University of Michigan Model United Nations The Daily Planet

1 Being used as soldiers, apart from this working paper, few delega-tions have suggested meaningful solutions. The delegate from Egypt suggested the obvious, [The children should] find other things to do with their free time. Kendsie Hunter In the morning session of the SOCHUM committee, the use of child soldiers was of main concern. The Nations of China, Brazil and Russia are collaborating to form a work-ing paper that makes the use of child soldiers more civi-lized. We can t tell countries that they can t use [child sol-diers], Brazil s SOCHUM representative Chris Grady said. The working paper covers subjects such as psychologi-cal help and education for child soldiers. It also agrees with keeping the international draft age of 18 but making the international volunteer age to be 15.

2 They become child soldiers because they are homeless, their parents are probably dead, or they have nothing to look forward to, Grady said, They are emotionally and psychologically different after fighting. Integration back into society is a point on which the work-ing paper focuses. After children have been to war, they are changed by the im-ages that they have seen. The countries of China, Russia and Brazil would like to see Interim Care Centers made for children while they serve in the army to help children succeed in life after fighting. We need to make sure that their literacy is good and that they get education and psy-chological help, Russia s representative said. Despite the committee s frustration with children The Use Of Child Soldiers Perplexes Many in SOCHUM University of Michigan Model United Nations The Daily Planet Friday, January 12, 2007 Issue 2 Dale Dorlin Human trafficking- the words on everyone s lips- was the starting point for today s session.

3 The feeling in the room today was frus-tration as none of the dele-gates gave answers; they only voiced problems. Delegations expressed the need to address the prevention of prostitution and the prosecution of the convicted human traffickers. Yet within the debate there is no clear solution. A delegate of Djibouti, Ebony Wright, says, You can t stop the demand but you can stop the supply. By providing other opportunities for these people, they will be less vulnerable to being trapped in by traffic. Dji-bouti feels that there should be enforcement on human trafficking laws and increased awareness and that weak statements are not valued in the discussion of this topic. The United States believes that the creation of an inter- national standard needs to be put in place.

4 This standard must define human traffickers and victims. Without doing so, the UN cannot go about the process of rehabilitation and reform. The US also has a tier system, a way of rank-ing Nations from the least to the most problematic. The US, would like to work with their Tier 3 Nations , ranked lower than Tier 1 or Tier 2, to establish prevention, among these Nations are Belize and Cuba. Currently the countries of Australia, United Kingdom and Argentina are forming a resolu-tion involving the prosecution of human traffickers and the men who are using children and women for human trafficking. Sophie Thomas, a delegate from Australia, says, Everyone s on board. I feel that it is a step to-wards fully and completely elimi-nating the problem of human trafficking.

5 On the flipside to the frustration of passive and negli-gent statements, everyone seems to be going with the flow. Ac-cording to Thailand s representa-tive, Aaron Decker, the process is running smoothly. Decker says, We re working together and we hope that we can keep it this way. Security Council Stalemate Zach Yancer A sharply divided Security Council spent the morning deliberating, unfortunately failing to either arrive at a consensus or advance the debate beyond Iranian nuclear capability. The existing sanctions imposed on Iran call for the Iranian government to provide a comprehensive report regarding the con-dition of their nuclear program within sixty days, twenty-one days have already passed. Although the Council was divided on many is-sues, the chief problem is that Iran has expressed verbally that it has no intentions of halting Uranium enrichment or dismantling any existing programs.

6 Although the majority of the council favored to give Iran the benefit of the doubt, the delegates from Slovakia, United Kingdom, and the United States opted for a preemptive resolution in response to the Iranian delegate s comments. Such a resolution would respond to Iranian noncompliance and would take effect at a prescribed date, shortly after the sixty day timetable expired. The Russian Federation and Ghana relentlessly countered a preemptive resolution, arguing that by taking action before the Council received the offi-cial report from Iran a preemptive resolution would undermine the credibility of the Council; further-more, this action would incite deeper Iranian isola-tion, forcing the nation to retreat from a return to diplomatic talks.

7 Early on France attempted to table the issue of Iran and move onto the Darfur crisis; however, this was voted down and the deadlock continued. During the course of the meeting several written questions were relayed to the delegate from Iran. When asked whether it was true that Iran was slow-ing down its nuclear program the Iranian delegate responded, Absolutely not, Iran has no intentions of halting its nuclear program. Iran later added, Iran would be open to direct talks with the United States, further adding, Iran will not be intimidated by sanctions, and that these sanctions only provoke a more hostile diplomatic course for Tehran. These comments gave many in the Council ap-parent proof that further sanctions, as requested by the UK and US, are a poor decision.

8 However, the delegate from the United Kingdom did end discus-sion on the very relevant point that, as he stated, No nation in the right state of mind would tell the Council that sanctions on themselves would resolve the problem. Necessity: We Need Traffic Control Page 2 Issue 2 University of Michigan Model United Nations The Daily Planet We Can t Let One Nation Threaten the Entire World Ratan Chana The Disarmament and International Security com-mittee has seen some vi-cious debate both yesterday evening and this morning on the topic of nuclear nonpro-liferation in the Middle East. Nations such as the United States and the United King-dom reiterated their commit-ment to making Iran cooper-ate fully with the IAEA. The United States feels that Iran is a threat to not only them, but to the entire interna-tional community.

9 Furthermore, DISEC also debated why the inter- national community failed to prevent North Korea from gaining nuclear weapons and how to avoid those mis-I Can See Clearly SpecPol Is in Session Dentistry of the World Moksha Atluri Talks in the WHO are progress-ing diligently on the subject of oral health. Various delegates have raised the concern of the deteriorating state of oral health in third-world countries. After recognizing the extent of this problem on an international scale, delegates then proceeded to discuss possible solutions to write in a future resolution. The delegate from the US presented the possibility of providing education on dental health care as well as the possibility of increasing available medication and research funds to increase the quality of such medications in underprivileged na-tions.

10 During a caucus, multiple dele-gations suggested implementing a basic health care program for every willing country. However, others raised concerns about funding. The delegate from Slovakia, David Aron, has stated that there are solutions being presented but there are cur-rently no plans for getting funds to implement these solutions. One of the major problems dis-cussed in committee was the unhy-gienic state of water systems in third-world countries. Aishah Gulam, the delegate representing Cuba, stated that not having a clean water system is the root of most health problems, including the problem of oral health. Discussion then turned to the possi-bility of sanitizing water systems as the first step to rectify oral health problems internationally.