International Relations

Political Science 4

Paper Assignment II

Welcome to your Second Paper Assignment!

Your task is twofold:

1.         First, write a 1-2 page report to the Secretary General of the United Nations in which you role play an impartial inspector detailing human rights violations in your assigned country.  Provide specific examples based on source materials that you have gathered from your research (explained below).

Note:  It's difficult for me to put a required number of specific examples since you alone will be doing the research, but every country has been accused of human rights violations to some extent - even the U.S.!  So - the more examples you have, the better paper you will be able to write.

 2.   Second, write a 1-2 page report from your country's government responding to each of the charges made against it.

Note:  There are several directions you can take here:  you may decide to refute these charges as unfounded or inaccurate (and explain why); you may offer to justify these actions as necessary and proper depending on circumstances that you explain; or you may decide to argue that the UN is infringing on your sovereignty (you would have to make a very good argument if you take this third alternative).  Or, you may decide to make an argument that encompasses all of these responses - including some I haven't even thought of here.  The goal is to be creative and yet accurate; and most important, to have some fun with this assignment.

Research

I want to see some real research here from journals, magazines, and newspapers.  You will also find NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch helpful, but I'm putting limits on what you can take from NGOs.  You are required to note in your bibliography at least:

Here is a link to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948.  It may help you recognize what to look for in regards to human rights violations in your country:  http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html 

Using Sources

I don't want to see any quotes in this paper unless you are putting them in the context of an interview (i.e., according to so-and-so, "blah, blah, blah" - remember this paper requires some imagination, and so you must stay in character as a U.N. inspector who interviews victims.)  If you do use quotes in the context of an interview, keep them short and infrequent.  Most important, provide sources for any examples you use - even if you are not using them in a quote.  Using any fact that is not common knowledge or an idea that belongs to someone else requires a citation.  To not cite is intellectual theft - and thus plagiarism.  This will result in serious consequences to you.

Plagiarizing a paper is a serious academic offense.  YOU WILL RECEIVE AN "F" FOR THE COURSE and be referred to the CSSO for disciplinary action.  Familiarize yourself with the campus policy on cheating detailed in the College Catalogue under Student Conduct Code, 5.8.19 Policy On Cheating.

The Basics

This report should be 3-4 full pages and double-spaced with 1" margins.  PROOFREAD and "spell check" your work as spelling and grammatical errors will affect the overall presentation of your report - and thus your overall grade.

Late policy:  Papers are marked down 1/3 of a grade each day (including Saturday and Sunday) that they are late.  Late papers are defined as those which reach me after class on the due date (i.e., a paper turned in after class is 1 day late).    I WILL NOT ACCEPT E-MAILED PAPERS.