economic & social council - background guide

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Sankara ModelUnited Nations 2013

Background GuideEconomic & Social Council

w w w . s a n m u n . o r g

Eighth session

August 9-11


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Letter from the EB

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to theECOSOC of SANMUN 2013.

Three days of MUN is going to take you a longway, more than you would expect. But the realfun comes only from a council of well prepareddelegates and this background guide is here forno mere formality. The chair hastried andincorporatedEverything a delegate will need toknow and this documentwill be of definite helpfrom each and every delegates point of view.The following are some of the things youll needto get the whole MUN experience:

1) Research and preparation: This part mayseem a bit obvious to a few, but delegates whoare not well versed with their countrys policiesand events will fail to appreciate the idea of a

MUN. ECOSOC is not a research based and onemight not need to spend a considerableamount of time researching butexcessiveresearch is never wrong andwill only give you aupper hand during committee proceedings. Thedelegates are advised tobegin with ones owncountry first before looking into global problemsinvolving others.

2) The need to speak: Before the day of theMUN, tell yourself that youre going toparticipate for a reason and you will doeverything you can to contribute towards thepositive progress of the committee. Activedelegates are every chairs dream and such

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committees never fail to produce results.3) Discipline: It goes without saying that we canget the most out of ourselves only by working inan orderly fashion. A democratic committee

where all delegates work with respect andintegrity is the perfect environment for a UNconference.

4) Resolutions: The committee is finally judgedby the results it can deliver. Making good use ofthe unmoderated cacus,delegates areexpected to come up with reasonable yet

creative ideas to solve the problem.

The chair requests all delegates to keep thesepoints in mind. Also the chair would like to saythat he encourages individual workingmethodologies as well and the Tips for researchor what so ever given in the document are onlymeant to guide delegates. One may follow his or

her approaches towards the agenda.In no way will this document provide you theresearch material itself. This document will onlyhelp you attain it and will act as a medium ofcommunication between the chairsexpectations and the delegates needs.

And last,good luck.Try to enjoy the experience

and remember that youre here for a reason,tomake a difference.

Vaibhav K.N. (Chair, EcoSoc)Rohan Sankhla (Guest Chair, EcoSoc)Vishnu Varma (Moderator, EcoSoc)

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studies and reports on above listed issues. TheCouncil has the power to assist thepreparations and organization of majorinternational conferences in the economic and

social and related fields, and to facilitate acoordinated follow up to these conferences.With its broad mandate the Council's purviewextends to over 70 per cent of the human andfinancial resources of the entire UN system. Tofulfill its mandates, the Council also consultswith academics, business sectorrepresentatives and more than 3,200

registered non-governmental organisations.

MandatePrincipal organs are the main bodies of the UN,serving as the highest decision-making level intheir branch. As with other principal organs ofthe UN, ECOSOCs mandate is based upon theUN Charter. The UN is charged by its Charterwith promoting higher standards of living ineconomic and social fields; conditions ofeconomic and social progress anddevelopment; international cultural andeducational cooperation; and universal respectfor rights and fundamental freedoms for all.

CompositionInitially, ECOSOC consisted of 18 MemberStates. This changed in 1965, when the GAdecided to increase the amount of MemberStates to 27. Since 1971, ECOSOC hasconsisted of 54 members. These 54 membersare elected by the General Assembly for

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overlapping three-year terms. There are fixedcontingents with regard to geographicalrepresentation: fourteen seats are allocated toAfrican States, eleven to Asian States, six to

Eastern European States, ten to LatinAmerican and Caribbean States, and thirteento Western European and other States. Thecurrent president of ECOSOC is Milo Koterec.He was elected on 10 January 2012 and is thecurrent and permanent representative of theSlovak Republic to the United Nations in NewYork.

Functions

According to the Charter, ECOSOC may makeor initiate studies and reports with respect tointernational economic, social, cultural,educational, health, and related matters andmay make recommendations with respect toany matters to the General Assembly [GA], tothe Members of the United Nations, and tospecialized agencies concerned. This outlinesand defines the main tasks and the array oftopics on ECOSOCs agenda. Furthermore, theCharter outlines in subsequent Articles thatECOSOC may make recommendations

concerning its topics, prepare draft conventionsfor submission to the GA, call internationalconferences on matters falling within itscompetence, and coordinate the work of theSpecialized Agencies; this latter item serves asthe main intersection between the UN andSpecialized Agencies such as the InternationalLabour Organization, the World Health

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Organization, the World Food Programme, andothers. Moreover ECOSOC may furnishinformation to the Security Council and shallassist [it] upon request. These provisions

illustrate that ECOSOC is a deliberative bodyand has a coordinating role within the UN.The committee in SANMUN will differ only ontwo grounds. First that not all countries in thereal ECOSOC are included in the matrix. Andsecond is that there will be no discussion basedon annual periodic revenue meetings, which theUN does to get an idea of where the economy

is at the present.

To provide a better understanding, importantarticles of the UN charter that outline theECOSOCs powers and functions are givenbelow:

Chapter X

Article 62

The Economic and Social Council maymake or initiate studies and reports withrespect to international economic, social,cultural, educational, health, and relatedmatters and may makerecommendations with respect to any

such matters to the General Assembly tothe Members of the United Nations, andto the specialized agencies concerned.

It may make recommendations for thepurpose of promoting respect for, andobservance of, human rights andfundamental freedoms for all.

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It may prepare draft conventions forsubmission to the General Assembly, withrespect to matters falling within itscompetence.

It may call, in accordance with the rulesprescribed by the United Nations,international conferences on mattersfalling within its competence.

Article 63

The Economic and Social Council may

enter into agreements with any of theagencies referred to in Article 57,defining the terms on which the agencyconcerned shall be brought intorelationship with the United Nations. Suchagreements shall be subject to approvalby the General Assembly.

It may co-ordinate the activities of thespecialized agencies through consultationwith and recommendations to suchagencies and through recommendationsto the General Assembly and to theMembers of the United Nations.

Article 64

The Economic and Social Council maytake appropriate steps to obtain regularreports from the specialized agencies. Itmay make arrangements with theMembers of the United Nations and withthe specialized agencies to obtainreports on the steps taken to give effect

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to its own recommendations and torecommendations on matters fallingwithin its competence made by theGeneral Assembly.

It may communicate its observations onthese reports to the General Assembly.

Article 65

The Economic and Social Council may furnishinformation to the Security Council and shallassist the Security Council upon its request.

Article 66

The Economic and Social Council shallperform such functions as fall within itscompetence in connection with thecarrying out of the recommendations ofthe General Assembly.

It may, with the approval of the GeneralAssembly, perform services at therequest of Members of the UnitedNations and at the request of specializedagencies.

It shall perform such other functions as

are specified elsewhere in the presentCharter or as may be assigned to it bythe General Assembly.

VOTING

Article 67

Each member of the Economic and

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Social Council shall have one vote.

Decisions of the Economic and SocialCouncil shall be made by a majority of

the members present and voting.

For more information:

http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/about/

Agenda

Tackling worldwide unemploymentand addressing its root causes

Unemployment rates and the level ofunemployment itself remain a useful measure

of the health of a economy over time, as it hasboth social and economic implications. Risingunemployment results in loss of income forindividuals, reduced collection of taxes forgovernments, and increased pressure ongovernment spending on social benefits. Long-term unemployment also negatively affectssocial cohesion and hinders economic

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growth. The effects of high unemployment inone country can have a major impact on theeconomies of its trading partners as well, itleads to a decrease in demand for imports.

Unemployment is the root of many problemsvarying from poverty to health insecurity. Thatis the very reason why the Executive Boardchose this topic. As it covers a wide spectrumof issues and the problem has a universalexistence.

So, what is unemployment?

The definition of unemployment itself like therest of Economics is subject to interpretation invarious perspectives. What this means isdefining unemployment is a very difficult tasksand is often debatable. For the benefit of ourcommittee we will accept the following as theaccepted definition:

Unemployment is defined as follows in theResolution concerning statistics of theeconomically active population, employment,unemployment and underemployment,adopted by the Thirteenth InternationalConference of Labour Statisticians (Geneva,

1982):

The "unemployed" comprise all persons above aspecified age who during the reference periodwere:

without work", i.e. were not in paidemployment or self-employment;

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currently available for work", i.e. were availablefor paid employment or self-employment duringthe reference period; and

"Seeking work", i.e. had taken specific steps in aspecified reference period to seek paidemployment or self-employment.

The specific steps may include registration at apublic or private employment exchange;application to employers; checking at worksites,farms, factory gates, market or other assembly

places; placing or answering newspaperadvertisements; seeking assistance of friendsor relatives; looking for land, building, machineryor equipment to establish own enterprise;arranging for financial resources; applying forpermits and licenses, etc.

National definitions of unemployment may

differ from the recommended internationalstandard definition. The national definitionsused vary from one country to another asregards inter alia age limits, reference periods,criteria for seeking work, treatment of personstemporarily laid off and of persons seeking workfor the first time.

Global labour markets are worseningagain

In the fifth year after the outbreak of the globalfinancial crisis, global growth has deceleratedand unemployment has started to increaseagain, leaving an accumulated total of some 197

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million people without a job in 2012. Moreover,some 39 million people have dropped out ofthe labour market as job prospects provedunattainable, opening a 67 million global jobs

gap since 2007. Despite a moderate pick-up inoutput growth expected for 201314, theunemployment rate is set to increase again andthe number of unemployed worldwide isprojected to rise by 5.1 million in 2013, to morethan 202 million in 2013 and by another 3million in 2014. A quarter of the increase of 4million in global unemployment in 2012 has been

in the advanced economies, while threequarters has been in other regions, with markedeffects in East Asia, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Those regions that havemanaged to prevent a further increase inunemployment often have experienced aworsening in job quality, as vulnerableemployment and the number of workers living

below or very near the poverty line increased.

New recession conditions in Europehave been spilling over globally

Lower economic activity and job growth even incountries that had initially escaped the second

wave of the crisis constitutes a spillover effectof the weak growth in advanced economies in2012, in particular recession conditions inEurope. So far, the main transmissionmechanism of global spillovers has beenthrough international trade, but regions such asLatin America and the Caribbean have alsosuffered from increased volatility of

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international capital flows that have forcedthem to quickly adjust their macroeconomicpolicy in order to dampen the effects onexchange rates, thereby weakening their

domestic economies.Growth decelerated by 1.4 percentage points inEast Asia, largely due to a notable slowdown inChina, where growth slowed to 7.8 per cent the slowest rate of growth since 1999. In SouthAsia, where growth in India slowed sharply to4.9 per cent, the lowest rate of growth in thecountry in a decade, the regional GDP growth

rate decelerated by 1.6 percentage points. Theregions of Latin America and the Caribbeanand the Middle East also saw a substantialdeceleration.

The continuing nature of the crisis hasworsened labour market mismatches,

intensifying downside labour marketrisks

The length and depth of the labour marketcrisis is worsening labour market mismatch,contributing to extended spells ofunemployment. As the crisis spreads throughinternational trade, occupations concentratedin exporting industries are particularlyvulnerable and in several countries theirimportance in total employment has declinedby significant margins. New jobs that becomeavailable often require competences that theunemployed do not possess. Such skill andoccupational mismatches will make the labour

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market react more slowly to any acceleration inactivity over the medium run, unless supportingpolicies to re-skill and activate currentjobseekers are enhanced.

Job creation rates are particularlylow, as typically happens after a

financial crisis

The origins of the crisis in the financial sectorweigh on job creation. Following banking crises

such as the current one, more jobs aredestroyed and fewer jobs created as pre-crisismisallocation and over-investment require timeto be corrected. In advanced economies jobdestruction rates have increased again after ashort-lived respite in 2010, indicating thatfurther job restructuring is likely before astronger rebound can be expected in labour

markets. Other regions are also stillexperiencing higher-than-average jobdestruction rates.

Youth remain particularly affected bythe crisis

Young people remain particularly stricken by thecrisis. Currently, some 73.8 million young peopleare unemployed globally and the slowdown ineconomic activity is likely to push another halfmillion into unemployment by 2014. The youthunemployment rate which had alreadyincreased to 12.6 per cent in 2012 is expectedto increase to 12.9 per cent by 2017. The crisis

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has dramatically diminished the labour marketprospects for young people, as manyexperience long-term unemployment right fromthe start of their labour market entry, a

situation that was never observed during earliercyclical downturns.

Currently, some 35 per cent of all youngunemployed have been out of a job for sixmonths or longer in advanced economies, upfrom 28.5 per cent in 2007. As a consequence,an increasing number of young people have

become discouraged and have left the labourmarket. Among European countries where thisproblem is particularly severe, some 12.7 percent of all young people are currently neitheremployed nor in education or training, a ratethat is almost two percentage points higherthan prior to the crisis. Such long spells ofunemployment and discouragement early on in

a persons career also damage long-termprospects, as professional and social skillserode and valuable on-the-job experience isnot built up.

Data collection problems.

Also, unemployment is a problem wherestatistics can sometimes not tell you thetruth.If someone retires, goes back to school orleaves the work force to take care of children orother family member, that is notunemployment. Also, if someone gives uplooking for work, they are also not counted asunemployed by the Federal government. For

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this reason, some people say the governmentundercounts the real unemployment rate.

So, where do you fit in as delegates of

SANMUN ECOSOC 2013?

You, as delegates of your respective countrieshave to come together and analyze therootcauses, break them down and formulatesolutions together to dampen the effects ofunemployment and reduce it. Delegates areexpected to look at this agenda on theinternational and domestic level. The delegatesare also expected to know the variousindividuals problems their countries face andthe necessity for it to be addressed in theresolution.

We look forward to seeing you August, Happy

researching!

Contact Us

Vaibhav K.N. - Chair - +91-9884726478Rohan Sankhla - Guest Chair - +91-8951110332Vishnu Varma - Moderator - +91-9840941549

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