Another Brick in the Blog

Hello Comrades,

Although much of what we've talked about on the sustainable technological development topic so far has been regarding green technological development, there are also other avenues to consider. Both social sustainability and economic sustainability are avenues that should be looked at as well. Social sustainability refers to the ability of a society to maintain or improve the standard of living for its citizens. Economic sustainability refers to the ability of an economy to continue effective functioning indefinitely. Many of the problems in developing and third-world nations stem from the fact that while there can be too little growth, there can also be too much. Case in point - China. China is only now beginning to recover from rapid, unsustainable technological growth. Economies that grow to fast create problems such as rapid inflation, unsafe and unsustainable practices, and inability of markets to absorb the rapid influx of money and resources. Short-term damage is caused, with a significant threat down the road of significantly decreased growth when some sort of capacity is reached. Standard of living also decreases, as pollution increases, investment moves from infrastructure and social services to big business and economic growth. Therefore, developing nations must find a happy medium where they can develop across the board - socially, economically, and environmentally, and are not pushing to 'catch up' to developed nations, such as in the case of China and India.

Something to think about.

Containment never works

Hello everyone,

I hope you've all had a chance to access the background paper and read it... many many times. By now you must be thinking, "gosh dang I can't wait for the conference!"

When some of us think of terrorism, we thinnk of cases like the bombing in Russia. That is, people blowing stuff up to to send a message to their own government. In this article, you will see that these days, even domestic acts of terrorism spill over onto the international stage. WHat happens in Russia's airport has effects on security concerns of all other countries. Just some food for thought.

Don't forget to email us if you have any questions or concerns (or background papers already... keeners)

Cheers!

Suspected Terrorist Explosion in Russian Airport Kills at Least 35

Russia's Domodedovo Airport, prior to attacks
Source: www.artdiamondblog.com

An explosion in the International Arrivals terminal of Moscow's Domodedovo Airport has killed at least 35 people and injured up to 140 people.  It is suspected to have been caused by a suicide bomber in the public area near the baggage carousels.

Russia has struggled in the past few years to deal with several attacks, mostly linked to the unrest in the Chechen region.  Recently, these attacks have taken the form of bombs detonated in major transportation centers in Moscow, such as in the airport or in the underground.  The Chechen rebels have also been implicated in several hostage takings.

The situation in Chechnya gained visibility in the international community in 2004, when a group of 35 Chechen rebels took the parents, staff and students at a school in Beslan hostage.  After several explosions, a firefight with the Russian military and a fire in the school, 334 people were dead with over half that number being students.  The Russian authorities only managed to capture two of the rebels, although the suspect that the rest were among the deceased.

A timeline of attacks in Russia.

Illicit Drugs: A spotlight on lesser-known "Drug Nations"

When nations that are greatly affected by the drug trade are discussed, often only the well-known nations are highlighted.  It's important to remember that there are other nations that are also adversely affected, as these nations are not currently receiving the same assistance from other nations in combating drug-related violence.  It is also important to recognize that drug-trafficking can be both the trafficking of illicit drugs and illegally-produced drugs.

Central America
When the drug trade in Central America is discussed in the West, it typically focuses on Mexico and Colombia, as these nations have had the most impact on Western nations.  However, other nations in Central America currently have some of the highest per capita murder rates in the world  as a result of the drug trade.  In this recent article by the Economist, the movement of many Mexican and Colombian cartels into Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela and Jamaica is exposed as a cause of the increasing violence and political instability in the region.

There is also an interactive map available that shows the routes commonly used for the trafficking of various drugs in Mexico & Central America.

Asia
The growth and distribution of opium poppies is a well-known element of the drug trade in Asia.  Recently, China has also become known for the counterfeit pharmaceuticals it produces.  Many of us have received the spam e-mails that advertise drug products, such as Viagra, that can be obtained without a prescription.  Most of these drugs have been illegally produced in China, and are often either useless or harmful because they do not meet Western standards for the type of binding agents and coatings used.  In addition, there is usually minimal amounts of the active ingredient, if it is present at all.  While there are some harms to those who use counterfeit pharmaceuticals in the Western world, they pale in comparison to the harms to individuals in the developing world.  It is estimated that more than 100,000 people die a year because the drugs they received to treat life-threatening illnesses such as malaria, tuberculosis and even HIV are counterfeit and utterly ineffectual.

Tunisia: Sudden Revolt Exposes Problems in a Nation Perceived to be Stable

Source: www.organizedrage.com

In the last month, the nation of Tunisia has been featured in most major newspapers.  Once believed to be an example of a highly successful non-democratic Arab nation because of its strong economy and stability, it has now been exposed to the international community as being fraught with problems.

Tunisia was a French colony for the first half of the 20th century, until independence was achieved through both peaceful and violent actions in 1956.  The result was a political system designed as a constitutional republic, with a president and a bicameral legislature.  Since achieving independence, Tunisia has had two presidents: Habib Bourguiba (1957-1987) and Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali (1957-2011).

Source: www.mariamaalouf.com

The current Tunisian revolts began after a 26 year old man, Mohamed Bouazizi lit himself on fire (self-immolation) after he was repeatedly insulted and humiliated by municipal officials when he tried to sell vegetables.  His actions precipitated protests and riots which have exposed the poverty of many Tunisians, the difficulties with finding employment, and the corruption of Ben Ali's government.  Many hope that by continuing the protests, the prospects for employment and the rights afforded to citizens in Tunisia will improve.

As a result of the revolts and the accusations against him, Ben Ali fled from Tunisia this month.  Since then, many European nations have frozen assets within their nation belonging to Ben Ali or his family.  In addition, some members of Ben Ali's family who had not left Tunisia have been arrested.

Currently, there is an interim government formed by the Prime Minister and members of the various parties.  Even this government is viewed as unacceptable by many.  The courts have said that the Prime Minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi, overstepped the role of his office in acting as President.  In addition, many object to the key ministries given to supporters of Ben Ali in the interim government.

Tunisia is not the only nation that is in trouble as a result of the revolt.  Since December 17th, several other young Arab men have also committed self-immolation as a form of political protest against their governments.  The leaders of nations that are either physically or politically close to Tunisia are concerned that their nations may soon see similar unrest to that in Tunisia.

Is Walmart making people fat?

A study from the "Journal of Urban Economics" to be released to the public in March claims that, on average, people living around a Walmart supercentre gets fatter once the store moves into the area.

Like other Walmarts, Walmart supercentres sell basically anything and everything you could possibly think of, but also sells groceries as well. In the United States, there are 2899 supercentres. In Canada, 119 of the 323 Walmarts are supercentres.

Over a 10 year period, it was found that there was an increase of pounds per person of 1.5 pounds, and the obesity rate was said to increase by 2.3%.

It is believed that this weight increase may occur because of the increased access to low-cost, processed foods from these supercentres.

Some questions you should think of include what other factors may be contributing to this weight gain? Could it be that other items, such as DVDs, TVs and video games may also be less expensive at these supercentres? How are the lower prices of Walmart affecting how other stores price their goods?

You can read the full article here.

A Relative Success in Addressing Border Militarization

Source: Rohit Kossery, http://www.media.photobucket.com

For those nations that believe that borders should not be heavily militarized, or who currently have militarized borders but hope to eventually reduce the infrastructure expenses that go into their borders, an example can be found in the success seen along the India-China border, also known as the McMahon line.  This border was drawn by the British during a conference (1913-1914).  The border was heavily militarized after 1935, with several wars and disputes (e.g. the Sino-Indian War of 1962) occurring along it.

Finally, in 1988, the two nations began to move toward settlement of their border disputes with a series of treaties.  Today, the border is still patrolled on both sides, but there is a diplomatic process for resolving possible violations of the treaties and the heavy military presence of the 1960s-80s has been greatly reduced.

Haiti: An Example of the Need for Preparation for the Unknown Following a Natural Disaster

Source: Haiti Cholera outbreak prompts fresh UN plea. 12/11/2010. BBC News

As many of you have probably heard on the news, Haiti is currently in the middle of a devastating Cholera outbreak.  Caused by a bacteria called Vibrio cholerae, Cholera usually causes mild abdominal discomfort and diarrhea, but can result in severely dehydrating diarrhea in about 5% of cases.  If oral or intravenous re-hydration therapies are not administered immediately, these severe cases can be fatal.

Haiti had previously been considered to be free from Cholera, so it was not expected to be a problem following the earthquake in January 2010; however, ten months after the earthquake, Cholera was present in Haiti.  To date, about 189,000 cases of Cholera were reported and 3600 people have died from the outbreak.  While it is not clear how Cholera was re-introduced to Haiti, it is a possibility that it was as a result of the high quantities of international aid that was provided to the nation following the earthquake.

This outbreak in Haiti highlights the importance of continuing health-care support after the immediate aid for the natural disaster has ended.  Initially, the mortality rates for the outbreak were very high (~6%), but they have dropped as a result of support provided by many international agencies to the Haiti Ministry of Public Health and Population.  The American Center for Disease Control is one of these agencies that has provided support to Haiti.

It is important to remember that while the immediate health effects of a natural disaster (e.g. physical trauma, shock, starvation) are usually treated fairly quickly, the loss of health infrastructure is a longer-term problem.  Nations and international aid agencies need to find an approach to health aid that is able to assist with both the immediate, acute effects, but also able to help the affected nation rebuild their health infrastructure.

New Green Technologies

Linked below is information about a list of new technologies that have large potantials to help make industries cleaner. However, while most people would certainly say that adoption of these technologies is certainly a good thing, the fact remains that many will not see the light of day. This is due in large part to the reluctance of industries and corporations to accept new, more environmentally-friendly methods of production, often because they raise the costs of production and subsequently lower profit margins.

What are some of the ways that industries and corporations can be persuaded to begin to adopt a wider range of these new "green" technologies? Is the most effective way through financial incentives? Through government regulation?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2011/jan/19/top-10-renewable-energy-companies

War, What is it Good For?

Hello Delegates!

Today's blogpost is going to focus on some key reasons for terrorism, and cross-border terrorism quite specifically.

You can find the blurb at length here

The SparkNotes are as follows:

State-Sponsored: Always difficult to deal with, this is pretty obvious from the name. Dealing with it is a complex issue, because it often can't be ended by sheer brute force: the source of the trouble is in a country other than the one you have control over, notably that is determined for that terrorist group to continue.

Failed States: Also difficult to deal with, these are terrorist groups arising out of the turmoil of a Failed or Failing State. Warlike, but often limited in their ambitions, they are hard to stop due to the lack of institutions that provide rule of law in their country.

War Time: An excellent example is the Israelo-Arab conflict, where terrorism is used during a war.

Narco: A fine line is drawn here between a drug cartel and a narcoterrorist group; largely in terms of motivation. Drug cartels exist to make money through the sale of drugs and perpetuate themselves; Mexico's troubles are a good example, as though the cartels play in politics it is not to bring about a revolution, only protect themselves. Narcoterrorists use drug revenues to fund revolutions. FARC is the best example here, though the Taliban have their own label here. They often have international implications as much due to their terrorism as their drug trade.

Supranationalism: Remember the Kurds? These types of terrorists want to build a nation out of others.

Some other views can be found here and elsewhere on the internet, the above is by no means exhaustive:

http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=20281&tx_ttnews[backPid]=224

An interesting article on some less known examples of state-sponsored terrorism in the CAR:

http://www.jamestown.org/programs/gta/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=37291&tx_ttnews[backPid]=457&no_cache=1

The Jamestown Institute in general has a number of great articles to help with understanding terrorist activities across the world.

Cheers,

Robert

UNODC Background Papers are Now Available!

The UNODC Background Papers are now available:
The Question of Human Trafficking in Relation to the Trafficking of Narcotics
The Question of Dealing with and Erradicating Illicit Drug Crops

Please remember to begin researching and writing your position papers, as they are due to hsmun.unodc[at]gmail.com by midnight on February 11th, 2011 to be considered for an award!

Background Papers are Now Available for UNICEF!

The UNICEF Background Papers are now available:
The Question of Preventing and Controlling Child Malnutrition
The Question of Coordinating International Efforts Against Child Pornography on the Internet
Now is also the time to begin the researching and writing for positions papers, as they must be submitted to hsmun.unicef[at]gmail.com before midnight on February 11th, 2011 to be considered for an award.

WHO Background Papers are Available

The WHO Background Papers are now available:
The Question of Access to Healthcare During and After Natural Disasters
The Question of the Appropriate Use of Traditional and Conventional Medications

Now is also the time to begin the researching and writing for positions papers, as they must be submitted to hsmun.who[at]gmail.com before midnight on February 11th, 2011 to be considered for an award.

ECOFIN Backround Papers

The ECOFIN background papers are now available:
The Question of Sustainable Technological Development
The Question of Globalization of the Cultural Industry

Now is the time to begin your researching and writing for the position papers, as they must be submitted to hsmun.ecofin[at]gmail.com by midnight on February 11th, 2011 to be considered for an award.

DISEC Background Papers are now available!

The DISEC background papers are now available:
The Question of Militarization of Borders
Creating a Framework to Deal with "Cheaters" in Disarmament Agreements

Now is the time to begin your researching and writing for the position papers, as they must be submitted to hsmun.disec[at]gmail.com by midnight on February 11th, 2011 to be considered for an award.

SC Background Paper is now available!

The SC Background Paper on the Question of Crossborder Terrorism is now available.  Now is the time to begin thinking about researching and writing your position papers, as they must be submitted to the hsmun.sc[at]gmail.com by midnight on February 11th, 2011!

Jazz hands and the Cold War

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyLjbMBpGDA

What would those two things have anything to do with ECOFIN, you may ask? Well, just to give you a bit of insight in regards to one of the early examples of globalization back in the 1960's, we will take a break from reading and listen to some Louis Armstrong. Yes, that's right. In the 1960's, Louis Armstrong was well renowned for his talents in singing and trumpet playing. He was so talented that the US government decided to enlist Armstrong to serve as "Ambassador Satch," (Satch was his nickname) over in African nations in hopes of spreading good will for America around the globe. State Department-sponsored tours and broadcasts were used in attempts of introducing and swaying foreign citizens towards American culture.Armstrong quickly garnered a large fan base as was soon recognized as an international celebrity and American jazz icon.

Is something like this a positive or negative result of globalization?

How have events like these change cultures across the world?

Do we still observe similar changes today?

Recent Developments in Cases of Child Pornography

Hello UNICEF delegates,

While researching malnutrition probably won't create too many difficulties, reading about online child pornography may be quite problematic. However, there have been many recent developments, ranging from Austrian operations uncovering an international ring of criminals, to smaller scale discoveries in Britain, which deserve your notice.

These news stories can serve as great background information on various countries' actions and policies regarding these illegal acts, and news websites such as the BBC often have helpful links at the bottom of each article which can lead to more specific information. Recent news includes:

• Two small-scale stories (here and here) from Britain which emerged today.
• A story from April estimating the amount of child pornography currently circulating online.
• Two stories (here and here) from Austria detailing a record seizure and the discovery of an international porn ring.

In addition to news websites, many countries have governmental organizations which deal specifically with online child exploitation, and outline that particular country's current policies:

• UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre
• An international cooperation entitled the Virtual Global Taskforce.
• Canada's NCECC.
• The international police agency Interpol.
• European Union's CIRCAMP.
• Australia's federal police.
• UAE police.

By far the best database on national laws regarding child exploitation can be found on Interpol, here.

Remember that virtually all countries are against online child pornography, and that national laws are already in place to deal with offenders. However, due to the global nature of the internet, police efforts across countries must be coordinated to effectively uncover international porn rings.

Good luck with further research; remember, knowing what your country's policies are, and what it is likely to agree to in a proposed resolution is key!

Wait a minute... Why does this even matter?

Hello, bonjour, guten tag, مرحبا , and hei delegates!

By this point, you should have read the background papers and begun looking into what you need for your position papers. I know from my experience as a delegate that this is the point where I begin to ask myself, "why does this even matter?" This refers to two things; the idea of writing the position paper/preparing, and why the topic being discussed is important.

Well, going into the conference having done the paper and researched gives you something to say. A three day model UN conference is much more fun if you aren't just sitting there. When you have a topic like cross-border terrorism, lots of dialogue is good... like cookies... you can never have too many.

As for the second thing, cross-border terrorism has had a huge effect on the global order and how we percieve it. Our entire outlook on war and how it is waged has changed. The United Nations was founded out of the wreckage of WW2. The Security Council and many of its other bodies were designed in a manner to address another WW2 style conflict. That is to say, wars between states. Now, you have non-state actors coming into play. Actors who base their operations within states who may not be hostile to the victims of the organization. This presents a massive challenge to the Security Council. It wasn't designed to resolve conflict of this manner. You must find a way. How then does the international community respond? After 9/11, we didn't know what to do. George Bush declared "a war on terror". But, to be serious (we all know he isn't), you can't battle an idea. You can't defeat an emotion (unless you're a Vulcan... shhh Star Trek is awesome). The international community decided to take action how? By attacking Afghanistan... A STATE. They justified their actions by claiming that they harboured al-Quaeda. Would taking broader action against the organizations themselves be more efficient? Should the states who harbour and (on occasion) fund these organizations face the same punishment as Afganistan? You decide.

"If Clinton had only attacked terrorism as much as he attacks George Bush we wouldn't be in this problem." -Dennis Miller

Good luck delegates. The world is counting on you... sort of... if you think about it... TERRORISM IS BAD!

Two points of view

Hey all you cool HSMUN-UNICEF kids.

Will rising food prices perhaps cause a global crisis? This article believes it will.

(Do you guys know what is causing food prices to rise? RESEARCH IT. Briefly, it is a drought in Russia that is causing the price of grain to rise)

To contrast, this article explores how although food prices have been rising for quite a while, we have seen no world crisis.

Hopefully these two articles help you in figuring out what your country's foreign policy is in regards to our malnutrition topic!

Useful Resources

Greetings Delegates,

I hope you had a nice vacation because it has now come to an end. I know that all of you are busy preparing for the upcoming United Nations conference and I would like to help you with your work.

This site is a very brief introduction to narcotics trafficking. It may be a good place to start but by no means to end. It is important to remember that this site speaks about drugs in general whereas our committee aims mainly to talk about narcotics; the difference will be for you to decide.

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5549701_drug-trafficking.html

If you are looking for facts and statistics, this site would be a good place to search for them. It is more detailed and also gives up to date information.

http://www.narcoterror.org/

Lastly, I have posted to the trailer 2000 Oscar winning movie Traffic (in HD of course). Its a pretty decent movie and talks about the different affects of the drug trade on politics and society.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPKxpu6inKM

Ill see all of you in a month. Good luck with your preparation.

Your Chair,

Zohaib

Make a New Years Resolution to... READ SOME RESOLUTIONS!

Happy new year to all of you keeners out there! I hope 2011 brings you good fortune... and greater excitement for the upcoming conference!

The United Nations is very very good at setting up committees. To a certain extent, the Security Council has attempted to resolve the question of terrorism. How did they do this? They set up a committee!

The United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee was set up in 2001 as part of Resolution 1373. This committee drafts policy, provides assistance to member states, and carries out assessments of counter-terrorist measures. They want to make it difficult for terrorist groups to exist by addressing their sources of funding and assisting governments with tracking them down. It is difficult to blow something up when getting the materials to make a bomb is hindered.

The CTC is not perfect. It relies heavily on member states for cooperation. If a member state is funding a terrorist group and is not cooperative with the CTC, it becomes tricky to pursue any course of action.

The website provides country reports on terrorist activities and counter-terrorist acts. I highly recommend reading through a few of them. They show which countries have been reporting on their implementation of Resolution 1373. Does your country have anything to say? Have they done anything? If so, what are they doing? Feel free to check out the rest of the site as well. They have links to various interesting things about what they're doing and how they're doing it.

Resolution 1624 was passed in 2005, providing more guiding principles to the CTC. Here is a report on the implementation of this resolution. Make sure to read the complications involved in the issue or addressing global terrorism.

Until next time, cheers!

"Is it the extremist, or the media, that blow things up"
Loesje (a Dutch free speech organization)

Salutations Citizens

I'll keep this one nice and quick to make sure no brains are fried into unduly useless pulp.

So far, for the sustainable technology topic, you're heard about different kinds of energy technologies. Although this is a big issue, there are also other avenues you may want to explore. Climate change, for one, is increasingly a hot topic on the world stage. Many of the solutions to climate change deal with improving technologies, either to release less carbon into the atmosphere or to capture carbon once it is already in the atmosphere.

I probably don't need to do climate change related research for you guys. Just look at Google news and that should keep you busy for a while. But in the spirit of pretending that I actually matter, here is a random link:

http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=173352

Climate change is a big player now, but if you look around there are other problems that either were a big deal at some point in time, such as ozone depletion, problems with nuclear energy/products, or food shortages due to population growth, and problems that are shaping up to eventually be big players such as water shortages and decreases in biodiversity. Ignoring the fact that I am starting to sound like the science student I really am, there is a lot of technology that can be put to good use, so just keep looking around.

Cheers.

UNICEF info by country: Somalia

Community mobilizers help to fight childhood malnutrition in Somalia

HARGEISA, Somalia, 22 December 2010 – Halima Awali, 60, shushes the crowd of boisterous children gathered around her and proclaims, “I was there to bring almost all of these babies into the world.” Squinting into the fierce noon Somaliland sun, the smiling grandmother adds, “Now I am here to make sure all of them stay here.”

Continue reading the article here.

The Big Bad MUN Guide, Part One

Delegates!  Happy New Year!

Those of you who read the UNEP blog last year may remember the Big Bad MUN Guide, a 3-part 'handbook' to the U of A HSMUN conference.  For your reading and conference-preparing pleasure, it is making a return this year.  The Guide has had a few changes made to it, and I hope you'll find it useful in getting yourselves ready for February.

One year and one day ago, Part One of the Guide made its appearance.  On this first day of 2011, the updated Part One is available- please access it by clicking the link below.  Happy reading!  Happy researching!

The Big Bad MUN Guide, Part One

(First post!  1-1-11)