NEWS

ICU student win prizes at 2019 Model UN Human Rights Council UPR

Update: September 17, 2019

ICU students Chisato Kameda (1st year student), Yuki Ito (1st year student), Chihiro Yamasaki (2nd year student), Saki Mishima (2nd year student), Tetsuta Kaiho (2nd year student), Haruka Nakajima (3rd year student), and Yisol Jung (3rd year student) participated in the 2019 Model United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review (UPR) held at Korea University in Seoul, Republic of Korea, from August 11 to August 14, 2019. Ito Yuki's team won the Outstanding Delegation Award. Also, Yamasaki Chihiro's essay was chosen as the best paper among Japanese students, and he delivered the presentation as representing Japan.

The event, aiming at promoting "constructive dialogue," was held at Korea University with support from the UN Human Rights Council and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Korea. ICU was one of the co-organizers of this event, and Assistant Professor Hiromichi Matsuda served as a jury. About 40 students gathered from universities such as ICU, City University of Hong Kong, Yonsei University, Korea University, Seoul National University, Seinan Gakuin University, and Ritsumeikan University. Students did a simulation of the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review* regarding human rights issues in South Korea, North Korea, China, and Japan and participated in an essay contest on human rights issues from individual perspectives.

*UPR (Universal Periodic Review): It is a system established along with the creation of the Human Rights Council to universally review human rights situations in all the 193 UN member countries.
Reference: https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/gaiko/jinken_r/upr_gai.html

Comment by Yuki Ito:

I applied for this Model UN UPR to test out my skills in the field of diplomacy. (This May, I was a staff of Y20 held in Tokyo and was greatly inspired by the 40 young delegates from 20 countries who were shouldering all the problems back in their home country and moving other diplomat's heart.) By role playing a diplomat who aims to solve domestic and international human rights issues, I was able to deeply think about what kind of skills is required and how I would like to invest in myself. Of course having an excellent command of language and the ability to analyze/comprehend each and every delegate's stance is necessary, but I came to realize that it is critical to keep on confronting with the suffering people with sympathy outside of the international conference arena, hence I would like to declare here that I will persevere this attitude from now on.

Comment by Chihiro Yamasaki:

Although all ICU students have pledged to "uphold the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," it is rare in this university to have a serious discussion on human rights protection. Two of the precious fruits gained through this program were first, from learning the both international and domestic political framework of the human rights protection in Japan, I could advance my understanding on the human rights situation and problems in the country. Besides, with the Korean, Hongkongese, and Japanese participants, who share the same interest of human rights protection, constructive dialogues have been sought on the current political issues within and across those countries, especially from the view of human rights protection. For further development of my study, I would like to keep in touch with the students I have met, and deepen my understanding of current human rights issues in our neighboring Asian countries.