There are three founding pillars of the UN system: peace and security, human rights, and development. The Human Rights Council is of great importance as it’s responsible for one of them – human rights. To find out more about the topics discussed in the committee this year, the QQ talked to this year’s chairs, Nelleke D. and Leano C. from 12th grade. This year the delegates will focus on the issue of reproductive rights in Africa. ‘I’d say that genital mutilation and abortion are the two biggest issues discussed today’ shared Nelleke. At the time this article was written, the delegates were participating in unmoderated discussions, so no clauses have been presented yet.

There are 12 countries and two delegates from each in the committee but not all seats in the room are filled. ‘The chairs believe there should be more delegates from African countries’, said Leano C. Unfortunately, the delegates representing the only two African countries in the committee, Nigeria and Angola, haven’t shown up today. This is a shame considering that the topic of today’s discussion applies directly to Africa and that point of view is necessary for the discussions.