General Assembly (GA)

Transcription

1 General Assembly (GA) Topic #1: Humanitarian Aid in Aleppo Topic #2: Climate Change

2 About Your Chairs! Hannah Paty, Grade 11, Co-Chair Hello delegates!! My name is Hannah and I am super happy to co-chair the General Assembly at my second SiMUN conference. I have been a part of Model United Nations for 3 years and have attended 9 conferences in my career. This is my second time being a chair and I co-chaired the Cuban Missile Crisis at last year s SiMUN conference. Outside of MUN, I enjoy reading, writing, my job at the bookstore Chapters and most importantly spending time with my friends and family. I can t wait to meet you all and see what your wonderful minds add to our discussion. Erin Mattes, Grade 11, Co-Chair Hi delegates, and welcome to Sinclair! My name is Erin and I m honoured to co-chair the General Assembly at my first ever SiMUN conference. I have a passion for global change and the only thing I regret is not joining MUN sooner! In what little spare time I have, I m an avid softball player and our Student Parliament s Deputy Prime Minister. My favourite pastimes include reading, adding to my artistic journal, and keeping Hannah sane!! I couldn t be more excited to chair for the first time and meet all of you. See you soon. NOTE: Please do not bring any peanut or nut products to the conference, as one of our chairs has a life-threatening peanut allergy. Thank you for your cooperation

3 Topic #1: Humanitarian Aid in Aleppo The country of Syria has been in unrest for many years, and Aleppo is easily named as one of its most devastated cities. Dating back to 2012, the Syrian civil war has caused indescribable violations on human rights of its citizens and required substantial assistance from external sources (Tokmajyan). Food is scarce, emergency medical assistance is insufficient, and people are rapidly dying (Ibid). The initial uprise began in March of 2011, when anti-governmental protests were conducted against President Bashar al-assad s regime (Barrington). These public demonstrations spoke for the release of political prisoners as well as addressing corruption (Ibid). Protestors in the city of Aleppo were first shot in July 2012, sparking a rebel fight for control of the city itself (Ibid). A few months later, the International Red Cross officially declared Syria in a state of civil war (Tokmajyan). Rebel forces were successfully able to intercept the main highway from Aleppo to the south, controlling the city s main route of transportation in 2013 (Barrington). In 2014, the Syrian government, with assistance from Russia, began using aircrafts to stage air-strikes on rebel-held areas located in Aleppo (Ibid). On July 27 th of 2016, government forces were able to fully encircle the eastern part of the city for the first time. This siege lasted for a mere ten days before the rebels regained control (Ibid). A temporary ceasefire was agreed upon for December 14 th for the allowance of civilians particularly the young, the elderly, and the wounded to evacuate rebel-held areas of Aleppo (Tokmajyan). To date, over half a million people have been killed as a result of Syrian conflict (Ibid). On November 19 th, 2016, all hospitals located in and around Aleppo were formally announced as out of commission (Barrington). Approximately 1.5 million citizens have been wounded or permanently disabled, while 6.6 million have been internally displaced (Tokmajyan). Over 16 million people are in need are urgent humanitarian assistance; this is nearly half the initial population of Syria (Ibid). 5 million refugees have fled the country to date, and the number is only increasing (Ibid). Of these refugees, a majority of them are under the age of eighteen years old. The countries who have contributed most significantly to the acceptance of refugees include Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt (Ibid). Non-governmental organizations have taken to assisting as much as their resources will allow. Some of the associations currently providing assistance in the form of medical aid or food supplies are the following: the International Rescue Committee, the World Food Program, Doctors Without Borders, and Islamic Relief USA (Riotta). The United Nations has found difficulty in adopting resolutions for how to manage Aleppo s state of civil war. Since September, it has failed to adopt multiple resolutions that could have provided humanitarian aid to the war-torn city ( It is past time ). Further potential peace and humanitarian strategies are currently inconclusive

4 Questions to Consider 1. What is the goal of the United Nations moving forward regarding humanitarian aid in Aleppo? 2. Should the United Nations focus resources on the stationary assistance of trapped citizens or evacuation attempts? 3. How do individual nations plan to initiate actions in a way that does not further negatively affect the current state of Aleppo? Further Research Works Cited Barrington, Lisa. "Timeline: The battle for Aleppo." Edited by Angus McDowall and Giles Elgood. Reuters News Agency, Thomas Reuters, 14 Dec. 2016, " It is past time for you to act to end carnage in Aleppo, UN chief tells emergency Security Council session." United Nations News Centre, 13 Dec. 2016, Riotta, Chris. "How To Donate Money And Aid To Aleppo, Syria: Humanitarian Organizations Delivering Food And Supplies To City." International Business Times, IBT Media Inc., 22 Nov. 2016, Tokmajyan, Armenak. "Aleppo Conflict Timeline." The Aleppo Project, Sept. 2016,

5 Topic #2: Global Climate Change Background The global increase in temperature can be traced back to the 1800 s during the Industrial Revolution due to the increased usage of coal, railroads and land clearing ( Timeline (Milestones) ). Unfortunately, all of these newfound technologies have sped up greenhouse gas emissions over the years thus leading to a global increase in temperature. Furthermore, it was not until the 1960 s when scientists made ground-breaking discoveries on how the emission of greenhouse gases, the Antarctic ice sheets, and the atmosphere all relate back to climate change ( Timeline (Milestones) ). Scientists discovered that these aspects heavily influence or are influenced by climate change and they must remain steady to uphold an ideal average global temperature. Fortunately, in the 1970 s global attention was brought upon climate change and the importance of taking steps to reverse the actions of previous generations. In 1970, Earth Day was established as a day to recognize, respect, and help the environment. In addition to the global attention, many discoveries were made regarding climate change in the 1970 s and years to come. Increasingly in the last couple of years, climate change has been the focus of many political debates, conferences and protocols worldwide. This is due to the fact that the Earth s latest annual average temperature was a shocking 0.87 degrees Celsius ( Global Temperature ). To put this into perspective: out of 136 years of data, ten of the world s warmest years were recorded after The year 2016 was the second warmest year in history and caused the United States of America 15 weather related disasters, 138 deaths, and $46 billion dollars in damages ( 2016 was 2nd warmest ). One of the most alarming facts about climate change is that certain aspects are seemingly unpredictable. However, scientists are hypothesizing that once the average temperature increases by 2 degrees Celsius, the damage will be extreme and irreversible. Subsequently, climate change has become more than an environmental problem but a financial, political, and humanitarian problem as well. Throughout the years, the United Nations have taken many actions and held many conferences to help combat global climate change. One of the most recognized initiatives introduced by the United Nations is the Kyoto Protocol, which was first adopted in 1997 and brought into force in The Kyoto Protocol is a treaty signed by many nations and depicts greenhouse gas emission goals they must reach in hope to reduce global climate change ( Kyoto Protocol ). Since then, the protocol was adapted in 2001 with the adaptions being titled the Marrakesh Accords. More recently, in 2016 the United Nations Framework on Climate Change hosted a convention in Paris where the Paris Agreement was signed. The Paris Agreement guides countries to implement actions in order to maintain the global temperature increase below 2 degrees Celsius ( The Paris Agreement ). However, now it is up to the countries to abide by the agreement and contribute to improving the global situation on an individual level.

6 Questions to Consider 1. What are some actions countries can take on an individual scale in order to reduce climate change? 2. In addition to the Kyoto Protocol and the Marrakesh Accords, what other global initiatives can be taken? 3. Is it more beneficial for action on climate change to be taken by each individual nation or globally? Further Research d&chapter=27&clang=_en NOTE: All resources provided contain very interesting and important information that will make a great addition to our discussion.

7 Works Cited "Global Temperature." Global Climate Change Vital Signs of the Planet, Earth Science Communications Team, 2017, climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/. Accessed 5 Feb "Kyoto Protocol." United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2017, unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php. Accessed 5 Feb "The Paris Agreement." United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2017, unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/9485.php. Accessed 5 Feb "Timeline (Milestones)." The Discovery of Global Warming, 2017, history.aip.org/climate/timeline.htm. Accessed 5 Feb "2016 was 2nd warmest year on record for U.S." National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2016, Accessed 5 Feb

8 Country Matrix 1. Afghanistan 2. Algeria 3. Australia 4. Bangladesh 5. Belgium 6. Botswana 7. Burkina Faso 8. Cambodia 9. Canada 10. Chile 11. The People s Republic of China 12. Czech Republic 13. Democratic People's Republic of Korea 14. Denmark 15. Djibouti 16. Egypt 17. France 18. Germany 19. Ghana 20. Greece 21. Honduras 22. Islamic Republic of Iran 23. Japan 24. Kuwait 25. Lebanon 26. Mexico 27. Nicaragua 28. Norway 29. Nigeria 30. Philippines 31. Republic of Korea 32. Russian Federation 33. Saudi Arabia 34. South Africa 35. Switzerland 36. Syrian Arab Republic 37. Turkey 38. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 39. United States of America 40. Zimbabwe