For the Harvard Model United Nations, correspondents of the Press Corps had to submit a pre-committee report entailing a background into the journalistic inclinations of their agency, the committees they would prefer to report in, and what they expected from the committee proceedings. Following is the position paper of the correspondent of Al Jazeera, who was later awarded the Best Delegate award.

1. *This
position
paper
was
submitted
by
the
representative
of
the
Al
Jazeera
News
Agency
at
the
Harvard
Model
United
Nations
India
2014
in
Hyderabad
Name of Delegate: Chanakya Varma
Name of School: National Public School - Indiranagar,
Bangalore - INDIA
Name of Press Agency: The Al Jazeera News Network
Name of Committee: The Press Corps
اﺍلﻝرﺭحﺡيﻱمﻡ†اﺍلﻝرﺭحﺡمﻡنﻥ†اﺍلﻝ†بﺏسﺱمﻡ
bismi-llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīm
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:
onsidered by many to be a messiah from the autocratism that has plagued the Middle East for decades
now, the Al Jazeera News Agency – based out Doha - is a subsidiary of the Al Jazeera Media Network,
owned and funded by the ruling family of Qatar, the House of Thani. Al Jazeera has always been
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unwavering when it says that while it is financially supported by His Highness, it is editorially independent of
the ideologies of the Royal Family or any of their associates [1]. Analogous to its literal translation, meaning
‘the Island’, Al Jazeera was – in its own way - born in seas of corrupt media and amoral journalism,
providing resuscitated hope for the people of the Middle East, each a weary sailor in his own right.
Since the 1st of November 1996, the Al Jazeera News Network has grown exponentially in size and stature from
a six hour telecast billed as an alternative to the then defunct CNN Arabic, to perhaps the most important
socio-political entity in the region, working tirelessly across over 100 countries to provide more than 250
million people “the opinion and the other opinion.” Praised by the Index on Censorship, and globally
recognized as the fifth most influential brand worldwide, Al Jazeera has played an indispensible role in
shaping the political outlook of the region. In times of crisis and chaos, it has indeed been Al Jazeera that has
kept the populace of the region informed, empowered and gripped with renewed optimism.
hether it involves sending undercover reporters as during the war in Afghanistan in 2001, or
reporting live during the Uprising in Egypt in 2011, Al Jazeera has always been of the view that the
people deserve to know each and every facet of a global happening, and that their right to the
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niceties of news is sacrosanct and thus cannot and must not be tampered with. It is with this disposition
that Al Jazeera would like to indicate its preference to report on one of these three committees: (in no specific
order)
the Commission on the Status of Women, the Social Humanitarian and Cultural
Committee and the Security Council.
The Agency strongly believes that the outcomes of these simulations would have far reaching consequences
that could essentially change the dynamics of the post-conference world, as we know it. Hence, it is
imperative that an organization with an outreach as massive as that of Al Jazeera reports the issue in this
entirety.
It is also of the opinion of the correspondent that any ideological conflict – whether it is environmental,
economic, regional or even military, can be resolved if the corresponding committee resolution or directive
addresses all the issues that can broadly be classified under what he calls the ‘SPERM’ checklist. Ignoring
the choice of an unconventional acronym, the correspondent believes that to effectively solve an issue, the
[1]
http://www.aljazeera.com/aboutus/2006/11/2008525185733692771.html

2. *This
position
paper
was
submitted
by
the
representative
of
the
Al
Jazeera
News
Agency
at
the
Harvard
Model
United
Nations
India
2014
in
Hyderabad
solution must incorporate an explicit and comprehensive combat strategy addressing the Social, Political,
Economic, Regional and Military facets of the agenda. Re-approaching the justification of the committee
preferences, Al Jazeera is and has always been deeply concerned with the political instability in the Middle
Eastern and North African (MENA) region, and believes that the working papers drafted by the three
aforementioned committees will definitely “tick the boxes” on the SPERM checklist for the MENA region,
so to say. Hence, it is imperative that the people are informed of the latest developments of the region, as they
happen, and more importantly the implications of these developments.
oming to what is expects from the aforementioned committees, Al Jazeera expects that the delegates
strive to reach modern and liberal common grounds, while at the same time maintain the sanctity and
respect for culture and religion. While it cannot – for obvious reasons – predict the caucuses that will
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be proposed, it hopes that the following issues are dealt in depth and with careful deliberation:
1. The CSW:
i. Introduction of a jus cogens clause that clearly entails whether suspected juvenile rapists
can be tried as adults in national judiciaries;
ii. Discussion on refugee reproductive rights;
iii. The recent development of a pseudo ‘fatwa’ issued by the Islamic State enforcing female
genital mutilation in Iraq is dealt with utmost earnestness [2].
2. The SOCHUM:
Both the sub-agendas are extremely relevant to the MENA region in particular, and set a
precedent for global decisions in general for the future.
i. Explicit declaration as to how the Responsibility to Protect does not violate the Right
To Sovereignty (guaranteed under Article 2(7) of the United Nations Charter), but yet
proves to be an effective panacea to the problem;
ii. To address diaspora, Al Jazeera proposes the concept of an “international citizen”–
temporarily granting displaced people international citizenship, which takes them out of
the jurisdiction of the host country and places them under the wing of humanitarian
organizations, like the UNICEF or the IRCF for example, to facilitate better execution of
resources and to expedite the process of reintegration of the affected.
3. The SC: The Security Council’s agenda is not only the most hotly debated of the three; it is also
one the most pressing issues in the modern Arabic society. At the time of writing, Al Jazeera
does not maintain a generic political opinion towards extrajudicial justice for the sole reason
that its causes and degrees of implementation greatly vary from one geo-political region to
another. At the same time, it is not apathetic of the blatant human rights violations
happening in the process, especially when certain western entities feel obliged to rid the world
of who it does not deem fit by carrying out illegal and unsanctioned drone strikes, for
example, across Yemen and Afghanistan [3]. Once again however, Al Jazeera calls upon the
delegates to act upon the best interests of the global peace and not to promote strategic national
intentions.
The correspondent apologizes for exceeding the restrictions on length but it was of his opinion that greater
brevity would compromise on Al Jazeera’s pre-conference statement, which might entail room for ambiguity,
and consequently disrespect the people’s right to be informed. The correspondent of the Al Jazeera News
Network eagerly awaits the conference.
Insha’Allah: peace will reign this world again.
[2]
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/07/un-­‐islamic-­‐state-­‐orders-­‐genital-­‐mutilation-­‐201472412511366171.html
[3]
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/4/4/awlaki-­‐drone-­‐lawsuit.html