Athrreyaa Ram

UNHRC Ireland

Ireland is a country of a rich culture, without all the drinking. Right now over 70 million
people have some Irish descent. Its also a very tolerant nation, allowing gay marriage and
having had women presidents. It became a country on April 16, 1916 and joined the United
Nations on December 14, 1955; it joined the European Union in 1973 and also uses the Euro as
its currency. In 1998, Ireland finally adopted on the Good Friday Agreement, which was a huge
political development in the Northern Ireland peace process. In 2005, the EU finally recognized
Irish as a working language and the government now has a 20 year plan to make the country
bilingual.
Topic 1:

State sponsored discrimination based on sexual orientation

Most nations do not tolerate discrimination in jobs; however not many nations have a law
that prohibits discrimination to the LGBT outside the office. In many nations there criminalize
same-sex relations and have been doing it for a very long time and the toleration hasnt really
progressed as much as people would have expected for it. This topic was considered taboo to
speak in public forums, but it has been opened up in the United Nations in the 2008. The reason
for this change is that hate crimes has increased and homophobia has spread into violating
political and civil rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that people deserve
equal protection, but the countrys government itself is not following these laws. There are many
forms of discrimination towards the LGBT; the biggest one is not allowing the same-sex to be
married. There are 7 countries where same-sex is punishable by death and illegal in 76 other
countries. There are only a few countries where same-sex marriage is allowed, Canada, some of
America and some of Mexico.

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UNHRC Ireland

As this is a recent issue in the UN, the United Nations hasnt taken many actions on this
topic. In the United Nations as of 2008, 94 countries are for decreasing the same-sex relation
hate crimes and 57 countries opposing. In 2011, the High Commissioner Navi Pillay called for
the repeal of laws criminalizing homosexuality; equitable ages of consent; comprehensive laws
against discrimination based on sexual orientation; prompt investigation and recording of hate
crime incidents; and other measures to ensure the protection of LGBT rights.
Ireland also allows same-sex marriage and although there is still some discrimination
towards the LGBT, it is only towards the minorities who are part of LGBT. It was decriminalized
in 1993 in the Republic of Ireland and in passed with flying colors in the country. 84% of Ireland
felt that there should be marriage for the same-sex couples and 73% felt that same sex marriage
should be allowed in the Constitution. For the countries that state religion as a reason to, a pure
example is Christianity. The bible does not explicitly state same-sex marriage; however, it does
condemn same-sex marriage. It ALSO condemns divorce, yet more than 52.5% of the divorces in
the world are done by Christians. Therefore, the use of religion for these horrendous acts can be
thrown out of the debate. Also, the citation of tradition or culture is also unreasonable as this
world is progressing forward. As the world progresses, so shall we. An incentive the UN could
use for the countries changing their laws could be military intervention by all nations that have
already decriminalized same-sex marriage.
Topic 2: Government tracking of citizens Internet usage
With the expansion of Internet usage, the issue of how much a government can interfere
in their citizens Internet usage. Now it also becoming more and more available to the public and
so governments are faced with the problem of controlling a place in which content is almost all

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UNHRC Ireland

user created which leads to government monitoring of citizens Internet uses. Although it does
aid in censorship it is a violation of the human rights to freedom of expression and freedom to
seek, receive, and impart information as established in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, Article 19. With new technology the government is able to track and spy on its citizens
without being detected. This topic was again reignited in the United Nations in December of
2013 after Edward Snowden released information about the Americas illegal surveillance
through the NSA, National Security Agency.
On July 5th, 2012 the debate on government tracking was brought up again. The United
Nations Human Rights Council passed a landmark resolution supporting freedom of expression
on the Internet. Even China, which filters online content through a firewall, backed the
resolution. It affirmed that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected
online, in particular freedom of expression, which is applicable regardless of frontiers and
through any media of ones choice. There must be a certain limit to tracking of citizens because
it clearly violates the laws created by the UN and even laws in the own country. Take the U.S. for
example, in the Constitution it is stated that people should have the right to free press, religion,
free press or right to peacefully assemble. Or the 4th Amendment which states a person shall not
be searched without a warrant. I guarantee that the government does not have a warrant to track
any of its citizens. With the NSA, the U.S. breaks the law which gives all its citizens freedom of
press and breaks its own 4th Amendment.
Ireland does not have an outright opinion on this issue; however, based on its history and
the position in the UN meeting in 2011, Ireland does not agree with the idea of global spying on
citizens. Ireland has not been caught doing these things, assuming it does. Therefore, without
much information one cannot thoroughly conclude Irelands position. Yet to answer the

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UNHRC Ireland

questions, Ireland feels there should be NO government tracking, even if it for national security.
By using national security, the country is also implementing a form of discrimination as it must
make assumptions in order to a decision to track a person. The council does not really have a
huge possibility of keeping any country from tracking its citizens, but it can limit it by creating a
limit on the people a country track. However, this also would force a country to make
discriminatory assumptions, so tracking should be taken out completely. The best to use NGOs
or other bodies to incorporate this cause is to make them increase its security or to pay off
government officials to shut down government places such as the NSA or any other government
building used to track the citizens. There really is no way considering the government has too
much power in almost all countries, therefore making it nearly impossible to force any change.

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UNHRC Ireland

Bibliography
1.

"Around The World." Ireland Timeline. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 May 2014.
<http://www.timeforkids.com/destination/ireland/history-timeline>.

2.

"LGBT rights at the United Nations."Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Sept. 2014. Web. 10 May
2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_

3.

"LGBT rights in the Republic of Ireland."Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 5 July 2014. Web. 10 May
2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_

4.

Patel, Jasmine. "UNHRC." DMUNC. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 May 2014. <http://davismun.org/wpcontent/uploads/2014/01/UNHRC.pdf>.

5.

"U.N. Affirms Internet Freedom as a Basic Right." Bits UN Affirms Internet Freedom as a Basic Right
Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2014. <http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/06/so-theunited-nations-affirms-internet-freedom-as-a-basic-right-now-what/>.