BACKGROUND GUIDELINES

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

EXECUTIVE BOARD –

CHAIR – ANANT MITAL

DIRECTOR – SAMYA SINGH

RAPPORTEUR – HARJIT S. NALWA

EMAIL ID FOR SENDING POSITION PAPERS – shrimun.ga@gmail.com

DEADLINE – 15th JUNE (11:59 PM)

CONTENTS

Information about the Committee – Pg 3 - 4

Agenda Topic A – Countering the illicit trade of small arms and

light weaponry in Africa– Pgs 5 – 9

Bibliography and Further Reading – Pg 9

Agenda Topic B – Charting a Global Framework to Combat

Malnutrition and Illiteracy – Pgs 10 – 15

Bibliography and Further Reading – Pg 15

UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY Plenary

Dear delegates, It is our pleasure to welcome you to the General Assembly at Shri MUN - 2012. We hope that this guide prepared by your Executive Board will help you to develop a basic understanding of the agendas and will serve as a starting point for your research.

However do note that this guide is not meant to serve as a source or a framework for your research. Instead, use this guide to understand the nature of the agendas at hand.

Thus do not let this guide restrict the scope of your research in any

way whatsoever. Do remember to place an emphasis on originality with regard to the solutions you wish to propose.

We look forward to a productive and mutually enriching conference. If any of you have any questions whatsoever, be it about the agenda

or the committee, don’t hesitate to send us an e-mail on the addresses given below.

Warm Regards, The Executive Board, General Assembly, Shri-MUN 2012 Anant Mital Chair E-mail – 95.anantmital@gmail.com

Samya Singh Director E-mail – samyasingh.22@hotmail.com

Harjit Singh Nalwa Rapporteur E-mail – harjitsinghnalwa@gmail.com

United Nations General Assembly

Introduction

The General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the United Nations. It holds general debate in the UN's New York headquarters. The General Assembly is the only UN organ in which all member nations have equal representation. Comprising all 193 Members of the United Nations, it provides a unique forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the Charter. It also plays a significant role in the process of standard-setting and the codification of international law.

The General Assembly has the power of censuring states for violating UN Charter

principles. Its composition, functions, powers, voting, and procedures are set out in Chapter IV of the United Nations Charter.

All members of the United Nations are represented in the General Assembly.

Each nation, rich or poor, large or small, has one vote. It has also established a wide number of subsidiary organs. Numerous non -members, such as states, organizations, and other entities (e.g., the Vatican, the African Union, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Palestine), maintain observer status, enabling them to participate in the work of the General Assembly.

Functions and powers of the General Assembly According to the Charter of the United Nations, the General Assembly may:

Consider and make recommendations on the general principles of cooperation for maintaining international peace and security, including disarmament;

Discuss any question relating to international peace and security and, except where a dispute or situation is currently being discussed by the Security Council, make recommendations on it;

Make recommendations for the peaceful settlement of any situation that might impair friendly relations among nations;

Consider and approve the United Nations budget and establish the financial assessments of Member States;

Elect the non-permanent members of the Security Council and the members of other United Nations councils and organs and, on the recommendation of the Security Council, appoint the Secretary-General.

While the Assembly is empowered to make only non-binding recommendations to States on international issues within its competence, it has, nonetheless, initiated actions—political, economic, humanitarian, social and legal—which have affected the lives of millions of people throughout the world.

Agenda Topic A

Countering the illicit trade of small arms and light weaponry in Africa

Introduction to the Agenda

The historical development of firearms was not an exclusive case of military

development influencing civilian development. In fact, during the early developments of conventional weapons, the need for enlargement of “small arms and light weapons” (SALW) became a priority. In addition, a differentiation was not made between civilian and military requirements, and there were no visible regulations to restrict civilian ownership of military weapons.

This would cause serious problems in regards to regulation and the prevention

of illicit trade in SALW in the future.“Statistics show that out of the estimated 500 million small arms and light weapons in circulation worldwide, 100 million are found in Africa.”This extensive availability of SALW has allowed massive human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law to occur. This has developed, within the continent, a culture of violence, which destroys the social fabric of several African nations, and the aids escalation of the phenomenon of child soldiers.

Currently, automatic firearms are the most common weapons used in combat.

These flow by the millions in an uncontrolled manner in current and former war zones such as Central Africa, Southern Africa, Central America, Southeast Asia, and the Balkans. Retrieving most of them would be difficult, if not impossible. The concern regards not just political willpower but also of weak economic, social, and political capabilities in these regions -capabilities needed to deal with the problem.

In Africa, several countries have experienced the consequences and impacts of

weapon proliferation. Thousands of civilians and combatants are killed or gravely wounded every year. Even if death or injury can be prevented, the proliferation and misuse of small arms can impact a community dramatically, as well as impacting the whole country. The use of and the threat caused by small arms prevent the delivery of humanitarian and economic aid, undermines development, and contributes to the increasing number of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDP).

Due to the number of SALW remaining in circulation and in the possession of

former combatants, these weapons often create further violence in the form of criminal activity, thereby perpetuating instability in communities. The post conflict development processes in Africa have been noticeably affected by SALW. This can be shown in the increasing incidences of child participation in conflicts as a consequence of the proliferation of small arms.

Today, almost five years after the GA first called for the development of an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), it remains unclear whether and how one could be achieved. The proliferation and misuse of small arms is a worldwide, progressively complex and multifaceted phenomenon that affects people universally. By virtue of their easy

availability, low cost and manageability, SALW have become the weapons of choice in most conflicts in the world today. These weapons are the leading contributors to the escalation of a culture of violence and to the militarization of civil society.

Historical Overview: Illicit Trafficking of Small Arms

During the Cold War

African states did not fare particularly well during the Cold War. While certain states may have benefited at certain times, the citizenry suffered. Of concern is that countries that received some of the largest quantities of weaponry (mostly SALW) later became extremely weak, conflict-ridden, or failed states: Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, formerly Zaire), Liberia and Somalia are some of the worst affected. The non-aligned supporters of independence and majority-rule movements provided further external sources of weaponry that contributed to the illicit trafficking of small arms during the 1970s and 1980s. Former rebels and current government officials acknowledge that these sources supplied groups with small arms and light weapons.

Keeping and accountability were largely ignored—a failing that has been the

case in state armed forces as well as non-state groups. The preponderance of civil wars, mutinies, and military coups (attempted or successful) during the years after independence and throughout the 1970s and 1980s also contributed to the problem of the illicit trafficking of small arms. Between 1963 and 1984, there were more than 60 coup d’états in two-thirds of the countries on the continent (see table 1). This is less of a problem today, but military coups in recent years in the Central African Republic (CAR), Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, and Togo—not to mention many more reports and allegations of attempted coups elsewhere—underscore that this is still a challenge to African states and societies.

Aftermath of the Cold War

Africa faced new challenges in the years immediately following the Cold War. With the downsizing of armed forces, and changes in doctrine and procurement associated with military alignment with the West, many Eastern European countries found themselves with huge stockpiles of Soviet-era small arms and ammunition that were surplus to new requirements. Conflicts in Africa, such as Angola, the Great Lakes Region, and West Africa provided attractive small arms markets for many of these countries to earn much needed revenues from their surplus materiel (and in some situations also gain valuable hard currency from new production).

Security Council commissions created to investigate violations of UN embargoes

shed light on some of this activity, transfers typified the international flow of illicit arms in the 1990s—from the global north to the African continent. Arms manufactured the north fueled numerous conflicts, killed tens of thousands of people, facilitated the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians, and enabled widespread, gross human rights violations. For the most part, the people who benefited financially from these deals were transport companies, brokers, and banks, mostly from the north.

Today, Eastern European surplus arms are not as plentiful as they once were.

Many Northern countries have improved their oversight mechanisms and addressed legal and administrative loopholes. Governments have also destroyed many surplus weapons. But it is correct to say that much more needs to be done. Surplus weapons from the region continue to flow into conflict-torn areas. Where brokering legislation exists, unscrupulous actors continue to exploit loopholes. Adherence to UN embargoes remains inconsistent. The collapse of the Soviet bloc saw a new flood of small arms entering Africa as manufacturers put additional millions of surplus Cold War-era weapons on the international arms market at cut-rate prices.

In the 1970s, the apartheid government began supplying thousands of tons of arms and ammunition to its domestic and regional allies for the defence of white minority rule. An estimated 30 tonnes of guns and explosives were smuggled into the country by the anti-apartheid movements, which also left arms stockpiles at their base camps in surrounding countries. As many as 4 million weapons from various sources have illegally found their way into the hands of South African civilians. The presence of so many weapons outside government control has overwhelmed law enforcement efforts, contributed to crime and public insecurity, hampered economic growth and caused tragic and avoidable deaths and injuries.

Recent Developments

Most present-day conflicts are fought mainly with small arms, which are broadly

used in inter-State conflict. They are the weapons of choice in civil wars and for terrorism, organized crime and gang warfare.

In recent decades, the arms trade has seen a shift from mostly direct contact

between Government officials or agents to the ubiquitous use of private intermediaries, who operate in a particularly globalized environment, often from multiple locations.

Contemporary traders, agents, brokers, shippers and financiers regularly combine their activities, making it difficult to clearly distinguish small arms trade from brokering and related activities.

Apart from its direct impact such as human injury and death and the negative impact on the economy, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons brings about a number of other issues:

Human rights: Civil population is especially at risk from small arms and light

weapons. The UN stated that irregular forces have little regard for the norms of international law and do not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, with woman and children, the most vulnerable groups in society, often being the main victims.

Child soldiers: Conflicts fuelled and sustained by small arms and light weapons

(easy to use with only the most basic training, low cost and economically easy to purchase) are often characterized by the participation of children as soldiers under the age of 16. The UN Panel estimated that, by 1988, as many as 200,000 children were participating as soldiers in conflicts in 25 states worldwide.

Refugees and mass migrations: These conflicts often result in cross border refugee movement and large numbers of people do get internally displaced. Refugee camps may be used to hide mass amounts of small arms while refugees may also want to arm themselves for protection.

Some African regions have recently adopted regional policies to fight the proliferation of small arms. These instruments contain very strong references to the need not to transfer arms where they risk being used in breach of international humanitarian law (IHL). These instruments are also legally-binding.

The Bamako Declaration The Nairobi Declaration and the Nairobi Protocol on Small Arms and Light

Weapons; The ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons; The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on the Control

of Firearms, Ammunition and Related Materials (2001).

The international community and African states must act together to confront the sale and use of SALW throughout the continent. Arms traders continuously defy international guidelines and national legislations to supply weapons to governments and armed groups. The small arms that remain in circulation are used in armed, criminal violence that perpetuate instability, and it must be prevented.

Problems we would like to see addressed in committee-

How can the international community ensure that treaties concerning SALW are effectively implemented in the African continent, especially in areas with the highest risk of conflict?

Given that African states are not producers of SALW, how can the UN address the inadequacies of transit and destination Member States?

What is the role of civil society in the combat to eliminate illicit SALW trade in Africa?

What are the remaining challenges within the General Assembly in regards to preventing the illicit trade of SALW?

What is the role of countries not directly related to arms trade in Africa?

Useful links: http://www.un.org/disarmament/education/docs/SALW_Africa.pdf http://www.unidir.org/pdf/ouvrages/pdf-1-92-9045-171-8-en.pdf http://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/SALW/ http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/66/47 http://www.africa-union.org/root/au/AUC/Departments/PSC/Small_Arms.htm http://www.armsnetafrica.org/?q=content/africa-and-arms-trade-treaty

Agenda Topic B

Charting a Global Framework to Combat Malnutrition and Illiteracy

Introduction to the Agenda

Malnutrition and illiteracy are issues that every country has had to face at one point or another. However these two problems are still prevalent in a number of countries in the world today. In fact malnutrition and illiteracy have now become characteristics of developing countries.

Malnutrition Malnutrition is defined by the WHO as “bad nourishment”. It concerns not enough as well as too much food, the wrong types of food, and the body's response to a wide range of infections that result in malabsorption of nutrients or the inability to use nutrients properly to maintain health. Clinically, malnutrition is characterized by inadequate or excess intake of protein, energy, and micronutrients such as vitamins, and the frequent infections and disorders that result. (WHO 2012)

Historically, after almost every war, there has been a shortage of food and resources. However today malnutrition has gone far beyond that. Malnutrition today is a serious issue affecting almost every developing country. According to an FAO news release, 925 million people do not have enough to eat, out of which 98% belong to

developing countries. Thus, malnutrition is an issue that urgently requires the attention of the global community.

The chief causes of malnutrition are poverty and conflict. As of 2008, the World

Bank had estimated that there were 1,345 million poor people in developing countries who were surviving on $1.25 a day or less. As a result, people do not have enough money to buy food and themselves as well as their families remain hungry. Conflict has also proven to be an important cause of malnutrition. Conflict, wherever it may be, displaces a number of people, rendering them homeless and with no money. As a result they have little to sustain themselves. Malnutrition is not uncommon in areas that have recently experienced some conflict, such as Iraq and Somalia. Poor sanitation, scarcity of food, adverse economic policies etc. are additional causes.

The effects of malnutrition are severe. The WHO views it as the most important

risk factor for diseases. Children are possibly the worst affected by malnutrition. More than fifty percent of all child deaths in developing countries are because of malnutrition. These children end up with lifetime problems, if they survive the first few years of their lives at all. HIV transmission and the tendency to contract diseases like cancer are also increased by malnutrition.

Agencies such as the United Nations World Food Program, WHO and UNICEF are currently working both independently and in collaboration with various governments to help find a solution to this problem. Illiteracy Illiteracy, like malnutrition is a plague of the developing world. Like malnutrition, it is more widespread in developing countries. The chief cause of illiteracy is poverty. A number of families do not have enough to survive and as a result the children in the family, instead of receiving an education, spend their childhood working in order to sustain their families. Thus the poorer an area is, the lower its rate of illiteracy is; not because of the area or the people themselves but because of their abject economic situation (This is evident from the fact that Africa, the poorest continent, also has the highest rate of illiteracy)

The World Declaration on Education for All (Jomtien, 1990) states that education begins at birth and continues throughout life. Consequently, the social effects of illiteracy are present throughout the entire life cycle.

During early childhood, the effects of illiteracy can be seen within the family unit

and the primary socialization process. However at a later stage it adversely affects an individual’s capacity to earn and support his/her family. It also, at a much more macro level, affects a country’s intellectual output. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is the lead organization with the overall responsibility of coordinating other agencies and organizations in the attempts to achieve the goal of Education for All (Dakar Framework for Action, 2000)

Historical Background

Malnutrition Post the First World War, there were an estimated 6 million deaths due to war related malnutrition. The war also brought about severe malnutrition among refugees, soldiers and citizens alike. However it was far worse after the Second World War. The number of people who perished as a result of malnutrition is much greater than what it was after the First World War; there no estimates as to the exact number. In other words malnutrition as an issue has been plaguing countries for a very long time. On the 17th of December, 1974, The General Assembly of the UN adopted the Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition. The declaration, while recognizing the fact that malnutrition “acutely jeopardizes the most fundamental principles and values associated with the right to life and human dignity as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, recognized that being free from hunger and malnutrition was the inalienable right of every individual. It also urged governments to “work together for higher food production and a more equitable and efficient distribution of food between countries and within countries”.

The elimination of hunger and malnutrition was also included as an objective of the United Nations Declaration on Social Progress and Development. However even after all these efforts, malnutrition is still very prevalent, albeit slightly less than before.

Illiteracy Since 1948, the acquisition of basic skills such as reading and writing has been considered an inalienable human right. However despite this, the need for literacy remains one of society’s greatest shortcomings. The World Declaration on Education for All (Jomtien, 1990) constitutes one of the world’s broadest agreements in the field of education, reaffirming the right of every person to receive an education which takes care of his or her learning needs for the rest of his or her life. One of its objectives was to reduce adult illiteracy rates by at least fifty percent by the year 2000. However when, ten years later, the international community met again, this time at Dakar, Senegal, it was clear that they were not going to be able to reach the goals that had been set out ten years ago. This led to the Dakar Framework for Action (2000).

Current Situation

Malnutrition The World Health Organization has cited malnutrition as the “single greatest threat to the world's public health”. Malnutrition is the largest single contributor to disease, according to the UN's Standing Committee on Nutrition (SCN).

The UN has adopted the Universal Declaration for the eradication of Hunger

and Malnutrition as well as the Declaration on Social Progress and Development, both of which address the issue of malnutrition. The United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child (UNCRC), adopted in 1990, states that it shall take appropriate measures to “combat disease and malnutrition” through the provision of adequate nutritious foods, clean drinking water, and health care.

Women and children are most vulnerable when it comes to malnutrition.

The figure below shows the number of ‘hungry’ people in the world and their break up in terms of location (FAO 2010). According to the most recent estimate that the WHO could find, malnutrition, as measured by stunting, affects 32.5 percent of children in developing countries--one in every three. In round numbers there are 7 billion people in the world (consensus 2012). Thus, with an estimated 925 million hungry people in the world, 13.1 percent, or almost 1 in 7 people are hungry.

The main form of providing aid is by improving nutrition. The WHO, in collaboration with UNICEF and the UN WFP, has proposed Ready To-Use Therapeutic Foods or RUTFs for this purpose.

Illiteracy Illiteracy has become one of the foremost problems of countries in recent times.

Illiteracy is not just restricted to developing countries; a number of developed countries are also combating the problems stemming from illiteracy.

With the Dakar Framework for Action (Senegal, 2000), the international

community once more established illiteracy as a priority issue, setting a number of goals for the year 2015. Some of these goals were to achieve gender parity by 2005 and gender equality by 2015 and to provide free and compulsory education for all. However it has already been stated that a number of countries will not be able to achieve the goals they had set out to reach.

Africa Africa is the continent with the lowest literacy rate in the world. According to the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the illiteracy rates for some African countries (as of 2005) are as follows-

Benin- 45.2% (men) and 74.5% (women) Chad- 44.7% (men) and 76.9% (women) Ethiopia- 37% (men) and 48.2% (women) Niger- 62.8% (men) and 84.3% (women) Congo- 23.3% (men) and 38.9% (women)

Thus Africa is the worst hit by illiteracy. Africa is also the most financially backward continent and thus that has a direct effect on the literacy rates in the across the continent.

The Arab World In 1980 the Arab States were able to attain 51.3% literacy rate, an increase of 11% from the previous decade (40.8%). However the Arab region has some of the world’s lowest adult literacy rates, with only 62.2% of the region’s population of 15 and over able to read and write (UNESCO 2005), well below the world average of 84% and the developing countries average of 76.4%.

Europe Europe literacy rates are relatively high. Literacy rates for some European countries (UN Development Programme (UNDP) Report 2011) are as follows-

Georgia- 100% Estonia- 99.8% Latvia- 99.8% Slovenia- 99.7%

North America and South America Both Canada and the USA have high literacy rates. In the 1960’s, South American literacy rates were comparatively low. However recently they have been increasing steadily. According to 2003 estimates, Argentina and Brazil have literacy rates of 96.1% and 86.1% respectively. The country with the lowest literacy rate in Latin America is Nicaragua (67.5%).

Asia Asia as a continent has severe literacy problems. According to the UNESC, 47% of

the world’s illiterates are in South Asia. According to the UNDP Report 2011, Afghanistan has a literacy rate of just 37.8%, which is 7th lowest in the world. Bhutan and Bangladesh have literacy rates of 52.8% and 55.9% respectively.

The most important issue in Asia is the economic status of the region. Another

problem hindering the progress of literacy is the complex state of multi-ethnicity and multi-lingualism that characterizes many countries in Asia. The traditional method of imparting knowledge in the regional tongue is important in order to maintain the culture and ethnicity of Asian countries; however this adversely affects literacy rates.

Problems we would like to see addressed in committee-

What are concrete solutions to combat malnutrition? What measures must be taken both in developing as well as developed countries

to prevent malnutrition?

What is the role of developed countries in combating malnutrition? Women’s literacy rates are far lower than those of men (refer to the figures given

above for African countries). Thus what are concrete methods aiming to bring about gender equality when it comes to literacy?

The goals set down by both the World Declaration on Education for All and the Dakar Framework for Action will not be achieved by the said deadline; this has been made clear by a number of the parties. What are realistic goals that a country can hope to achieve, and by when?

What is the role to be played by developed countries, and how should it be different (if at all) from that of the developing countries?

Useful Links and Documents- http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/ http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-all/ http://www.trust.org/alertnet/blogs/africa-views/niger-battling-widespread-hunger-malnutrition http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/01/11/child-malnutrition-in-india-a-national-s-idINDEE80A03F20120111 The World Declaration on Education for All (Jomtien 1990) Dakar Framework for Action (Dakar 2000) The Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition (1974) Reuters Website- For news reports relevant to the agenda