The GA Committees develop resolutions based on their respective title (i.e. The Legal Committee debates legal issues) that may be forwarded to the General Assembly for consideration.  Since resolutions may be forwarded to the General Assembly, delegates from these committees may be allowed to address the General Assembly, but are not guaranteed that right. Therefore all comments and discussion points from a country of this committee should be forwarded to their General Assembly Ambassador. 

Topic 1: World Drug Problem

Drug abuse is a global phenomenon. It effects almost every country, although its extent and characteristics differ from region to region. Over the last few decades, however, drug abuse trends have started to converge.

200 million persons worldwide, or 5 % of the world’s population aged 15-64, have used drugs at least once in the last 12 months. The most widely-used illicit drug continues to be cannabis (160 million persons), followed by 30 million persons using amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), 16 million persons using opiates, and 14 million persons using cocaine; in terms of treatment demand, opiates continued to be the main problem drugs worldwide. Global opium production as well as global cocaine production has increased 2% from 2003 ("Launch of 2005 World Drug Report ").

Drugs itself can be provocation for many other issues, such as increased rates of violence and crime, susceptibility to blood related diseases, demand for treatment and emergency room visits as well as a breakdown in social behavior. Risk taking behavior can be increased by the continued drug use, including injecting drug use and sharing of needles, which is a significant route for the transmission of HIV/AIDS ("The Commission on Narcotic Drugs").

The drug problem may also lead to an increase in organized crime and money laundering. Organized criminals generate huge sums of money through drug trafficking, arms smuggling and financial crime. They are increasingly able to disguise illegal profits by taking advantage of the globalization of the world economy to transfer funds quickly across borders, particularly to those countries where controls are weak or non-existent. In other countries, such as Afghanistan, drug trafficking is actually an integral part of the economy, and actually improves it.

At the 1998 UN General Assembly special session on the world drug problem, Member States recognized that reducing the demand for drugs was an essential pillar in the stepped-up global effort to fight drug abuse and trafficking.

The Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) is the central policy-making body within the United Nations system dealing with drug-related matters ("The Commission on Narcotic Drugs"). It analyzes the world drug situation and develops proposals to strengthen the international drug control system to combat the world drug problem. In 1991, the UN General Assembly established the Fund of the United Nations International Drug Control Program (UNDCP) and expanded the mandate of the Commission to enable it to function as the governing body of UNDCP. UNDCP is administered as part of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

UNODC projects seek to limit the cultivation, production, trafficking and distribution of drugs (Chaturvedi). Efforts to reduce the supply of drugs include encouraging those who cultivate illicit crops such as the opium poppy or coca plant, to switch to other profitable crops and alternative sources of income. This goal is achieved through alternative development projects, community development, natural resource management and income-generating projects. Supply reduction projects also seek to broaden regional cooperation between governments in response to cross-border trafficking, strengthen border controls by providing modern equipment and develop training in "best practice" law enforcement procedures.

Even with the existing practices, the world drug problem is still prevalent issue in today’s international society. It is the role of the UN to take the necessary steps to rectify this sitation.

Questions:

• Would it serve the country’s best interest to restrict crop yield?
• Could the reduction be managed? How?
• Should UNODC or CND be modified or added to?
• Drugs are also used as medicine. Taking this into account, how will it be regulated?
• Drug trafficking is a major issue in some countries, but for some it is beneficial. How will those countries react to a reduction and how will they be compensated?

Works Cited:

Chaturvedi, Bhuvanesh . "Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice & International Drug Control." Embassy of India (1998):

"The Commission on Narcotic Drugs." UNCND. 2006. 18 Apr 2007 <http://www.unodc.org/unodc/cnd.html>.

Tullis, Melissa. "Launch of 2005 World Drug Report ." United Nations Information Servise. 2005. 18 Apr 2007 <http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/en/pressconf/2005/pb20050629.html>.

Topic 2: Occupational Health

Recent decades have seen the emergence of new disease challenges for national and international public health. New and re-emerging epidemic risks have been compounded by concerns about potential dissemination of chemical or radioactive substances, which also jeopardize international health security.

Workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses remain at unacceptably high levels and involve an enormous and unnecessary health burden, suffering, and economic loss amounting to 4–5% of GDP. According to WHO estimates for the year 2000 there are 2.0 million work-related deaths per year. WHO estimates that there is only 10-15% of workers who have access to a basic standard of occupational health services.

The workplace, along with the school, hospital, city, island, and marketplace, has been established as one of the priority settings for health promotion into the 21st century. The workplace directly influences the physical, mental, economic and social well being of workers and in turn the health of their families, communities and society. It offers an ideal setting and infrastructure to support the promotion of health of a large audience.

Regrettably the concept that the workplace is an important arena for health campaigns of many kinds, as well as basic occupational health and safety programs, is not yet widely accepted.

In those countries less developed than others, health can become a costly additive in the work place, and the risk is even higher with outdated machinery or practices that are done by hand. Most people who suffer from work-related injuries cannot afford health insurance or pay for medical costs. Should the UN provide such things?

The WHO also assists countries to develop national occupational health profiles, policies and action plans, and to create the capacity to implement the plans.

The organization addresses occupational health through a program, implementing a global strategy to:

• provide evidence for policy, legislation and support to decision-makers, including work carried out to estimate the magnitude of the burden of occupational diseases and injuries
• provide infrastructure support and development through capacity building, information dissemination and networking, and
• Support protection and promotion of workers' health.

It is the job of the legal committee to provide regulation to such issues.

Questions:

• How would more under developed nations be treated in comparison to more developed ones?
• Which occupations require more protection of workers? Who would define this?
• How will the UN ensure protection or provide assistance to those already injured?
• Should the WHO goals be revised?
• In what form would the UN provide infrastructure support?
• Should the UN do this at all?

Works Cited:

Christensen , Mark . "Industrial Hygiene." Occupational Health & Safey 2007.

"Occupational health." WHO. 2007. World Heatlh Organization. 17 Apr 2007 <http://www.who.int/occupational_health/en/>.

Health Insite. 2006. An Australian Government Initiative. 26 Apr 2007 <http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/topics/Work_Related_Injuries_and_Diseases>.

Topic 3: Corruption

Corruption is often at the root of serious global issues. World hunger, the spread of the AIDs epidemic, homelessness, genocide, and economic depravity are just a few international problems that have either been provoked by or overlooked by corrupt governments. However, the two areas most commonly affected under such oppressive govern are a country’s finances and the welfare of its citizens.

A country’s wealth can easily be drained by a fraudulent government to satisfy the needs of its members. In these cases, funding is rarely distributed where it is needed. Because of this financial depravity, all forms of outside direct investment are greatly discouraged by the government, making economic growth among citizens nearly impossible to achieve. (Hague, Political Science…) Small and inexpert businesses are pushed into debt as they fail to pay off initial starting costs, while large corporations with ties to political parties monopolize the economy. (Weiss, The United Nations…) An example of pecuniary devastation under corrupt government is The Goldenberg Scandal, a series of financial cons involving the exportation and distribution of gold that involved majority of Kenya’s state officials. The equivalent of five hundred million US dollars was drained from Kenya’s allotted funding for citizen welfare, and lost once the scandal was uncovered. (Wright, African Foreign Policies)

Because of laws regarding international sovereignty, it is hard for the United Nations to step in and regulate private fiscal affairs within individual countries’ respective governments. Recently however, international aid has become a crucial source of income for falsified government spending. In April of 2006, the United Nations published a report that seven hundred thousands citizens of Zimbabwe were evicted from their homes while their property was later destroyed in a government-run campaign to “clean up cities and towns.” (Weiss, The United Nations…) The campaign, after investigation, proved to be a political weapon that Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president, used to maintain the country’s poverty percentile in order to maintain the amount of international aid Zimbabwe received.

Organizations such as the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) and The Global Program against Corruption (GPAC) have been established to implement change in corrupt governments, especially when dealing with aid funding from other nations. However, they have been only moderately successful as far as establishing anti-corruption strategies as well as regulate the handlings of money granted for relief. Corrupt government continues to serve as an obstacle in overcoming global issues involving health, security, and human rights.

Questions:

• What can be done to prevent governments from corruption?
• To what extent should the UN intervene in finding a solution for this issue?
• How can organizations such as the ACU and GPAC be improved?
• What laws could be implemented to alleviate the oppression of corrupt government on its country’s people?
• What can be done to protect a nation’s money from unnecessary expenses?
• How can the correct use of international aid be ensured? Would this involve cooperation of private organizations?
  

Works Cited:

Hague, Rod. “Political Science: Fourth Edition (Comparative Government and Politics)”. New York, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

Hauss, Charles. “Comparative Politics: Domestic Responses to Global Challenges”. New York, New York: Wadsworth Publishing, 2003.

“United Nations Convention Against Corruption”. April 15,
<http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/crime_convention_corruption.html>.

“United Nations: Corruption”. April 15,
<http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/corruption.html>

Weiss, Thomas. “The United Nations and Changing World Politics”. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2001.

Wright, Stephen. “African Foreign Policies”. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1999.

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