New Year = New Problems

Wow that sounded WAAAAY more cynical than I wanted it to. Anyways, happy New Years everyone! I hope you had an awesome holiday with all the presents, turkey, gravy, and cake that you could ever want or handle. Now its time for more MUN!

The title of this post is much more fitting for this nice little article I found earlier. Its a nice little cynical piece for you to chew on that also goes into some of the possible future complexities of the Arab Spring. Don't spend too much time worrying about any economic issues or complications. You are the Security Council, you just need to have a peace settlement. Let the bean-counters in business and the finance department worry about the economic junk.

One thing you'll need to consider in your peace settlements is the role of domestic authorities. What role should the authoritarian governments play in any possible transition or should a transition be made? What is to be done about the various militia and rebel groups? What role should Islamist or conservative religious groups play in the formation of new governments? Your countries will have specific answers to these questions and you'll have to find some sort of compromise. To add some more cynicism, remember that your countries will also have their own agendas in the Middle East and therefore will have different interests and motivations than others.

Here is a nice article from the US Institute of Peace on the Arab Spring and peace in the Middle East. It won't give too much country-specific information for most of you but talks about how the mass protests might complicate current peace efforts.

Until next time, have an excellent New Years! Look for more frequent postings in 2012!

"To all the revolutionaries fighting to throw off the yoke of tyranny around the world: look at British democracy. Is that what you want?" -- Andy Zaltzman

Your chair with the cool hair who had the time to come up with this rhyme, Josh

Women's Rights Violations - They NEED to Stop

Hey SOCHUM delegates!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, stuffing yourselves with turkey and ham and whatnot. It's also good to point out that HSMUN 2012 is less than two months away! Isn't that exciting? That means that it's time to put our noses to the grindstone and start researching!

I previously had a post with several questions for Topic 2, so now I return to Topic 1: The question of dealing with women's rights violations in countries which only formally prohibit them.

Firstly, I want to explicitly state that this question does NOT intend to go against cultural or religious beliefs: we are not a group of religious pilgrims land-basting other beliefs or values. We are only focused on women's rights.

While it's true that the majority of women's rights violations occur outside of the Western world, I want all of you to also take into consideration violations within our own country, within our civilization. As an example, Canada and the United States both have issues with sexist prejudice, and those should be taken into consideration as well.

Next, as we turn our focus upon the most serious violations of women's rights, they do tend to congregate within Asia and the Middle East. Regardless of other factors, basic women's rights must be protected. So, my question is, how do we accomplish that without infringing upon sovereign rights or cultural beliefs?

Countries like China are notorious for blatant sexist preference, with an appalling number of female orphans compared to males. Yet China has signed onto the 'Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women', and ironically, the United States has not. How can we deal with these kinds of problems, when a government officially takes a stance, yet their internal policies or the behavior of their citizens directly contradicts said stance?

Something to think about...

Hey delegates,

With the holidays upon us, what else is your faithful DISEC crew doing but blogging about small arms and military tactics :)

In all seriousness though, we've got a couple new issues for you to think about for your second topic on military tactics resulting in high civilian casualties:

1) Sri Lanka: same old, same old - Just when you think Sri Lanka has opened meaningful investigations into military tactics used during the civil war, its internal investigations suspiciously absolve the military of all wrongdoing despite massive civilian casualties. Is it time to consider institutionalizing independent commissions run by the international community following armed conflicts? Are third parties the only ways to verify and establish wrongdoing?

2) Non-state actors: where do they stand? - The Geneva Convention was drafted in the aftermath of World War II to bind state actors, yet the proliferation of non-state actors has broken the "legitimate monopoly on violence" traditionally held by state militaries. Because most armed conflicts involve non-state actors, this legal ambiguity has translated to the use of military tactics that sometimes deliberately endanger civilians in asymmetrical warfare with seemingly no repercussions. While we may focus our scrutiny on countries like the United States engaging in counterinsurgency tactics, the fact remains that non-state actors often exploit civilians as camoflage or even shields against attacks by larger forces, and deliberately attack them to spread terror because they're the easiest targets. Often, they do this without legal or political consequences as they continue to receive support but are never brought before international courts. This article offers one interpretation of how the Geneva Convention applies to non-state actors and, more broadly, what can we do to engage these groups and what the international community can do to hold them accountable by denouncing their actions and refusing to shelter these groups. Yet largely, these non-state actors (rebel groups, insurgents, etc.) operate outside of the law and are never brought before international courts for crimes against humanities. Other articles show that the best practices might be to engage non-state actors in new frameworks like the Geneva Convention to extract commitments to respect civilian status and altering military tactics that place civilian populations in danger. In your working papers you might want to think about the changing nature of warfare and how we can make non-state actors more accountable for the tactics they use.

Signing off for Christmas festivities, but in the meantime...

Happy researching!

What happens if UN personnel commit a crime?

To get familiar with the issue of criminal accountability and immunity of UN personnel, it's probably a good idea to look at some of the sources of controversy in recent times. This press release outlines examples of criminal activity or human rights violations committed by UN personnel while working in developing nations. One of the difficulties with finding a workable framework for dealing with the situation is that there is a lack of communication between the UN and the local authorities; in addition, many of these nations lack an effective justice system. As delegates in the Legal committee, you'll have to work to find a way to reconcile the need for accountability with the current shortcomings of the system.

So, what has the UN's response been to allegations of abuse and criminal activity on the part of its personnel? This United Nations report assesses the situation and identifies many of the issues that have prevented many developing nations and human rights groups from ensuring that personnel are held accountable. Included in the report are recommendations of the most effective way for the UN to respond to the situation, which should give you an idea of the direction of your working papers for this topic.

Enjoy your winter breaks! Don't be too upset when the holidays are over, because it only means we'll be 2 weeks closer to HSMUN 2012.

WHOOOT! Research!

Hey guys!

So hopefully by now you are starting to get the hang of this research business and I figured we could perhaps offer you guys some extra information on the DISEASE topic!

Now disease is an important world issue! As you saw last week, the UN has entire site devoted to it (http://www.who.int/diseasecontrol_emergencies/en/)

To help you all see what has been done in the past (to sort of get an idea of what things nations tend to agree upon and pass in the UN), check you this site: http://www.who.int/tobacco/framework/wha_eb/wha_resolutions/en/index.html

In addition, if you are curious to see what outbreaks have been reported in your country (and what action the UN has taken), check this out: http://www.who.int/csr/don/archive/country/en/index.html. It might be helpful to see what action the UN took in your own nation to help you figure out what action your nation would be willing to take in others.

Good luck and have fun! Don't forget to email us if you have any question!

GET OFF MA KOOLAID!!!

I haven't had koolaid in years and it makes me sad :(.

But lets talk serious business. Sovereignty. Its a fun little idea. Essentially, a country that is considered sovereign is one that has control over domestic, foreign, fiscal, and monetary policy. In other words, they dictate how to manage their own domestic and international affairs. Since the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, sovereignty has been considered to be an undeniable state right.

Even looking at the UN Charter, we see this concept of sovereignty. No state is permitted by the UN Charter to intervene in the domestic affairs of a state. But what does this have to do with the Arab Spring states? Am I just some crazy person rambling about political terms? Yes. But this is relevant I swear!

Questions have already arisen in the UN about sovereignty. In the case of the Arab Spring, producing a viable peace settlement may require outside intervention. The question then becomes what degree of external intervention is ideal/acceptable to the different actors involved? Some countries openly opposed the intervention in Libya while others feel that the resolution did not go far enough. Some feel that the issue should either be handled by the countries in question or some regional arrangement while others would rather see broad UN involvement. Check out this article and read the section on conditional sovereignty. Then read up on Responsibility to Protect... its highly relevant.

In the meantime, keep it real home skillets! Oh! Almost forgot! News update! The UN recently updated its Libya mandate. Super cool stuff and very important for your future peace deals! I leave you with a skill testing question: what is green and has wheels?

Grass... I lied about the wheels...

Your wicked awesomesauce chair, Josh

"Libyans do not know Denmark, they do not hate Denmark. They know Italy and they hate Italy." -- Muammar Gaddafi

First step? Admit there's a problem.

In the news this week:

Owning up to the past

• Following the civil war, the Sri Lankan government and the rebel group, the Tamil Tigers, have officially denied the use of improper military tactics such as using civilians as human shields or targeting insurgents known to be hiding among civilian populations. It is, however, a promising start that the government has recently announced it will begin a tally of civilian deaths from the war. Given that many civilian deaths go undocumented during internal conflicts, delegates should think about establishing objective criteria to document monitor civilian deaths and bring this information to the attention of the international community sooner.

Tensions in the Middle East

• The ISAF and NATO have announced they will begin retraining troops to avoid further civilian casualties after the latest fallout from airstrikes in Pakistan. The challenge of influencing the military tactics used by international military forces is a source of constant frustration for Pakistan and Afghanistan, who are only capable of forcing change through dramatic gestures such as Pakistan's recent closure of key NATO transport lines.

Hopefully, these news articles will get you thinking about the broader themes in preventing high instances of civilian casualties given that the international actors involved in using 'illegitimate' military tactics are autonomous bodies that don't fall directly under the jurisdiction of the United Nations. Can the UN rely on international pressure and goodwill alone to enact change?

Happy researching!

UNEP - U Need Environmental Protection, but we're going to talk about organic food right now

Hello, my dear UNEP delegates! I hope you have done some research on the resource extraction topic! Here are some points regarding the topic of standardization of the “organic” food label:

What exactly does “organic” mean?

Many nations have differing viewpoints on the definition of “organic”… make sure you know where your nation stands.

Who is this issue important to?

In Canada and the USA, the organic movement is a big deal that has been steadily growing in recent years. However, not all countries place such heavy importance on organic food. Make sure you know which countries are in favour, which countries are against, and which countries don’t really care. Know who your allies will be before even arriving to the conference!

Here is a quick video to get you thinking. While watching, think about how this relates to the standardization of the organic food label. Does this seem standard to you? Are the labels specific enough? Too vague? What company endorses these labels? Is it an American company? With these things in mind, is there a need for standardization of the organic food label? If so, why is it so important to standardize? Remember, your viewpoints will be those of your country, not yourself. This is the challenge of HSMUN, and one of the things that makes it such a fun and unique experience!

Happy researching!

UNEP Dais

SOCHUM - Saviours of Human Rights

After that cheesy, over-inspiring title.. Here's the actual useful part!

Firstly, here are some links to some very useful places where you can find official UN information. Firstly, in the Official Document System, you can search for any collection of key words to find documents pertaining to UN resolutions or working papers. Also, you should keep a lookout at the UN's Human Rights Website as well.

Secondly, I'll discuss Topic 2. While it may seem that I'm skipping Topic 1, I believe that Topic 2 is also more controversial because more countries tend to overstep this boundary. Whether we're talking about the USA PATRIOT Act or Canada's newly minted all-encompassing "Anti-Terrorism" movement that allows for unprecedented government authority, countries are now bypassing basic human rights in the fight against terrorism. However, here are a few questions to consider:
1. How effective are these measures? Do the ends justify the means?
2. How long are these powers going to remain in place for the government?
3. How do we prevent the improper use of these powers?
4. How do you justify the bypassing of human rights to defeat terrorism?

Hopefully, these links and questions help you guys if you ever have any difficulty!

Peace Out.

"Small Arms, Big Problem"

Hey delegates!

If you guys are stuck on the issue of small arms proliferation, check out this paper on the effects of small arms on security and development, with examples and case studies on effective arms reduction measures.

Also, take a look at this Economist article for a quick look at the international status of cluster bombs in a handy graphic.

Happy researching!

Historical Committee - Israel/Palestine Key Questions

Greetings!

Welcome to those dorky enough as me to be immensely interested in exploring the deeper roots of a topic and historical event that ties together so many important parts of current global affairs. For those who don’t know, the brand new Historical Committee proceedings of 2012 HSMUN will work on the formation of the state of Israel in 1947 at the United Nations, and as a way of helping delegates take away the most from this experience, it’s good to give you a primer on how to think about the subject. Exactly because it is an important contemporary topic, it is difficult for young people engaged with the world to not feel very strongly about this topic, in fact we encourage conviction, but it is also important that we keep in mind the key facts of how events developed, so we can have better insight to the challenges faced today. Our goal as the historical committee is to help young people interested in this topic to properly understand the historical context of Israel’s development so that their views are better informed to help build solutions in the present if one is so inclined to do so. The first step then is making sure when developing your positions that you keep in mind the historical roots of today’s circumstances. You should ask yourself:

• Where did states emerge from in history? Who had claims to rule over Israel Palestine at what point in time? 

• Who were the lead actors? Who else played a role and what was their source of power or influence?

• What are the interests at stake for each side and how do these influence decisions made at the table?    

• What decisions and compromises were made on the key days and what ‘horse-trading’ or trade offs were made and what did these deals result in?

It is my sincere hope that the forthcoming background paper we have drafted will help you situate yourself in this extremely complex topic, but don’t forget to get your own neurons firing on the topic and think about where things may have went wrong and why! By the same token, resist the urge to believe that if only we had made different decisions, things would have turned out perfectly fine. As Oscar Wilde says: “The truth is rarely simple and never easy.” It could be argued the same is true for history!

Let me see your WHO-ooters!

NO!!! Im kidding!! I dont want to see that...
United States put them away please!!!!

so I hope all your research is going down splendidly =)

I thought i would check up on you and give you some more websites that would help you narrow your searches =)

#1. This Mental Health website shows... well just stop being lazy and take a look ... and try to figure out what the word 'mental health' is defined by your country.. Just a reminder, during the conference we shouldn't be discussing what the word means but rather how to solve the problem =)

#2. This Disease website (and this one)... same thing take a look, breathe out, and take in as much information as you can...

If you look at those three sites and explore the different tabs at the top, you will be golden!!

Have a great life and talk to you all next week

-WHO

Human Rights? Aren't they basic?

Hey SOCHUM delegates!

Although human rights seems to be a basic ideal, especially since we were raised in a country like Canada, the battle for basic human rights still wages all over the world. It is essential that, no matter what, we continue the push for all people of Earth, regardless of where they live, what gender they are, or even what orientation they are, to be equal.

To help you guys on your way, here's a link to Human Rights Watch, an excellent source of information on human rights globally.

Human Rights Watch

Within this website, you'll find many articles relating to different countries and their stances on human rights. As an example, (Not to label Iran, but it's a great source)

Iran Releases Female Activists

I hope that this helps you guys out if you're unsure of where to find more information on human rights!

UNEP - Ultimate Never-Ending Parties

Hey all!

Here's some stuff to think about for your resource extraction topic:

What kind of resources are we referring to when we talk about extraction?
- Anything from nonrenewable resources, such as minerals and fossil fuels, to renewables, such as forests (logging)

Which processes are most harmful to the environment?
- This depends on several factors, including what technologies are used, how hard it is to extract the resource, and how closely the resource is tied to the surrounding environment
- For example, logging can cause physical damage (soil erosion), atmospheric damage (less oxygen production), and biological damage (no habitat for animals)


Since there are so many factors at play, what should you focus on?
- Research your nation's imports/exports to get a sense of which resources are most important. Find out your nation's stance on environmental concerns. Once you've done that, you have a pretty good idea of where your focus will be.

That's all for now. More info to come.

To start looking at some impacts resource extraction can have, check out this link.
http://www.indepthnews.info/index.php/global-issues/529-resource-battles-polluting-africa

Cheers!

UNEP Dais

Once you clean out the fridge, what do you do with the leftovers?

Provided they don't smell bad, I eat them! If they smell bad, I take a bite, assess the status, and then eat them (unless I get a stomach ache)!

But regarding the Arab Spring, this is a serious question. Toppling dictators means that you now have dictators out of work and at the mercy of the new governments!

This brings into question the issue of rights. Despite how mean they are, dictators are people too... sort of... Therefore, some feel that their captors must protect their human rights. As we saw with Qaddafi, this isn't always so easy to enforce.

But they still committed crimes against humanity. Where should they be persecuted? Some make the case that their crimes were committed against their own people. Therefore, they should be prosecuted by their local courts. This could be problematic given that the newly appointed government and judges may have biases against or for the deposed despot. Some insist that the deposed leaders be tried in the International Criminal Court. Familiarize yourself with the structure of the ICC and where your country stands on its use. Some states disagree with the use of the ICC because it is the sovereign right of a state to put its own criminals on trial.

For all of you keeners out there, feel free to start researching. In fact, start anyways. Until next time! Fun fact for the road! Do you know why, when geese are flying south for the winter, one side of the flying-v is longer than the other?

...there are more geese in it... BAZINGA!!!

"I cannot recognize either the Palestinian state or the Israeli state. The Palestinians are idiots and the Israelis are idiots."

-- Muammar al-Qaddafi

Your supercalifragilisticexpialidocious chair, Josh

First Issue of the Daily Delegate!

Daily Delegate 2012 Issue 1

Serious legal business.

Hey Legal delegates!!


So, as you know, one of our topics deals with the scope and application of universal jurisdiction in carrying out anti-terrorist operations. As a delegate, you'll have to consider what encounters your nation and its allies have had with terrorism in the past, how they've dealt with them, and whether your nation (or your allies) tends to support the pursuit of terrorists in the name of security or justice even if such a mission violates the sovereignty of other nations. 


You can look at the UN's Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, which comprehensively details the UN's approach in countering terrorism. Here, you'll find a broader set of resolutions, protocols, and conventions that deal with various aspects of counter-terrorism. 


Good luck! Remember, Google is your friend (and so is the library), so make use of whatever resources you have to get a better understanding of where your country stands on the issue. 

BIEBER IS THE FATHER OF MY CHILD!!!

Hello!

Now that I have your attention, lets talk about what you'll actually be doing!

Debating! What else? Cooperating! What else? Simulating the most important, relevant, AND the most powerful UN council, the Security Council! Why? Because you're all awesome!

Now the question is, what the heck will we even be talking about?

Seen the news lately? Ever heard of Libya, Syria, Tunisia, Egypt? What do all these countries have in common? Part of North African/Middle Eastern region? Yes. Arab states? Yes. What happened? ARAB SPRING!!! (no that does not mean a bunch of people jumping up and down)

You will be trying to address the Arab Spring! The specific task is to develop a lasting and tenable peace settlement for the Arab Spring States. To get the most up to date current events on what is happening there, check out some very discretely placed hyperlinks on the news. Seriously, check it out.

For more background, go through some of the archives on CBC, BBC, and Al Jazeera. This is a sensitive security issue for the region and has significant ramifications for the rest of the world!

Go forth and learn young ones! We are counting on you! Not really, but pretend we are. In other news, McRib is back!!!

Your super awesome Chair,

Josh

"Humour has a way of bringing people together. It unites people. In fact, I'm rather serious when I suggest that someone should plant a few whoopee cushions in the United Nations."

-- Ron Dentinger

Using our Brain for Mental Health

Hey G!!! (guys and gals)

I hope you guys are enjoying this AMAZING weather... gotta love snow.. but as much as i would love to continue talking about that, it's not the important thing here...

What is important you may ask?? Well is Justin Bieber really BABY-DADDY... Just kidding LOL...

We actually are writing this blog up to assist you guys with our question of providing mental health services to developing countries... sounds like a piece of cake hey? well we want you guys to stick to your foreign policy for sure (dont forget that as that it VERYYY important)but we also want you to think outside the box... yes most countries require regular medical health services, but mental health is often neglected... We want you to think of the importance of providing mental health and if your country would benefit from such framework..

So to help you, I did some research and found quite a good starting point on the topic... I would like to introduce you guys to the United Nations Website!!

Yes you may think I know this but do some digging around on the website as you will be sure to find alot of GREAT information... such as Press releases, Past resolutions, News articles and so on...

What I have found Focuses more on MENTAL HEALTH...
Look through this site as some important people are mentioned, as well as some reports and some press releases....


NOW SIT BACK AND ENJOY THE SHOW!!! Here's how the mental hospital 'helped' homer simpson!!

Now that we know WHO is WHO, how do you get started?

Hey Guys!

Alrighty so now that we've established just how ballin' WHO is, lets actually figure out what you guys get to do!

The first step is doing research! Now I know that may sound scary or intimidating but it really isn't! Treat it as a way in which you can expand your knowledge and be super smart around friends!

So you are probably wondering- Where do I start?!

Well the first place to start is to get an understanding of the topics at hand and start to look into what your country's foreign policy is on the issues.

The first place to go is the UN website itself: http://www.who.int/en/

Here, you can search up topics and see what past press releases and agreements have contained.

The next place you might want to check out is the individual news websites for your country. For example, if you are Canada, you might want to check out cbc.ca and search for relevant articles. These articles will likely contain government actions which will help you better understand your nation's foreign policy on the issue.

If you need any help at all, please feel free to email us at hsmun.who@gmail.com!

PEACE!

Welcome to GAI - Disarmament & Security (DISEC)

Welcome, esteemed delegate!

My name is Rebecca Thomas, & I am the GA I: DISEC Committee Chair for HSMUN 2012. This is my fourth year of HSMUN, so if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask!

It's Muhammed Patel here and I will be your favorite Director again this year. This is my 5^th year being involved with HSMUN (3 years as a delegate....no, I’m not that old) so me and Rebecca will have answers to all your questions, and if we don't, well that will not happen.

I love sports, my xbox, and my coffee(no hints there). We will try our best to make this years conference the best yet.

My name is Catherine Fan and I’ll be your intervention attaché this year! I’m very excited for my first year of political science at the University of Alberta and volunteering with HSMUN. When not thinking about politics, whether international, national, provincial or municipal – actually, scratch that. That’s almost never. Anyways, if you want to stay out of trouble with the intervention staff…we like bribes! But really, if you ever have questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

In the future, please refer to posts that are tagged as DISEC, as they are the MOST important ones. Encourage your other HSMUN pals to read our posts, because the issues will also be relevant to them in terms of foreign policy. Throughout the course of the year, we will be providing you a regular overview of important goings-on in the world. Our postings will relate to our two topics of focus:

- The question of dealing with the cross-border proliferation of small arms
- The question of military tactics resulting in a high percentage of 'accidental' civilian deaths
Please refer to the background papers when they are posted for an initial overview.

We also encourage you to give us some feedback! If you've found it to be so, please click the Interesting or Helpful dialogue buttons located at the bottom of our DISEC blog posts!

Dear Legal People..

We should look to the REAL UN! Let us examine their meetings, feed off their ideas, and pretend they were our own. Their website is a gold mine:

http://www.un.org/en/ga/sixth/index.shtml

Particularly, there is a page about committee meetings they had on UN personnel accountability, and it has information about how they sought to fix this problem (hint, hint, draft resolutions).

http://www.un.org/en/ga/sixth/62/CrimAcc.shtml

We are excitedly counting down the days to the conference.

Much love,
Legal.

Legal Topics

For those of you partaking in the committee of the legalities, these will be of use to you:

TOPICS!

1. The question of criminal accountability and immunity of UN personnel
2. The question of the scope and application of universal jurisdiction in carrying out anti-terrorist operations

Fun times await.

Much love,
Legal.

UNEP: Unanimously Naive Electric Penguins

Hello Delegates!

So we've got the introductions aside - always the hardest part. I'd like to take this post to just go over some basics. For those of you who are HSMUN veterans, this should all be old stuff. For the rest of you, this might help you avoid complete and total confusion. So here goes:

For the duration of HSMUN, you shall be representing a country in the United Nations. This means that you do your best to put personal views aside and represent your country's prespectives and interests. There are two topics the UNEP committee will be discussing: 1) The Question of Environemtnal Accountability for Resource Extraction; and 2) The Question of Standardization of the 'Organic' food label.

Your goal between now and conference time is to research the topics and find our your country's perspective. We will be helping you guys out by posting on the blog and putting up background papers, which should have much of the information you're looking for.

Let me give you a quick example (a fairly obious one). Pretend you are the delegate representing Saudi Arabia, and we are discussing the first topic. It would be your job to stand up for the interests of oil extraction. Although Saudi Arabia does recognize the need for controlling environmental damage during the extraction process, this is not something they'd like the UN to meddle in. As far as you are concerned, Saudi Arabia will figure out its own policies.

Honestly, when it comes down to it, HSMUN is about having fun. So don't worry about doing loads and loads of research, and if you're having trouble, feel free to email us at hsmun.unep@gmail.com. Cheers for now!

Alan

HSMUN 2012 Teaser

This is a big welcome to all attendees of the 2012 High School Model United Nations. My name is Rooshil and I am a member of the Media division of the News. I am in my second year of Biological Sciences and have been with HSMUN for three years now, one as a delegate and two as a staff member. I'm looking forward to meeting you all in February. Unfortunately, since there are still quite a few months until we are even close to the conference, the best I can do is leave you all with teaser of what is yet to come. Enjoy!

Welcome to WHO

WHATTUP GUYS?!

So let's face it, you are now apart of an ELITE group. We call ourselves WHO- Worlds Hottest Olympians. Essentially we champion HSMUN. But let’s be real here, who are we?

My name is Arjun and I am the director for WHO this year. I am a third year science student, studying… (I should really catch up with school). I was a delegate to HSMUN way back in the day, and had a blast! My favorite food is ANYTHING WITH CURRY! (I totally will not favor curry-producing nations in this committee). But yea, I definitely can’t wait till February where I get to meet all my fellow World’s Hottest Olympians! Word.

Ola! I’m Salwa and I am the Chair for WHO this year. I am in my second year and DEFINITELY still undecided. I was a delegate for two years in my chilled back high school year and I was dais last year. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Subway and I will totally favor any subway producing nation in this committee =) (Hello USA & Canada) … I’m really excited to meet you all and if you have any questions feel free to email us at hsmun.who@gmail.com. Word.

Hey all! My name is Katarina and I’m the Intervention Attache for WHO this year. I’m in my third year of arts majoring in political science and French. I was a delegate in grade 12 and this is my third year volunteering with HSMUN. My favorite food is HALLOWEEN CANDY!! But my parents ate all of it … I had so much, I went to so many houses … those sneaky moms! If anyone brings me Halloween candy for the conference they can consider themselves immune from scathing letters! WORD.


We’re sexy and we know it!!



WELCOME TO WHO
by: hsmunwho

DO NOT UNEP - Underestimate Nerdy Environmental People

Welcome to HSMUN 2012!
Congratulations! You have been chosen for UNEP - the coolest committee ever to grace the halls of HSMUN. Or at least the lecture theatres. Together, we are the United Nations Environmental Programme, saving the world one hop at a time.
My name is Alan, and I will be your chairperson! I am a third year Earth Sciences student at the U of A. In my free time, I enjoy long walks on quicksand beaches with my cannibalistic rabbit Sony. I do not like hats.

Hi! I'm Ashley, and I'm your director! I'm in my first year of a Molecular Genetics degree at the U of A. I, with my clone, Dee Enay, will one day save the environment from its imminent doom using genetically modified mangoes.

Hey, I'm Teresa and I will be your intervention attache (I will always be watching). I am a first year general science student at the U of A and a huge language and history nerd. Eventually I plan on working on agriculture development within developing countries and I enjoy country-hopping with my dual citizenship.
 
We cannot do this without you! This year, we need YOUR help to solve these grave and potentially disastrous issues. Here is your quest:
 
1) The Question of Environmental Accountability for Resource Extraction
2) The Question of Standardization of the 'Organic' Food Label
 
The power is in your hands! Good luck.
 
UNEP Staff

Hello friends.

Hey everyone! This is Liz, Kristi, and Salma, your dais staff for the Legal committee for HSMUN 2012!

My name is Salma and I’ll be your dais director. I am a first year Engineering student – this is my first year as a staff member at HSMUN after 3 years of attending as a delegate. I like good food, the occasional bad TV show, and HSMUN, obviously. I’m looking forward to meeting you all in February, and in the meantime, feel free to contact me if you have any questions!  

I’m Elzbieta (but you can call me Liz), and I’ll be your Intervention Attache this year. This is my fifth year at the conference, after 2 years as a delegate and 2 years as staff.  I’m currently a third year student in the School of Business at the University of Alberta, studying Accounting Honors. Outside of school, I love to ski, volunteer, and travel. I’m the person you can come to if you have any questions about the conference, whether it’s your country’s foreign policy or procedure in general. 

I’m Kristi. I’m your chair for the legal committee this year. I’m in my fourth year, doing a BA in Economics. This is my sixth year doing Hsmun, three years being a delegate and three years of volunteering. Outside of school I like candle lit dinners, vintage wines, and long walks on the beach. And watching UN legal committee conference meetings in New York. Feel free to ask me any questions you have, on any of the above topics.

Welcome to SOCHUM

Hello delegates of the committee of the United Nations that is SOCHUM,

In order for our interaction with you to be as efficacious as possible, it is best that we offer you a brief introduction to ourselves.

I am called Zohaib. I am a third year Neuroscience student at the University of Alberta. However, you shall know me only as your chair. I will be responsible for running your committee sessions, deciding if motions are in order and moderating discussions. I am also quite awesome. Remember these facts as they will be pertinent for you to succeed in the committee of Social. Cultural,and Humanitarian Affairs.

Greetings delegates. My name is Jonathan Chu and I am a first year Science student at the University of Alberta. You can call me Director Chu. I will only respond to said title. I am the director for SOCHUM, and I will be responsible for many of the same tasks as your chair, in addition to proofreading your resolutions. I am also awesome, but not as awesome as your chair. At the conference, don't forget my title. Or else.

Hey there! My name is Amy Smith and I am in my first year in the Arts at U of A, and I am the attache for this amazing committee of SOCHUM!! Any time you have any questions about your foreign policy feel free to ask me. Also I will help guide you in the right direction to maximize your participation and fully enjoy your experience with us at this conference! I believe we are ALL awesome and we will spread this awesomeness.

However if your DAIS and I find that you are not representing your country, that awesomeness will turn to wrath, and I will intervene you right in the face.

See you there :)

Your leaders,

Awesome, Awesomer, Awesomest

Historical Committee Welcomes You

Hello future delegates!

Yay, blogging!

We've got a pretty big group of helpful and talented staff for this brand new committee.

My name is Robert Lees-Miller, I am going to be the chair for the committee this year. This is my fourth year as a chair in HSMUN, and I've been once as a delegate. I've done two historical committees as a delegate, once with the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the other the Independence of Bangladesh. I am quite excited to be on the other side of the box this year.

My name is Blue Knox, this is my first year working as staff with HSMUN and I so excited to be getting involved and helping to make this the best experience possible for you guys. I participated once as a delegate 2009 and am excited to be joining the dark side with the other talented staff on this committee.

My name is Thomas Kearns and this is my first time on HSMUN, so I'm hoping to learn a lot from the experience and hopefully help make sure you guys have a blast as well.

We've also got two super classified secret agents you'll meet at the conference.

We'll have some real material for you at some point, until which YouTube videos:

Good hunting,

Historical Committee Staff

SUIT UP SECURITY COUNCIL!!!

Guten day my friends! My name is Josh and I am a 3rd year honours political science student. I have the pleasure of being the chair for this year's Security Council! I have traveled the world and done some sketchy things and bring that knowledge to you (on an unrelated note, it is possible to speed up border-crossing processing if you give Mozambican officials a 2 litre of coke and a bag of salt-and-vinegar chips). I was a delegate for 2 years and a volunteer for 3 years so I can help you as you debate the socks off of your fellow delegates!

Hola chicos! I'm Aaron and I am going to be your Intervention Attache for this year's council. This will be my 3rd year involved in this conference and am stoked to be back! I am also a 3rd year political science major/sociology minor with a certificate in global governance. During the federal election I was a campaign manager for a candidate, as well I worked with the government during the summer writing policy. Just remember to do your research otherwise you will get a really embarrassing letter getting you "back on track"; but that shouldn't be a problem right ;) good luck and have fun...merry Christmas, happy new year and such...

Hello! I am Shazia and am a first year science student and will be the director of this year's Security Council. This will be my first year involved in the council, so for those of you newbies, were in the same boat. However, I have always had a keen interest in international relations and in high school I was a part of a very similar group to HSMUN, I too have participated in some pretty intense conference debates. The most important thing is to have a clearly defined position and stick with it. Good luck...look forward to meeting you!

Last Minute Ideas!

Hello, hello!

Tomorrow is the big day and we are all excited to see you guys!

I have been reading through background papers all week and am pleased to say that you have given us some really quality stuff; from plain awesome, to funny, to witty- it will be difficult to make our award decisions.

One thing I have noticed as I have been going through them though, is that some of you know your nations mindset on the topics we will be discussing, but didn't focus as much on what possible solutions your country would prefer or refuse. Try thinking of a few ideas before debate starts up and it might make it a little bit easier for you :)

For those of you doing some last minute research try taking a look around these sites:

• CIA World Factbook: This website has statistics and general information on all the countries and is generally a good starting point- https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
• The government website for your nation: This is where you are most likely to find specific policies that your nation has on topics, search around a little and you could get some golden information (if you don't already know what it is try Google-ing "government website " and the site should pop up)
• WikiLeaks: Well we all know what this site is. WikiLeaks could be a useful information source to find out government's 'real' policies, not just the ones that they post for everyone, including their enemies to see. It's set up just like Wikipedia so searching on it shouldn't be too difficult- http://www.wikileaks.ch/wiki/Main_Page

If you have any last minute questions I will be checking the email regularly tonight and a little bit in the morning as well so feel free to send in your questions (hsmun.unodc@gmail.com)

I hope that some of these suggestions might help you get ready for tomorrow, I can't wait to see all of you!

Lauren

P.S. For those first time HSMUN-ers coming out tomorrow here is a quick word of advice that I learned during my time as an HSMUN delegate: Once you know the basics of how your country views the topics and who their allies are don't be afraid to step out of your box and make decisions; Be confident in what you know, it is your job to represent your nation so stand up and make your voice heard! (it's more fun that way anyway XD ))

Here are some last minute research suggestions for those of you in the WHO.
As you know, natural disasters cause a variety of challenges to a nation's health care. I found this paper a concise and clear list of issues. The author draws attention to the impact of the politically charged and emotional climate that is associated with the the time immediately following a natural disaster. Political considerations often get in the way of an effective response to the disaster. You should consider how you might address this issue in working papers.
The author also suggests several cost-effective ways of responding to natural disasters. For instance, the author argues that it is important for a nation dealing with a natural disaster to prepare a list of what they need, as opposed to other nations simply giving "unsolicited donations". These donations can cause a lot of problems, and may not be helpful.
This paper is longer and more technical, but may also be useful. On page 4 there is a list of health priorities after an earthquake - particularly relevant, perhaps, because of the recent earthquake in New Zealand. On page 8, there is a section on "response and rehabilitation" which discusses issues associated with international aid - probably the most relevant section in the paper to the topic that you will be addressing.
Goodluck, and see you tomorrow!

The Big Bad MUN Guide, Part Three

Delegates!

Wait no longer, for the third and final instalment has arrived!  Click on the link below to read!  Please not also that changes have been made to Part Two, just 'cause I loves ya' and I wants to help ya' learns.

The Big Bad MUN Guide, Part Three

See you tomorrow!

Conference Update and Welcome from the S-G

Hey HSMUNers!!!!

Tomorrow is an exciting day...HSMUN 2011 finally arrives! We are so excited to welcome you all to the University of Alberta's beautiful campus for an epic three days of diplomacy, debating, and discussion. Your HSMUN team here at the U of A has been hard at work all year making sure this conference will be a great experience for all of you, and the campus has been buzzing all week with HSMUN preparations.

With the conference being only 26 hours away, I can  imagine you must all be waiting in eager anticipation, but perhaps you are a bit nervous as well. If you are feeling unprepared, or if this is your first time at HSMUN and you don't know what to expect, don't worry, I have a few last minute tips for you! Try to relax tonight, since the next three days will be jam-packed with HSMUN excitement. Look over your foreign policy, review the background papers, and do a bit of last minute research. Check out the latest editions of the "Daily Delegate" newspaper and give the blog a read. Leave yourself lots of time to get to campus tomorrow, so you are not stressed, and come with a good attitude! If you are worried about the conference, take a deep breath and relax - it will be a lot of fun!

Just a reminder that the dress code for the conference is business attire, and you are required to follow the dress code for the duration of the conference (including tomorrow night!)

Also, below is a schedule of the conference, which I would recommend looking over.

I am so excited to meet you all tomorrow, and see you all in HSMUN action! I hope that you are all just as excited as I am!

See you tomorrow!!!!

Maggie Danko
Secretary General
HSMUN 2011


Registration
Registration is in the CCIS/BioSci atrium from 6:00pm to 6:25pm. We ask that everyone is seated by 6:30pm for Opening Ceremonies to commence. If anyone misses registration, they can pick up their registration package from their dias staff in the committee rooms at 8:00pm. We look forward to seeing everyone at HSMUN 2011!

Schedule
Thursday, February 24th
6:00-6:25pm - Registration - CCIS Atrium
6:30-8:00pm - Opening Ceremonies, Secretary-General's Address, Mock Debate - CCIS 1-430
8:00-9:00pm - Committee Sessions - NREF/ETLC
Friday, February 25th
9:00am-12:00pm - Committee Sessions - CEB
12:00pm-1:00pm - Lunch (not provided) - SUB is recommended
1:00pm-4:00pm - Committee Sessions - CEB
6:30pm-12:00am - Banquet, Keynote Address and Dance - Fantasyland Hotel
Saturday, February 26th
9:30am-12:00pm - Committee Sessions - NREF/ETLC
12:00pm-1:00pm - Lunch (provided) - NREF/ETLC
1:00pm-2:00pm - Plenary - CCIS
2:00pm-3:00pm - Closing Ceremonies - CCIS

Locations on Campus
If you do not know where the various buildings are on campus, please use this map. The Fantasyland Hotel Banquet facilities are located at West Edmonton Mall, through Entrance #52.

Regulating Alternative Medicines

One method that many nations are beginning to use to ensure the safety and reliability of alternative medicines and therapies is to introduce regulations about the type of education required to administer these therapies and to develop and accredit programs that educate students on the proper administration of alternative medicines. For example, in Australia, there is a Bachelor of Health Sciences in Western Herbal Medicine that is accredited by the government. Australia also has many professional organizations for traditional medicine providers, which are monitored by the government to ensure that professional misconduct does not occur.

What does your nation do to ensure that available alternative medicines are available in a reliable, safe manner, as opposed to the image many have of these therapies being administered by a white-haired old lady in her living room?

The risks of unregulated alternative medical treatments are quite high, as many of the herbal remedies contain toxins which are beneficial in low doses, but very harmful in higher doses. However, it is hard to control the exact amount of toxin in an herb, as opposed to the refined compound that can be obtained with a prescription. Regulation of alternative medical treatments will also ensure that standards regarding the cleanliness of the office and practitioner are in place to prevent the risks of infections.

Illicit Drug Crops: Why Farmers Continue to Choose Them

One of the major problems in trying to eradicate illicit drug crops is answering the question of "What will the drug farmers and their families do for income without the crop?" This is a major issue, as drug crops are much more profitable than traditional food crops for the farmers. For an initiative to eradicate these crops to be successful, part of the focus needs to be on the farmers themselves. Otherwise, for each crop that is wiped out, another drug crop will be planted by another financially destitute farmer! In addition, these farms are often in debt to organized narcotics criminals, so the farmers need to continue producing the drug crops to ensure the safety of themselves and their families!

Some initiatives that have been suggested include reducing the market risk for the farmers by ensuring a reasonably priced domestic market or by providing a domestic market with supply-based government subsidization; provision of the specialty crop strains and access to supplies that allows the developed world to produce higher quality and higher yield crops (e.g. having a community tractor that all the small farmers can sign up to use); and development of privately or nationally owned processing and distribution industries. The initiatives also need to look at methods to ensure the personal safety of farmers that are transitioning away from illicit drug crops.

Each nation should ask themselves what aspect of illicit drug crops their nation has problems with, and consider what types of solutions both address the problem and fit their nation's international development aid targets.

A prior agreement on human trafficking for the purposes of crime:

Currently, the UNODC works with under the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime when it is working to address the trafficking of humans for the purposes of drug trafficking and drug-related crime. One protocol of the convention is the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. This is an essential part of any agreement on transnational organized crime, such as the narcotics trade, as these people are often trafficked into a nation on the pretense of providing them with a better life, then the people who assisted them with their illegal immigration will exploit the debt (perceived or true) to force these people to commit crimes, for example selling or transporting drugs, on their behalf.

This convention is particularly beneficial to the victims of these crimes, as it aims both to prevent trafficking from occurring, and to protect and assist the victims of trafficking This means that states that are party to the convention cannot punish victims of trafficking for having been trafficked. The definition of human trafficking in the convention, "the recruitment, transportation,transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse
of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation," makes it clear that the states that are party to the convention believe that individuals who have been trafficked are victims, which is shift from some previously accepted definitions that stated that people who have been trafficked with complicit in the crimes.

You can check your nation's support of this convention and the trafficking of persons protocol on the summary of signatures and ratifications as at September 29, 2010.

Also of interest on this topic, there is a charity in the UK that works with female victims of human drug-related trafficking. They have the text of an interview about human drug trafficking on their website.

The Big Bad MUN Guide, Part Two

Delegates!

There are mere days left before the conference! It goes without saying that you're all insanely excited. If any of you grow anxious, wondering "Oh, how oh how can I ever hope to make a good showing at the conference", well, help has arrived. Follow the link below.

The Big Bad MUN Guide, Part Two
Part Three to come shortly. See you soon!

Can you do the CanCon?

Hello HSMUN 2011 Delegates!

As you may have heard before, in a lot of countries there exists a content quota for radio and television broadcasters. In Canada, for example, it is required that all channels must air a certain percentage of content that was at least partly written, produced, presented, or otherwise contributed to by persons from Canada.

Similar rules are found across the world- in the Philippines, Mexico, Nigeria, France, Israel,Ireland, South Africa, Jamaica, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand.

Obviously, rules and regulations like this exist to protect and prolong culture. Do you think these means are effective? Are citizens generally influenced by these rules at all, or has media made access to a multitude of outlets so easy that regulations like the aforementioned are ineffective? What are some similar rules/laws exist in your delegation that follow the same mandate?

Country Rankings

Hello delegates,

Here are a couple more interesting links, mainly with rankings and facts relating to our two issues that may help you with clinching your arguments:

• Statistics on pornography use.
• A summary of a conference on laws regarding online child exploitation. The best part of this site are the links to powerpoint presentations (all safe, I checked), that have very detailed information on laws and definitions regarding our child pornography issue, as well as current trends and developments in law in this area.
• Rankings of malnutrition death rates by country.
• Hunger Notes, a website with tons of information and news articles on region specific malnutrition problems.

By now you should have all the information you need about your country's position (and if you've submitted your position papers, you will have finished this at least a week ago). The best way to prepare now is to keep track of latest developments, and start thinking about how your country would like to resolve this issue - what would you your country like to see on a resolution, what would it agree to? Remember, time freezes when the conference begins, so any news until Thursday evening is fair game, after that, no world developments in either hunger or child exploitation are relevant for the conference. Have fun!

Videos & News in Malnutrition & Exploitation

Hello delegates,

In the search of alternate resources, since filtering through websites and articles on Google gets tedious for all of us, I've found a couple of interesting documentaries and voice interviews about child malnutrition and child online pornography:

• A five part CBC documentary about how police forces in Canada, USA, and England are dealing with child exploitation online (links to further parts on Youtube sidebar).
• A recent BBC debate on the world food crisis.
• A BBC interview with a World Bank spokesman about poverty and the food crisis.
• A long unaired Discovery Channel documentary about a giant child molestation ring in America (which I would only watch if you had a lot of free time; it might be disturbing for some).
• Three shorter documentaries, on on malnutrition in Niger, another on malnutrition in Nepal, and the last on malnutrition in Zambia.

And for some regular non-video news:

• Britain's CEOP releases a new film warning about the dangers of sexting.
• The EU updates its child online pornography laws to include erasing of websites/images.
• The Pakistani flood problems continue, with rising child malnutrition rates.

Hope these help, and remember that due to the seriousness of the topics we are covering, the above documentaries may be disturbing for some so do not watch if you don't think you'd be able to handle it! See you at the conference!

Because Books Still Exist...

Hello UNICEF Delegates,

With the conference less than a week away, I'm sure many of you are frantically researching your country's position on our two topics. Likely, most of your searches are happening online - which is great, since there's tons of information on the internet. But, published books still exist, and can be much better sources of quality information on important issues.

Since most delegates don't think of looking into books, here's a list of relevant books for our two topics that can be borrowed from the Edmonton Public Library (and there are literally hundreds more at the University of Alberta Libraries, which you can borrow if you have a TAL card or a CCID, the first of which you can get at the Stanley A. Milner Library).

Child Malnutrition:

• "Hunger and Health" by World Health Programme (2007)
• "A follow up study of child hunger in Canada" by Human Resources Canada (2001)
• "World Hunger" by Liza Burby (1995)
• "Solutions for the World's Biggest Problems" by Bjorn Lomborg (2007)

Child Pornography:

• "Innocence Exploited" by Canadian Police College (1998)
• "Child Exploitation and Communication Technologies" by Alisdair Gillespie (2008)
• "One Child at a Time" by Julian Sher (2007)
• "Caught in the Web" by Julian Sher (2007)
• "Sex Offenders and the Internet" by Kerry Sheldon (2007)

Especially for the pornography subject, which is hard to research through google, these books can really help for some general information (country specific info can be found through Interpol, which is linked in a previous blog post!).

Usually reading relevant extracts or chapters is enough, it's good to glance into these books even if you don't have time to read them all!

Good luck and see you Thursday!

ECOFIN Takes It Away... Again...

Hello again delegates,

Oversimplification:

Good

Bad

Life is so simple. Although, granted, it is now your job as UN delegates to take on the rather daunting task of avoiding one and pushing for the other. Which is which will be decided in due course. Good luck!

...Arms Control, Russia-USA... Sounds like DISEC!

- Happened to find an article entitled Arms Control Failure & the Balance of Power by Julian Schofield in an issue of the Canadian Journal of Political Science (Vol. 33, No. 4, Dec 2000) on the JSTOR database. Schofield offers a systematic explanation of the failure of arms control agreements, due to the failure to maintain compliance with the disarmament agreement (AKA cheaters). If you are able to access the JSTOR database, scholarly articles such as the aforementioned may prove useful. If you are unable to access the JSTOR database, a hyperlink for Cambridge Journals is provided.

- Something of interest: January 25, 2011 saw Russia ratifying US Nuclear Disarmament Treaty (START). Check it out :)

Ciao for now!

-- The DISEC team.

HSMUN 2011 Keynote Speaker

The Secretariat for HSMUN 2011 is pleased to introduce this year's keynote speaker, Mr. Gordon Houlden, Director of the University of Alberta China Institute. A biography for Mr. Gordon Houlden is on the HSMUN website.

We hope you enjoy listening to Mr. Gordon Houlden's experiences!

Random Tidbits

Howdy ECOFIN delegates!

So it's almost conference time, and hopefully you guys are all set and ready to go. Just some last-minute notes for you guys to keep in mind:

This is a very random link on sustainability. It doesn't necessarily tell you much about what we're discussing specifically, but it does help put economic, social, and environmental sustainability all in perspective and show how they can work together.

http://anewscafe.com/2011/02/04/turtle-bay-takes-sustainability-beyond-tree-hugging/

And this is just funny (in a sustainable way)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxTNZUhesZk&feature=fvwrel

If you guys have any questions between now and the conference, feel free to email us at hsmun.ecofin@gmail.com

Cheers,

WMDs... OMG!!!

Greetings fellow world rulers!!!

In case you haven't noticed, we are bombarding the blog with updates on the topic and the conference! Keep reading! (though if you aren't reading the blog then it is unlikely that you will get this...)

Like the title suggests, we are talking about WMDs (weapons of mass destruction). When WMDs and terrorism mix, life becomes uncomfortable for everyone. The problem is that terrorists have access to the materials needed to produce such weapons and deploy them against anyone! When debating in committee, be sure to think about (maybe even address) access to these weapons:

Nuclear: We all have heard of nuclear weapons. If not, then high school social studies has taken a nose dive since my day. I won't go into the specifics of how they work (partially because CSIS and the CIA may come knocking on my door). However, because of the fall of the Soviet Union and the economic problems Russia faced, they have been unable to maintain their nuclear facilities. Given this and multiple aggressor states equipped with nuclear capabilities, terrorists have the ability to purchase and/or manufacture a dirty bomb (nuclear warhead designed to maximize radioactive debris).

Chemical: Yes, WMD does not only include nuclear weapons. Chemical weapons use chemicals (wow, not at all obvious) to kill or incapacitate either a large group in a target area or an individual (context of a political assassination). Why are they scary? Because any impoverished group or society with even a rudimentary manufacturing sector can produce devastating chemical weapons. Heck, someone with a garage and some welding skills can produce them. Plus, they're cheap and can be made from everyday materials. Therefore, they are very practical for use by terrorists.

Biological: Watch out for the guy with the runny nose! Groups with access to medical labs or groups that are friendly to scientifically developed aggressor states have access to modified everyday bacteria, parasites, and viruses. Biological weapons are very effective as they not only kill or harm large groups of people, but they are very difficult to control after they are deployed, spreading both disease and fear (terrorists like spreading fear like I enjoy spreading peanut butter on my toast... a lot!). South Africa and the UK (wow, both on the Security Council) recently had a bit of a scare with the threat of biological terrorism.

Be sure to think about WMDs in discussing preventative measures and threats issued by terrorism. We look forward to seeing you all at the conference! Keep posted to the blogs for more updates!

"Fighting terrorism is like being a goalkeeper. You can make a hundred brilliant saves but the only shot that people remember is the one that gets past you." -Paul Wilkinson

Sincerely,
Your SC DIAS staff