Showing posts with label UNICEF. Show all posts
For Your Information: The Situation of Child Refugees and Internally Displaced Children (UNICEF Topic A)
One of the topics that the UNICEF will be
discussing this YMUNK conference is the situation of child refugees and
internally displaced children. This issue has much to do with children who are
living in areas of conflict, and is therefore highly relevant today. The Syrian
conflict has been affecting almost 5.5 million children since it began in March
2012; 4.29 million are currently inside Syria, with the majority of them poor,
displaced, or caught in the line of fire. Another 1.25 million of them are
currently living as refugees in neighboring nations such as Lebanon, Jordan,
Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, and North Africa.
Prior to the violence that ensued in the nation, Syria’s
education system had been one of the best in the region: with almost a 100%
primary school enrollment rate and literacy rates of over 90%. However, now,
2.8 million Syrian children are deprived of the opportunity to go to school; a lack of education for
one additional year points to the loss of skills that will be necessary for
life in the future. Within Syria, 4,072 schools have either been damaged or
turned into shelters, storage facilities, or military bases. As of 2013, the
school attendance has dropped to 30%, a far cry from the impressive figure of
97% prior to the conflict. 500,000 Syrian refugee children who are no longer in
the nation are also out of school. This has in some part to do with the fact
that they have missed too much school already, and are too far behind in their
studies to enroll in the public school system.
Both the children who are still in Syria and child refugees who
have fled to other nations are facing equal difficulty. Over 8,000 of the
children who arrived at Syria’s borders to seek refuge in a neighboring country
had either been orphaned or did not have their parents with them. In addition,
one third of the children in the Za’atari refugee camp – one the largest of such – are displaying
aggressive behavior and self-harm. Out of those who are not sheltered in
refugee camps, ten percent are employed as cheap labor on farms, in car repair
shops, or living as beggars on city streets. As for females, 20% of refugee
girls in Jordan are marrying early out of perceived necessity.
The Syrian conflict has been condemned by the international world
for the violence and violation of human rights it has caused. However, it is
also crucial to consider the aspect of the children- both those who have become
refugees in other nations as well as those who are still within Syria’s borders
– those who are poor, internally displaced, and in close proximity to the
violence currently occurring. The situation of child refugees and internally
displaced children also pertain to other conflicts, such as the violence in the
Central African Republic, where 2.3 million children are affected every year by
the intensifying conflict in the northwest region as well as the crisis in
South Sudan which has displaced 490,000 in less than a year.
by Yoonjie Park
Photo courtesy of http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/consider-this/Consider-This-blog/2014/2/4/photos-of-the-unknownrefugeecrisis.html
Committee Session I
After the Opening Ceremony, the nine committees got right into action in their first committee session. Here's our Press Corps' coverage of Committee Session I:
Disarmament and International Security Committee
The first session of DISEC began with a call to order by the chair. The committee then moved on to opening speeches for the first topic, the topic of blood diamonds. Once the opening speeches were finished, the house broke into unmoderated caucus, and delegates of similar interests grouped together and began discussion possible solutions to the issue of blood diamonds at hand.
The first session of DISEC began with a call to order by the chair. The committee then moved on to opening speeches for the first topic, the topic of blood diamonds. Once the opening speeches were finished, the house broke into unmoderated caucus, and delegates of similar interests grouped together and began discussion possible solutions to the issue of blood diamonds at hand.
The room was filled with sounds of delegates earnestly putting forth their ideas, and working together to come up with clauses. For the delegate of Pakistan, this YMUN is her second conference, and she said that the environment seemed friendly and that the “delegates seem familiar with each other.” She and her small team have come up with rather radical measures to address the issue of blood diamonds. Laughingly, she admitted that the measures will “get a lot of rebuttals”, but she still seemed intent on including the clause. The delegate of Australia also had a similar viewpoint about the lobbying session so far, stating that it was “going quite well.” He and four other delegates were writing clauses focused on the aspects of expanding the definition of the term “blood diamond” and raising awareness in the general public as ways to solve the issue. Despite the fact that it is his first conference, he seemed to be relatively at ease when working with others to create the best clauses possible.
The debate in DISEC will be a clause-by-clause debate, with delegates producing and submitting clauses instead of whole resolutions. The approved clauses will then be added to the master resolution for each topic, resulting in a total of two resolutions for the two topics. When asked what would happen if the resolution were to fail, Vice-Chair Walter Yeo replied, “We have no plan if it does, but I hope that won’t happen” with a nervous laugh. Hopefully the resolution will pass, or the conference would have been fruitless!
by Yoonjie Park
by Yoonjie Park
Economic and Financial Committee
Delegates started forming blocs early in ECOFIN, with a Middle Eastern bloc, a European Bloc and a third bloc comprising a motley group of countries.
The first topic of ECOFIN is the ensuring of the Equitable Distribution of Transnational Natural Resources. Most of the lobbying time was spent discussing the issue of water scarcity. With just under an hour of council time left, the chair intervened and advised the delegates to focus specifically on economic solutions that address the problems at hand and to move on to other topics such as fisheries, and oil.
With no clauses being submitted 20 minutes before the council session ended, it seems like ECOFIN needs to up their game and get up to speed in the debate session tomorrow. We look forward to hearing from the delegates then. Stay tuned.
by Linus Seah
by Linus Seah
United Nations Children's Fund
UNICEF began its first session at YMUN Korea 2014 with passionate opening speeches from its delegates. The first agenda on the table was the issue of juvenile incarceration, which continues to haunt social policies and budget plans of countless nations around the world. The suggestions made by delegates in their opening speeches were centered around ensuring the rights of incarcerated juveniles, creating preventive plans for future crimes, and other critical aspects of the issue.
The opening speeches, although deemed by some as an unnecessary procedure, served as a fundamental stage for delegates to propose their ideas and establish the main focus of debate for the subsequent lobbying session. The delegate of South Africa emphasized that crimes committed by the youth are often “forced by the social atmosphere,” such as murders perpetrated by child soldiers in wartime. Delegates of other nations reiterated this important notion as they discussed the setting of an appropriate minimum age for criminal responsibility. The delegate of Turkey presented the idea of using medication as an alternative to traditional methods of detention, while echoing the delegate of South Africa that urbanization often leads to poor education and exposure to crime at a younger age. At the end of the opening speeches, the Chair recapitulated major points put forth by the delegates, such as the importance of proper training of law enforcement officers to reduce in-prison abuse of juvenile offenders, improving data collection of offenders’ statistics, and effectively reintegrating juvenile delinquents back into society.
During the actual lobbying process, it was clear that the delegates were solely concerned with the content of the issues rather than the competition over main-submissions. A lobbying group consisting of about a dozen delegates were debating the specific issue of discriminating offenders by their age. The delegate of Britain suggested a scenario of having a fourteen-year-old who had committed murder and another fourteen-year-old convicted of theft. “When teenagers convicted of different levels of crime are put together, they naturally form a hierarchy within the prison,” the delegate said. “Upon their release these cliques form gangs that place the ones with the most serious crimes at the top of their hierarchy.”
On the other hand, the delegate of Turkey hoped to raise the age at which criminals are tried as adults. In addressing such a concern, the lobbying group compromised by setting the minimum age of adulthood as seventeen and creating separate punitive systems and detention centers for those convicted of more severe acts.
The membership of the UNICEF formed a diverse range, from novice delegates who were becoming accustomed to Model UN to those who actively engaged themselves in the clause-writing process. The Chair and Vice Chair took special care to assist the less experienced delegates who were unable to join the lobbying groups and helped them solidify their ideas into proposals for a clause. All was well in the UNICEF as the first session of the conference came to an end.
by Seoyoon Choi
United Nations Development Programby Seoyoon Choi
The UNDP was well into its lobbying session on the first session of YMUN Korea 2014. Delegates had formed several lobbying groups to discuss major aspects of the issue - improving self-sustainable economies through loans. Although different groups were discussing largely similar aspects of the issue, their approaches to the problem and their proposals for solutions differed. One of the groups discussed the possibility of creating a new organization under the United Nations to ensure transparency of the use of loans, whereas others emphasized establishing guidelines for whether grants or loans would be provided to individuals.
The topic of improving economies through loans is one that is economically and politically complex, especially for high school students. The delegates agreed that the chair report clarified many misunderstandings about the issue, especially regarding the concept of microfinance loans. Microfinance loans refer to loans given out to individuals and small businesses, which conventionally had the problem of high interest rates and failure to effectively improve the plight of “the poorest of the poor.” Individuals with business and other economic initiatives who are temporarily burdened may benefit from these loans; those that are currently unable to provide for themselves with even the most basic necessities like food are unlikely to be helped.
At the end of the session, a number of clauses had been proposed by the delegates, such as one that involved a “territorial loaning program,” devised by the delegate of Brazil, a novice delegate, and her members from her bloc. The delegate of Brazil and others who were rather inexperienced in Model UN commented that despite their initial confusion with the procedures, the Chair and the Vice Chair guided them through the process. The delegate of Australia, a seasoned member of MUN, noted that despite her previous experience with clause-by-clause format in the Security Council, she had found the new YMUN format confusing in the beginning. Despite the confusion faced by some, the delegates of the UNDP, varying in the level of experience and their perspectives on issues, all agreed tonight’s session had truly been an enriching one, and they looked forward to the upcoming debates.
by Seoyoon Choi
United Nations Environment Program
After opening
speeches, delegates had the opportunity to lobby for the rest of the session.
Throughout this unmoderated caucus, it was observed that delegates were divided
into two different blocs. The first bloc believed that developing countries
should invest in green technology to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, as they
are the main contributors of pollution. The second bloc suggested making an
international fund that would distribute financial aid to help developing countries
control and manage pollution.
During the lobbying
section, I had a chance to interview the Chair and Vice-Chair and ask about
their expectations for the conference from the delegates. Angie Hanawa, the
Chair said, “This issue is very complex, they deal very much with natural
consequences that humans have very little control over. No one wants
transnational pollution. If it were up to people, they would just contain it in
their own countries. So, I’m very much looking forward to see how they will
deal with the human’s inability to control nature and the kinds of solutions
the delegates will come up with.” Next, I interviewed the Vice-Chair, HyukJoon
Kwon. He said he loved the passion the delegates have shown so far. Describing his
expectations for the conference, HyukJoon said, “I hope the delegates will try
to be constructive and not destructive, in MUN, delegates tend to fight with
each other but I hope they try to work as one whole.” Hopefully, the UNEP would
be able to conduct a meaningful and fruitful debate for the rest of the
conference!
by Jenny Park
by Jenny Park
United Nations Human Rights Council
When I walked into the
UNHRC committee room, delegates were already split into groups writing clauses.
The majority of the delegates here were first-timers, and they were very
generous with their ideas; all of the delegates utilized Google-docs to
merge their clauses together.
The chair of this
committee, Houriiya Tegally, briefly explained that the opening speeches were
to be kept in between 45-60 seconds each. After hearing other's positions,
delegates separated into groups with people who had similar ideas or agreeable
terms. After groups were formed, the delegations worked together to write
clauses to sub-topics.
Today’s session
focused on Topic 1 - Women Rights in Post-conflict Nations. Most
delegates focused their ideas on empowering women through education. In
her efforts to see a diverse and comprehensive resolution passed, the chair
encouraged the delegates to take different approaches to the issue. The
committee will continue its work by debating the clauses that were submitted
after today’s session.
by Zoey Ryu
United Nations Security Council
After roll call, the UNSC session began with a brief introduction of the chairs. Interestingly, the Advisory Panel On Cyber-Security was amalgamated with the United Nations Security Council, and hence there are four chairs in this committee: Nagyon Kim, Daniel Silverman, Leo Espinoza and David Steiner.
After giving opening speeches, the delegates broke into an unmoderated caucus to come up with clauses to debate for the rest of the session. By working together, delegates will come up with one resolution for each topic.
Nagyon Kim, a chair from Seoul International School, expressed his excitement on chairing for the first time. He said, “ I hope to see a fruitful debate over the next two days.” While Nagyon was speaking, Leo Espinoza constantly encouraged delegates to quickly write clauses for approval by the chairs. The delegates responded in kind – many of them rushed to write out clauses and were frantically running around the room looking for signatories. Despite all the rush, most delegates seemed to enjoy interacting with one another.
Many delegates in the UNSC are experienced delegates, which might explain why the committee session ran very smoothly as the delegates had no problem formulating clauses and exchanging ideas. Tomorrow, they will debate on the clauses they came up with after concluding their lobbying today.
by Zoey Ryu
World Health Organization
WHO’s first committee
session opened tonight with a series of rousing speeches by the delegates. The
topic at hand was the full eradication of polio, especially in light of the
instability in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria.
During their opening speeches, many
delegates declared their dedication to helping affected countries resolve these
issues. “Peru
is willing to provide viable solutions not only for Peru, but for the stability
and prosperity of the entire world,” pledged the delegate of Peru. Israel also
commented, “This whole issue is not a local one. Fellow nations need to join
hands to end this injustice.”
Many delegates identified the root
problems at hand. The delegate of Germany urged for nations to prioritize
diplomatic relations and for the gaining of presidential support in relevant
countries, the delegate of Pakistan recognized the problems of human rights
exploitation behind these issues and the delegate of USA emphasized the need
for reform in order to put a stop to these problems.
After the opening speeches, the
chairperson of the WHO committee, Mr Joao Pedro
Drechsler,
explained the procedures of lobbying that would take place next. The delegates
had the opportunity to move around and gather with like-minded delegates to
propose clauses that would eventually be part of the resolution passed by the
entire committee.
During the lobbying, most delegates were
able to come to a consensus on the lack of consent and willingness for polio
vaccinations as the problem hindering its full eradication. They also
identified anti-Western sentiments and religious beliefs in polio-prone areas
as reasons for this lack of consent. These reasons, along with the threat of
war in polio-prone areas such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria,
contribute greatly to the lack of safety in sending medical officers into these
areas to provide vaccinations.
With these in mind, the delegates entered
a heated discussion that resulted in the submission of six clauses by the end
of this first session, among them being one submitted by the Russian
Federation, which requested for vaccinations and knowledge of how to administer
them to be distributed to local Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), who
would then distribute them to locals.
Although a number of clauses were submitted,
there were not many that targeted specifically the situation in war-torn
regions. During the next session, the delegates will be debating these clauses
and editing them to form a final resolution on polio eradication. When asked
about his sentiments on tonight’s first session, the Chairperson Mr Drechsler said, “The committee
session was a little bit slow, but it soon picked up pace. The delegates
submitted a grand total of 6 clauses that are very strong, and we’re still
going to receive a couple more clauses by tomorrow morning. So I’m excited
about what is going to come out of the conference.”
by Gan Sylvia
by Gan Sylvia
Meet the UNICEF Chair
Bios
,
Chair
,
UNICEF
,
Yale Secretariat
Charlotte Finegold is the UNICEF chair for YMUN Korea
2014. A native of Southern California, Charlotte is a prospective Political
Science major in Berkeley College at Yale University.
Besides chairing UNICEF, Charlotte also serves
in the secretariat as the Under Secretary-General of Services. “This conference
is my biggest YIRA commitment,” she said. “But at YMUN next January, I’m
chairing Churchill’s War Cabinet: The Battle of Britain”. She has stuck with
Model UN for quite sometime, having started her MUN career when she was 13.
When she was in the 8th Grade, she did a very small conference and
loved it, deciding after that she wanted to try out for her high school team.
‘My brother was, at the time, a sophomore in high school, and he had loved the
team,’ she recalled. ‘So those were all the advantages! I tried out, got on the
team, and loved it from the start.’
Charlotte doesn’t
remember much of her first conference, except that it was “a bit of a blur,
partly because I was terrified the entire time.” She was representing Peru in
the World Trade Organization together with her friend as part of a dual
delegation. "We were both freshman, 4’ 11’, and our fake award at the end
of the conference was ‘Most Likely to be Mistaken for Middle Schoolers,” she recalled.
“So it would be an understatement to say that we were not confident – but I got
over my Model UN stage fright eventually!”
She remembered her most
embarrassing Model UN fondly. “My most embarrassing moment was probably when I
was representing Governor Kathleen Blanco in a historic response to Hurricane
Katrina,” she laughed. ‘I accidentally let in aid workers who spread cholera.
Then I wrote a ludicrously polite letter asking them to leave our state, but
neglected to tell them that they had cholera…’ Besides enlightening us on
things not to do, she also had some advice to dish out to future chairs; she
feels that chairing is all about the educational experience of Model UN. “If
you care about winning and speaking the greatest number of times, you might not
be best suited to be a chair,” she mused. “So just enjoy meeting and talking
with new people from all over the world!”
She is very much looking
forward to having her first experience in Korea with Korean high school
students.
by Yoonjie Park & Michael James Anthony
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