Reaching a Consensus: The End of The Committee

Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee (Day 3)

Carrying on the debates yesterday, session 7 began with a 15-minute unmoderated caucus discussing amendments. Consequently, the delegation of the Russian Federation proposed a friendly amendment of DR1.2, altering several words in clauses to more precise terms as well as striking out several unnecessary sub-clauses.

In the following general speakers' list, the discussions were mainly focused on suggestions and questions to Draft Resolutions raised by opposing blocs. The delegation of Kyrgyzstan pointed out that it was inappropriate that the USA, one of the sponsors of Draft Resolution 1.1, used discriminatory and sharp terms in their DR. The delegation of Malaysia also questioned the delegation of Russian Federation for the reason why they deleted several clauses in DR 1.2 in which consensuses were made. Additionally, more amendments were submitted by the neutral bloc, the sponsors of DR 1.3.

Afterward, an unfriendly amendment for DR 1.2 was proposed by the bloc led by China and the Russian Federation. With 29 delegates voted for and 16 delegates voted against, this unfriendly amendment was then introduced, with a debate following up. In terms of speakers for this amendment, Russian Federation firstly claimed that they had added: “such as but not limit to” and changed the word “China” to “all nations” in certain clauses of DR 1.2 to make sure that the DR holds a relatively broader perspective. Azerbaijan pointed out that although they managed to correct wrong terms in DR 1.2, the core content of the clauses remained the same. China indicated that by changing the word “China” into “all nations”, DR 1.2 could become even more neutral and fair for the other signatories of the DR. As for countries opposing the amendment, Turkey affirmed that only by making the content of DR more detailed---specifying “China” in certain clauses--- would it become a more pragmatic resolution. Malaysia stated that such unspecific terms might provide China chances to find loopholes in the clauses. Eventually, with 18 delegates voted for, 23 delegates voted against and 4 abstentions, the unfriendly amendment did not pass the simple majority.

Another unfriendly amendment of DR 1.3 was next raised by the bloc led by the USA. This amendment aimed to add “affirming the importance of diverse cultural heritage” into DR1.3. The delegation of the USA claimed that this could ensure all kinds of cultures to be well-preserved; followed by that was the delegation of Ukraine, complementing that all cultures are valuable and deserve respect. Nevertheless, the Russian Federation pointed out that this restriction should be added in China’s domestic laws but not clauses in Draft Resolutions. The delegation of Serbia elaborated that this amendment should not pass since the word ”affirm” was not appropriate. However, this amendment still passed in the end.

The third unfriendly amendment for DR 1.2 was proposed by the bloc led by the USA, aiming to strike out several clauses and sub-clauses including “calling upon the Chinese government to take necessary and practical actions” and “encouraging nations to provide various types of funds to educational and vocational training programs in Xinjiang”, for they might contain problems regarding the transparency of funds. Ultimately, this unfriendly amendment also passed.

Lastly, the House came to the final voting procedure . With DR 1.3 being passed by the house, the committee adjourned, marking the end of SOCHUM in TransMUN 2019.