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Welcome to
UNYMUN 2003. Your chairs for the General Assembly will be Mehul Bhatt and Haris Shawl.
They are both seniors at Jamesville-DeWitt High School. Haris is the Co-president of the
JD Model United Nations Club as well as the Co-Secretary General. In addition to MUN,
Haris is also a student senator, and President of the Mock Trial Team. His hobbies are
sleeping, XBOX©, and cars. Mehul has been in MUN since 9th grade, and has won
numerous awards at conferences. He is also involved in Varsity Tennis, NHS, student
senate, and is President of the Science and Engineering Association. Both enjoy a good
game of cricket and occasionally doing Bhangra at Syracuse University.
The topic we
have chosen for the committee are:
1. Globalization-particularly
with respect to free trade and market liberalization-
Developing
countries frequently brought up the issue of globalization in the general debate of the
fifty-seventh General Assembly session, particularly with respect to free trade and market
liberalization. Latin American countries were the most vocal about these, and many
expressed their frustrations regarding the structure of markets and the global economy.
Economic and political globalization offers benefits but requires good governance and a
systematic, shared effort by the international community to establish the rules of the new
global system, said Maria Soledad Alvear, Foreign Minister of Chile. "We are
convinced that active participation in international trade is a positive means of
achieving growth, increasing employment, innovating in technology and being effective in
the allocation of resources", she said. Globalization could be an opportunity for
countries such as hers that are far away from major consumer centres and international
flows. Chile had opened its markets, and its citizens are pleased with the results.
President Gustavo Noboa Bejarano of Ecuador said that industrialized countries demand
austerity, fiscal discipline and respect for free trade of developing States and, in
return, they "shut their doors in our faces" when developing countries try to
gain access to first-world markets for their goods. He said: "Developed countries
still do not understand that our peoples, in their poverty, are deeply perceptive and
until today they fail to understand the benefits of a globalization process that threatens
to never knock at their doors." Celso Lafer, Foreign Minister of Brazil, said
"speculative attacks" on national currencies can have negative impact on
countries' abilities to maintain balances of payment and continue government policies.
Protectionist barriers to trade are suffocating developing economies, and liberalizing the
agricultural sector "has been nothing more than a promise repeatedly put off to an
uncertain future". He added that globalization requires reform of economic and
financial institutions and must "not be limited to the triumph of the market".
Uruguay's export products cannot compete with similar goods from other countries because
of their higher cost due to Uruguay's fulfilment of international obligations regarding
child labour, minimum wages, social benefits and working conditions, said Foreign Minister
Didier Opertti. Developed countries preach respect for human rights and the strengthening
of social security, but buy lower priced products that are manufactured, in violation of
international laws. A better framework is needed to manage the globalization of the
economy, and the United Nations is the "natural body" for this task.
Globalization leads to the reduction of state sovereignty, with the "weakest and the
smallest being the biggest losers," said Patrick Albert Lewis, Foreign Minister of
Antigua and Barbuda. Arguments for globalization give no consideration to the individual
needs of countries for a different pace, direction and content of trade liberalization due
to different levels of development or the necessity to build up national capabilities.
Industrialized countries insist on free trade for the developing world, but at the same
time exempt themselves from it. Rich and powerful countries implement protective measures
for their industries, in particular the agricultural sector. It is known, he said, that
"in modern times there has never been free trade".
© Jonas Hagen, UN Chronicle
2. HIV/AIDS
with concern towards orphans and treatment-
Over 3 million
deaths were estimated for 2001 and 14 million children have been orphaned by AIDS since
the beginning of the epidemic. Sub-Saharan Africa, with 28.5 million infected people, is
by far the region with the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS. In light of these figures, it is
not surprising that the pandemic continues to be a topic of great concern among world
leaders. Speaking at the general debate of the fifty-seventh session of the General
Assembly, Member States of the United Nations clarified that the need to tackle the
pandemic is extremely urgent.
The President of Botswana, Festus G. Mogae, said that the pandemic was the "most
serious threat to economic and social progress in the world". Botswana has the
highest HIV prevalence among pregnant women world-wide, at 44.9 per cent, as well as the
highest overall rate for adults at 38.8 per cent. He said no one country has the resources
to effectively battle the pandemic and a strategy that combines efforts is needed. He
expressed his gratitude toward the United Nations and other partners, saying with the help
of the international community, Botswana "will still be standing when the dust
settles".
Foreign Minister Lilian E. Patel of Malawi called on transnational organizations, which
"extract huge profits from business in poor countries", to increase their
investment in HIV/AIDS prevention, saying that they have the moral responsibility to do
so. International pharmaceutical corporations should "show more compassion" by
expanding access to antiretroviral drugs and other life-sustaining medicines through
meaningful price reductions and voluntary donations. He thanked those companies that had
already taken steps in that direction.
Ambassador Martin Belinga Eboutou of Cameroon spoke of the seriousness of the HIV/AIDS
pandemic in his country, where an estimated 860,000 adults (11.8 per cent of adults) were
living with the virus. The country's first lady, Madame Chantal Biya, had organized a
meeting of African first ladies to address the issue, to be held in the capital of
Cameroon, Yaounde, in mid-November 2002. Barnabas S. Dlamini, Prime Minister of Swaziland,
told of efforts to fight the pandemic in his country, where 33.4 per cent of adults are
infected. He said that the Government cannot afford the costly antiretroviral drugs and
has also looked into its own cultural traditions for answers to the epidemic. They have
resurrected "rites of chastity and respect for self"—values that have
served many previous generations and are finding increasing acceptance in Swaziland.
Foreign Minister Timothy S. Harris of St. Kitts and Nevis spoke of the magnitude of the
HIV/AIDS crisis in the Caribbean region, saying that it threatened to "devastate
families and create a generation of orphans". The pandemic is also a hindrance to
development, as citizens become less and less able to contribute to the country's economic
activity and growth. Further, funds earmarked for other areas now have to be spent on the
pandemic. He called on the donor community to realize the $10 billion required by the
Global Fund for the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
© Jonas Hagen, UN Chronicle
Since we are a
Plenary committee, expect to debate a wide range of topics as resolutions are passed to
the General Assembly. In order to be considered for an outer-committee award, you must
submit a resolution the day of the conference. Please bring your own copies, to insure
that there are sufficient numbers to be distributed during debate. Good luck and see you
on April 26th!
Haris Shawl
Mehul Bhatt
Ghost_315@hotmail.com
Mbhatt5151@aol.com
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