(S).M.U.N 101

2011-10-05T17:27:00.003+05:30

Delegates please note that this blog contains NO information or instructions that will be required for the participants of SMUN 2011. Please visit the new blog in order to gain the appropriate information and resources ; the link to the new blog is given below-
http://sophiamodelunitednations2011.blogspot.com/

SMUN Orientation 2010

2010-09-30T16:46:00.002+05:30

SMUN Orientation 2010 will be held on 2 dates, October 4th and October 7th.
The timings on both dates will be 12:30 to 2:30, and venue the Sophia Auditorium.

Sophia delegates, please note that you will be required to attend the Orientation on the 4th. It will be held in the Auditorium at 12:30 sharp and we request that you do not loiter after Lunch Break, but move swiftly to take your seats so we may begin.

Delegates from other schools, may choose one of the Orientations to attend as at has been brought to our notice that some schools have exams on the first date.

All delegations are required to bring in their Delegate Fees in a single envelope with the name of the country to be represented, the names of delegates and and total amount of money enclosed on Oct 4th itself. They must also hand in a sheet of paper confirming the full names of all delegates, their classes, email ids, school if not Sophia High School(and contact information of the Teacher Coordinator) and the committees they intend on attending.
*Contact information for Press members must be provided as well.

Each delegation will be given a Delegate Handbook which will also be posted on this blog and procedure will be explained in detail at the Orientation. We request the attendance of even experienced MUNners as the introduction of external Press members and Shadow delegations have raised a number of queries that can be addressed in person.

Position Papers must be sent in to individual committee email ids ON OR BEFORE October 7th and late entries will be penalised.

SMUN 2010 Details

2010-09-08T19:27:00.005+05:30

September 8, 2010
Calling All MUN-ners!

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.”
This year on October 24th, 25th and 26th we, The Sophia Model United Nations Organisation Committee invite you to join our small effort to initiate the discovery of World Peace through the academic simulation of The United Nations.

Sophia Model United Nations started by Dipti Ramesh, Aditi Verma and Ajooni S. Chinha with humble beginnings has steadily grown in strength and, this year, encompasses a majority of the problems we face presently on the global front. Ranging from international trafficking to territorial disputes, and from energy harvesting programmes to sovereignty, we hope to bring forward feasible solutions that can be implemented in the real world through education and empowerment. After all, we are the Future Leaders of this World we live in.

We believe that this year, SMUN will be an inspiration and act as a catalyst to bring forth politically correct diplomats into our fast-paced, morally deteriorating world. We urge delegates to integrate themselves with their choice of Countries and Councils and enrich the spirit of the United Nations.
Ban Ki Moon has said, “There is a shared sense of urgency to act now. It is not too late, but we are running out of time.” With this in mind, the SMUN Organisation Committee invites you to yet another mind stimulating adventure that will leave you with galvanized spirits. So MUNners, we wish you the very best, and welcome you to a whirlwind crash-course in diplomacy. Welcome to Sophia Model United Nations, 2010.

Yours Diplomatically,
The SMUN Organisation Committee. =)

Dates :
October 24, 25, 26

Councils :
General Assembly (Plenary)
ECOSOC
IAEA
Security Council

Qualifications :
Sophia Model United Nations is open to all students from Class IX to Class XII. While we have placed a tentative limit of 2 delegations per school, a request to send a larger number can be sent to our email id- sophiasmun@gmail.com.
Every delegation will consist of between 1 and 5 delelgates depending on its membership in the ECOSOC and IAEA and whether or not it is to be accompanied by a member of the World Press. Some delegations will represent, not countries, but agencies such as the:
African Union,
Amnesty International,
European Union,
International Monetary Fund,
Organisation of Petrol Exporting Countries,
World Trade Organisation and
South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation.

Please check the Country Matrix enclosed within your invite while selecting the country/agency to represent.

To register, please send the names of the delegates, their classes and email ids and 3 country preferences along with the contact details of your Teacher Coordinator to Naomi Raphael (for external teams) or to Aishwarya Kirit (for Sophiates).
Any queries can be sent to the email id.

Agendae:
1] GA-
- Resource Sharing in Disputed/Unclaimed Territories.
- Rethinking Kyoto, Montreal and Copenhagen: a Follow up to major environmental treaties.

2] ECOSOC-
- Maintaining economic stability in a globalised world with special reference to the Euro-zone and devaluation of currency in China.
- Measures taken by member nations to crack and combat illegal drug trade and human trafficking.

3]IAEA-
- Elimination of rogue nuclear programmes.
- Future of nuclear technology and missile defense.

4]Security Council-
- The Economic Sources and the Social Consequences of terrorism.
- Economic, Social, Religious and Regional conflicts of affecting the world at large with special reference to Congo, Afghanistan, Iran and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The Use of Nuclear Technology in the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals

2009-07-20T23:10:00.001+05:30

The Use of Nuclear Technology in the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.I. OVERVIEW

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was founded in 1957 by the United Nations as the “Atoms for Peace” Organization. The Organization was based upon the three pillars of “Security, Safety and Science.”1 The IAEA has since then been active in the promotion of the peaceful use of nuclear technology, and the observation of the non-military application of advances in nuclear science. A science which has been feared and even hated throughout the latter half of the 20th century due to its destructive capabilities. However, the application and development of the science does not need to be exclusive to areas of weaponry and military. In fact the need for the development of this science in order to better equip the world with ways to better solve the vast problems of hunger, energy supply, and sanitation is undeniable. The third article of the statute of the IAEA contains the function which the Agency is authorized to carry out, and the first of which is:
“To encourage and assist research on, and development and practical application of, atomic energy for peaceful uses throughout the world; and, if requested to do so, to act as an intermediary for the purposes of securing the performance of services or the supplying of materials, equipment, or facilities by one member of the Agency for another; and to perform any operation or service useful in research on, or development or practical application of, atomic energy for peaceful purposes;” 2
The Millennium Development Goals are a set of eight goals set by the UN and adopted at the United Nations Millennium Declaration, which aim to relieve the suffering and meet the needs of the world's poorest by 2015. The IAEA works with the partners of the UN Millennium Development Goals Campaign such as UNDP or FAO, to contribute to the achievement of the goals.

II. TOPIC BACKGROUND

1. Initiatives by the IAEA.

The IAEA has undertaken a great effort in the application of technology and nuclear science to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Although the IAEA has been an active agency in the general technological development of many nations since its conception, the formal participation of the IAEA in the question of the Millennium Development Goals can be traced back to September 2002, when the IAEA participated in the World Summit for Sustainable Development. The IAEA undertook the initiation of partnership proposals in the issues concerning the environment, freshwater and energy.
The IAEA has been actively pursuing these three areas. With regards to the goal concerning water and sanitation the IAEA and UNESCO have initiated programs in water, and within their partnership drew expertise from the Hydrological profession and Oceanography, the IAEA and UNESCO have been able to better sustain aquatic environments, and use the same water ecosystem for industrial processes. 4
As the sole UN agency which deals with nuclear power, the IAEA can provide its Members with planning models, up to date information regarding energy and the technologies which are related to energy, operations models, training and guidance on issues concerning energy in any part of the energy production process. An example of this is the recent effort analysing energy policies in 12 national and 4 regional projects. Each involved 12-14 states, and the IAEA staff planned and evaluated the energy policies of the states participating. The IAEA clarifies the approach it uses in the planning and execution of the various projects it adopts to Member States. It is recommended that delegates know the process and the approach to which the IAEA has taken to adopting in recent years. The IAEA states that it looks at the energy demand analysis and models a scientific, mathematical and objective-based plan according to the needs of a Member State, and trains locals to give their projects sustainability.

2. Scientific Development and Progress.

The IAEA has been pouring in vast resources and research into areas of science and technology over the past six years in the efforts to reach and assist in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The technology which has been concentrated upon is varied and vast in its application. Some examples of such technology are explored in this position paper, but it must be noted that the technologies and applications the IAEA has researched with regards to the issue at hand should not be restricted to the ones found in this position paper.
1) Isotope Hydrology: a nuclear technique which helps measure the size, origin, flow and age of a particular water source, which in turn allows better planning and use of a water source.
2) Medfly: mass bred fruit flies which are engineered to be sterile, to control the populations of flies which threaten food sources in agricultural areas.

3. Millennium Development Goals and their progress as of 2008.

In the year 2000, the United Nations adopted the Millennium Development Goals as a result of the September Millennium Summit. These goals were aimed at specifically tackle the problems of the world's most impoverished and eradicate the extremes of the world's most pressing issues with a time-limit of fifteen years. These tasks have now become more challenging with the advance of time, as economic, political and social factors have since arisen to add to the complexity of the already immense task of achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Nevertheless, the UN and the organizations falling under its umbrella have continued to work towards the achievement of the eight goals. These eight Goals are summarized as follows:

1) The Eradication of Extreme Poverty and Hunger: by halving the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day and who suffer from hunger, providing means of work and income to all groups of people to achieve complete productive employment in all countries.

2) The achievement of Universal Primary Education for children of both genders.

3) The promotion of Gender Equality and the elimination of gender difference in education and enrolment.

4) The reduction of Child Morality by two thirds.

5) The improvement of Maternal Health by reducing the morality ratio by two thirds, and achieve universal access to reproductive health.

6) The combating of HIV/AIDS malaria and other diseases, to have halted and began the reverse of the spread of these diseases, and the achievement of universal access to the treatment of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

7) The ensuring of Environmental sustainability, by reducing loss of biodiversity, initiating programs of sustainable development in developing countries, and reaching an improvement in the standard of living of slum dwellers.

8) Developing a global partnership for development.

The 2008 report on the Millennium Development Goals states that the circumstances of recent times, the economic slowdown and the food security crisis, will affect the pace at which the MDGs can be actualized. Threats such as global warming will also have an effect on the campaign. The Secretary General, Ban-Ki Moon stresses on the importance of keeping the MDGs a priority on the agenda of the UN and its Member States. It is in this instance that technology can serve a much bigger, much more prominent role, in the face of perennial challenges, and constant obstacles. It is recommended that delegates study the report to be able to understand and be familiar with the report.

The report states that along with the successes of some MDGs greater, more concentrated effort is required in other areas. Of these the IAEA may be able to tackle, among others, the problem of 2.5 billion people without improved sanitation, healthcare, carbon dioxide emission due to energy sectors, and the onslaught of disease. What the MDGs need from the International Atomic Energy Agency is the commitment to the application of technologies to further the achievement of the goals before the 2015 deadline. As a largely scientific and technical agency, the IAEA is one of the best choices for the direct action in developing and implementing the solutions in the scientific and technological areas.

III. MEMBER STATES

Most Member States have adopted and are working towards the Millennium Development Goal. In 2000, building on the Millennium Summit, resolution A/RES/55/2 was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. Most Member States of the United Nations want to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, yet there are many different considerations for each individual Member State depending on its status (developing or developed), its economic and its political circumstances. When considering the issue of the Millennium Development Goals and the IAEA, each Member State must review its use of technology and its efficiency in the use of technology, and see which IAEA programs are applicable in its territory, in its region and how certain programs are applicable in a practical sense.
Three case studies are given as examples of the efforts of Member States and the IAEA in the realization of the MDGs:
1) Brazil:
In a partnership with the IAEA currently developing indicators for sustainability in energy development to evaluate the practicality and advantage of developing the energy sector of a country. This partnership spans regions and includes Brazil, Cuba, Lithuania, Mexico, Russia and the Slovak Republic. The partnership includes scientific organizations and other UN bodies.

2) Israel-Jordan:
The two states have been fighting against pests such as the Mediterranean fruit fly by using nuclear science and have been achieving success in the sterilization of fruit flies and in controlling their population in the effort of gaining better food security through the use of technology. The targeting of the flies is environmentally friendly and only dwindles, not wipes out, the population in the region.

3) South Africa:
Nuclear science is being used to combat and detect algal blooms in the bays of South Africa. Algal blooms have been causing huge amounts of food poisoning and health risk in South Africa, the IAEA's isotope hydrology process gives the people of South Africa a more efficient and practical way of detecting and preventing problems arising from the algal blooms.

IV. DELEGATE CONSIDERATION

Each delegate must thinks of what his Member State wants of the advance in nuclear power, how involved they are with the IAEA, and to what extent their state will a capacity as a contributor or innovator in this topic. Try to propose solutions for all the relevant Millennium Development Goals. This topic depends largely on creative thinking and the application of new nuclear science and the study of innovations and their applications in a wide-scale world-view. Delegates are encouraged to think globally, and to see where the Millennium Development Goals are failing to be met, and try to use the science which the IAEA can contribute in meeting them.

V. CONCLUSION

Science and technology influences all aspects of the world today. To undertake a task as great as the one the UN has in trying to meet the Millennium Development Goals, they full utility of all tools must be constantly stressed upon. The IAEA has the resources to greatly affect the status of the current achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. It is the task of innovators and the scientists of our world to help the political and international bodies achieve a world where everyone can have a high standard of living. It is in this instance that we need the solidarity of science and politics in facing the task ahead.

VI. REFERENCES

1. About the IAEA. http://www.iaea.org/About/index.html
2. Statute of the IAEA.
3. IAEA and the world Summit on Sustainable Development. http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Features/IaeaWssd/index.shtml
4. 'In Zaragoza, its water, water everywhere'. http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2008/zaragoza.html
5. Capacity Building for Sustainable Development. International Atomic Energy Agency Information Series. Division of Public Information. 02-01566 / FS Series 2/01/E
6. The Middle East's Fruitful Valley. http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Features/2007/Medfly/medflymideast.html
7. IAEA and the WSSD http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Features/IaeaWssd/algal_bloom.shtml
8. United Nations Millennium Development Goals http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/bkgd.shtml
9. The Millennium Development Goals Report, 2008.
10. The Middle East's Fruitful Valley. http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Features/2007/Medfly/medflymideast.html
11. IAEA and the WSSD http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Features/IaeaWssd/Energy.shtml
12. IAEA and Harmful Algal Blooms. http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Features/AlgalBloom/index.html

The Use of Nuclear Technology in the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals

2009-07-20T23:10:00.000+05:30

Situation of democracy and human rights in developing countries with special reference to Latin America

2009-07-20T23:09:00.000+05:30

Situation of democracy and human rights in developing countries with special reference to Latin America(The debate will pertain mainly to the current democratic and human rights situation in Haiti)

DEMOCRACY

Democracy is a form of government in which the right to govern is vested in the citizens of a country or a state and exercised through a majority rule.
Even though there is no specific, universally accepted definition of 'democracy’, there are two principles that any definition of democracy includes. The first principle is that all citizens, not invested with the power to govern, have equal access to power and the second that all citizens enjoy legitimized freedoms and liberties.
Democracy is indispensable for the protection of fundamental freedoms and human rights.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
The Human Rights situation in Latin America varies considerably country to country. In some, such as Colombia, disappearances, extra-judicial executions and torture have reached epidemic proportions. In others, such as Peru, hundreds of innocent people continue to be in jail, falsely accused of "subversive activities". Yet in others, the main human rights violations concern police brutality, inhuman prison conditions, and violations to economic and cultural rights. If there is one violation that is common to most of the continent, it's impunity, the lack of punishment - and often even of investigation - to those who are responsible for committing the most dire human rights abuses.

Frantically and with great urgency, the Human Rights Foundation in New York drafted a letter beckoning the Inter American Democratic Charter and Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza, with the Organization of American States (OAS), to honor the agreement to protect Latin American citizens from militant extremists. In addition, the organization invited Insulza to join its programme, The Inter-American Democratic Charter, as a way to bring global attention to their efforts in improving human rights in the Americas.
Despite the signing of the Inter-American Democratic Charter nearly seven years ago, Insulza repeatedly failed in his responsibility to activate its democratic clause. As a result, the human rights situation in Latin America has fallen into a perilous state unlike any since military dictatorships ruled the continent in the 1980s.
Since the inception of the OAS, tens of thousands of people have been persecuted, detained, tortured and killed because of their political beliefs in the Americas. Thus, their pain and suffering finally led to the design of a mechanism to both prevent the systematic violation of human rights in the Americas and clearly denounce the violators. However, due to the unwillingness to implement democratic clauses individuals throughout the country are paying the price at the cost of their required human rights.
It took Latin America more than 50 years to adopt democratic customs, during which times innumerable violations of human rights went unpunished.
Currently, the Cuban dictatorship, which is rightfully excluded from OAS participation, is not the only perpetrator of persecution, arbitrary detention, torture and even murder in the Americas; offending countries include those with democratically-elected governments, such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador.
The panelists agreed that democratic leaders “govern moderately and responsibly in Brazil, Chile and Peru,” but claimed that “Venezuela’s firebrand, Hugo Chavez and his acolytes in South America continue to tear down democratic institutions to put congresses, courts and the media in the service of their own radical agenda: sowing class warfare, social division and political polarization.”
“In creation of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, [the OAS] established the current Inter-American system for the protection of human rights;—even though the commission and the court have conducted very important reports on the status of human rights in member countries, systematic violations of human rights in the continent have continued to occur without an effective effort on behalf of the OAS to stop them,” Halvorssen noted in his letter. “In an attempt to correct this, on Sept. 11, 2001, the OAS approved the Inter-American Democratic Charter as a guide to help formulate rules and principles that would identify and sanction governments that violate human rights.”

• More people live under democratic regimes today than at any other point in history
• At the end of 1998 there were 117 electoral democracies, representing over 61 % of the world's countries and nearly 55 per cent of its population
• In Latin America and the Caribbean, nearly 90 general elections were held between 1987 and 1997
• Thirty-eight of the 47 countries in sub-Saharan Africa held legislative elections between 1990 and 1994
• Political parties in 34 countries have binding quotas for women in governing bodies and in legislative elections
• Thus far, 144 countries have ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

The Current agenda focuses in great depth on the current situation of Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a Creole- and French-speaking Caribbean country.
• Haiti is the third hungriest country in the world after Somalia and Afghanistan
• The richest 1% of the population controls nearly half of all of Haiti’s wealth
• The poorest country in the western hemisphere
• The world’s fourth poorest country in the world
• Ranks 146 out of 173 on the United Nations Human Development Index
• Has a life expectancy of 52 years for women and 48 for men
• Adult literacy is about 50%
• Unemployment is 70%
• 85% of Haitians live on less than $1 U.S. per day.
• Haiti ranks 38 out of 195 for under five mortality rate.
In addition, coverage of issues in Haiti has often been accompanied by amazing media distortion leading to effects such as minimal or no coverage of problems and massive human rights violations during dictatorial regimes, while demonizing the one democratically elected leader. The extremities of the dictatorships had also led to militant groups that were pro-Aristide.
Such groups also committed violent acts especially in response to pressures from rebel and opposition group Human rights group, Amnesty International also notes that some of the rebel leaders have been convicted of gross human rights violations in the past. “Rebel leaders include notorious figures such as Louis Jodel Chamblain and Jean Tatoune, convicted of gross human rights violations committed a decade ago. Their forces are reported to include a number of former soldiers implicated in human rights abuses in the Central Plateau region of Haiti over the last year.”
It seems that the selective nature of human rights reports came from within Haiti as well. As well as the bleak picture Madre has highlighted, it appears that some Haitian human rights groups themselves have had an anti-Aristides agenda.

A BROKEN COUNTRY
Haiti is a country in which nearly everything needs help. The unsettled political situation and sinking economic vitality, exacerbated by the U. S. embargo since autumn 1991, has left Haiti in disarray. In Port-au-Prince and other built-up areas, electricity is produced but 10 hours a day, and water (non-potable) is available about one hour a day. Garbage is collected intermittently, and transportation is difficult.
Public transportation is unreliable, and although seemingly chaotic to people experienced with modern mass-transit, the brightly colored jitneys or tap-taps (buses) work well enough to service Haiti's limited infrastructure. Roads throughout the nation are in disrepair to the extent that vehicles cannot negotiate the potholes without suffering damage to tires and suspension, and the embargo has ensured that repair parts are out of reach. While there are no apparent cases of starvation, there is malnutrition, and deaths among the very young can be traced to sanitation, diet, and a lack of available medical care and pharmaceutical products.

POLITICS AND RELIGION
Elections have not been held routinely, and political parties are not well-organized. The parties provide a focal point for galvanizing support around a charismatic personage. Real power has often centered on the country's leader and a small elite group who have used a system of counterbalances to prevent a coup. A continuing source of political influence in Haiti has been religion. With a long history of dictatorship and poverty, the masses have depended on religion for help. Although approximately 95 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, a vast majority of Haitians also practice Voodoo as an extension of their African heritage and culture. Political leaders have often taken advantage of the Roman Catholic pulpit, or the black magic of voodoo, to help influence the masses.
Religion, with its juxtaposition of traditional Catholicism and voodoo, has played a key role in the maintenance of power in Haiti. The Roman Catholic Church, enjoying a large percentage of popular participation, has often encouraged peace and acceptance. It is argued that the church has supported the elite in some cases, preaching politics from the pulpit.
Through the Duvalier era, the Catholic Church accommodated the dictatorship. After Francois Duvalier attempted to work with the Church, he finally expelled the Jesuit Order and recruited loyal Tonton Makout priests. "The ascendance of makout priests to positions of authority means that injustices were committed against those who were not aligned with Duvalier politically." Leadership posts went to Duvalier supporters. Also within the country, there has been a strong influence of "liberation" theology which has encouraged radical change in the political system of the country.
Today the politicalization of religion in Haiti is best personified in the Reverend Jean-Bertrand Aristide, but there are other examples. After the February 16, 1993, sinking of the ferry boat Neptune, Aristide supporter Bishop Willy Romelus used a funeral Mass for the 600-900 victims of the disaster as a political rally. Romelus presided over 2,500 Haitians chanting, "Aristide or death!" His target was the current military government. He was allegedly attacked by right-wing demonstrators as he left the church services attended by UN and the Organization of American States (OAS) observers. However, some observers suggest that this was staged by Romelus to discredit the military-backed government.
THE HAITIAN ARMED FORCES
The military has traditionally been a critical factor for maintaining power within Haiti. In the recent past, Haitian defense expenditures have risen from $14 million in 1990 to $21 million in 1991, about 1.5 percent of the gross domestic product.
The armed forces and security forces of about 8,100 active duty personnel (900 officers and senior noncommissioned officers, 7,200 enlisted) include some 6,200 in the army, a small navy and air corps of around 300 people each, plus about 1,300 civil police in Port-au-Prince, and a handful of other security specialists related to fire fighting, customs and immigration. Working under the 1987 Constitution, the Minister of National Defense is also the Minister of the Interior. The Commander-in-Chief of the Haitian Armed Forces (FAD'H) is appointed by the President and has operational control over all of these critical public safety and military functions.
The FAD'H is organized into nine military departments and the Metropolitan Region (Port-au- Prince) to reflect the geographic regions of the country. Command of the FAD'H is centralized in the General Staff Headquarters and in the nine department headquarters. Each department is divided into districts which correspond to company areas of responsibility. Because the FAD'H has administered the nation at the departments as well as at the rural communal section levels, the military has traditionally enjoyed great influence over the daily activities of the Haitian people.
The Haitian Army has depended on foreign arms imports. The result is an arsenal of old and ineffective equipment from many countries, such as five V-150 light armored vehicles (most mobile and effective system in the FAD'H), plus assorted small arms and mortars (e.g., two 90-mm guns and three 20-mm machine guns). The air corps has but two dozen varied fixed-wing aircraft and about eight helicopters (usually inoperative) representing no serious threat in the Caribbean. However, these limited systems give the armed forces sufficient clout to maintain internal security, their traditional role.
The balance of power in the Haitian experience has been designed to maintain complete power in a single person, supported by the military. This domination by power not only has required ensuring security within the state (control of the masses), but also maintaining power bases within the establishment infrastructure to make sure that the dictator did not encounter power centers he could not control.

SOLUTIONS FORM THE UNITES NATIONS:
The Security Council welcomes progress in consolidating stability in Haiti, stresses the need for security gains to be accompanied by social, economic development
The Security Council today welcomed the progress towards stabilizing Haiti, but reiterated the need for security to be accompanied by social and economic development as a way for that poor Caribbean nation – imperiled by natural and manmade disasters throughout most of its history -- to achieve lasting stability.
In a statement read out by Council President Claude Heller (Mexico), following a day-long debate on the situation in that country, the Council urged the Haitian institutions to intensify their efforts to meet the population’s basic needs, and to work together to promote dialogue, the rule of law and good governance.
The Council reaffirmed the need for the upcoming elections for the renewal of one third of the Senate to be inclusive, free and fair, and called on all political actors in Haiti to ensure they were held in a peaceful atmosphere.
Welcoming the valuable continuing support of donors, the Council urged them to make available the additional technical and financial assistance required by the Haitian Government to meet the country’s immediate humanitarian, early recovery and reconstruction needs, while laying the foundations for sustainable economic and social development. In that connection, it recognized the vital importance of the high-level donor conference on Haiti to be hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C., on 14 April.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Haiti, Hédi Annabi, who stressed that sustained international engagement was critical to enabling Haiti to take advantage of a unique moment of opportunity. The country now had its best chance in decades to break from the destructive cycles of the past and move towards a brighter future. While it was a difficult environment in which to ask for further assistance, he acknowledged, there was a compelling logic for making an additional effort that would be relatively modest in absolute terms, but which could make a critical difference in securing the investments made to date and preventing the major costs that would be associated with any renewed decline or disorder.

The international community had made a remarkable contribution in providing opportunity for Haiti, and its Haitian counterparts were today showing a clear determination to seize that chance, he said. Hopefully, with the Council’s support, that partnership would be sustained to enable the efforts made to date to reach fruition and place Haiti firmly on the path towards a better future. Haiti might be at a crossroads, at a turning point between risk and renewal, as several speakers suggested, but among the member countries of the Inter-American Development Bank, it was one of the most vulnerable –- with the highest poverty rates and some of the most challenging indicators in terms of access to housing and basic services, the Bank’s General Manager of the Department of the Caribbean Countries told the Council. She noted that some 7.5 million Haitians lived below the poverty line, even before the multiple crises of 2008. However, the 2008 food and oil price shocks had provoked riots, which had pushed more Haitians into extreme poverty. Last year had turned out to be exceptionally difficult, even considering Haiti’s turbulent history. The events of 2008 had focused efforts on disaster relief, but it was time to re-launch the Government’s growth and poverty reduction strategy, and a renewed partnership with donors. That was the purpose of the forthcoming 14 April conference at the Bank’s headquarters, and the Bank was pleased to host it. Mission Chief for Haiti of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Haitian authorities would seek an additional $125 million in budget support and about $700 million in project financing at the donor conference next week to help close the $50 million budget gap and finance critical investment projects. She urged donors to provide that much-needed financing. Failure to do so could deter investment projects needed to create jobs and raise living standards. In the past five years Haiti had made great strides in macroeconomic management in partnership with IMF, she said. Despite devastating hurricanes and high food prices last year, Haitian authorities had maintained macroeconomic stability and remained on track under the poverty reduction and growth facility programme. But those hard-won gains remained fragile and the global crisis was affecting trade and fiscal links. IMF had stepped up efforts to help the country respond to both the global financial crisis and last year’s hurricanes.
United States, saluting MINUSTAH’s bravery, said the Mission had made progress towards consolidating stability and security, including strengthening the national police. It had achieved important gains in security, which, hopefully, would provide a sound basis for progress in other critical areas. MINUSTAH’s success was impressive, but it was not the whole story; much of the progress made remained fragile, especially after the terrible difficulties of 2008, including the food crisis, hurricanes and storms, and the ongoing global financial crisis. All those factors could imperil Haiti’s security and seriously exacerbate poverty. Much more remained to be done in key areas. Desperate poverty, malnutrition, lack of education and other socio-economic problems still bedeviled Haiti.
Donors at the Washington conference on 14 April should be careful not to view security and development as separate spheres, she stressed, adding that, in fact, the absence of one undermined the other. During the Council’s recent mission to Haiti, members had seen compelling evidence of how poverty and unemployment created an environment conducive to civil unrest and undoing many hard-won gains. The United States was encouraged by advances towards the creation of a professional national police force and would continue to work with MINUSTAH to help expand the facilities at the National Police Academy. In order for Haiti to be secure, it would need its police forces to stand on its own. Efforts to reform the justice sector as a whole must be intensified and address prison overcrowding and the rule of law throughout the country.
That was particularly important in terms of curbing drug trafficking, where real progress was vital, she said, adding that the United States would increase support for the counter-narcotics efforts of the police. The Haitian Government should take advantage of the Hope 2 legislation passed by the United States Congress in 2008, as it could open a huge window of opportunity for Haitian market access. As for elections, they must be free, fair and inclusive, and all voices must speak and be heard. There was a need to deepen common efforts to support the country in its fragile transition. Haiti stood at a crossroads, a turning point between risk and renewal, towards democracy that should grow deeper roots, and, hopefully, towards economic progress for all.

QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED:

• What are the possible ways through which your country could help the situation of the lack of democracies in countries in different parts of the world?
• What are measures taken to overcome the violation of human rights?
• What are the possible solutions to help the Haiti situation?

REFERENCE:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=25232&Cr=Haiti&Cr1
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30514&Cr=haiti&Cr1=
http://www.amnesty.org/en/ai_search?keywords=Haiti&op=Search&form_id=search_theme_form&form_token=d31126fef7a018f99d243fbf3d891f26

Prevention and Combat of Corrupt Practices; In Specific Transfer of Assets of Illicit Origin

2009-07-20T23:08:00.000+05:30

Prevention and Combat of Corrupt Practices; In Specific Transfer of Assets of Illicit Origin.It is widely recognized that corruption is a threat to the stability of societies, the establishment and maintenance of the rule of law and economic and political progress. Any meaningful solution to the problem must therefore account for the recovery of the assets derived from corruption. The recovery and return of those ill-gotten gains can make a significant difference to countries recovering from corruption and sends the important message that the international community will not tolerate such illegal conduct.

In cases of large-scale corruption the amounts of state resources illicitly converted to private ownership and exported to international banking centres and financial havens can be staggering. According to the Nyanga Declaration on the Recovery and Repatriation of Africa’s Wealth:
“An estimated US$ 20-40 billion has over the decades been illegally and
corruptly appropriated from some of the world’s poorest countries, most of
them in Africa, by politicians, soldiers, businesspersons and other leaders, and kept abroad in the form of cash, stocks and bonds, real estate and other
assets.”

Although the full extent of the transfers of illicit funds or assets is impossible to measure with precision, there can be very little doubt that corruption and the laundering of proceeds derived from corruption have a cancerous effect on economies and politics around the globe. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has estimated that the total amount of money laundered on an annual basis is equivalent to three to five per cent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP), an amount of between $600 billion and $1.8 trillion. It would be safe to assume that a significant portion of that activity involves funds derived from corruption.

MEASURES ADOPTED BY SOME MEMBER STATES:

Brazil
Brazil indicated that the Commission on Public Ethics, was responsible for reviewing the legislation on the ethical conduct of civil servants of the Federal Public Administration; for elaborating and proposing a Code of Conduct for authorities in the area of the executive branch of the Government; and for receiving and reviewing charges against authorities who are not performing in accordance with the Code of Conduct. In April 2001, the position of General Corregidor of the Union was created, with the responsibilities of assisting the President of the Republic in all matters related to public assets. Brazil has also indicated that complementary law No. 105, provides flexibility in the application of the rules concerning bank secrecy for financial operations, bank client information disclosure and capital movement. The purpose is to investigate practices of money laundering of resources originating from illicit and criminal activities, including corrupt practices.

Switzerland
Switzerland reported that, regarding mutual assistance in criminal matters, the return of objects and assets has been governed by law since 1 February 1997. There are two distinct forms of return: at the end of mutual assistance proceedings, objects or assets provisionally seized may, on request, be returned to the competent foreign authority, either to be confiscated or to be returned to the entitled parties abroad. The federal law on the sharing of confiscated financial assets empowers Swiss authorities to conclude sharing agreements with foreign States. The different parties to such an agreement agree on the distribution formula. As a general rule, assets are shared equally among the States concerned, but the draft law provides that, depending on the nature of the offence or other factors, it is possible to return all the assets to the requesting State. With regard to this last element, the draft law aims to give concrete expression to a practice already broadly applied in Switzerland. However the Swiss officials face continuous criticism from the world community over the complete and effective implementation of the above measures.

Turkey
Turkey reported that, in September 2001, it signed a series of Council of Europe conventions, including the Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and the Civil Law and Criminal Law Conventions on Corruption. In January 2002, Turkey ratified the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.

INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS

The need to fight corruption at all levels was underlined in the Monterrey Consensus, adopted by the International Conference on Financing, held in Monterrey, Mexico, from 18 to 22 March 2002. In that Consensus, member States committed to negotiating and finalizing, as soon as possible, a United Nations Convention against Corruption in all its aspects, including the question of repatriation of funds illicitly acquired to countries of origin; and promoting stronger cooperation to eliminate money-laundering.

The Ad Hoc Committee for the Negotiation of a Convention against Corruption, whose terms of reference were adopted by General Assembly resolution 56/260 of 31 January 2002, held its first session in Vienna from 21 January to 1 February 2002, at which it began its first reading of the draft convention against corruption.5 The reading was completed during the second session of the Ad Hoc Committee, held from 17 to 28 June 2002, and several developments have been made since.

On the occasion of the second session, the Centre for International Crime Prevention organized a one-day technical workshop on the issue on “asset recovery”.

In accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 2001/13, the Centre for International Crime Prevention has started the preparation of a global study on the transfer of funds of illicit origin, in particular funds derived from acts of corruption, and its impact on economic, social and political progress, in particular in developing countries.

In 2001, IMF and the World Bank divided the international efforts to counter money-laundering into three
categories:
(a) efforts concerned primarily with financial/supervisory matters (e.g. those of IMF, the World Bank and the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision);
(b) efforts concerned with both financial/supervisory and legal/criminal enforcement matters (e.g. United Nations activities); and
(c) efforts concerned primarily with legal/criminal enforcement matters (e.g. activities of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units and the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol)).

PROBLEMS THAT NEED TO BE TACKLED:

Laundering activities
Corrupt officials do not always disguise their transfers of illegally acquired wealth through laundering activity. In some remarkable examples of corruption, little if any effort was made to hide the systematic embezzlement. For instance, when Jean-Claude Duvalier fled Haiti, investigators had little trouble locating incriminating paperwork that showed that the former “President for Life” had embezzled more than $120 million.

the money-laundering process is most susceptible to detection during the so-called “placement” stage, when the assets are being physically deposited into a financial institution, because the wealth is still close to the original criminal activity. For that reason, transparency is necessary for the international financial and banking markets to prevent money-launderers from placing profits gained from corruption into financial institutions. The principle of “sunlight” works particularly well because money laundering
is an inherently hidden activity. Simply put, the more banks and other financial institutions report suspicious transactions, the more information authorities receive about possible laundering operations.

Opaque financial systems
Both practical and legal obstacles, including the absence of a comprehensive international instrument relating to corruption and money-laundering, impede the international efforts to create transparency. One basic hindrance is that the rapid movement of funds complicates efforts to recover and return money because the electronic transfers, in particular via the Internet, lend anonymity to the transactions and can be extremely difficult to trace.
A second practical problem is the continued lack of transparency in many of the world’s financial systems. For example, one conduit for laundered funds continues to be the correspondent accounts that certain financial institutions provide to foreign banks. Correspondent banking involves one bank providing services to another bank to move funds, exchange currency and carry out other transactions. Those accounts can provide the owners and clients of a poorly regulated, and even corrupt, bank with the ability to move money freely around the world. Trusts are also increasingly being recognized as a gap in transparency that enables complex laundering schemes.

Likewise, offshore accounts and personal investment companies provide havens and opportunities for any laundering activity, including the laundering of funds derived from corruption.

Lack of uniformity of laws
A fundamental complication facing recovery actions is the diversity of legal systems. Governments and financial institutions from different legal systems can have difficulties bridging differences in concepts and procedures. The resulting legal problems in recovery actions vary, depending upon the jurisdiction (common law/civil law) and the recovery approach (civil/criminal).

Another common legal complication to recovery actions arises because the tracing and freezing of illicitly transferred assets straddle the boundary between civil and criminal proceedings. Each type of proceeding is distinct and may not be available in every State under the same circumstances.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE NOW?

1. Legal measures
Expansion of predicate offences to include foreign corruption
Measures that enable the confiscation of the proceeds of corruption in national legislation appear important. Those measures would become considerably more effective if they were combined with an expansion of anti-money-laundering provisions to include foreign corruption as a predicate offence.
Pre-trial seizure or restraining orders or other action to prevent the dissipation or disappearance of assets
To provide for the type of expeditious legal action often necessary to seize funds in the modern global economy, it would appear necessary to have measures that would enable authorities, at the request of another State, to prevent any transfer of those assets for which there is a reasonable basis to believe that they will be subject to recovery as the proceeds of corruption. Such legal mechanisms should also allow for the restraining of assets based on a foreign order or the issuance of an appropriate restraining order by a court in the requesting State. At the same time, however, those mechanisms should ensure that the foreign action has a legitimate
basis and impose reasonable deadlines on the requesting State to submit evidence supporting the seizure.

2. Organizational arrangements
Spontaneous disclosure of information on assets of illicit origin
The spontaneous sharing of information between States is an important
component of the international cooperation necessary to recover and return funds derived from corruption. Therefore international cooperation would be significantly strengthened by measures that allow the forwarding of information on funds of illicit origin to another State without prior request, and without endangering ongoing investigations in the State offering the information, when the disclosure would assist the other State in a recovery action.

3. Methods for recovery
The expanded use of civil proceedings as a replacement of, criminal actions, when appropriate, could be considered as a vehicle for recovery.
As discussed during the technical workshop on asset recovery civil
proceedings instituted by the Philippines and the Russian Federation have allowed those countries to recover nearly $1 billion and $180 million, respectively. More recently, Nigeria has recovered over $1 billion in Abacha funds (to date) in large part because of a civil lawsuit filed in the United Kingdom.

4. Preventing the transfer of funds or assets of illicit origin
The recovery and return of diverted funds is similarly complex and cumbersome, with efforts to trace and return the wealth frequently frustrated by a combination of legal and practical factors. For those reasons, it is important that all States take steps to prevent the transfer of illicit funds or assets derived from corruption. For example:
a. Establishment of financial intelligence units and increased voluntary information-sharing
b. The United Nations as a repository for information on due diligence and on suspicious transaction reporting
c. Development of early warning

Conclusion:
As noted above, the difficulties and complexities inherent in combating the
transfer of illicit funds arising from acts of corruption cannot be underestimated. It is an ongoing process and can deeply hamper the economic growth and the social stability of a nation. Thus it is of supreme importance that assets of a country are used for its development and communal growth which will also lead to international economic stability.

Questions to consider:

• What is the current economic policy and Growth rate of your country?

• What is the exact history with reference to corruption such as transfer of illicit assets in the form of money laundering goods etc.?What steps were taken to prevent the incident?

• What measures have been implemented to combat corruption? Include treaties, laws international conventions etc.

• What is the chief cause for social corruption- economic divide, backward economy etc.?

• What steps have international bodies taken to help your nation and how successful have they been?

• How is your nation planning to contribute to the world stage? Does it require aid or can it provide it?

REFERENCE LINKS:
http://www.mfa.gov.cn/ce/ceun/eng/chinaandun/economicdevelopment/qqh/t276898.htm
http://www.un.org/esa/documents/draft87cCorruptpractices.pdf
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2003/gaef3041.doc.htm
http://www.un.org/documents/ga/docs/56/a56186.pdf

Multi-lateralization of the nuclear fuel cycle: Creation of an International Nuclear Fuel Bank

2009-07-20T23:07:00.000+05:30

Multi-lateralization of the nuclear fuel cycle: Creation of an International Nuclear Fuel BankOVERVIEW:

The multi- or internationalization of the nuclear fuel cycle was heavily discussed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, especially with regard to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. It was identified that given the appropriate administrative authority, both multi-nationalization and internationalization have a potential to significantly increase the proliferation resistance of the nuclear fuel cycle. However, implementing such models also would have disadvantages, especially in the areas of political independence, transfer of technologies, and planning security of national nuclear programs.

Enriched uranium provides the fuel for many of the world’s nuclear power reactors, and the enrichment process is a vital process in a multi-step nuclear fuel cycle. The enrichment of uranium, while a necessary step in the creation of the fuel that power many of the world's civilian nuclear reactors, can also be employed for use in nuclear weapons. By providing a secure and reliable supply of the fuel needed for nuclear power generation, a nuclear fuel bank would limit the dissemination of enrichment technologies.

IN September 2006, the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) pledged $50 million to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to help create a low-enriched uranium stockpile to support nations that make the sovereign choice not to build indigenous nuclear fuel cycle capabilities.
NTI´s contribution was contingent on two conditions:
1) That the IAEA takes the necessary actions to approve establishment of this reserve; and
2) That one or more member states contribute an additional $100 million in funding or an equivalent value of low enriched uranium to jump-start the reserve.
Every other element of the arrangement - its structure, its location, the conditions for access - would be up to the IAEA and its member states to decide. Warren Buffett, one of NTI´s key advisors, is financially backing and enabling this NTI commitment.

"This pledge is an investment in a safer world," Buffett said. "The concept of a backup fuel reserve has been discussed for many years. Its creation is inherently a governmental responsibility, but I hope that this pledge of funds will support governments in taking action to get this concept off the ground."

"I have long been advocating the establishment of assurance of supply mechanisms in view of increasing demand for nuclear power and to strengthen non-proliferation," said IAEA Director General Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei. "At the core of such mechanisms will be a fuel bank of last resort, under IAEA auspices. Such a bank would operate on the basis of apolitical and non-discriminatory non-proliferation criteria, and I welcome the recent action by the US Congress as a positive step in this regard. In addition to the $50 million already pledged by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), it brings such a fuel bank closer to realization. I also have welcomed the Russian proposal for a fuel bank under IAEA control and a German initiative calling for the creation of an international enrichment centre, open to participation by all interested States."

Nunn, Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, said, "We envision that this stockpile will be available as a last-resort fuel reserve for nations that have made the sovereign choice to develop their nuclear energy based on foreign sources of fuel supply services—and therefore have no indigenous enrichment facilities. The goal of this proposed initiative is to help make fuel supplies from the international market more secure by offering customer states, that are in full compliance with their non-proliferation obligations, reliable access to a nuclear fuel reserve under impartial IAEA control should their supply arrangements be disrupted. In so doing, we hope to make a state’s voluntary choice to rely on this market more secure."

Nunn expressed concern that "cooperation in nuclear security is being sorely tested today by mounting tensions over the three areas of consensus and commitment that created the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and have held it together for nearly 40 years." Those three areas are:

The commitment of nuclear weapons states to make progress toward nuclear disarmament.
The commitment of non-nuclear weapons states to forego nuclear weapons.
The commitment of all nations to ensure NPT compliant member states access to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

In addition to the NTI plan, several other proposals for the creation of a reliable fuel supply have been submitted to the IAEA and are currently under consideration.

A German plan calls for multilateral uranium enrichment under the auspices of the IAEA and calls for a third-party State to provide an extraterritorial area for a uranium enrichment plant. The plant would be financed by countries who would act as buyers of the plant’s nuclear fuel.

A Russian proposal seeks the establishment of a joint enrichment facility at the country's pre-existing Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Complex, which is already a manufacturer of LEU. An IAEA controlled LEU reserve would be located at Angarsk.

Both Russia and the US have announced their willingness to make nuclear material available for a fuel bank in the past. An IAEA-administered fuel bank was a key proposal made by an IAEA Expert Group in 2005, tasked with finding options both to improve controls over fuel enrichment and reprocessing, while ensuring access to nuclear fuel for electricity generation.

WHY ACTION IS NEEDED NOW:

Civilian nuclear power is expanding to meet growing demand for electricity as existing supplies of electric power are threatened by soaring prices for natural gas and oil, concerns about air pollution, and the challenge of lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Nearly 30 countries around the world utilize nuclear power; while some 10 countries have mastered the technical challenge of enriching uranium for nuclear fuel. Three additional countries have recently announced plans to consider uranium enrichment in the future. There are 27 new nuclear plants under construction, most in the Far East (principally in China and India). Moreover, many operating power plants are getting old.

In countries like Great Britain and France some older nuclear plants are due to be replaced, and France, where over 70 percent of the power is nuclear, is ready to build new plants. Worldwide, nuclear provides about 16 percent of electric power. Much of that technology is "dual use:" centrifuges used to enrich power reactor fuel can also be spun longer to make weapon-grade nuclear material (high-enriched uranium).

Despite the many layers of complexity, "this is an either/or situation," Tariq Rauf of IAEA, scientific secretary for the special event, said. "If we don’t make it work, then we must prepare to live in a world where dozens of countries have the capability and key ingredients to make nuclear weapons."

As an increasing number of nations plan for the development of civilian nuclear energy, concern has grown over the potential for diversion of nuclear material and technology from peaceful to military use.
The establishment of a nuclear fuel supply system has been considered as a means of not only minimizing this risk, but also in assisting nations in their peaceful development of nuclear power. Providing a reliable fuel supply to nations with a burgeoning nuclear power programme eases the economic cost and nuclear weapons-related risks intrinsic with building enrichment capabilities.

ABOUT THE NTI

Composition
NTI is a charitable organization dedicated to reducing the threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. The Initiative is governed by an international board of directors with members from China, France, India, Japan, Jordan, Pakistan, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. It is a place where leaders with different perspectives and experience come together to find common ground and act on a common vision of global security.

Goal
NTI´s goal is to reduce toward zero the chance that any nuclear, biological, or chemical weapon will ever be used anywhere, either by intent or accident.

Work
NTI has been a strong supporter of the work and mission of the IAEA. In September 2001, NTI made an initial contribution to help launch the Agency’s Nuclear Security Fund. Since that time, NTI has worked with the IAEA to support several other critical projects in assisting member states secure nuclear materials and in building the Agency’s institutional capacity to continue and accelerate this work into the future.

Reactions to the nuclear fuel bank proposed by the NTI:

USA
The IAEA has recognized a recent $50 million funding allocation by the US Congress for purposes of a nuclear fuel reserve under the auspices of the Agency. US President George Bush signed the funding allocation into law on 26 December 2007.
Iran
In early 2008 Iranian presidential advisor Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi said Iran could join a proposed international bank for enriched uranium that would provide countries with safe fuel for nuclear power stations - but only as a supplier.
"Having this nuclear fuel cycle is part of our right, there is no reason -- when we can produce something -- to go get it from other people," he said.

Norway
The Government of Norway has pledged financial and political support for an IAEA-administered international uranium fuel bank initiative. The $5 million Norwegian donation is in support of an initial $50 million contribution made by NTI advisor Warren Buffet and a US funding allocation of $50 million to establish an IAEA reserve of low-enriched uranium for use as fuel in power reactors to generate electricity.

UAE
The United Arab Emirates has pledged $10 million towards a fuel bank proposal originally launched by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) in 2006. The UAE commitment was presented to IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei on 1 August by Mr. Hamad Al Kaabi, UAE Special Representative for International Nuclear Cooperation. "The Government of the United Arab Emirates would like to express its political and financial support for the proposed IAEA-administered international low-enriched uranium fuel bank as proposed by the Nuclear Threat Initiative," wrote UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in a letter addressed to Dr. ElBaradei.

India
India has proved willing to provide a site for the proposed nuclear fuel bank.

EU
The European Union backs plans to create a nuclear fuel bank before 2010 which would ensure supplies and cut the need for nations to enrich uranium."We want the bank to be established very soon. In any case before the next NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) review conference in spring 2010," said Javier Solana, EU foreign policy chief. IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei welcomed the EU's offer. "The EU pledge, along with those by Norway, the UAE and the USA shows growing momentum for a new more equitable framework for nuclear energy,” he said.

RECAP

The concept of a multilateral LEU supply bank is not a new one, and has in fact been discussed in past decades. Assurances of supply of nuclear fuel, including nuclear fuel reserves (or banks), could provide States confidence in obtaining nuclear fuel for electricity generation and protect against disruption of supply for political reasons. The risk of such disruptions could possibly dissuade countries from initiating or expanding nuclear power programs or create vulnerabilities in the security of fuel supply that might in turn drive States to invest in national uranium enrichment capabilities with possible additional proliferation risks. Thus, multilateral approaches to the nuclear fuel cycle, in general, have the potential to facilitate peaceful use of nuclear energy while providing the international community with additional assurance that the sensitive parts of the nuclear fuel cycle are less vulnerable to misuse for non-peaceful purposes.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

The support for the multi lateralization of the nuclear fuel cycle has grown steadily over the years. As the delegates of the IAEA, it is your role to assess the benefits and shortcomings of such a change, keeping in mind the immediate and long term objectives of your country's energy policy.

Delegates, you may take into account the following while doing your research.

• Does your country use nuclear energy for civilian purposes?
• Does your country possess the capability to produce Low Enriched Uranium for civilian reactors?
• Would multi lateralization of the nuclear fuel cycle benefit your economy and help meet the energy requirements of your nation?
• Has your country, in the past been party to multilateral agreements involving nuclear fuel or technology?
• Would multi lateralization of the nuclear fuel cycle diminish the dependence on fossil fuels and other alternative sources of energy and would such a shift be desirable?
• What security concerns might arise as the result of the establishment of an international nuclear facility?
• Does your country have proposals that would ensure that the LEU produced or generated at an international nuclear facility would be disbursed fairly and without any bias?
• Would multi lateralization of the nuclear fuel cycle promote the principles enshrined in the NPT?
• How likely are any of the fuel assurances programs through the International Nuclear Fuel Bank to have the desired effect, and what must be done to make them both feasible and effective?
• Will the multi lateralization of the nuclear fuel cycle actually result in the supplier countries having undue influence over the generation of nuclear power?

SOURCES:

IAEA homepage:
www.iaea.org

In focus: revisiting the nuclear fuel cycle:
http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Focus/FuelCycle/index.shtml

The Nuclear Threat Initiative:
http://www.nti.org/index.php

The Nuclear fuel cycle:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/sci_nat/05/nuclear_fuel/html/enrichment.stm

IAEA, developments in 2008:
http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2008/year_in_review.html

Russian Proposal for an international Uranium Enrichment centre:
http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/2007/infcirc708.pdf

Germany's proposed multilateral enrichment sanctuary project:
http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/2007/infcirc704.pdf

Multi lateralization of the nuclear fuel cycle:
http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2008_09/Simpson

Text of the NPT:
http://www.un.org/events/npt2005/npttreaty.html

Maintenance of international peace and security with special reference to the Middle East

2009-07-20T23:02:00.000+05:30

Maintenance of international peace and security with special reference to the Middle East.

“…..regardless of race, religion, or station in life, all of us share common aspirations -- to live in peace and security.” -- Barack Hussein Obama.

OVERVIEW:

International peace and security is an issue of growing concern in a today’s terrorised and ailing world. The Middle East, with its immense wealth, cultural diversity and key economic assets is quickly becoming extremely vulnerable to corruption and terror thus becoming a threat to the maintenance of peace and security within the region and globally.

Firstly, there is the question of extremism. In 2007, more than 72,000 people were targeted by terrorists worldwide, with over 70% of these being in and around the Middle East. Iraq and its civil chaos is example of the same. The democratically elected governments and its regular struggle with Islamist extremists, the eternal tension created by foreign troops on Iraqi soil further aggravates the situation. Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen have all been linked to extremism in some form. Very often it is the territorial abuse of a sovereign nation, generally with a weak government. Often even illegal arms manufacture and trade, bilateral and multinational ties along with a religious outline are used as causes to propagate violence.

Secondly, the situation in Israel and its decades long conflict with Palestine and the Arab world. This conflict began years ago over the battle for religious land and has grown and incorporated several issues. Over the years countless efforts and developments have occurred. The formation of PLO, the signing of the historic Oslo treaty, the eventual creation of Fatah and Hamas, the division of territories- the Gaza strip and the west bank, up to recent warfare and ceasefire and so on. The involvement of the developed nations particularly USA has a key significance in this issue. Thus a rapid and through agreement is needed for the economic, social and political growth of the entire middle east.

Human rights play a close part in maintaining harmony. The Middle East has been under the radar for their violations for some time. Women rights in particular along with the interpretation of Sharia law, the extreme punitive measures in place such as whipping and wall standing, together with compulsory military training and other practices has often enraged the remaining world. Though effective, several nations and world bodies have challenged the implications of such practices on the victims and have often linked it to be a cause for brewing hatred and terrorism.
The law of the land particularly the functioning of the government is key to maintenance of stability.
Iran’s recent disputed election

Nuclear armament along with the strengthening of military weapons across the world is another matter of growing alarm. Iran’s nuclear policy, Israel’s ambiguity of its own, Syrian view on the issue, the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Nuclear Test Ban treaty among others are matters which require immediate attention. The threat of a nuclear war is nearer than ever before and brings with it destruction of a magnitude that we cannot sustain.

Every aspect of a nation- economic (industry, agriculture), Social (rights, religion), Political (democracy, equality, sovereignty) affect the global scene very closely. 72,000 is more than a statistic -- it is parents, teachers, children, friends and loved ones. Terrorism and conflict affects people of all regions, religions and backgrounds, and confronting it requires a global effort.

BACKGROUND:

Since the advance of the Ottomans in the 16th century, the fate of the Arab world was frequently determined by foreign powers. The vacuum of power, caused by the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th and early 20th century, was filled out by the upcoming European colonial powers, above all France and the United Kingdom. Along with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire after WWI and the process of decolonization, a number of independent states emerged across the Middle East by the end of the 1950s. Due to their immense oil resources, the USSR and, to an even greater extent, the oil-importing USA attached high importance to controlling the oil production and to securing the routes of transport. This, again, led to an extensive interference of foreign powers in the internal affairs of Middle East countries, since they became dependent on the protection and the financial, economic and military support of the superpowers. After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the US lost its counterpart and became the undisputable hegemon of the region. Afraid of harmful consequences, in the following years only a few countries dared to openly refuse US policy, among them Iraq, Iran and Syria. In 2003, the invasion in Iraq by a US-led coalition ended the rule of Saddam Hussein and paved the way for free elections, the first in half a century. Iran currently alienates the international community, above all the West and Israel, through the construction of a nuclear program that could be designed for the development of nuclear weapons.
However, the most pressing threat to the regional and international security, apart from potential Iranian ambitions to go nuclear, is a non-state one, namely international terrorist movements. The attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, drew the attention of the world to the Middle East, as all 19 perpetrators came from Arab countries. After the US occupation of Iraq, the country became the hub of international Jihadis fighting for the expulsion of all foreign troops and the establishment of a theocratic order.

EXTREMISM: THE IRAQ CONFLICT

Insurgents regularly target civilians as well as security forces. Tensions between Shia and Sunni Muslims have spilled over into brutal sectarian violence.
In 2007 US troop levels were increased by 30,000, as commanders tried a military "surge" to stamp out resistance. The number of attacks had declined by year's end.
In June 2009 US troops withdrew form Iraq's towns and cities, handing over security to Iraqi forces. US President Barack Obama described the move as a milestone, but warned of "difficult days ahead".
US-led combat operations are due to end by September 2010, with all troops gone from Iraq by the end of 2011.
American missiles hit targets in Baghdad in the early hours of 20 March 2003, marking the start of the campaign to remove the Iraqi leader.
US and British ground forces entered from the south, with the leadership in Baghdad remaining defiant. By 9 April US forces had advanced into central Baghdad and Saddam Hussein's grip on power had withered.
Sovereignty was transferred to an interim government in June 2004 and six months later Iraqis voted in the first multi-party elections in 50 years

THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT:

There are two primary issues at the core of this continuing conflict. First, there is the inevitably destabilizing effect of trying to maintain an ethnically preferential state, particularly when it is largely of foreign origin. The original population of what is now Israel was 96 percent Muslim and Christian, yet, these refugees are prohibited from returning to their homes in the self-described Jewish state (and those within Israel are subjected to systematic discrimination).

Second, Israel's continued military occupation and confiscation of privately owned land in the West Bank, and control over Gaza, are extremely oppressive, with Palestinians having minimal control over their lives. Over 10,000 Palestinian men, women, and children are held in Israeli prisons. Few of them have had a legitimate trial; Physical abuse and torture are frequent. Palestinian borders (even internal ones) are controlled by Israeli forces. Periodically men, women, and children are strip searched; people are beaten; women in labour are prevented from reaching hospitals (at times resulting in death); food and medicine are blocked from entering Gaza, producing an escalating humanitarian crisis. Israeli forces invade almost daily, injuring, kidnapping, and sometimes killing inhabitants.
According to the Oslo peace accords of 1993, these territories were supposed to finally become a Palestinian state. However, after years of Israel continuing to confiscate land and conditions steadily worsening, the Palestinian population rebelled. (The Barak offer, widely reputed to be generous, was anything but.) This uprising, called the "Intifada" (Arabic for "shaking off") began at the end of September 2000.
The situation has deteriorated ever since. In the last two years killings have increased. Palestinian rocket fire was met with a full arms aggression launched by Israel. Eventually a cease fire was reached but then breached within 3 months. Thus this conflict is a long standing one and has global implications. It closes deals with cruelty in its most brutal form and a solution is the need of the hour.

IRAN: “THE AXIS OF EVIL”

In 2002, US President George W Bush declared Iran as part of an "axis of evil". Washington accuses it of undermining its efforts in Iraq and of trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran, which is building its first atomic power station with Russian help, says its nuclear ambitions are peaceful.
In 2006 the government announced that it had succeeded in enriching uranium. President Ahmadinejad said Iran has an "inalienable right" to produce nuclear fuel.
The country has an abundance of energy resources - substantial oil reserves and natural gas reserves second only to those of Russia.
Iran has been led by a conservative elite since 1979, but appeared to be entering another era of political and social transformation with the victory of the liberals in parliamentary elections in 2000.
But the reformists, kept on the political defensive by powerful conservatives in the government and judiciary, failed to make good on their promises.
Former President Mohammad Khatami's support for greater social and political freedoms made him popular with the young - an important factor as around half of the population is under 25.
But his liberal ideas put him at odds with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, and hardliners reluctant to lose sight of established Islamic traditions.
The elections of June 2005 dealt a blow to the reformists when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Tehran's ultra-conservative mayor, became president.
Mr Ahmadinejad's controversial re-election in June 2009 has further widened the rift between conservatives and reformists within Iran's political establishment.

The UN has issued only one statement with reference to the conflicted election:
“The Secretary-General has been following with growing concern the situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran and is dismayed by the post-election violence, particularly the use of force against civilians, which has led to the loss of life and injuries. He calls on the authorities to respect fundamental civil and political rights, especially the freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of information. The situation in Iran is of concern to the international community, and the Secretary-General calls on the Government and the opposition to resolve peacefully their differences through dialogue and legal means. He urges an immediate stop to the arrests, threats and use of force. The Secretary-General reiterates his hope that the democratic will of the people of Iran will be fully respected.”

HUMAN RIGHTS AND VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL CODE OF CONDUCT:

The human rights situation in the Middle East remains poor. Restrictions of freedom of expression and freedom of religion are worsening. Journalists, academics, human rights defenders, and ethnic and religious minorities (such as members of the Baha’i faith) face harassment, intimidation, arbitrary detention and threats of prosecution. The use of the death penalty is rising, and Iran is one of the few countries in the world that still executes juvenile offenders. Although rare, cruel and inhumane punishments such as flogging, stoning and amputations remain on the statute books.

The following are certain instances that have been regarded as critical:

United Arab Emirates (UAE):

Amnesty International concern that ‘Abdullah Sultan al-Subaihat who was arrested by Amn al-Dawla officers on February 8 2007 and sentenced to three-year prison sentence, did not receive a fair trial. ‘Abdullah Sultan al-Subaihat is serving a three-year prison sentence at al-Wathba prison, some 60 km from the city of Abu Dhabi. He is alleged to have been tortured while detained incommunicado by members of Amn al-Dawla (State Security). After an unfair trial, he was found guilty of “obtaining secret information on state security”.
Jordan

Amnesty International continues to be concerned about torture and ill-treatment in detention in Jordan, as well as the link between torture, unfair trials, and the death penalty. Amnesty International has particular concerns about the application of the death penalty in Jordan because there is a pattern of death sentences, and sometimes executions, occurring as a result of unfair trials where confessions extracted under torture are used as evidence against the defendants. There has also been a pattern of suppression of freedom of expression and association, especially in the wake of laws restricting freedom of the press and expression that were promulgated in the fall of 2001. Several clerics and journalists and members of professional associations have been arrested, detained, and charged for peaceful expression of their opinions. The practice of killing women and girls by husbands or family members because they have allegedly engaged in behaviour that goes against social norms (so-called "honour killings") continues to be a problem in Jordan; measures calling for stricter punishment for those committing honour killings have failed to be enacted.

Lebanon

Lebanese women won the right to vote and to participate in national elections in 1952, 19 years before women in Switzerland. Yet, today, political participation by Lebanese women remains dismal at the national level.
In the June parliamentary elections, only 12 women ran for office and only 4 were elected out of 128 seats. Since suffrage, in fact, only 17 women have served in Lebanon's Parliament.
The reasons are complicated but male domination of the country's politics is one major reason. Another is that political parties are focused on sectarian interests, marginalizing women's voices.

Syria

Freedom of expression and association continues to be severely restricted. Scores of people have been arrested and hundreds remained imprisoned for political reasons, including prisoners of conscience and others sentenced after unfair trials. Discriminatory legislation and practices remain in force against women and the Kurdish minority. Torture and ill-treatment in detention continues to be reported and carried out with impunity. Human rights defenders continue to face arrest, harassment and restrictions on their freedom of movement. Syria retains the death penalty.

Saudi Arabia

The push for political reform, occurring simultaneously with an increasingly unsettled security situation, has created a very unpredictable human rights environment. Killings by both government security forces and armed groups occur periodically, either in attacks or shootouts. The pardon and release of prominent reform advocates by King Abdullah may signal a more consistent support for reform, but torture and ill-treatment persist, as do incommunicado detention, prolonged detention without charge, and unfair trials.
There are still scores of political prisoners and possible prisoners of conscience. Saudi Arabia continues to use flogging and amputations as punishments. Executions, beheadings with a sword, occur regularly and are disproportionately carried out against foreign nationals. Foreign workers are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, particularly female domestic workers, who have virtually no protection at all.

CONCLUSION:

It is evident from the above data that definite and immediate measures need to be taken in order to resolve the crises that plagues the entire region. Needless to say the Middle East is a key area in the global scene, especially due to its immense reserve of crude oil and gas. Religious implications coupled with the difference in laws and way of life has played a close rule in shaping the current scenario. Even though several steps have been implemented none have met with much success. Thus it is fundamentally important to re-think procedures and start afresh with innovative and most importantly effective measures to bring harmony to this conflicted region.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

• How has the turmoil in Middle East affected your country?

• What steps has your country taken to mitigate the violence? Pay heed to all the region specific treaties and conventions that have been ratified by your nation.

• How far are the situations in the Middle East affecting socio-economic matters?

• Human rights and their violation pose an international threat. Discuss with reference to your nation.

• Nuclear armament along with gathering of military strength and its impact on international security. Please take mote of terrorist activity and extremism.

• What are the possible steps to restore peace? Is democratization and accountability of absolute importance?

USEFUL LINKS:

http://www.cfr.org/issue/65/international_peace_and_security.html
http://www.un.org/ga/62/agenda/ps.shtml
http://www.cartercenter.org/news/documents/doc1383.html
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/oct2003/unhc-o17.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Middle_East_peace_proposals
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/30/iraq.main
http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2003/rp03-050.pdf

Impact of Resource Scarcity in Developing Countries with the Onset of the Global Recession.

2009-07-20T22:59:00.000+05:30

Impact of Resource Scarcity in Developing Countries with the Onset of the Global Recession.Recession is a general slowdown in economic activity over a sustained period of time, or a business cycle contraction. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way. Production as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment, investment spending, capacity utilization, household incomes and business profits all fall during recessions.
Governments usually respond to recessions by adopting expansionary macroeconomic policies, such as increasing money supply, increasing government spending and decreasing taxation.
Worldwide trade will plummet by nearly 10 percent this year, and output will fall by 2.9 percent, the World Bank predicted in a report .Developing counties will be hit hard by falls in private investment, the Washington-based agency predicted, seeing nearly $1 trillion less in foreign investment this year than they did two years ago. That could leave developing countries hundreds of millions of dollars short of the money they need to finance their foreign obligations, the bank warned."Developing countries are likely to face a dismal external financing climate in 2009," the bank said in a statement accompanying the release of it annual Global Development Finance report.
In 2007, poor countries took in $1.2 trillion in foreign investment. This year the figure is likely to be $363 billion -- less than a third of the record 2007 amount, and just over half last year's total of $707 billion. Industrial production has fallen sharply in the past year, as companies’ worry that people will not have the money to buy their wares. Manufacturing has dropped by 15 percent in the rich world since August 2008, and 10 percent in the developing world excluding China, the bank said. The figures are for private investment in developing countries, not government aid. The World Bank's chief economist called for "bold policy measures" to fight the downturn. The report comes 10 days after billionaire Bill Gates urged industrialized nations to honor aid pledges to developing nations despite the recession.
Economic recession has reversed a 20-year decline in world poverty and is likely to add up to 90 million to the ranks of the hungry in 2009, an increase of six per cent over current totals, the United Nations said on Monday.
The estimate, in a gloomy report on a decade-old U.N. program to set poor countries on the road to solid development by 2015, suggests 17 per cent of the world's 6.8 billion people will be classed extremely poor by the end of this year.
"In 2009, an estimated 55 to 90 million more people will be living in extreme poverty than anticipated before the crisis," declared the report, launched in Geneva by U.N. Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon.
And the study, "The Millennium Development Goals Report," also warned that a recent decline in foreign aid -- despite pledges from rich powers to increase fund flows -- was likely to bring more disease and social disruption in the South.
In a speech to the U.N.'s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Ban appealed to the Group of Eight industrial nations to step up aid, especially to Africa, over the next year, saying their previous pledges had fallen short."I urge the G8 to set out, country by country, how donors will scale up aid to Africa over the next year," Ban said in a speech aimed at the July 8-10 gathering in the central Italian city of L'Aquila which he will be attending."The credibility of the international system depends on whether donors deliver," he added. "Human decency and global solidarity demand that we pull together for the poorest and the most vulnerable among us," Ban told another session later.
G8 leaders, at a summit in Scotland in 2005, pledged to raise development assistance by $50 billion by 2010, half of that for Africa. But aid remains at least $20 billion below the target set out at Gleneagles, he said. Aid can help transform lives, but delays in its delivery, combined with the financial crisis and climate change, are slowing progress, Ban told ECOSOC at the start of a three-week meeting in Geneva.
People living in poverty -- defined by the U.N. as those living on less than $1.25 a day -- have already suffered most from the economic and financial crisis rippling around the globe for nearly two years, the report said."The numbers of people going hungry and living in extreme poverty are much larger than they would have been had progress continued uninterrupted," Ban said in a foreword, although the full impact of recession was not yet known, he added.
According to U.N. figures, in 1990 the proportion of hungry people among the world population was 20 percent, but by 2005 it had declined to 16 percent -- reflecting a rise in prosperity, especially in Asia, driven by booming world trade. The reversal began in 2008, partly due to rising world food prices, the report said, and although the cost of basic products had begun to drop again toward the end of last year that had not made food more affordable for most people around the world. In the report, Ban said it was important to continue programs for improving maternal and infant survival rates and tackling hunger and malnutrition in the young, estimating that in poorer countries over a quarter of children are underweight.

THE IMPACT OF RECESSION WITH SUITABLE EXAMPLES:1. Recession weighs heavily on aid to developing countries:
Developing countries, already hard hit by the global economic downturn, are now facing cutbacks in foreign assistance from traditional donors saddled with rapidly expanding deficits. The worldwide recession has driven 50 million people into extreme poverty, according to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which have exhorted rich countries to live up to, promises to boost development aid.
"There's a risk that these promises will not be kept if the crisis deepens," warned Jose Gijon, head of the Africa-Middle East department at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Added Shanta Devarajan, chief economist for Africa at the World Bank: "The fiscal pressure that developed countries are facing, especially to address the problems of their citizens, is so high that it will be hard to get political support to maintain the level of foreign aid."He said a 2005 pledge from the Group of Eight industrialised powers to double aid to Africa, made when the world economy was flourishing, had already fallen about 20 million dollars short of the target before the latest crisis erupted in late 2008. Research had shown that six countries that had suffered an economic slowdown in the 1990s, including Japan and the United States, had in one year cut their overseas assistance by 13 percent.
Aid volumes came to a record last year but have now begun to slide. Italy has reduced its overseas development budget by 56 percent and Ireland by 10 percent while Latvia has abandoned such initiatives altogether, according to the European Network on Debt and Development. Oliver Buston of the non-governmental organisation ONE has noted that in addition to a fall in aid amounts, there has been a worrisome shift "toward more loans and less and less grants," which could trigger a "debt crisis."While the United States is planning an 8.0 percent hike in development aid next year, there are concerns about France, currently the fourth largest aid giver by volume. The 2009 French budget foresees development assistance equivalent 0.47 percent of gross national product, declining to 0.41 percent in 2010 and 0.42 percent in 2011.Although France remains committed to increasing assistance to 0.7 percent of gross national product in 2015, consistent with the United Nations Millennium Goal.
2. Global recession hits Asia's poor
Two major reports on the international economy have been released in the last few days — one from the World Bank, and one by the OECD. Forecasters in these and similar organisations watch each other's forecasts closely so it isn't surprising that on key points, the two reports tell similar stories.
One of the headline figures from both reports is that overall growth in the main rich countries is likely to decline by around 4% during 2009. This is a fairly stunning figure which underlines the huge cost of the policy blunders, especially in the US, which led to the near-collapse of global financial sectors in 2008.
The news is even grimmer for poor countries. Overall, growth in poor countries is likely to remain marginally positive at 1.2% in 2009. This might sound respectable compared to the actual decline of 4% in rich countries. But as I explain in a Policy Brief prepared for the Lowy Institute, mass poverty is a major problem in poor countries in Asia and high rates of sustained economic growth are needed to make any significant dent in the poverty problem.
What is particularly worrying is the sharp drop in capital flows to poor countries which is now underway. The World Bank notes that 'Developing countries are likely to face a dismal external financing climate in 2009' and 'Private debt and equity flows will likely fall short of meeting the external financing needs…by a wide margin, amounting to a gap estimated to range between $US350 billion and $US 632 billion.'
Poor countries need investment to grow. If capital flows drop away sharply, they will be starved of capital and poverty will increase markedly.
3. Sharp decline
Even worse is the loss of export revenue. Here Africa has been especially affected. "A lot of what is happening in the poorer countries is happening below the radar screen," South Africa's finance minister mentioned. His neighbour Botswana, prospering until recently, depends on diamonds for its main export revenues, but has lost 90% of that revenue since last year. In South Africa, meanwhile, he says "you can go to our ports and find iron ore and manganese, aluminium piled up, not going anywhere". "And if you don't have the revenues", he adds, "You can't deliver all of the services". That means teachers, nurses, police will lose jobs, children will not go to school. And whole societies will be undermined. "I fear for social stability, I fear for political stability, and it is happening already" says Donald Kaberuka, head of the African Development Bank, who helped rebuild his country, Rwanda, after the 1994 genocide.
Return of protectionism?
There are serious and obvious risks for wealthy countries here. The trafficking of drugs, and of people, piracy, and conflict, all flourish where governments are insecure and unstable. But whatever the talk of a united global response, there is little sign of it in practice. Take protectionism. No-one is admitting in public that they are turning their backs on free trade. "Everyone's rhetoric is very good," says Minouche Shafik, permanent secretary at the UK's Department for International Development (DFID). "But the reality of some decisions being made is very worrying." And it is precisely the emergency measures being taken in richer countries that can harm those most vulnerable. State subsidies to favoured industries or "encouraging your banks to lend at home or to consolidate at home" are both "protectionist", she adds. "It is a classical problem where individual nations looking after their own interests end up damaging the collective." Rich countries need to do to stabilise their financial systems. The other, trying to make itself heard, is about the very different - but more urgent - needs of the world's poorest people. Although the crisis originated elsewhere, many developing countries are facing a catastrophic loss of income on several fronts. Aid flows are declining as donor governments tighten up. Remittances - money sent home by those who migrate to find work - has been worth more than aid in recent years, but has now gone into sharp decline. In Mexico, remittances flows have even reversed, as families have to send money to support relatives in the US who have lost their jobs.
SOLUTIONS CREATED BY THE UNITED NATIONS TO COMBAT RECESSION:
The UN General Assembly adopted a plan designed to meet demands by developing countries hard hit by the global recession, including stimulus packages worth over 1 trillion dollars. The 192-nation assembly adopted the text without a vote and allowed some countries, including the United States and Canada, to voice reservations about the feasibility of implementing some of the demands.
The adoption of the so-called outcome document capped three days of debate. More than 140 government representatives and scores of non-government organizations spoke, most of them to bemoan the state of the world's financial and economic crisis.
The 15-page document reflected some demands of developing countries as well as least-developed countries. Developed countries for example had the final say about a proposal to more tightly oversee international finance, and the document rejected a proposal to impose new regulations on world finance.
In the final document, rich countries are blamed for causing the recession, and poor countries are portrayed as the real victims. Wealthy nations are called upon to provide additional funding in the form of stimulus seen in the United States and some European nations.
The UN has predicted a fall of 2.6 per cent in the world's gross economic product in 2009, the first such decline since World War II, threatening 'calamitous human and development consequences.'
Creditors are urged to honour their commitments to debt relief in the document, but debtors are also called upon to show a sense of responsibility.
The General Assembly called for increasing global liquidity to help overcome the financial crisis, and underlined the urgent need for the implementation of the first step - an allocation of 250 billion special drawing rights (SDR) for poor countries.
The arrangement allows the recipients to convert the SDR to one of the currencies approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is responsible for the SDR basket.
Reforms of the IMF and World Bank that allow more developing economies to the decision-making table are seen as key to the success of the proposals, as is strengthening the United Nations system.
The United States pointed out that the United Nations is not equipped to handle some of the tasks mentioned in the document, particularly those dealing with foreign exchanges, the World Trade Organization and the complex funding usually adminsitered by authorities of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The Czech Republic's envoy, speaking on behalf of the European Union, praised the adoption of the document, and made no reservations.
The US and Canada however were concerned about issues of immigration and debt relief, and they warned the UN not to duplicate the work of other financial organizations like the World Bank and IMF.
One key provision in the document called for the implementation of the commitment of the G20 - the world's wealthiest 20 countries - to provide additional funds of 1.1 trillion dollars to revitalize the world economy. The commitment, which was made in London in April, would give a limited share of 50 billion dollars to low income countries.
During the debate before the adoption, Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, whose country's emerging economy appeared brighter than that of many other developing nations, said the UN debate had brought together the world to deal with the recession. G20 member Turkey urged the group to deliver on its promise to make available over 1 trillion dollars to the poor. Envoys from the Pacific small island states said in a joint statement that they were grappling with both the economic downturn and the effects of climate change. The group said it has experienced a significant drop in export demands from customers in the West. 'Our trade balance and official foreign reserve levels will also be negatively affected, compromising our ability to weather economic fluctuations in the future,' the group said.
WHAT COUNTRIES ARE DOING TO COMBAT RECESSION:
The US and Canada have agreed to work closely together to counter the widening global economic recession and avoid erecting trade barriers that would hamper thriving cross-border commerce.
President Barack Obama, on his first foreign trip since he took office Jan 20, said Thursday the US and Canada had a shared commitment to economic recovery and would also jointly act to strengthen the ailing North American car industry.
‘The people of North America are hurting, and that is why our governments are acting,’ Obama said at a joint news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. ‘We know that the financial crisis is global and so our response must be global.’
Obama said the US and Canada were working closely together bilaterally and within the G8 and G20 - two blocs made up of the world’s largest economies - to see how to restore confidence in financial markets.
Like much of the world, both nations are battling a severe recession. In Canada, the world’s eighth-largest economy, the unemployment rate in January soared to a four-year high of 7.2 percent. That rate was at 7.6 percent in the US, the highest since 1992.
Harper said he and Obama agreed that Canada and the US ‘must work closely to counter the global economic recession by implementing mutually beneficial stimulus measures’.
‘We know, as a small economy, we can’t recover without recovery in the United States,’ he said. While Obama has vowed to combat protectionist impulses, Canada had expressed concerns about the ‘buy American’ provision in the $787-billion US economic stimulus package signed into law this week.
The US measure, which bars foreign manufacturing goods from being used in government projects, was modified in the final bill to assure it doesn’t break existing trade agreements.

QUESTIONS TO ADDRESS:
• How badly is your country being affected by the current global recession?
• To what extent has recession hit the nation in terms of trade, employment, standards of living, credit facilities etc.?
• What are the ways your country is implementing to tackle the problem within its territory?
• If you are a developed nation, do you yield to helping lesser developed nations through aid?
REFERENCE LINKS:
http://search.us.reuters.com/query/?q=Recession+in+poor+countries&st=10&s=USWEB
http://www.marxist.com/economic-crisis-and-poor-countries.htm
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=31365&Cr=economic&Cr1=turmoil

SOPHIA MODEL UNITED NATIONS 2009

2009-07-08T22:08:00.000+05:30

DELEGATE HANDBOOK.

Please note that:

1.The Secretary General shall have final authority on all procedural and substantive matters during the conference.
2.Each committee chair will have authority over all procedural matters within their committee; decisions of the chair may be challenged in writing through the Secretary General.
3.SMUN will be run under the specific rules* set forth in the delegate handbook.
4.The dress code for the conference will be business formal. Please note that denim, sneakers and hats are not allowed.

Rules of Procedure

General considerations

Scope
The following rules apply to all the committees at Sophia Model United Nations. In case of conflict of interpretation, the Secretary General is the final authority for determining
the applicability of the rules of procedure.

Language
English will be the official language for this conference. A delegate who wishes to speak in any other language will be required to provide translation.

Diplomatic Courtesy
During committee session, Delegates are expected to exercise diplomatic courtesy when addressing members of the committee and the dais.
1.All remarks to the committee must be made to the chair.
2.Delegates will rise to address the committee
3.All delegates must be recognized by the chair before speaking.
4.All remarks must remain relevant to the topic discussed.
5.All delegates will use diplomatic and respectful language when addressing the committee.
6.Any Delegate wishing to make a motion must raise his or her placard and wait until being recognized by the chair before speaking.

Staff

Dais
The daises of the committees shall be composed of a Chair, a Vice Chair
and a Rapporteur.

Competence of the Dais
The competence of the dais may not be questioned by Delegates.

Dais composition: Chair
Authority of the Chair/Director
The Chair shall exercise ultimate authority over his/her respective committee proceedings in an equitable and objective manner.

Vice Chair
Authority of the Vice chair
The Vice Chair shall have authority over all committee support staff and ensure that
Delegates are accurately representing the position of their countries, with respect to substantive issues and topics.

Rapporteur
Responsibilities of the Rapporteur
The Rapporteur shall be responsible for all administrative matters pertaining to the committee including, but not limited to, the maintenance of an attendance roster, a
Speaker’s List and the recording of voting results.

Support staff/ Logistics
Under the authority of the Vice Chair, the support Staff shall assist the Dais in all committee functions as needed.

Parliamentary procedure

Quorum
Committee activities and debate shall start when at least one quarter (1/4) of the Delegates are present.

Attendance
Attendance shall be conducted by a Roll Call at the beginning of every committee session. Delegates shall establish their presence in the committee in either of the two following manners:
Present and Voting
A Delegate that is declared Present and Voting must vote in favor or against all substantive matters. The delegate cannot abstain from voting after having declared Present and Voting.
Present A Delegate that is declared "Present" shall vote in favor, against or may abstain on any substantive matter.

Procedural matters
Procedural matters are defined as those matters relating to the structure of the committee session. All Delegates must vote on procedural matters and no Delegate may abstain. Roll Call vote is not in order for procedural matters.
Example: Vote on break for tea or suspension of a Delegate from the house.

Substantive matters
Substantive matters are defined as those matters relating to the specific topic at hand (the agenda). Delegates that have established their presence at the initial role call (by voting either present or present and voting) shall act accordingly.

Agenda
The Agenda reflects the order in which topics will be addressed by the committee. This is the primary order of business to be considered by the committee in the first session

Only topics relevant to the set agendae provided by SMUN shall be considered and deliberated by a committee at all times except when expressly stated and approved by the Secretary General or during a Motion to Entertain.

Motion to set the Agenda
Following the Motions put on the floor by Delegates suggesting the order of topics for
the Agenda the committee will vote. If the Motion is accepted by simple majority, the Agenda will be set in the manner suggested by the Motion.

AGENDAS FOR SMUN 09

General Assembly:

1) Maintenance of international peace and security with special reference to the middle east.
2) Prevention and combat of corrupt practices; in specific transfer of assets of illicit origin.

IAEA:

1)Multi-lateralization of the nuclear fuel cycle: Creation of an International Nuclear Fuel Bank.
2)The use of Nuclear Technology in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

ECOSOC:

1)Situation of Democracy and Human rights in developing countries with special reference to Latin American nations.
2)Impact of resource scarcity in developing countries with the onset of global recession.

Speakers List
A Speaker’s list is opened following a Motion from a Delegate and the subsequent approval of the Chair. The Speakers List identifies the Delegates who will have the floor of the house for a few moments to state their countries stand on the given agenda.
Delegates may be added to the speakers list by
a) Motioning the chair
b) Sending a note to the chair, requesting to be added
c) By the request of the chair
Delegations may only be on the speakers’ list twice at any given time, and may not be listed back to back.

Speeches
Motion to Set Speaking Time
A delegate may Motion to set a time limit on speeches (At Model UN sessions the time limit is usually two minutes.) The Chair may either rule the Motion dilatory at his/her discretion or put it to vote. A Delegate exceeding the allotted time for a speech may be called to order by the Chair.

Relevance of speech
A Chair may call a Delegate to order if his/her speech is not relevant to the subject matter being discussed.

Yields
Only during substantive debate, a Delegate may yield any remaining time at the end of his/her speech in one of the following manners:

1.To Questions
The Chair will use the remaining time to entertain questions for the Speaker from the committee. Delegates wishing to ask questions shall raise their placards and wait to be recognized by the Chair. The Chair shall rule questions that are rhetorical, leading or not relevant to the Speaker's speech out of order. Only the Speaker's answer shall be subtracted from the remaining speaking time.

2.To Comments
The Speaker can yield to comments from other Delegates. The Speaker cannot respond to these comments.

3.To another Delegate
A Speaker wishing to give the remaining time allotted to his/her speech to another Delegate can do so by inviting the other Delegate to the floor.

Caucusing
Moderated Caucus: A moderated caucus is a form of debate where the speakers list is set aside and speakers will be called upon by the chair. This less formal style of debate allows for a more free flow of ideas and exchange between Delegates. A motion for a moderated caucus may be made by any delegate, and a motion must include a time limit for the caucus, a speaking time for the caucus and the purpose for the caucus. A moderated caucus is entered by the vote of a simple majority of the committee.
Un-moderated Caucus: An un-moderated caucus is a suspension of the rules allowing Delegates to converse freely. Just as in a moderated caucus, a motion must include a time limit and purpose for caucusing. The caucus requires a simple majority to pass.
All caucuses are at the discretion of the chair and may be ruled out of order.
Resolutions:
The passing of resolutions is the main point of a MUN session. All debates are geared towards the final resolution which is a document showing the consensus reached through parliamentary debate. All resolutions require a simple majority to be passed in the house.

Points

Point of Personal Privilege
A Delegate may raise a Point of Personal Privilege if a matter impairs him/her from participating fully in committee activities. The Dais shall try to effectively address the source of impairment. This point may interrupt a Speaker.
For example: If the Delegate cannot hear or understand the Speaker or needs to be excused from the House.

Point of Order
A Delegate may rise to a Point of Order if a rule of procedure is not properly observed by a Delegate or by a member of the Dais. The Chair will rule on the validity of the point. A Point of Order ruled dilatory by the Chair may not be appealed. This point may interrupt a Speaker.

Point of Parliamentary Inquiry
A Delegate may rise to a Point of Parliamentary Inquiry to request an explanation from the Chair on rules of procedure. This point may not interrupt a Speaker and is out of order during a Moderated Caucus.

Right of Reply
A Delegate who feels that his/her country or person has been insulted by another Delegate may rise to a Right of Reply. Disagreement with the content of a Delegate's speech is not grounds for a Right of Reply. The Chair will recognize the Right of Reply at his/her discretion. Should the Chair rule the Right of Reply out of order, his/her decision cannot be appealed. The Chair may also request that the Delegate submit his/her Right of Reply in writing for further consideration before granting it. The Chair might choose to set a time limit for a Right of Reply. No delegate may call for a Right of Reply
on a Right of Reply.

Motions

Motion for a Moderated Caucus
A Delegate may Motion for a Moderated Caucus thereby suggesting a change from formal debate to moderated informal debate. A Delegate who moves for Moderated Caucus must suggest a time length of the caucus, speaking time and justification for the Motion. The Chair may suggest a more appropriate caucus length or speaking time or may rule the Moderated Caucus out of order without possibility of appeal. If the Motion passes, the committee will enter informal debate whereby the
Chair will recognize Delegates who raise their placards to speak about the issue at hand.

Example: “Motion for a Moderated Caucus on the topic ‘the effects of poverty in oil producing nations’ for 30 minutes setting 30 seconds for each speaker.”

Motion to Extend the Moderated Caucus
A Delegate may Motion to Extend the Moderated Caucus if he/she feels that additional time would benefit committee work. The Delegate moving for an Extension of the Moderated Caucus must suggest a length for the extension. The Chair may suggest a more appropriate caucus length or speaking time and put it to vote or may rule the Motion out of order without possibility of appeal.

Motion for an Unmoderated Caucus
A Delegate may Motion for an Unmoderated Caucus thereby suggesting a change from Formal to Informal debate. The Delegate who makes this motion must suggest a length and justification for the Unmoderated Caucus. The Chair may suggest a more appropriate caucus length and put it to vote or may rule the Unmoderated Caucus out of order without possibility of appeal. Once the Motion has passed, the committee will depart from the Speaker's List and Delegates will carry an informal
discussion on the topic specified in the Motion.

Example: “Motion for an Unmoderated caucus for 30 minutes.”

Motion to Extend the Unmoderated Caucus
A Delegate may Motion to Extend the Unmoderated Caucus if he/she feels that additional time would benefit the work of the committee. The Delegate who moves for an Extension of Unmoderated Caucus must suggest a length for the extension. The Chair may suggest a more appropriate caucus length and put it to vote or may rule the Extension of the Unmoderated Caucus out of order without the possibility of appeal.

Motion to Table Debate
A Delegate may motion to Table Debate in order to end debate on a substantive issue without voting on any Draft Resolutions that may be on the floor. If the Chair rules the Motion in order, two Delegates shall speak in favor and two Delegates shall speak against before proceeding with a vote. If the Motion passes, substantive debate will stop and the committee will return to the Primary Speakers List.

Motion to Return to a Dismissed Topic
While in the Primary Speaker's List, the Chair may entertain a Motion to go back to a dismissed topic. In that event, the Chair will entertain one Speaker for and one Speaker against. A two-thirds majority (2/3) vote is required for the Motion to pass. If the Motion carries, debate on the dismissed topic resumes and the committee automatically returns to the existing Secondary Speakers List.

Motion for Censure
If a Delegate is clearly misrepresenting either deliberately or by lack of preparation his/her country, or is disruptive, Delegates may Motion for Censure of the Delegate in question. The Chair may rule the Motion out of order. If the Motion is in order, the Delegate in question will have two minutes to explain his/her conduct. A delegate that is censured will be prohibited from speaking during a given committee session. The Secretary General has the final say on all matters concerning the censure of delegates. This motion may interrupt a speaker.

Motion for the Adjournment of the Meeting
A Delegate may motion for the Adjournment of the meeting to suspend all committee activities until the next scheduled meeting time. The Chair may rule the Motion out of order without possibility of appeal or put it to vote.

Motion for the Adjournment of the Session
A Delegate may Motion for the Adjournment of the Session to suspend all committee activities for the duration of the conference. The Chair may rule the Motion out of order without possibility of appeal or put it to vote.

Motion to Entertain
A motion to entertain may only be initiated by a delegate with the prior consent of the Secretary General and/or the Chair. During such a motion delegates are required to adhere to the parliamentary procedure and protocol as stated in this handbook. During a Motion to entertain, delegates may discuss trivial issues not related to the set agendae.

Majority
Unless otherwise specified, no motions are debatable and all require a simple majority vote to pass.
Simple majority
A procedural or substantive matter requiring a simple majority to pass implies that fifty percent plus one vote (50% + 1) of the committee must vote in favour of the matter to pass. If the vote is a tie, the matter will be considered to have failed.
Two-thirds (2/3) Majority
A procedural or substantive matter requiring a two-thirds (2/3) majority to pass implies that two thirds (2/3) of the committee must vote in favour for a matter to pass.

Precedence
Points and Motions shall be considered in the following decreasing order.
Point of Order
Point of Personal Privilege
Motion for Censure
Right of Reply
Point of Parliamentary Inquiry
Motion to Adjourn Session
Motion to Adjourn Meeting
Motion for Unmoderated Caucus
Motion for Moderated Caucus
Motion to Table Debate
Motion to Entertain

Drafting a resolution

Working Paper
A Working Paper is an informal document used by committee Delegates to work on building a Draft Resolution. A Working Paper should be written under Resolution format and will be distributed at the Chair's discretion if requested by a Delegate. Delegates should refer to a document as a Working Paper in a speech until the document has been submitted and approved by the Director at which point it will be referred to as a Draft Resolution

A resolution consists of two parts the Preambulatory Clauses and the Operative Clauses.

Format of a Resolution
HEADING
Committee: i.e. the committee or organ in which the resolution is introduced
Topic: the topic of the resolution
Sponsors: list of sponsoring countries
Signatories: list of countries that have signed the draft
PREAMBLE

The purpose of the preamble is to show that there is a problem that needs to be solved. However, the preamble of a resolution does not propose action or make any substantive statement in the topic at hand. The preamble begins with the name of one of the three major organs (e.g. "The Commission on Human Rights,"). The preambulatory clauses can include:
References to the U.N. Charter;
Citations of past U.N. resolutions or treaties that have been ratified under the topic of discussion;
Statements made by the Secretary-General or a relevant U.N. body or agency;
Recognition of the work or efforts of regional organizations in dealing with the issue; and
General statements on the topic, its significance, and its effects.
OPERATIVE
Operative clauses are set out to achieve the committee's main policy goals on the topic. Each operative clause begins with a number and ends with a semicolon. the final clause ends with a period. Operative clauses should be organized in a logical progression, and each clause should contain a single idea or policy proposal.
Keep in mind that all resolutions except those passed by the Security Council are non-binding.
Sponsors
Sponsors are recognized as the writers of the Draft Resolution. The required number of
Sponsors for each resolution will be set by the Chair according to the size of the committee.

Sponsors must agree to support a Resolution unless major changes have been introduced through the amendment process.

Signatories
Signatories are recognized as the supporters of the Draft Resolution. The required number of Signatories will be set by the Chair according to the size of the committee. The appropriate number of Signatories must be present on a Working Paper to be introduced to the floor as a Draft Resolution. Amendments to the Draft Resolution are not required to be approved by
Signatories. Signatories are not required to support the Draft Resolution during voting
procedure; they only agree to put their names as those who are interested in seeing the
Working Paper become a Draft Resolution for further debate.

SAMPLE RESOLUTION:

Committee: General Assembly

Topics: Landmines

Sponsors: Spain, Portugal, France, Mexico, South Africa
Signatories: Burma, Tuvalu, Nepal, Indonesia, Sudan, Malaysia
USE Commas to separate Preambulatory Clauses & Underline the first word or phrase

Affirming that the Ottowa treaty to ban landmines is the most effective
international instrument to combat the use of anti-personnel mines,

Confident that the continued commitment by those Member States that have
signed the treaty will lead to a mine-free world,

Expressing its appreciation for those efforts of non-governmental organisations
such as the International De-mining Centre and the Movement for Peace in Spain,

Confident that the continued destruction of stockpiled anti-personnel mines will
further encourage Member States to sign and ratify the Mine-ban Treaty as well
as begin to eradicate their own stockpiles,

Recalling United Nations resolution 52/38, which calls for general and complete
disarmament and calls upon all states to contribute to mine action, victim
assistance and economic and social assistance to those who have been affected
by landmines,

Further recalling United Nations Resolution A/RES/59/84 which clearly outlines
steps to combat the use of anti-personnel mines in combat,
USE semicolons to separate operative clauses and Number & Underline the first word or phrase
1.Calls upon non-signatory states to sign and ratify the treaty;

2.Encourages Member States who are party to the treaty to continue their de-mining efforts in mine-affected areas;

3. Requests NGO’s remain actively involved in assisting those affected by
Landmines;

4. Reaffirms United Nations Resolution A/52, which outlines supportive
measures for the Mine Ban Treaty;

5. Invites those Member States that have not yet ratified the treaty to work with
Member States bilaterally to resolve their issues with the treaty;

6. Further invites Member States that have not ratified the treaty to a voluntary
round-table discussion on the obstacles to ratification;

7. Further requests that those Member States that have still not signed the
treaty to provide funding and support for Mine-effected persons in their country,
and to support and allow organisations to provide assistance to survivor
assistance programs.

END resolution with a period

Resolution Introductory Phrases
The following phrases/words are a partial list of appropriate introductions in resolutions.
Preambular Phrases
(Single verb in present participle or other introductory phrase):

Affirming
Alarmed by
Approving
Aware of
Believing
Bearing in mind
Confident
Convinced
Declaring
Deeply concerned
Deeply convinced
Deeply disturbed
Deeply regretting
Desiring
Emphasizing
Expecting
Fulfilling
Fully aware
Fully alarmed
Fully believing
Further deploring
Guided by
Having adopted
Having considered
Having examined
Having studied
Having heard
Having received
Keeping in mind
Noting with regret
Noting with
satisfaction
Noting with deep concern
Noting with
approval
Observing
Realizing
Reaffirming
Recalling
Recognizing
Seeking
Taking into consideration
Viewing with apprehension
Welcoming

Operative Phrases
(Verb in third person present indicative tense):

Accepts
Affirms
Approves
Authorizes
Calls
Calls upon
Condemns
Congratulates
Confirms
Considers
Declares accordingly
Deplores
Draws the attention
Designates
Emphasizes
Encourages
Endorses
Expresses its appreciation
Expresses its hope
Further invites
Further proclaims
Further reminds
Further recommends
Further resolves
Further requests
Has resolved
Notes
Proclaims
Reaffirms
Recommends
Reminds
Regrets
Requests
Solemnly affirms
Strongly condemns
Supports
Takes note of
Transmits
Urges
Welcomes

Amendments

Amendments to Pre-Ambulatory Clauses are not in order.

1.Non-Substantive Amendments
Grammatical, spelling or formatting errors on Draft Resolutions will be corrected at the discretion of the Vice Chair.

Amendments on Operative Clauses
2.Friendly Amendments
Substantive Amendments approved by all the Sponsors of a Draft Resolution will
automatically be integrated to the Draft Resolution without vote from the committee. A
Friendly Amendment may be further amended through the Unfriendly Amendment process.
3.Unfriendly Amendments
Substantive Amendments to a Draft Resolution not approved by each of the Sponsors of a
Draft Resolution are considered unfriendly and require one fifth (1/5) of the committee's
approval and approval from the Vice Chair to be introduced. Unfriendly Amendments will be put to a vote prior to the vote on the Draft Resolution as a whole. Amendments to Unfriendly Amendments are out of order.

Voting Procedure
When the Chair announces that the committee is entering voting procedure, no entering or exiting from the room will be permitted, unless there is an emergency or until voting procedure has come to an end.

A Delegate may vote:

Yes
Yes with rights
No
No with rights
Pass
Abstain

Voting with Rights
A Delegate may request a right of explanation after voting. Upon completion of voting, the Delegate will be permitted to explain the reasons as to why he/she has chosen to vote a certain way. The Chair may limit the speaking time at his/her discretion.

Method of Voting
Each Delegate of the committee has one vote and must demonstrate his/her voting intentions by raising his/her placard at the Chair's request unless there is a Roll Call vote, Delegates must vote in favour, against or abstain. No Delegate shall vote on behalf of another Delegate.

Passing
During Roll Call, a Delegate may choose to pass. The Chair will place the Delegate at the
bottom of the voting list. Once the entire committee has voted the Delegate will be called on to vote. A Delegate who has passed once during a voting sequence may not pass again but must vote definitively.

Voting on Amendments
All Unfriendly Amendments shall be voted on in the order in which they were proposed before the committee moves to vote on the Draft Resolution as a whole

Lending Emphasis to Resolution Phrasing
When resolutions are constructed, they often contain language which, although apparently harmless, conveys the precise attitudes and intentions of their authors. At SMUN, Representatives are urged to select words carefully when drafting resolutions. The introductory phrases listed also carry significant diplomatic meaning. Accurate use of these introductory terms is of paramount importance at the UN, and at any MUN.

Delegates should then consider the following when formulating draft resolutions:

• Finding ways to encourage good governance in developing
countries so that aid is used effectively
• Encouraging developed countries to provide necessary resources
including food, monetary aid and technical assistance
• Making sure all plans fit in with the idea of sustainable
development (protecting future generations and the environment)
• Taking measures to achieve the Millennium Development Goals
and combating inequality
• Making sure developed and developing nations, and business
work together in partnership in a way that is fair to all

Delegates should consider the following strategies recommended by the World Bank while formulating resolutions:

• Investment in education and health
• Increasing productivity of small farms
• Improving infrastructure (for example, roads)
• Developing an industrial policy to promote manufacturing
• Promoting democracy and human rights
• Ensuring environmental protection

Inter-Delegate Messages
The Delegates are allowed to pass inter-delegate messages during committee session through the chair. The chair reserves the right revoke these privileges if the practice is being abused. Notes are passed on special sheets called Inter delegate message sheets and are passed by the logistics staff. Delegates may not pass these notes to other Delegates themselves.

Key Links:

Basic UN Rules of procedure: http://www.unausa.org/Page.aspx?pid=589

Useful Exercises on Committee Procedure and Rules: http://www.unausa.org/Page.aspx?pid=531Activities 6, 7, &8 are particularly relevant.

Tips for Effective Caucusing: http://www.unausa.org/Page.aspx?pid=589

Tips for Your Opening Speech: http://www.unausa.org/Page.aspx?pid=519

How A Committee Works: The Flow of Debate http://www.unausa.org/Page.aspx?pid=520

Tips on how to win best delegate in your committeehttp://www.bestdelegate.com/

Tips for country profiles: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/default.stm

Difficult but detailed reports from each country on progress towards Millennium Goals: http://www.undg.org/index.cfm?P=87&f=A

Remember:
When at the conference you are a diplomat and the Distinguished Representative of your country - think and act the part and others will treat you that way.
Always keep in mind: A diplomat's job (among others) is to "make allies and influence people "Remember it is not your opinion you are expounding but the country you are representing.
Be willing to continuously improve and refine you capabilities.
Do mock trials with team members and neighboring teams.
Technique matters - so practice it.
Above all else remember to have fun!

*SMUN procedure is similar but not identical to AMUN procedure.

MUNdane!!

2008-07-27T13:23:00.003+05:30

And SMUN 2008 was anything, but! The Head of Press for SMUN 2008 now brings you an utterly hedonistic view of the two-day inter-school conference.

MUNning is all about the research, the presentation and making yourself heard no matter what, forget all that rigmarole about working for world peace and it's elusive accomplices. It's a battlefield out there, kids, and you've got to be prepared to talk until you turn blue in the face. A MUN is such utterly serious business you're likely to believe, that one wrong word and you'll provoke the mighty Bench gods into smiting you into oblivion.

Now let me deconstruct all those misconceptions by bringing you glimpses of what really happens at a MUN. A quick note, boys and girls: being an alumnus has it's little advantages. Do NOT try this at school. (But if you do, let me know. I'm sure I'll find the results giggle-worthy.)

We'll begin with the audience. Every big event needs a bigger audience to ooh, to aah and to applaud you senseless. For the audience at SMUN (which, may I add, was relieved to only have to attend Day 1) the most exciting experience was the super comfortable chairs in our beloved auditorium. Overheard somewhere in the middle of a moderated caucus: "Is this our punishment for calling Maths class boring?" Lesson well learnt, little girl.

However, the audience at any MUN is but a mere shadow on the actual proceedings. At any half-decent MUN, the only audience any delegate can hope to get is him/herself. And frankly, hearing yourself go on about how you most assuredly represent what can only be called heaven on earth can get tedious. Leading me to speculate that perhaps the true purpose of a MUN is very uplifiting: teaching us all that what we're saying is likely to send our own minds into coma, so be kind to the hearing world and shut up.

So as expected by us veteran MUNners, the crack in the delegates' veneer of grave professionalism was not quick to appear. Heck, it was a big bloomin' blemish the very moment certain delegates entered the scene. With the shenanigans many of the delegates, and most of the SMUN team, I confess, got up to, I won't be surprised if you leave here wondering if you should be paying them for entertaining you. I elaborate:

Human rights and an impending global energy crisis are no laughing matters. Or at least, that's what we started off believing.

A few back-benchers at GA were caught yawning even before the session began. Had a little too much to eat, delegates? But nothing could top the delegates of Czech Republic and Russia at UNESCO. The former couldn't seem to remember what the decided agenda was while the latter wasn't a big believer in the concept of time. With that attitude, you may say, Russia would be utterly ineffective in a crisis. And surprise surprise, he proved us right. When a crisis did take place on Day 2, the esteemed delegate actually had to have the Chair prompt him to take action. And that too, to no avail. Although admittedly, his dance to Yankee Doodle was rather amusing. Did you come up with the steps yourself, delegate?

Speaking of dance, where there is dance, there shall be music and the two put together will almost certainly rope in a third form of entertainment that is normally not an officially approved part of a inter-school conference. Not that that has ever stopped anybody.
Whilst there were cute skirts and killer heels galore, it was the male delegates that were under scrutiny. And one in particular was the hapless butt of many of us grown-ups' jokes. Any guesses? ;)

But trust you me, the entertainment sessions were not the only time when every delegate was up and hooting. For us connoisseurs of amusement, there were funny moments galore. Here are some delicious tidbits courtesy of the ever-vigilant press team (with commentary from the GA Spokesperson, mostly):

Delegate of USA: "I wish to do the right of reply thingy."

Delegate of Argentina: "The burning of fossil fuels does not cause pollution, cows farting does."

Delegate of India: "We do not have cows. We have buffaloes." We'd never have guessed.

Delegate of Russia: "My bra needs the cow." Why delegate, why?!

Delegate of France: "I'm a boy." The delegate, who is incidentally a boy, providing us with this insightful information.

Delegate of the Czech Republic: "Affected flora and fauna are not being discussed... therefore Czech-republic declares war on Myanmar"- The delegate's useful suggestion to solve nuclear crisis.

Other Czech Delegate: "We declare Cyber war.Not military war"- .. Smart delegation aren't they...

Other Czech delegate: "Battlefield Switzerland!" ...after realising it's a "military" war.

Delegate of USA: "Is there any scientific way to control radiation?"

Delegate of Russia: "Eh...what is this da- guys group and girls group huh?"

Delegate of Saudi Arabia (presumably to a crisis struck-Mynamar): "I will provide oil as you would have lost all your resources!"

Delegate of Czech Republic: "Eh I was so bored, so I thought I'd declare a war!" Most amusing, delegate. What are you doing in the United Nations, anyway?

Delegate of USA: "All those who dont evacuate animals are not people!" Much respect to the very humane delegate.

Delegate of Czech Republic: "You can uproot trees and plant it in some other place eg. Namma metro."

Delegate of UAE: "You want me to punch your teeth out?"

Delegate of Argentina: "This is maddness." I fully agree.

Delegate of New Zealand: "This is THE Indian parliament!"

"Delegates, you will be molested if you don't entertain us"- Head of Press (Not true. I merely informed the winners of the Press Awards that they were facing an impatient, entertainment-hungry audience comprising mostly of teenaged girls who have been known to get...volatile. For the delegates' own benefit, of course.)

And the last quote of course requires some complementary information. Primarily to clear the air of whatever strange and unncecessary thoughts you might be thinking. As a sort of consolation prize to the delegates who did not win the coveted Press Awards, we decided to have the winners put on an impromptu show for us. The delegates were oddly reticent, with the exception of the delegate of Argentina, who elicited many-a hoots and cat-calls for his jig to that funny Beedi song. Expectations were riding high, and as the saying goes, you can never trust a Sophiate on her home ground. Thankfully, my warning did not fall on deaf ears and the winners finally obliged us by coming up in twos and threes to dance to 'The way I r'.

This post is approaching close to a thousand words now, and with some regret I must admit that we've only about covered the periphery of the events. The happenings at SMUN 2008 provided one with enough fodder for a whole series of articles. Fortunately for the delegates, I am too lazy to write them. Which leaves me with no option but to conclude.

SMUN 2008 was a spectacular success, to state the obvious. We went inter-school and hosted a number of first time MUNners, many of which are now quite addicted to the MUN phenomena. We had lively sessions interspersed with some very decent quality discussions, stellar people on the organizational team and good food. We had a certain Spokesperson very charmingly threatening fatal injuries to a love-struck delegate, the Head of Press being chased shrieking around the stage by members of the bench and one of the Chairs being utterly sporting and giving in to the demands of her delegates.

SMUN may still be in it's fledgling stages and quite possibly not up to par with some other recent MUNs in the city. But what it does boast of is sheer uniqueness, a platform that is impressive in it's professionalism, endearing in it's informality and simply the place to be, whether your talents lie in research, debating, singing, dancing or punching people's teeth out! Or, speaking from personal experience, doing absolutely nothing, other than looking busy!

Cheers to all the delegates, the SMUN team and specially Mrs. Lali. Long live SMUN!!!

Press Awards

2008-07-27T12:41:00.003+05:30

Or alternately, the Delegates' Choice Awards. Note delegates that the press was unable to get pictures of all the winners and they are invited to be sports and send their piccies along to us :) Remember: sophiasmun@gmail.com

Winners from G.A. -

Cutest Skirt : Mynamar

Most Desirable : USA

Crankiest : Czech Republic

Most Annoying : France

Winners from UNESCO -

Cutest Skirt : China

Most Entertaining : Argentina

Most Desirable : Switzerland

Crankiest : Czech republic

Most Annoying : Czech Republic

Day 2 UNESCO

2008-07-27T10:50:00.000+05:30

After a rather mundane Day I of UNESCO of Sophia Model United Nations, the press noted (may we add, with delight) that Day 2 was far better in terms of preparation and participation from the delegates. The first hour of the morning passed in a substantive motion where the Switzerland, one of the main sponsors of a resolution (which strove to protect the human rights especially during political instability) himself had a whole lot of answering to do to the entire international community. This was followed by half an of a press conference where France, Argentina, India and Myanmar were picked on but it’s a matter of much regret that not a single delegate was informed well enough to give a reasonable explanation to any of their countries actions and decisions.

Finally, the delegates broke for the much awaited tea, but returned only to find themselves in the middle a crisis. The delegates came up with some rather “interesting” solutions, whether it was the Chinese delegate who seemed very concerned about the proper cremation of the IAEA officer, or the Czech Republic who happily and merrily declared a war on Myanmar “in order to save the flora and fauna”. And then of course there was the Russian delegate who was least concerned and affected by the crisis, saying “so what can we do if there is a crisis” And when the Chair informed him about what he could *do* being a Russian delegate, he most indifferently replied with a “yeah, so?”

After half an hour of such “interesting discussion, the house broke into a an unmoderated caucus, which brought out the delegates’ emotions more clearly about the crisis, such as the UAE wanting to punch out someone’s teeth in the middle of the resolution drafting and Russia and Czech Republic who very comfortably settled down on the last two benches as if expecting someone to give them a formal invitation to help in resolving the crisis. Needless to add, the crisis itself was more entertaining than the motion to entertain itself. However at the end of it all, the delegates managed to put aside their differences and finally resolved the crisis very successfully. The day finally came to an end with a motion to entertain where not a single delegate was spared by the house as each person in the room was obliged to entertain and entertain they did.

On a more serious note, overall, Day 2 was undoubtedly infinitely better than Day 1 with a much higher participation, quality of debate and of course, entertainment !

- Apeksha S. and Sonal.

Day 1 UNESCO

2008-07-27T10:16:00.002+05:30

The day began with a confused Czech delegate who wanted to set the agenda but unfortunately, had no idea what the agenda was in the first place. His trusty handbook came to his rescue, and the proceeding finally began.
Then we had the delegate of Russia making a grand entrance, a full thirty minutes after the house had begun discussing the agenda.

All the delegates seemed rather bewildered by the whole Model UN atmosphere and were rendered speechless. Literally. Except for the delegates of Switzerland, Israel and China. And of course, we had the delegate of Argentina who seemed far more interested in the Logistics staff than human rights.
When he was not engaged in conversation with the Logistics staff, he indulged in various productive pass times such as swinging in his chair, getting up to yawn and stretch, etc.

The very courageous Czech Republic attempted to start the first moderated caucus, only to find himself being the only delegate voting for it. Finally, the house settled on the 'Sudan Issue'. During this moderated caucus, Lebanon got suspended for making false allegations. However, the press must admit that the debate was rather satisfactory, considering the fact that a majority of the delegates were first time MUNners.

The next big event was the Spokerperson for UNESCO stomping in, much to the delegates horror (they didn't realize how much precisely until she began speaking). The delegate of Mexico escaped on the basis of 'tense' and most other questioned delegates sheepishly evaded the questions posed to them. Though admittedly, they tried their best within their limited experience and knowledge.

After twenty minutes of gruelling interrogationg, the house resumed the discussion on human rights violations. Lunch provided the much needed relief after another hour of debating.

Lunch was followed by the motion to entertain! By far the most eventful motion, this "moderated" caucus saw everything from delegates singing, dancing, declaring that finding a girl beautiful was a "natural human tendency" (Czech Republic, yet again!) and the Chair being coerced into proposing a certain male delegation.

It was back to business after that and the day came to a satisfying and conclusive end with an unmoderated caucus for drafting resolutions.

- Aparajita L. and Apeksha S.

Day 1 G.A.

2008-07-27T09:25:00.003+05:30

SMUN 2008 at GA began with fifty odd (and eager) delegates sitting on the edge of their seats, filled with a little anxiety and a whole lot of enthusiasm.
The delegate of USA set the house in motion by proposing to start with the working agenda. The first speaker, the delegate of Switzerland, could not have been more explicit in stating the need to avert a global energy crisis. This was followed by many-a countries commenting on and confirming their countries views on the causes of energy crisis - the topic being discussed in the first moderated caucus.

Delegates of Switzerland, France, India and USA were commendable in their efforts to convince the world body on the causes that have lead to the near-crisis. However, the OPEC countries could have had a lot more to say in regard to the topic.

The secnd caucus saw the delegates deliberating on alternative sources of energy. The committee discussed non-conventional sources of energy ranging from hydro, solar and wind energy to the rather amusing concepts of using pig fat to produce diesel and cow fat to produce electricity!

At 11 am a press conference was initiated and saw many first time MUNners sweat it out under the intimidating presence of the Spokesperson for GA. While the United Kingdom refrained from replying to the questions posed to them, Israel and Saudi Arabia could have provided more convincing replies. Nonetheless, France and the USA stood by their national policies and reinforced their conviction in their governments' stands.
The delegate of France concluded the moderated caucus by accurately summarizing all that was said during the session and was consequently commended by the Chair for his observations.

Next on the agenda was a debate on nuclear energy as an alternative fuel where the delegates of India and the USA showed sound knowledge of their recent nuclear agreement. The delegates of Russia, Germany and Czech Republic too, presented their opinions effectively.
The last of the moderated caucuses saw the delegate of Czech Republic express concern over the depleting forest reserves in Congo and Switzerland making a very relevant point with reference to energy sites in the country.

The motion to entertain at this point came like a breath of fresh air. The talking heads found ample opportunity to show off their talents, mostly reserved to singing little ditties. The delegates were in for a treat as they were duly entertained by the bench who sang a made-up national anthem for Burkina Faso, and even did a little dance to it!

Before the unmoderated caucus to draft the resolutions for the day's deliberations was set in motion, a quick press conference was initiated. This time the delegates came across as more confident and were better prepared to face the Spokesperson's onslaught.

The day came to an end on a productive and highly satisfying note as two resolution were presented to the Chair (one and half to be accurate!) .

-Lakshmi M

2008-07-27T01:45:00.002+05:30

Say the word "MUN" and you'll probably get a raised eyebrow and a puzzled expression from the person you're speaking to. Fascinating though the concept is, it is rather surprising how few people know what you're talking about. It's never too late to learn, however!

So what is MUN all about? Very simply, it stands for Model United Nations, which should perhaps clear things up a little bit. MUN is a simulation of the actual United Nations Organization, where the participants play the role of foreign diplomats, delegates, of various countries. The delegates investigate the international issue on their agenda, debate on it and finally consult each other to come up with a resolution.

How is a MUN different from a parliamentary debate? The participants need to remember at all times that they are not individuals expressing an opinion; they're representatives of entire countries addressing the United Nations. Everything they say needs to be in keeping with the foreign policy of their country and diplomacy is the order of the day. On no account can they disgrace or threaten another nation. The World Press is represented too, and the press conferences conducted by the formidable spokespersons really keep the delegates on their toes.

Model United Nations or MUN was organized first by Harvard University in 1951. Since then, the concept has found itself immensely popular all over the world. St Stephen's College in Delhi organizes a MUN every year, a major event for schools and colleges all over the country. Bangalore Model United Nations is hosted here in the city by Vidya Niketan School. The concept grew so popular in the city that the Rotary Model United Nations was organized in June this year and was a great success. Sophia High School is hosting its second MUN, the SMUN, as they like to call it.

A Model U.N educates students about international issues, brings about effective communication, fosters globalization and also teaches them a thing or two about multilateral diplomacy. The delegates have to make their voices heard, for they have the people of their country depending on them, while making sure that they never say anything that could injure the reputation or destroy the international relations of the nation they stand for.

Even if a Model U.N doesn't do any of these things for the participants, they will, at the very least go home feeling enlightened about countries like Tuvalu and Burkina Faso, and with the ground breaking awareness that they are actual countries with real people living in them. Besides, they will discover in themselves a newfound enthusiasm for reading the newspapers everyday!

-Darshana Ramdev

Role of the UN in averting a global energy crisis

2008-07-27T01:43:00.002+05:30

Energy crisis triggered by energy shortage is an observable situation in the world community today. This energy crunch is due to radical increase in demand for energy brought about by an alarming population growth rate, market speculation and rising oil prices to quote a few.
The United Nations primarily concerned with addressing pressing global issues is responsible for averting global energy crunch. It aims to promote system-wide collaboration in the area of energy with a coherent and consistent approach.
The UN focuses on substantive and collaborative actions both in regard to policy development in the energy area and its implementation as well as in maintaining an overview of major ongoing initiatives within the system based on the UN-Energy work programme at all levels. The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI), serve as the basis for action on energy.
United Nations Energy Program-UNEP works to address concerns regarding energy production and use, and assists decision-makers in governments and the private sector to make better, more informed energy choices which fully integrate environmental and social costs.
UN-Energy, the interagency mechanism on energy, has addressed the importance of access to energy in achieving the Millennium Development Goals

In conclusion, development of alternative forms if energy, which is environmentally and economically viable, and sustainable use of the same is an explicit solution to averting global energy crisis. All countries should hence work in partnership to avert global energy crisis.

-Nayantara BG

SMUN coverage

2008-07-27T01:11:00.002+05:30

The online newsletter can be found at http://sophiamun.wordpress.com
Thank you.

From the Principal's Desk

2008-07-26T11:29:00.002+05:30

Model United Nations is a forum for students to assume the status of a global citizen to research, debate, deliberate and find solutions to pertinent world issues.

Sophia Model United Nations (SMUN 2008) went inter-school this year with National Public School Indranagar, Rajajinagar, Kormangla, Baldwin Girls’ High School, and a good number of delegates from the host School participating.

Students from std XI and XII along with our ‘Old Girls’ from the bench, the logistics team, and the press. It is truly heartening to watch the present and the past students working closely towards the organization of this inter-school event, learning and sharing a great deal of experience and expertise in the process.

One is really impressed by the quality of work by the delegates in the preparations of innovative and well-researched country profiles and carefully worded position papers, keeping in mind every diplomatic protocol.

We are indeed excited to witness participants display skills in diplomacy and inter-national understanding – with decorum and courteous respect, unlike some of the parliamentarians of our own country!

May SMUN prosper and see many returns of this happy event year after year.

Sr. M. Sandhya S. N. D

Principal

KOSOVO

2008-07-08T22:18:00.003+05:30

For everyone taking a closer look at human rights issues consider Serbia and Kosovo. We tend to focus on Iraq and Africa and forget about the on going nationalist struggles in the Balkans. Kosovo was declared independent in Feb and was immediately recognized by the United States. There was violence in Serbia because of this. The US embassy in Serbia was vandalized and the Serbian ambassador to the United States was called back.
In 1999 there was violence in Albania and a mass exodus of people. Over 600,000 refugees moved into the economically backward regions of Macedonia, Albania and the region of Montenegro.
There is political instability in Kosovo and Serbia plans to lobby for the unification of Kosovo with Serbia at the United Nations this September.
Delegates, this is an article you might find interesting on the topic-
Good luck!
~Dipti

GJILAN, Kosovo — The 9-year-old ethnic Albanian boy screamed until he was red in the face, pounding his fists on the door of a small concrete house that only minutes before he had called “This is my house! Let me in!” he cried, before collapsing outside the front door, freshly sealed with yellow police tape.
The swift eviction of the boy’s family was the work of Toncho Zourlev, a k a the Enforcer, a no-nonsense Bulgarian who leads an eviction squad set up by the United Nations in Kosovo in 2006 to restore properties to their legal owners. To him, the family was simply squatting illegally in a Serbian house.
As a locksmith changed the lock on the front door, the family hastily wrapped belongings and carried them to the street: a rusty cabinet, a teddy bear, six pairs of shoes, a kitchen table and chairs. The women and children huddled in the rain. A tea kettle, still warm, sat steaming on the stove inside.
“We have nowhere to go. We have no money. What will we do?” pleaded Qamile Nuhiu, 42. The boy, Valon, is one of her five children.
Her husband, she said, was unemployed. The family has been living in abandoned Serbian homes in this poor agricultural town about 35 miles southeast of Pristina since the aftermath of the 1999 NATO bombing campaign to halt Slobodan Milosevic’s repression of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians. They came to Gjilan from their hometown, Presovo, in another part of Serbia, where Serbs had clashed with ethnic Albanians after the NATO bombing.
With Kosovo poised to declare independence from Serbia in the culmination of a long and violent struggle over who controls and owns this land, the property restitution effort has taken on added importance.
Many inhabitants on either side of the ethnic divide in Kosovo — now about 95 percent Albanian in what was the heartland of Serbia’s medieval empire — can tell tales of property theft and other misdeeds stretching back decades, if not centuries.
The United Nations is trying to right the most recent of those wrongs, committed during the civil war in 1998 and 1999, when hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians and Serbs fled their homes in this poor, landlocked territory, only to seize a house belonging to somebody else.
The attempt to reverse these misdeeds underlines the challenge facing conflict zones around the world, where ensuring the right of returning minorities to take possession of their homes is deemed essential to reconstruction in multiethnic countries like Rwanda and Iraq.
In the case of Kosovo, fewer than 18,000 of the 250,000 Serbs, Roma and others displaced since 1999 have returned, according to Human Rights Watch, which cites the inability of refugees to return home as a major obstacle.
As the Nuhiu family scrambled to assemble its worldly possessions, Sami Miftari, 31, an ethnic Albanian neighbor freshly evicted from the house next door, put forward another view: that in Kosovo, where government sources put unemployment at 60 percent and monthly earnings average about $240, squatting can be the only way to survive.
“Kicking us out is not justice,” he said. “It is revenge.”
Mr. Zourlev insisted that he was simply restoring law and order to a territory riven by bloody disputes over land.
“Putting families onto the street is not fun,” he said. “But if Kosovo wants to be an independent country, people have to learn to respect the law. Otherwise, this place will continue to be the Wild West.”
Since 2001, the Kosovo Property Agency and its predecessor, the United Nations Housing and Property Directorate, have fielded 29,000 residential property claims, about 90 percent of them filed by Serbs whose homes are being illegally occupied by ethnic Albanians.
Of those, 17,500 properties have been restored to their rightful owners, said Lars Olsen, a Norwegian and spokesman for the property agency. He said 2,500 cases had been dismissed.
The property agency, whose mandate will continue under European Union auspices, expects to settle 40,000 more cases by 2010.
Mr. Zourlev, who sets out on evictions accompanied by a locksmith, several movers, a translator and local police officers, notes that the operations can be fraught with danger, including resistance by illegal tenants hoarding AK-47s and shotguns. Things can get especially tense, he said, when the evictees are former soldiers of the Kosovo Liberation Army, the separatist guerrilla group that fought the Serbs.
He recalls that during a recent eviction in Obilic, a poor industrial area outside Pristina, a former K.L.A. fighter summoned his friends. Before long, the eviction team found itself surrounded. Mr. Zourlev said a policeman wedged himself in front of the apartment door until reinforcements came.
United Nations officials say the property settlement system offers a model for other regions recovering from conflict because the justice is fair and swift. While in most countries property and land disputes are usually settled in local courts — a process that can drag on for years — for Kosovo the United Nations has set up a special commission of judges to rule on the claims.
After a claim has been made, a team of investigators at the property agency’s headquarters in Pristina, made up of both ethnic Albanians and Serbs, conducts interviews, scours property registries and verifies contracts to determine legal ownership.
Once a ruling has been made, the illegal occupants are given 30 days to leave. If the owner does not wish to live there, the agency puts the property under its administration and collects rent on the owner’s behalf.
Sejdi Haxholli, an ethnic Albanian police officer overseeing evictions, said it was emotionally wrenching to help evict his own people.
“This is the hard part of the job — I know these people, and everyone knows me,” he said. “Now I have to kick them out, women and children.”
Not everyone believes justice is being done. Suezana Borzanovic, 50, a Serbian factory worker, fled Pristina during the bombing raids in 1999 and returned three years later to discover that an ethnic Albanian taxi driver had illegally occupied her apartment and was renting it out.
She filed a claim with the property agency in April 2002, which reinstated her ownership of the apartment eight months later. She said that when she finally returned, the furniture and windows had been broken.
Today, she said, she is the only Serb living among ethnic Albanian families in what was once a Serb-dominated building. She said she would never recognize an independent Kosovo.
“I don’t believe justice was done because I lost out on two years’ worth of rent,” she said.
She added: “I say hello and goodbye to my Albanian neighbors. I have not had any problems. But if they brought me a cake, I would refuse. You never know, it could be poisoned.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/16/world/europe/16kosovo.html