COMMITTEE GUIDE. COMMITTEE - Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) CHAIR - Anja Mulder DEPUTY CHAIR - Roxana Hubbert

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1 COMMITTEE GUIDE COMMITTEE - Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) CHAIR - Anja Mulder DEPUTY CHAIR - Roxana Hubbert

2 Introduction The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the principal UN body exclusively assigned to the advancement of gender equality and the empowerment of women. The CSW is instrumental in promoting women s rights, documenting the reality of women s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women supports all aspects of the Commission s work. The Entity also facilitates the participation of civil society representatives. It is a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and was established on the 21st of June At MUNISS it, too, will be part of the General Assembly on the last day of our conference, resolutions do not need to be ratified by the General Assembly though.

Chair and Deputy My name is Roxana Hubbert and I look forward to being this years Deputy Chair of the CSW, the Commission on the Status of Women at MUNISS.

3 Chair and Deputy My name is Roxana Hubbert and I look forward to being this years Deputy Chair of the CSW, the Commission on the Status of Women at MUNISS. I was born in Saarland, Germany, however I lived and was raised in Toronto, Canada from the age of 6 months. I moved to Stuttgart almost six years ago; since then, I have attended the International School of Stuttgart Sindelfingen Campus and I am currently in the 10th grade. This conference will be my third MUN conference; my first as Deputy Chair and part of the StOff team. I am chairing alongside Anja Mulder in the Commission on the Status of Women Council and I ll do my best to make sure that this is a great conference for everybody in the CSW!

4 Topic: Ensuring the further development of existing natalist policies to guarantee a sustainable population Table of Content: Page 4: Key Terms Page 5-8: Issue Explanation Page 9: Historical Background + previous attempts to solve the issue Page 10: Bibliography Key Terms Pronatalism : Pronatalism is a belief that promotes human reproduction. Natalism promotes child-bearing and parenthood as desirable for social reasons and to ensure the continuance of humanity. Natalism in public policy typically seeks to create financial and social incentives for populations to reproduce, such as providing tax incentives that reward having and supporting children (Wikipedia). Antinatalism : Antinatalism is a philosophical position that assigns a negative value to birth. Natalist Policies : Some countries with population decline offer incentives to the people to have large families as a means of national efforts to reverse declining populations. Incentives may include a one time baby bonus, or ongoing child benefit payments or tax reductions. Some impose penalties or taxes on those with fewer children. Population Control : a policy of attempting to limit the growth in numbers of a population, esp in poor or densely populated parts of the world, by programmes of contraception or sterilization

5 Optimum population : Optimum population refers to the size of a population that produces the best results according to chosen end targets. Issue Explanation Natalism (also called pronatalism or the pro-birth position) is a belief that promotes human reproduction. The term is taken from the Latin adjective form for "birth" called natalis. Natalism promotes child-bearing and parenthood as desirable for social reasons and to ensure national continuance. Natalism in public policy typically seeks to create financial and social incentives for populations to reproduce, such as providing tax incentives that reward having and supporting children. Adherents of more stringent takes on natalism may seek to limit access to abortion and contraception, as well. Economic prosperity has been linked with having a good population size, lots of workers, a lot of consumers. Countries like Sweden have adopted pro-natalist policies. Iran also had it because of the devastating loss in their population after the Iran- Iraq war. Now, due to this, 75% of their entire population is under the age of 30. On the other hand, countries may implement anti-natalist policies to reduce a growing population like in China. Anti-Natalist policies are policies that are against human reproduction. These policies were created to solve demographic problems such as overpopulation, famine, and depletion of energy resources. An influential rationale for anti-natalist policies was provided in a study by Ansley Coale and Edgar Hoover (1958), who argued that high births rates and population growth jeopardized long-term economic development by diverting resources from growth-enhancing investments to the mere maintenance of population. Reduced fertility rate, on the other hand, could speed economic development by freeing more resources for investment in productivity-enhancing activities. Governments though become concerned when birth rates fall too far. For example, Italy s current population of 56 million is expected to decline to around 41 million by 2050 likely to create problems with: too few consumers and skilled workers to keep the economy going, decreasing tax revenues and increasing pension and health care costs as the population ages. Germany provides another good example of having a declining population. Without an increase in the current birth rate of 8.25 per 1,000 (or increased immigration), the German workforce will fall by 40% over next 50 years. Since a growing workforce is one of the important factors in generating a country s overall wealth, it is likely that Germany s prosperity may be reduced.

6 Even if the birth rates to be doubled overnight, it could take at least 20 years for a country such as Germany to turn around the negative impacts of declining population. From predictions like these, it is necessary to implement population policies, because it may lead to a future economic crisis, with the limited working population. France was a country with concerns that professional women were choosing not to have children. The government was worried that the population was not going to replace itself over time. France and most other European countries have a birth rate that is lower than its death rate which means its population is declining (aging population). This can have severe consequences as it strains government resources. Therefore, they need a working class to ensure there is economic stability and also to support the elderly hence the implementation of pronatalist policies. France first introduced this political policy "Code de la Famille" in 1939 which banned the sale of contraceptives, provided subsidized holidays and offered cash incentives to mothers who stayed at home with children. A prediction showed that France's population would only be around 68 million. France's population at this time is around 60.8 million; however by 2050 over 21% would be over 60 years old. France recently enhanced its pro-natalist policies (to encourage three child families) Mothers in France 1an be paid almost 1,000 a month, to stop work for a year and have a third child. There is also a 500 monthly grant for both mother and father who put work on hold to raise a second or third child. Maternity leave can vary, from 20 weeks for the first child and up to 40 weeks for the third child. There is also a 26 month parental leave. France also provides cheap, high-quality child care for parents who work at a maximum price of 500 a month. Nursery School is free for every child from the age of three and rus from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. Some families can get a monthly allowance of 200 for a family of three, which rises even further once the children turn 11. Tax benefits and tax breaks are given to families, up to the age of 18. France spends around $40 billion a year on family care and offers a carte famille nombreuse which allows 30% off trains and half price on the metro as well as free entrance to swimming pools and other amenities. At a prediction of 75 million by 2050, Japan has a low birth rate (8.23 births / 1000 population) and a low death rate (9.27 deaths / 1000 population) placing them in the fourth stage of the demographic transition model. Japanese women now have an average of 1.34 children, one of the lowest rates in the world and below the 2.8 needed to replenish the population. Japan s birth rate is low due to several factors including: Working and raising a family in Japan is almost impossible because the amount of commitment needed in their jobs The biggest

7 single cause of the declining birth rate is the growing number of people opting to stay single in their twenties and thirties (woman have become the new driving force in the economy, many have well paid jobs and are opting to stay in work in their thirties) Both men and women are marrying later than ever and even when they do, many are having just one or no child at all. The cost to raise children have increased substantially and it is now estimated that the cost on average are Y15 million ( ) to support a child from birth through to graduation from university. Japan has an ageing population. Iin 1989, 11.6% of the population were over 65, it has now increased to over 20% which is one of the the highest in the world. Japan also has a very high life expectancy. This could lead to a decline in population from 127.8m to 95.2m by 2050, a 25% decrease. The government introduced pro-natalist laws like the childcare and family care leave laws in which parents can receive: 1. 8 weeks paid leave from work 2. Shorter working hours 3. A maximum of 24 hours overtime a month 4. Economic incentives, e.g. Yamatsuri a town of 7000 just north of Tokyo offer parents 4600 for the birth of a child and 460 a year for 10 years. Bandai the toy company is offering its staff Y1 million to have a third child, and the same amount for each subsequent baby Daihatsu and the administration of Ikeda city, in western Japan, jointly offered municipal residents a Y200,000 incentive for a fourth child, plus free rental of a car for a year. 5. Business have been urged to give their employees more time off. 6. Shops offer discounts to larger families. Italy until the 1970s, families of up to five children were common in Italy. However, the birth rate is now 1.3 per 1,000 and is the second lowest in Western Europe. Italy s population is also quickly ageing. While just over 20% of Italians are currently over 65, this number is likely to double by The government introduced a pronatalist policy in 2003 called the 'baby bonus. Couples having a second child received a bonus of about 500. China on the contrary is one of the most well known anti-natalist countries. In 1953 the population of China was 583 million, in 2010 the population of China reached 1.33 billion. The births rate is births per 1000 population while the death rate is 7.31 deaths / 1000 population.

8 A state family planning programme was introduced in the 1970 s. By 1975 the average family size had fallen to three children but this was still regarded as being too many. The state began an advertising campaign for Wan-Xi-Shao, later longer fewer (later marriages, longer gaps between children and fewer children). Then in 1979, the government decided to introduce a rigorous one child per family policy: which was framed by the following measures: 1. Incentives included free education, priority housing, pension and family benefits. 2. You could lose these benefits when you had a second child 3. On top, fines of up to 15 percent of the family income were imposed. 4. The marriageable age for men was set at 22 and for women at 20 with couples having to apply to the state for permission to marry and later to have a child. 5. Couples who had more than one child were subjected to economic penalties, women pregnant for the second time had to undergo abortions, sometimes quite late, persistent offenders might be offered sterilization. 6. Workplaces and homes were subjects to visits, from family planning officials and the infamous granny police, trying to ensure that families did not break the rules. 7. Contraceptive advice and devices were give to the people so that over 80 percent of China s women had access to contraception, which in itself was a tremendous achievement given China's lack of development, huge size and largely rural population at the time.

9 Historical Background + Previous Attempts 1934: Swedish sociologists Alva Myrdal and Gunnar Myrdal publish Crisis in the Population Question, suggesting an extensive welfare state with free healthcare and childcare, to level the number of children at a reproductive level for all social classes : The Italian government introduced a pronatalist policy in 2003 called the 'baby bonus. Parents that had a second child received a monetary bonus of about 680 Euros : Independent small town in Japan (Yamatsuri) creates constitution that enables parents to be paid for their third child and receive a raise for their fourth. The town's first step was to integrate the services it provided at its single day care center and two kindergartens. The most critical issue for Yamatsuri was to pay attention to its population. Because the town chose not to merge with any other municipality, it had to at least retain the current number of households to maintain its current level of population. They decided that the most important way to realize that goal would be to create a town where the next generation, their children, could continue to live there with love and pride. Therefore, they decided to place the support for childcare at the center of its policies, so that the benefits of their administrative and financial reforms would be effectively utilized to benefit their children, the future of the community : Italy s health minister is set to increase baby bonus for more poor people from 90 Euros/month to 240 Euros/month. The reason for this lies in that the prior baby bonus from 2003 isn t enough money for people to have more than one child.

10 Bibliography - f ml

11 Topic: Measures to prevent forced prostitution and human trafficking of women Table of Content: Page 11: Key Terms Page 12: Issue Explanation + Historical Background Page 13: Historical Background Page 14: Previous attempts to solve the issue Key Terms Sweatshop workers: a shop or factory in which employees work for long hours at low wages and under unhealthy conditions Migration: Movement of people to a new area or country in order to find work or better living conditions. Sexual Exploitation:

12 Sexual exploitation is the sexual abuse of children and youth through the exchange of sex or sexual acts for drugs, food, shelter, protection, other basics of life, and/or money. Issue Explanation international trafficking is the unlawful, clandestine movement of persons across national boundaries, whether coercive or consensual, and irrespective of gender age, or reason for the trans-boundary movement. Trafficking in people is a complex and deeply troubling issue that reflects on both the nature of globalization and the evolution of human rights discourse and practice. Over the last few years and with increasing frequency and intensity, the international community and particularly certain NGOs and governments have grown increasingly concerned with the phenomenon, often arguing that human trafficking is expanding so significantly that it has come to represent one of the world s most pressing human rights violations. At the heart of this rising concern is the profound moral claim of individuals who are forced into prostitution or made to work in difficult, dangerous and even slave-like conditions as sex workers, domestic servants, farm laborers, or sweatshop workers. Without distinguishing between the wide range of factors involved in this practice, governments have for the past two decades raised significant concern regarding trafficking in response to a collection of diverse issues including: international labor migration, the victimization of women. In response to concerns raised about the problem of human trafficking, the United Nations adopted the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women in The commercial sex industry is a very old phenomenon. However, in recent years, there has been increased interest in the special harm and suffering associated with transporting women and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation. The nature of the problem is complex, in part, because of the widely different understandings of the commercial sex trade, on both moral and legal terms. A significant component of the international discourse on human trafficking focuses on the issue of sexual exploitation, so much so that at times the issue of sex trafficking becomes the focus of anti-trafficking policies. What is complex about this issue is that in many countries around the world prostitution is legal. Setting aside its potentially abusive and exploitative nature, trading sexual services for money is often not against the law and, in some cases, is regulated with the goal of protecting both prostitutes and clients (from illness, etc.). Historical Background 1904 : The International Agreement for the Suppression of "White Slave Traffic" was signed and put into action. The purpose of this agreement was to protect women, young and old, from being involved in

13 "white slave traffic." White slavery referred to forcing or deceiving a white woman or girl into prostitution. Some people argue, however, that this act was only put into place in order to control the number of European women who were seeking to find jobs abroad. Still, the agreement stands as a moral action against the trafficking of women (Kangaspunta) : The League of Nations was founded after the WWI, and had the goal maintaining world peace and also focusing on international issues such as human trafficking. The Suppression of White Slave Traffic was changed to "traffic in women and children" so that everyone was included with no discrimination to race ("When"). Children of both genders were also recognized as victims of trafficking. In addition, two major studies were conducted, one in the West and one in the East, in an attempt to find out the real status of trafficking in these areas. Factors that were measured included the number of women engaged in prostitution, the demand, and the surrounding environment of the women who were trafficked. Information was also gathered about the traffickers (Kangaspunta). This was a step toward gaining more insight about the issue of human trafficking. 1932: During WWII, Japan had set up a horrifying and outrageous system where women all across Asia were forced into sexual slavery. The women were housed in what were known as "comfort stations." The conditions in these stations were atrocious, with each woman detained in a small cubicle, and received beatings and other tortures if they were defiant. Because of this, many women ultimately died of disease, malnutrition, exhaustion, suicide, etc. The stations were also surrounded by barbed wire, making escape impossible. The Japanese government set up these stations in hopes of preventing rape crimes in public, prevent the spread of STDs, and to provide comfort for soldiers so they wouldn't tell military secrets. 1956: India initiated the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, which persecutes the third parties involved in trafficking. These activities included running brothels, living on earnings from sex work, capturing and imprisoning people into prostitution, etc. It can be argued, however, that this Act failed to protect the women who may have been forced into prostitution. Many of the arrests that were made were for sex workers due to soliciting, and they ultimately lost everything. Furthermore, many were forced from brothels into more dangerous areas. Although this Act made an effort to control trafficking, it was clear that it needed to be reformed : The United Nations held the fourth World Conference to address the issue of trafficking of women. In this meeting, a major accomplishment was the fact that trafficking was actually recognized as an act of violence against women, and the concept of trafficking was further defined ("Trafficking"). Most importantly, actions to be taken were also developed. These included enforcing international conventions on trafficking and human slavery, address the factors that encourage trafficking, set up effective law enforcement and institutions who would work to eliminate trafficking both nationally and internationally, and implementing programs including educational and rehabilitation institutions to provide for the social, medical, and psychological needs to victims of trafficking : A large human trafficking ring was busted in Taipei, Taiwan. The case involved several young females who were brought to the U.S. illegally with fake passports. They then used these fake passports

14 to obtain visas. They were discovered by the National Immigration Agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. A total of 74 suspects from the trafficking ring were brought in for investigation. Previous attempts to solve the issue Human trafficking has often had a negative connotation, and has been viewed as an unwanted activity by different countries around the world. These countries have formed organizations, laws, and educational programs geared towards the prevention of human trafficking. Having many countries involved in the prevention of human trafficking gives this subject a transnational approach. In this article, transnational will be defined as an issue that crosses international boundaries that multiple nations are experiencing and addressing at the same time. This article will focus on the transnational efforts to prevent human trafficking. Different countries have had different approaches when attempting to prevent human trafficking. Both governmental and non-governmental organizations have been created to combat the issue at hand. Governmental agencies are groups which are funded, ran, and recognized by the government. Non-governmental organizations are formations of people who have the same interests and are run independently away from the government. Law and legislation have been enacted in a variety of countries dealing directly with the prevention of human trafficking. These laws range from making prostitution illegal or prosecuting those who are caught trafficking human beings, to protecting those people who have been trafficked. Governmental and non-governmental organizations have both published and provided educational material about human trafficking to those who wish to read it. Training manuals, textbooks, and pamphlets have been printed in many different languages in many different countries on the subject of human trafficking and its prevention. Bibliography

Unit 2 People and the Planet Population Dynamics

Unit 2 People and the Planet Population Dynamics 1. Use the glossary and chapter 9 in your text book to define the words below. A. Demographer = A person who studies population B. Population= The total