the days that followed, people sought shelter in makeshift
settlements, hospitals, schools and other public buildings in the southern governorates of Deir
al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah, where they faced increased food insecurity and respiratory
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and waterborne diseases. The situation was further aggravated as Israel’s offensive moved
south. Some areas that IDPs were told to evacuate to were bombarded, which led to an increase
in civilian deaths and people’s onward displacement.

For two weeks after the start of Israel’s military campaign, the people of Gaza endured a
complete siege. No food, fuel or water was allowed to enter, impeding humanitarian
organisations’ efforts to deliver much needed aid. Persistent bombardments caused substantial
damage to homes and infrastructure, and schools managed by the UN Relief and Works Agency
for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (“UNRWA”) were used as shelters. Many, however,
were also damaged in the conflict.

Following a series of negotiations, the Rafah border crossing with Egypt was opened on 21
October, allowing aid to enter Gaza. The limited amount let in, however, was far from enough
to meet IDPs’ growing needs. Access constraints were significant in many areas, particularly
in the north of the strip. Damage to water and sanitation infrastructure and the scarcity of fuel
added to the challenge of delivering lifesaving assistance and significantly affected the
operation of hospitals, which were already struggling to manage the influx of people seeking
safety and care.

Figure 6
Overcrowding in shelters emerged as a pressing issue, with some facilities exceeding their
intended capacity more than fourfold. Internally displaced children, elderly people and
pregnant and lactating women faced significant mental and physical health impacts as a result
of their displacement and the harsh living conditions in shelters. Many people were residing
outside the shelters, where they faced additional hardships from seasonal rains, flooding and
the onset of winter.
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On 24 November, a week-long humanitarian pause agreed by the parties to the conflict came
into effect, providing a window for increased humanitarian aid to enter Gaza and slowing the
pace of displacement. The IDF, however, restricted movement to and within the north of the
strip.

By 7 December, 93 per cent of the population of Gaza were facing acute levels of food
insecurity as per the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (“IPC”). Of them, 42 per
cent were estimated to face emergency levels, and 17 per cent faced catastrophic levels. To put
the situation in perspective, conflict and displacement in Gaza left the largest proportion of a
population facing acute food insecurity globally since IPC measurements started in 2004.

About 83 per cent of people in the Gaza Strip were living in internal displacement as of 31
December. Around half of the population was sheltering in the southernmost governorate of
Rafah, where they faced acute humanitarian needs as the conflict continued into the new year.
More than 60 per cent of the strip’s housing stock was damaged or destroyed, so even once the
conflict recedes, durable solutions are likely to remain a distant prospect for many IDPs.

9. Conclusion:
The humanitarian crisis in the MENA region continues to be one of the most severe and
protracted in the world, driven by complex factors including conflict, forced migration, climate
change, and the weaponization of resources such as water. The region’s turbulent history and
the continuing political, economic, and social challenges have placed enormous strain on both
the local population and the international community’s ability to respond effectively. The
displacement of millions, particularly in countries like Syria, Yemen, and Sudan, underscores
the gravity of these crises, while internal and international migration patterns reveal the
staggering scale of human suffering.

The role of international frameworks, such as the 1951 Refugee Convention, remains crucial,
although their application in the face of climate-induced displacement and resource-driven
conflicts presents new legal and humanitarian challenges. As the MENA region faces ongoing
instability, compounded by environmental degradation, economic collapse, and geopolitical
tensions, it is clear that global cooperation is needed to address these issues. Comprehensive
strategies that prioritize humanitarian assistance, climate resilience, and sustainable conflict
resolution are critical to alleviating the suffering of millions and restoring a sense of security
and dignity to those affected.
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The situation requires not only immediate relief efforts but also long-term solutions that address
the root causes of displacement, including the effects of climate change, political instability,
and resource scarcity. Without such interventions, the MENA region will continue to be a
flashpoint for global crises, with profound implications for international security, human rights,
and the well-being of its populations.

10. References:
➢ https://humanitarianaction.info/article/middle-east-and-north-africa-0
➢ https://mena.iom.int/sites/g/files/tmzbdl686/files/documents/2024-01/pub2023-139-r-
region-on-the-move-mena.pdf
➢ https://odihpn.org/publication/responses-to-the-humanitarian-situation-in-gaza-and-
israel/
➢ https://mecouncil.org/publication/the-middle-east-faces-major-development-
challenges-most-countries-are-not-prepared-to-meet-them-2/
➢ https://www.internal-displacement.org/spotlights/Palestine-Conflict-in-Gaza-leaves-
83-per-cent-of-the-population-internally-displaced-in-less-than-three-months/
➢ https://reporting.unhcr.org/operational/situations/syria-situation
➢ https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/middle-east-and-north-africa-mena.asp
➢ https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/mena
➢ https://unfoundation.org/humanitarian-crisis-in-the-middle-east/
➢ https://www.unocha.org/middle-east-and-north-africa