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Class ID: 20074104

Key: GCIHSMUN19

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Background Guides @ http://gci.gclaumun.org/gci-hsmun/background-guides/

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Position Paper Guidlines:

Font: Times New Roman

Font Size: 12

Margins: 1 inch all around (Normal)

Length: One page long (excluding references)

References: Minimum of 4 references

Format: MLA Format

Paragraph Spacing: Single spaced paragraphs

Alignment of Paragraphs: Justified alignment

File Name: Country - Committee Name

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Heading Example:

Country: Poland

Committee: United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) Topic: The Rights of Prisoners

Delegate: Delegate Name 

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Position Paper Example:

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Country: Poland

Committee: United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR)

Topic: The Rights of Prisoners

Delegate: Delegate Name 

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“The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened,” a bright man once said. The topic of prisoners’ rights and what privileges a prisoner should have been is often a conflict-ridden matter and while it is not granted a great deal of public attention, there are important interrogations still to be considered. From the very beginning, Poland has backed and respected prisoners’ rights. In fact, the Polish government was, along with multiple other countries, one of the first to ratify the treaty of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), which broadly defined the basic rights of prisoners.

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The Human Rights law acknowledges, “convicted persons go to prisons as punishment and not for punishment”, which therefore abolishes any act of torture or inhuman treatment towards them. The government of Poland fully agrees with that statement. As a matter of fact, Poland’s prisons are founded on the truthful assumption that no individual can expect lawful behavior in the future from the inmate, if during his seclusion, his rights as a being with human dignity have not been respected. However, the living environments of the inmates remain less than suitable. To confront this issue, Poland has been working, within the past ten years, to make the issues stemming from prison overpopulation top priority by expanding the capacity of prisons, building new ones or repairing existing ones. Moreover, The Penal Code of 1997, which makes up the criminal justice system of the country, majorly lowered the maximum as well as the minimum imprisonment period, and reduced the minimum punishment, which also enhanced penitentiary overcrowding.

 

On a wider scale, Poland has proven its desire to give positive assistance by attending the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners conference, adopted on August 30th 1955 by the United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, which took place in Geneva, and was permitted by the Economic and Social Council in resolutions of 31 July 1957 and 13 May 1977. In addition, the Polish government willingly sent a representative to an experts meeting organized by the OHCHR in Geneva in 1998 where a draft version of Human Rights and Prisons was reviewed. Nonetheless, a recent UNODC report reviewed the nine million people imprisoned around the world, revealing how vulnerable these individuals are to abuse.

 

This is no longer a political issue. This is a moral issue. It touches the existence of human principles and development. It is not a question of Right versus Left; it is a question of Right versus Wrong, yet Poland intensely believes that it is Wrong to treat any human being as an object, a ward or a slave. Therefore, the republic of Poland strongly suggests tackling this issue to its core by continuing the UN’s efforts to raise awareness on human rights, and by keeping a watch on correctional establishments’ respect towards the human dignity of prisoners. As far as violence is concerned, to abolish overcrowding, which is one of the prime causes, Poland believes that reducing imprisonment period is the most effective solution given its success in the country as well as its minimal monetary requirements

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References:

1) "Poland." Human Rights Watch. Web. 06 Mar. 2016. .

2) "Treaties, States Parties and Commentaries." International Committee of the Red Cross. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.

3) "Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners." United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Web. .

4) "Prison Conditions in Poland." Prison Observatory. Web. 06 Mar.2016. .

5) "United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders." United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.Web. .

6) "Penal Code." United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.Web. . "Poland." United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.

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