THE SOCIAL, HUMANITARIAN AND CULTURAL COMMITTEE
Agenda: Addressing the Condition of Prisons and Prisoners Worldwide
Letter from the Chairperson
Dear Delegates,
It gives me immense pleasure and pride to welcome you to the Shishukunj MUN 2022. I am Aarna Jain, and I will be serving as the Chairperson for the Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee (SOCHUM).
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I am an eleventh grader, currently studying Commerce with Maths. I am an art enthusiast and basketball player who loves public speaking and writing poems. I have been participating in MUNs for 5 years, and every conference I have attended has helped me become more confident and grow as an individual. I will try my best to ensure that all of you also have an amazing experience.
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The Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee (SOCHUM), a committee under GA, is responsible for upholding the basic rights of human beings. This year, in the Shishukunj
MUN, we will be discussing the conditions of prisons and prisoners worldwide, which is a pressing issue for the international community and we hope to see innovative solutions from the delegates to help combat the problem.
Please don’t hesitate to contact the bureau in case of any queries or doubts you may have. Looking forward to seeing you at the conference!
Regards,
Aarna Jain
Chairperson
SOCHUM
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Organ Description
The Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee is the Third Committee of the General Assembly of the United Nations. SOCHUM’s purpose is to uphold the basic rights of human beings internationally and it encourages diplomacy and basic human freedoms for all people. The committee's purview includes human rights issues and a broad range of social and humanitarian affairs such as issues related to refugees, children, and women as well as concepts including self-determination and racism.
Agenda: Addressing the Condition of Prisons and Prisoners Worldwide
The suffering of prisoners and the stifling of their legal rights have been a pressing issue for the international community since the dawn of this century. The situation is worse in high-security prisons where the prisoners are held hostage in high-security facilities or subjected to solitary confinement without any legal charge and conclusive proof against them. In prisons like these, the prisoners are not even able to access basic medical facilities and as a result of this there have been several problems for the prisoners including mental disorders, physical disabilities, and even the loss of their life in some cases. Although there are several declarations like The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners signed by all the major countries of the world, it is a grim reality that almost none have been fully implemented.