General Assembly of the Organization of American States

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Topic A: The balance between order and justice – the human rights guarantees from authoritarian to democratic regimes.

Topic B: Crime persecution and human rights guarantees.

Democracy and human rights were treated as two distinct spheres of debate and study for a long period of time. For years, especially during the Cold War, both subjects were addressed in the international agenda as completely different topics, although both were considered of huge importance. In the Americas, the Organization of American States, as the main international body of the continent, has also contemplated and treated democracy and human rights issues for innumerous sessions. The OAS reached the consolidation of important regional independent mechanisms to deal with both topics, which were not, however, explicitly linked in the OAS’ resolutions and actions as two sides of the same coin.

Recently though, democracy and human rights are increasingly being recognized by statesmen and scholars as intrinsically interconnected and even dependent on one another, so that both may flourish and develop within a society. Considering that, the OAS General Assembly will be simulating during the 12^th edition of the Americas Model United Nations two topics around the main theme over the Interrelation of Human Rights and Political Regimes. The topics were chosen bearing in mind the impact of past and future in the construction of a better present.

History and past state wrongdoings should be regarded and addressed in the present, so the society is able to seek for justice and development and, of course, be capable of learning from its past experiences. The international arena has already demonstrated great results while getting involved with this search for the past, even when it referred to one country specifically. For those reasons, topic A deals with the revision of amnesty laws in the bigger context of the balance between order and justice – the human rights guarantees from authoritarian to democratic regimes.

Topic B, on the other hand, regards crime persecution and human rights guarantees, and as such is more concerned with the provision of state and human security for citizens when fighting against crime and corruption. This topic’s vision of future is intrinsically related to the proposition of short and long-term solutions to a common problem that inflicts suffering on all American countries and peoples. Here, questions around the role of democratic institutions in preventing human rights violations, the logic of state security from authoritarian to democratic regimes, the police corruption and organized crime, terrorism, prison systems, and the international state responsibility for human rights violations will be considered the focus of a great debate. 

By the end of AMUN, it will be expected from American delegates to achieve high-quality dialogue among nations, allowing cooperation to take place, and probably producing two inventive resolutions on the subject matters. The chair’s efforts will be directed to providing the best academic and administrative grounds for a pleasant debate environment, where the role of interstate negotiation on the strengthening of domestic democratic institutions and human rights protection mechanisms may be greatly understood and put into practice.