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!
Monday, January 17, 2011
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Sunday, January 16, 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?
Friday, January 14, 2011
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!
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!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
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!
Monday, January 10, 2011
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
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
Saturday, January 8, 2011
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)
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)
Thursday, January 6, 2011
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.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Saturday, January 1, 2011
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)
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)
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