United Nations
Human Rights Council (UNHRC)

Background Guide Topic:

Discussing the Ethics of a Social Credit System_____________________________________________​Director’s Note
Dear Delegates,
Thank you for participating in the Japan Metropolitan Model United Nation
conference 2020. My name is Kano Katayama, and I will be the director forIntermediate committee 2. All of us chairs in this committee is very excited to have thisconference, and we hope to have a memorable time.
As a little introduction of myself, I would like to share some of my past ModelUN experiences. I started participating in MUN in my first year of junior high school.
My first ever simulation was at Senzoku, and I still remember being very nervous tospeak up in front of many senpais. At the time I participated in simulations without
preparing enough research on my country, and every time, I regretted it. Researchingand really knowing your country’s stance can become your first step to confidence andactually participating in a conference. Recently, I participated in a conference at NewYork, and learned from other participants’ speeches and leadership skills coming frommany different countries. This conference made me become even more intrigued inMUN. There are many skills you can learn from conferences and other participants, andI hope this conference will also be a great conference for delegates too​.
Moving on to our committee, United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC),
we will be discussing the ethics of social credit system. Because the social credit system
is currently running only in China, please note that we will focus on China’s social
credit system at times. Furthermore, some subtopics we will also be discussing areethics, human rights, adaptation of social credit system in other countries, and privacy
protection. Us chairs look forward to an active discussion in these areas.
As I have mentioned, making a speech at Model UN can be frightening,
However, with enough preparation, MUN will become a fun event for all delegates.
This committee is an intermediate committee, so we may experience difficulties during
discussions, and this is all right. We are here to make mistakes, and I hope you willlearn many skills from this conference.
I hope you have a wonderful time in this conference! We are looking forward tomeeting delegates at JMMUN!
Sincerely,

Kano Katayama, Director
United Nations Human Rights Council
Senzoku Gakuen Model United Nations ClubJapan Metropolitan Model United Nations 2019

History of theCommittee
United Nations Human Rights Council(UNHRC) is an inter-governmental
body within the United Nations system
responsible for strengthening thepromotion and protection of humanrights around the globe and for
addressing situations of human rights
violations and make recommendations
on them. The Council is made up of 47
UnitedNations
member states,
replacing the former United Nations
Commission on Human Rights.
The Council was created by the United
Nations General Assembly on March15, 2006. Ever since the creation,
UNHRC has been taking actions toprovide a forum for identifying,highlighting, and developing responses
to today’s human rights challenges andact as the principal focal point of humanrights research, education, publicinformation, and advocacy activities in
the United Nations system.1

1​United Nations Human Rights

Council. “Welcome to the Human
Rights Council.” ​Ohrhr.org​, Ohrhr.org,
https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/hrc/
pages/aboutcouncil.aspx

Statement of theproblem
EthicsOne of the key reasons on why China
decided to carry on the Social Credit
System is to make citizens act ethically.
As a developing country that has
recently gained a very high andstabilized economy, there is a large
difference between the development ofeconomy and social security in terms ofpeople's safety. For a solution to alert
and warn citizens with unsatisfiable
morals and behaviors, the governmentof China has been developing the Social
Credit System for about five years now.
Governments and political leaders
clearly see this system as a way tomake the country ethical, thus leading toa safer country as a whole. Despite this,Social Credit System still has many
issues to combat for it to become
successful and be able to achieve what
the country wants. First of all, there are
not enough transparency on how thissystem is runned for the citizens todecide the reliability of this system.
China is planning and is creating analgorithm which contains many factors
to score each individual. However, thiswill mean that individuals will be
judged from only one perspective. Witha lack of transparency, there is a small
percentage of presentiment that somemight fiddle with the algorithm andcontrol the scores.

Privacy Protection
The Chinese government is planning toput the names of people who have lowscores on a blacklist which will be
released to the citizens. Althoughgovernment officials are announcingthat this will be done to be responsible
for one's actions, this aspect of Social
Credit System will take time to beacceptedbythegovernment.
Furthermore, regulations regarding theSocial Credit System has not been
established enough to determine thelines of what can and cannot do. Lack ofprivacy protection might lead to othertechnology related crimes as well.
Freedom of Expression
With the Chinese Communist Party incontrol of the Chinese government, thegovernment stands in a position that
limiting "​freedom of expression enables
the government to better monitor
potentially problematic social issues"2(Congressional-Executive Commissionof China) and has gained criticisms
regarding this in recent years. Making
Social Credit System mandatory will
limit freedom of expressions even more.
​“Freedom of Expression in China: APrivilege, Not a Right.” ​Freedom ofExpression in China: A Privilege, Not a
Right | Congressional-Executive
Commission on China,​ 0AD,
www.cecc.gov/freedom-of-expression-in-china-a-privilege-not-a-right.
2Right now, many private companies arepracticing the use of Social Credit
System. With this, a Chinese journalist
called Liu Hu was listed in the black-list
for transmitting information which goesagainst the policies of Chinese
authorities. Increasing the spreading ofSocial Credit System will make casessuch as this appear more often in theworld.

Current Situation
Social Credit System is a Chinese
government based reputation systemthat assesses the citizens’ trustability.
By 2020, it is intended to standardize
this system to all residents in China
mainland.
If a citizen has a moderately low score,s/he will be subject to restrictions onsuch as but not limited to transportation,internet services, education andemployment.

Regional Situations
AfricaOne of the positive impact of the Social
Credit System is that this will create a
new source for money lenders to rely
when lending a some sort of valuable
product. With many of the countries inAfrica either still developing or recently
became developed, many countries haveopened eyes to take in this system intheir own countries. Many governments
and private companies are considering
to implement a similar sort of system.

North America
The United States of America
There is a possibility of the social credit
system being implemented in the UnitedStates. China started their social credit
system using database from companies
such as Bach, Alibaba and Tencent. Inthe U.S, GAFA (Google AppleFacebook Amazon) are major ITcompanies. These companies gather
personal information from users all over
the U.S., and this information could be
used by the government. In 2018,Facebook started a program “thatassigns every user a reputation score,
which predicts their trustworthiness”(kazusa research)3. These similarities
between China and the U.S. show future
implementations of the social credit
system in the U.S.
CanadaCanada's Risk-drive Tracking device(RTD) “provides a standardized meansof gathering de-identified information
on situations of elevated risk for​“China's Social Credit System - It's
Coming to the US.” Katusa Research,24
Apr.2019,​katusaresearch.com/chinas-so
cial-credit-system-coming-to-united-states​/.
3

communities
implementing
multi-sectoral risk intervention models,such as Situation Tables.”(Ministry ofCommunity and Correctional Services)4.
RTD’s methods are similar to the social
credit system in China, concerning theproblem of privacy. RTD Officials
claim that data collected through thissystem is “de-identified”(Breitbart)5,
removing personal details such as nameand date of birth. However, there is nocertain proof that all information is kept
anonymous, therefore there is apossibility of RTD becoming similar tothe social credit system in China.
South AmericaEcuador
Police in Ecuador control securitycameras and scan the streets for drug
dealers and murders. Ecuador uses
monitors made with technology from
China, a country with the current
ongoing social credit system. According
to The New York Times, “Ecuador’ssystem, which was installed in 2011, isa basic version of a program ofcomputerized controls that Beijing has
45​Hayward, John. “Canada's 'Risk

Tracking Database' Similar to China's
Social Credit System.” ​Breitbart​, 1 Mar.
2019,www.breitbart.com/national-security/20
19/02/28/canada-creates-risk-tracking-d
atabase-disturbing-parallels-chinas-social-credit-system/#.

spent billions to build out over a decadeof technological progress”(The NewYork Times)6. Critics warn that thesesystems could lead to loss of
individual’s privacy. Furthermore, there
is a possibility that technology used inthese systems are used for darker
purposes for example, by thegovernment.
Asia

listing names of “bad citizens” alreadyexists.
According to a survey done by theWashington Post, approximately 80% of
the Chinese respondents approve Social
Credit system. The news engine has also
discovered the fact that wealthier
individuals are more prone to finding
the system effective than poor people.
Furthermore, is should also be
considered that social trust among theChinese society is extremely low. 7

ChinaJapan
By 2020, China plans to implement
Social Credit System to rank all its
citizens based on “social credit,” ie.
trustability. People can be rewarded or
punished according to their scores,
which is heavily influenced byindividuals’ behaviours and actions,specifically adherence to law andcompliance with the government’sideological framework. At the moment,
this system has not been forced uponevery citizen, however, several cities
and companies are attempting togradually increase its importance on
reliability and credibility in China.
Although experimentally, a website

6​Mozur, Paul, et al. “Made in China,ExportedtotheWorld: The
Surveillance State.” ​The New YorkTimes,​ The New York Times, 24 Apr.
2019,
www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/technolo
gy/ecuador-surveillance-cameras-police-government.html.

One June 27th, LINE introduced one ofits most ambitious in-app services:LINE Score. LINE Score is “​anAI-driven social credit rating systemthat will provide deals and various
offers to users based on their score. A
separate loan service called Line Pocket
Money will determine rates and credit
limits based on a user’s Line Score,”8states ​the Verge.​ However, this newly
implemented system greatly differsfrom that of China, for firstly LINE will
not share the scores with third-party
organizations and secondly, at leastcurrently, LINE does not plan tointegrate LINE Score with non-LINEservices.
Europe7​“China's Social Credit System - It's

Coming to the US.” Katusa Research,24 Apr. 20198​Byford, Sam. “Line announces socialcredit scores, a Google Duplex
competitor, and much more”

In Europe, credit systems are not as
penetrated as in China. However, credit
systems are being used in the area of
education: ECTS. The EU createdEuropeanCredit
TransferandAccumulation System (ECTS) as a way
to "make it easier for students to move
between countries and to have theiracademic qualifications and study
periods abroad recognised."(EuropeanCommision)9 This system works very
similar to the Social Credit System
which is being developed in China.
Students will earn points based on theiracademic results and achievements, thatwill be used to evaluate which stage thestudent is at academically.
Europe and China has built theirfriendship for over 40 years now. As
much as Europe influences China,
China influences Europe even morebecause of their trade systems andcultural exchanges that is being held
together. Now, Europe is starting to feel
fear towards China's new system. Inorder to be resilient whenever China
tries to promote the Social Credit
System, EU is planning to enhance theirdemocratic resilience in order to oppose
against China. Recently, an independent
expert group in Europe called
High-Level Expert Group has proposeda remote that insists on banning all AIsystem that scores people, and promote

9​BONJEAN, Dominique. “EuropeanCredit Transfer and Accumulation
System (ECTS).”a more strengthened
regarding the use of AI.

regulations

Relevant UN Actions
China's two guidelines on social credit
system was issued by the State Council
on January 5th, 2017. The two
guidelines specified priorities inbuilding the social credit system.
"Real-name registration
will bepromoted in the fields of the internet,
postal services, telecommunication andfinancial accounts to expedite theformation of personal credit records"(UNPAN)10. Individuals will trackrecords in areas such as traffic safety
and paying taxes, while professionals
such as civil servants and doctors willbe the first to register their credit
profile. People who gain points will begiven benefits in education andemployment. On the other hand, people
who lose points may suffer as somewrongdoings will be made public. Inaddition, China offers better protectionof personal information and privacy,
introducing ​"​a mechanism to restore
mistakenanddamaged
credit11records"(UNPAN) , and third-party​UNPAN - United Nations PublicAdministration Network. “China Speeds
Up Creation of Social Credit
System-UNPAN - United Nations
Public Administration Network.”1011

institutions will also participate in thissystem.

UN Resolution
Currently, UN is specializing inresearching and collecting information,with UNPAN taking the lead.
On November 26th 2013, the United
Nations General Assembly’s Third
Committee adopted a resolution,
focusing on human rights regarding
privacy. This resolution that wassponsored by Brazil and Germany
surely had a significant impact to theworld, regarding the valuable
information it contained. However, theUnited States and their allies managed
to exclude a “clause in an earlier draft
stating that mass surveillance is aviolation of human rights”.12
On March 26th, 2015, UN HumanRights Council members passed aresolution13 regarding privacy andhuman rights on the internet to adapt tothe digital age as well as to ensure thesafetyofinternet users.
The
advancement of technology has led tocountless positive effects, yet, the12“UN Committee Adopts Resolution
Against Mass Internet Surveillance.”
13“​ UN: Major Step on InternetPrivacy.”

committeeemphasized thefact
governments can also manipulate andavail the information of their citizens
without their content. This resolution:- Reviews the collection ofcommunication history andpersonal data in order to avoid
unwanted
manipulation
ofprivate information,- Strengthens the international anddomestic legislations on internet
privacy,- Encourages private sectors topreserve human rights online,- Helps developing nations toadapt to the digital age in a safemanner, and- Raises
awarenesson
governments’ ability to monitor
citizens’ private information andon the importance of protecting
human rights and freedom on theinternet.

Possible Solutions
Please be aware that listed below are
just ideas on how delegates could solve
this problem. It does ​not mean that theymust choose their stances from the list.
● Social Credit System should bebanned worldwide, including
mainland China.
● Social Credit System should be
implemented into every country.
● Social Credit System should be
regulated to protect individuals’
rights and privacy.
● Governments should take total
responsibility of Social Credit
System.

● Private companies should taketotal responsibility of SocialCredit System.
● It should be investigated to what
degree Social Credit System caninfluence an individual’s qualityof life.

Questions to Consider● What is your country’s stance onsocial credit system? Is yourcountry for adapting socialcredit system? If so, why does
your country think this way?
● What are the pros and cons ofsocial credit system?
● What does your country think of
China’s social credit system?
● What is your country’s ethics?
Based on your country’s ethics,
is it possible for your country toadapt social credit system?
● Has your country taken any pastactions regarding social creditsystem?
● What is your country’s opinion
on human rights and privacy
protection?
● What is a solution for the current
social credit system in China?

Works Cited
BONJEAN, Dominique. “EuropeanCredit Transfer and Accumulation
System (ECTS).” ​Education andTraining - European Commission​, 5Aug.
2019,ec.europa.eu/education/resources-and-to
ols/european-credit-transfer-and-accum
ulation-system-ects_en.
Byford, Sam. “Line announces social
credit scores, a Google Duplex
competitor, and much more” theVerge,27
June,
2019.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/27/18760928/line-conference2019-score-sticker-vision-mini-app-tokyo“China's Social Credit System - It'sComing to the US.” Katusa
Research, 24 Apr. 2019,katusaresearch.com/chinas-social-credit-system-coming-to-united-states​/.
“Freedom of Expression in China: A
Privilege, Not a Right.”
Freedom of Expression inChina: A Privilege, Not a Right |Congressional-Executive
Commission on China​, 0AD,
www.cecc.gov/freedom-of-expr
ession-in-china-a-privilege-not-a-right.
Hayward, John. “Canada's 'Risk
Tracking Database' Similar toChina's Social Credit System.”
Breitbart,​1Mar. 2019,www.breitbart.com/national-security/2019/02/28/canada-createsrisk-tracking-database-disturbin
g-parallels-chinas-social-credit-system/#.
Kostka, Genia. “What do people in
China think about ‘social credit’monitoring?” ​Washington Post,​

21March,2019.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/21/what-do-people-china-think-about-social-credit-monitoring/?noredirect=on
Ma, Alexandra. “China has started
ranking citizens with a creepy'social credit' system — here's
what you can do wrong, andembarrassing, demeaning ways
theycanpunishyou.”businessinsider,​ 29 Oct 2018,https://www.businessinsider.com/china-social-credit-system-pu
nishments-and-rewards-explaine
d-2018-4
Mozur, Paul, et al. “Made in China,Exported to the World: TheSurveillance State.” ​The New
York Times,​ The New YorkTimes,
24
Apr.
2019,
www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/t
echnology/ecuador-surveillancecameras-police-government.html.
“UN Committee Adopts Resolution
Against Mass Internet Surveillance.”
PMA UN Committee Adopts Resolution
Against Mass Internet SurveillanceComments​,

www.pmaward.org/un-committee-adopt
s-resolution-against-mass-internet-surve
illance/.
United Nations Human Rights Council.
“Welcome to the Human Rights
Council.”​Ohrhr.org​,
Ohrhr.org,
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/H
RC/Pages/AboutCouncil.aspx.
“UN: Major Step on Internet Privacy.”
Human Rights Watch​, 26 Mar.
2015,
www.hrw.org/news/2015/03/26/
un-major-step-internet-privacy.
UNPAN - United Nations Public
Administration Network. “ChinaSpeeds Up Creation of Social
Credit System-UNPAN - United
Nations Public Administration
Network.”​UNPAN,​www.unpan.org/PublicAdminist
rationNews/tabid/115/mctl/Artic
leView/ModuleID/1467/articleId/52965/Default.aspx.