UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME Learning Alliance Model United Nations, 2017 Study Guide Committee Chairs: Hassan Ghumman & Mian Shaoor Ahmad!1
NOTE FROM THE COMMITTEE CHAIRS 3 ABOUT UNDP 4 HISTORY 4 MANDATE 5 POWERS & FUNCTIONS 5 TOPIC AREA A PEACE & ACCESS TO JUSTICE 8 RULE OF LAW 9 KEY TERMS 11 GLOBAL FOCAL POINT 13 GOAL SIXTEEN (16) 14 FURTHER RESEARCH 16 TOPIC AREA B CHILDREN IN POVERTY 18 INVISIBLE CHILDREN 19 ECONOMIC GROWTH 21 DISTRIBUTION MATTERS 22 LESS MAY BE MORE 22 OBSCURING REALITY 23 BUILDING BLOCKS 24 FURTHER RESEARCH 25!2
NOTE FROM THE COMMITTEE CHAIRS We welcome you to the simulation of the United Nations Development Programme (hereinafter referred to as the UNDP ) at the Learning Alliance Model United Nations, 2017. With a Model UN experience of over seventeen (17) years between the both of us, it is an honour and our pleasure to return to Model UN, as committee chairs of UNDP this year. Model UN has instilled in us a great sense of urgency regarding the world s diplomatic process, or the frequent lack thereof. We reserve particular interests in geopolitics, international relations, and the rule of law, and we hope to make this simulation as fulfilling a simulation as is reasonably practicable. We urge you to aver, enquire, speak up, participate; but not contrive facts by yourself thinking that you will get away with it you will not. In any event, we look forward to meeting you all on the 10th of February. Your work as a delegate of this committee should focus on adopting resolutions that address the needs of each topic as presented in the study guide. We hope to see each delegate working diligently, and cooperatively to find creative solutions during the conference. Please note, that this guide only serves to imbue, in you all, a sense of what to anticipate. This guide ought not to be construed as a conclusive dossier, as you are expected to conduct your independent research. Also, prudence might demand that you should brush up rules of procedure.!3
ABOUT UNDP The UNDP is an organisation the United Nations created to improve cooperation and interaction between the various stakeholders in development. UNDP has worked with numerous partners on developing the Sustainable Development Goals to replace the Millennium Development Goals after their expiration in 2015. UNDP is the chief entity in the United Nations (UN) system that works in the area of development. UNDP is actively promoting development in 170 countries by carrying out activities aimed at reducing poverty, supporting democratic governance, increasing crisis prevention and recovery, promoting environment and energy for sustainable development, and achieving international development goals. UNDP works closely with and leads the United Nations Development Group (UNDG), which is the inter-agency group within the UN system that coordinates development efforts across the entire UN system. The UNDG is comprised of 32 UN funds, offices, programs, departments, and agencies. HISTORY UNDP was established in 1966 when the adoption of General Assembly resolution 2029 (XX) led to the combination of the UN Expanded Programme on Technical Assistance with the Special Fund. The Special Fund, established 1958, originally worked to provide technical assistance while the Expanded Programme on Technical Assistance, established 1949, supported less developed countries on an economic and political level. Combining the two sought to optimise the UN s development work by creating a more efficient, unified program while avoiding different entities working separately on the same issue.!4
MANDATE UNDP s mandate is to coordinate all UN development activities at the country level, as laid out in General Assembly resolutions 59/250 and 62/208. This responsibility is given to UNDP due to its role managing the Resident Coordinator (RC) system, which encompasses all UN system entities that deal with operational activities for development, regardless of their formal presence in the country. The RC system brings together the different UN agencies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of operational activities at the country level. UNDP and the RC system operationalise the development frameworks negotiated at the policy-level, and implement programs on the ground, making UNDP, as a result, a very important and influential entity within the development community. POWERS & FUNCTIONS The work of UNDP is carried out in countries all over the world, but it is especially important for countries that emerge from conflicts. To assist in these efforts, the UNDP also administers and utilises the United Nations Volunteers and the United Nations Capital Development Fund. To function effectively across the globe, UNDP works to assemble partnerships, build capacity, and strengthen global development policies. Partnerships Partnerships are crucial to the work of UNDP. Partnerships within the UN system and with the private sector, civil society organisations, financial institutions, and various foundations enable UNDP to finance its activities and carry out projects. Concerning conflicts, UNDP works with governments and local communities to prevent violence by promoting dialogue and laws that!5
uphold human rights. Environment and energy forms another area where partnerships are necessary and is important because the poorest are usually among those most affected by a lack of access to affordable energy and sustainable environmental development, making it necessary for UNDP to focus on addressing this area on different levels. This includes collaboration from a global to a regional level, with the help of UNDP, to preserve freshwater systems and manage different ecosystems using green strategies to counteract climate change. To reach the SDGs, UNDP uses partnerships with governments, programs, and funds such as the United Kingdom s Urban Partnerships for Poverty Reduction. With this particular partnership UNDP was able to give grants to families, and especially to women, in Bangladesh to support them in starting small businesses and contributing to savings groups that are set up for emergencies. Through partnerships, UNDP not only helps countries build capacities to prevent and treat HIV but also underlines economic and social factors that impact health to raise awareness. Capacity-building Building capacity is a focus area that allows UNDP to enhance the performance of different institutions and projects. This is necessary so that programs or initiatives within countries can strengthen development, public services, or aid. For example, in the context of legal frameworks, UNDP, together with national partners, develops justice reforms and works on strategies to further access to legal aid services. Another example is promoting domestic resources in combination with aid, supporting the MDGs, and strengthening the private sector to create new jobs and promote infrastructure. Similarly, in cooperation with the MDG Fund by the Spanish Government, UNDP achieved access to!6
water and sanitation in some Ecuadorian cities by providing communities with training on financial and technical capacities. Strengthening global development policy With different organisations and entities involved in global development policies it is important to coordinate their activities to ensure that efforts are as efficient and effective as possible through consistent collaboration. For this reason, UNDP, as the predominant UN entity for development, is both a member of and chairs the UNDG. The UNDG was established in 1997 by the General Assembly and has since been working to coordinate development activities on a country level. UNDP, together with the UNDG, currently works to build the post-2015 development agenda through global dialogue and discussion. As part of this, UNDP and the UNDG work towards including governments, private sector participants, stakeholders, and especially vulnerable groups such as youth, women, and people with disabilities.!7
Topic Area A Peace & Access To Justice!8
RULE OF LAW Access to justice is a basic principle of the rule of law. In the absence of access to justice, people are unable to have their voice heard, exercise their rights, challenge discrimination or hold decision-makers accountable. The Declaration of the High-level Meeting on the Rule of Law emphasises the right of equal access to justice for all, including members of vulnerable groups, and reaffirmed the commitment of Member States to taking all necessary steps to provide fair, transparent, effective, non-discriminatory and accountable services that promote access to justice for all [para. 14 and 15]. United Nations activities in support of Member States efforts to ensure access to justice are a core component of the work in the area of rule of law. Delivery of justice should be impartial and non-discriminatory. In the Declaration of the High-Level Meeting on the Rule of Law, Member States highlighted the independence of the judicial system, together with its impartiality and integrity, as an essential prerequisite for upholding the rule of law and ensuring that there is no discrimination in the administration of justice [para. 13] In strengthening access to justice, the UN system works with national partners to develop national strategic plans and programmes for justice reform and service delivery. UN entities support Member States in strengthening justice in areas including: monitoring and evaluation; empowering the poor and marginalised to seek response and remedies for injustice; improving legal protection, legal awareness, and legal aid; civil society and parliamentary oversight; addressing challenges in the justice sector such as police brutality, inhumane prison conditions, lengthy pre-trial detention, and impunity for perpetrators of sexual!9
and gender-based violence and other serious conflict-related crimes; and strengthening linkages between formal and informal structures. One of the major obstacles in accessing justice is the cost of legal advice and representation. Legal aid programmes are a central component of strategies to enhance access to justice. The Declaration of the High-level Meeting on the Rule of Law committed Member States to take all necessary steps to provide fair, transparent, effective, non-discriminatory and accountable services that promote access to justice for all, including legal aid [para. 12 and 14]. In December 2012, the General Assembly unanimously adopted the UN Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems (67/187), the first international instrument on the right to legal aid. The UN Principles and Guidelines establish minimum standards for the right to legal aid in criminal justice systems and provide practical guidance on how to ensure access to effective criminal legal aid services. The United Nations assists in the development and reform of national policies and frameworks on legal aid, and supports capacity building of state and nonstate actors who provide legal aid services in civil, criminal and family matters. Peace and justice has been a preferred couple in theoretical writings but what do we know about their relationship? Will it pay off to deepen research into this relationship at all? Insights from other disciplines should serve as a mighty incentive in a field like international relations which has always looked intensely at other faculties for stimulus.!10
The United Nations system also supports the provision of legal aid by strengthening capacities of rights holders, enhancing legal aid programmes empowering rights holders, particularly the poor and marginalized groups, and supporting legal awareness and legal aid clinics and public outreach campaigns. In order to further contribute to the global knowledge base on legal aid, the UN system has launched a Global Study on Legal Aid, to gather data on the current state of access to legal aid services worldwide. KEY TERMS There are various key terms that underpin discussion and research on this topic. Understanding these terms is a prerequisite for developing a comprehensive understanding of the issue as well as a necessary first step in policymaking. Access to justice is defined by the UNDP as the ability of people from disadvantaged groups to prevent and overcome human poverty by seeking and obtaining a remedy, through the justice system, for grievances in accordance with human rights principles and standards. UNDP specifies that governance means the arbitration of administrative, political, and economic authority to oversee a country s affairs at all governmental levels. It entails the processes, mechanisms, and institutions!11
whereby citizens and groups express their interests and demonstrate their legal rights, meet their obligations, and negotiate and resolve their differences. According to the UN Rule of Law Unit, transitional justice refers to the full set of processes and mechanisms associated with a society s attempt to come to terms with a legacy of large scale past abuse, in order to secure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation. Another important concept is the rule of law. According to the Rule of Law Unit, it is as a principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards. It requires, as well, measures to ensure adherence to the principles of supremacy of law, equality before the law, accountability to the law, fairness in the application of the law, separation of powers, participation in decision-making, legal certainty, avoidance of arbitrariness and procedural and legal transparency. Further, in the Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the 67th Session of the General Assembly on the rule of law at the national and international levels (A/RES/67/1), Member States agreed that rule of law applies to all States equally, and to international organizations, including the United Nations and its principal organs, and that respect for and promotion of the rule of law and justice should guide all of their activities and accord predictability and legitimacy to their actions. We also recognize that all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to just, fair and equitable laws and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.!12
Public administration has two highly related meanings. First, it includes the combined infrastructure (policies, guidelines, regulations, organizational structure, personnel, etc.) supported by the budget of the state and responsible for overseeing and directing the affairs of the executive government and its relations with stakeholders in the state. Second, it further includes the oversight and execution of the entire set of government activities pertaining to the enforcement of laws, regulations, and government decisions and the distribution of public goods and services. GLOBAL FOCAL POINT Since 2012, UNDP has been responsible for providing rule of law assistance across the UN system, when the Global Focal Point (GFP) structure was established. The GFP structure, a joint undertaking between the UN s Department for Peacekeeping Operations and UNDP that encompasses the police, justice and corrections sectors, allows a quicker and more effective response to rule of law needs in post-conflict and other crisis situations. It takes dedication of every person in the society to establish justice and peace. The Global Focal Point is a simple system based on a culture in UN of working together with shared objectives. Change will only happen if we continue to invest in strengthening the rule of law UNDP supports governments to nurture public trust and confidence through targeted efforts to establish capable justice systems that provide effective services which are accessible to the population. Across a range of contexts, this support can include assistance to:!13
Rapidly restore justice services following crisis or conflict; Implement measures for upholding justice and the rule of law and helping people to enforce their rights and access remedies; Provide justice services and dispute resolution for women, displaced communities and remote areas including through support to mobile courts which foster resolutions for both criminal and civil matters in a faster, more efficient manner; Strengthen the knowledge and skills of judges, prosecutors, lawyers, ministries, civil society and the police; Develop sector-wide justice and security strategies; Improve services delivered by traditional or customary justice systems. GOAL SIXTEEN (16) On 1 January 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by UN member states in September 2015 officially came into effect. They provide an overarching, comprehensive and integrated framework for global action on a vast range of critical issues for the next 15 years. The 17 SDGs include 169 targets and have been agreed to through a collaborative process over several years. The SDGs build upon the foundation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and call for action by all countries at all stages of development to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They bring an increased focus on the root causes of poverty and development while recognising that an integrated approach is crucial for progress across the multiple goals. The SDGs reflect that conflict and instability are significant impediments for development.!14
Goal 16 is dedicated to the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, the provision of access to justice for all and building effective, accountable institutions at all levels. The Goal is the outcome of the international community s acknowledgement that peace is fundamental to development. By annually measuring the levels of peace in 163 countries and territories worldwide through the Global Peace Index, IEP has shown that peace is not an abstract concept but something that can be tracked and actioned. The recognition by the international community that peace can and should be measured for development outcomes is indeed a very positive transition. The 12 targets of Goal 16 predominately aim to measure direct violence, drivers of violence, governance and justice. Such an approach is highly compatible with!15
IEP s research which addresses both Negative and Positive Peace. Goal 16 is a measure of key aspects of both Negative Peace, which is de ned as the absence of violence and the fear of violence, as well as Positive Peace, which is de ned as the attitudes, institutions and structures that support and sustain peaceful societies. Goal 16 recognises that in order to reduce violence there is a need to focus on Positive Peace, building the attitudes, institutions and structures which create and sustain peaceful societies. These same factors also lead to other positive outcomes which many in society would acknowledge are important. Therefore, Positive Peace is described as creating an optimum environment for human potential to ourish. IEP has empirically developed a framework for Positive Peace which is based on eight factors or pillars. These Pillars are partly represented in Goal 16. FURTHER RESEARCH Building democratic governance by expanding access to justice is a painstaking, yet crucial process. It involves a multifaceted approach and close attention to a variety of components including access to justice and rule of law, anticorruption for development effectiveness, electoral cycle support, governance assessments, strengthening human rights protections, and developing the effectiveness of parliamentary systems. With its central role in the broader goals of achieving security, economic development, and the protection of human rights, building democratic justice by expanding access to justice will continue to be at the heart of discussions. Delegates should consider questions such as: A. How can the international community stabilise transitioning states effectively and efficiently?!16
B. How can these approaches be applied to each Member State at varying stages in the transition process? C. How can UNDP improve their current infrastructure as it pertains to access to justice within Member States and at the regional and international level? D. Taking into consideration that all Member States have their own unique challenges related to improving their internal framework in regard to building democratic governance by expanding access to justice, delegates should investigate how the domestic legal framework can be strengthened to facilitate equal participation of both men and women. E. Delegates should investigate the democratic governance programs being implemented domestically, regionally, and internationally and evaluate the effectiveness of such programs. F. How would you measure the progress of Goal 16? G. What is peace? What is justice? What is the relationship between the two? H. What are the impediments to ameliorating legal aid? I. Are there areas that could be strengthened to better promote democratic governance and encourage linkages to the access of justice? J. Are there new approaches that could be considered, building on existing good practices and successful programs?!17
Topic Area B Children In Poverty!18
INVISIBLE CHILDREN Poverty, like evolution or health, is both a scientific and a moral concept. Many of the problems of measuring poverty arise because the moral and scientific concepts are often confused. In scientific terms, a child or their household is 'poor' when they have both a low standard of living and a lack of resources over time (often measured in terms of low income). In many circumstances, a child or their household would not be considered to be 'poor' if they have a low income but a reasonable standard of living (although they are likely to be at risk of becoming 'poor'). Poverty denies children their fundamental human rights. Severe or extreme poverty can cause children permanent damage both physically and mentally stunt and distort their development and destroy opportunities of fulfilment, including the roles they are expected to play successively as they get older in family, community and society. Both research and administrative data show that investment in basic social services for children!19
is a key element to ensure success in alleviating their poverty. It also shows that a minimal level of family resources to enable parents to meet the needs of their children are required even when families are prepared to put their own needs or the needs of work and other social claims on them in second place. If there are insufficient resources to satisfy children's needs however hard parents can be shown to try then this can cause other obligations and relationships to crumble. poverty reduction begins with children Children make up nearly half of the world s extreme poor, with nearly 570 million people under the age of 18 living below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day. Poverty in childhood is often the root cause of poverty in adulthood. To break the cycle of poverty, we need to understand child poverty in all its dimensions. Poverty measurements must go beyond income, examining factors such as access to services and social protection systems, health, nutrition, water and sanitation, shelter, quality education from early childhood to adolescence, and other issues like discrimination, stigmatisation and exclusion. More also needs to be done to reduce the impact of poverty for example, by reducing the vulnerability of households, tackling the worst forms of child labour, and strengthening the systems that protect poor families. Child poverty results from a complex interaction of causes, between economic factors such as labour markets and social factors such as family and community behaviour. Therefore, no single policy will be able to effectively end child poverty on its own. Instead, lifting poor children and families out of poverty requires a new and comprehensive approach to poverty reduction. It requires!20
taking into consideration children s needs and promoting political commitment to inclusive and equitable models of growth. ECONOMIC GROWTH Economic growth is a powerful tool for reducing poverty in developing countries. Experience shows that that poverty eradication has been most pronounced in the regions where growth has been the largest. According to the World Bank, economic growth is responsible for between 40% and 80% of the poverty alleviation that has occurred worldwide since 1980. The UK Department for International Development (DFID) describes growth as the the surest route to reducing poverty. And several studies conclude that there is a strong correlation between growth and poverty reduction. Sustained economic growth should, of course, be a policy priority for lowincome countries. But the current political orthodoxy around economic growth has neglected several key issues. Without a more nuanced discussion about the relationship between economic growth and poverty reduction, children will not benefit fully from the potential benefits of growth.!21
DISTRIBUTION MATTERS Whether and how many people are taken out of poverty by growth depends on how equally the benefits are shared. This is strongly influenced by the existing equality of wealth distribution in a country. The issue of inequality has been lost in the growth debate. DFID s 2009 White Paper5 does not address it at all. But inequality is central to growth, and must be addressed as part of any comprehensive growth strategy. Most evidence shows that high inequality impedes growth in poor countries by lowering investment in human and physical capital and generating crime and social unrest. They are mostly economically active, but are poor because of their positions within households, communities and countries. The policies used to achieve growth also have implications for the rate at which growth reduces poverty. Labour-intensive growth in sectors of the economy where poor people are mostly engaged usually agriculture, small enterprises and in some cases industry have a greater impact on poverty than growth in sectors such as the extractive industries or financial services. LESS MAY BE MORE It is often assumed that growth is good and therefore that more growth must be even better. But the evidence does not support this. In fact, the countries with rates of moderate economic growth achieved the best child mortality and!22
undernutrition results, while those with low growth rates fared poorly and those with very high growth rates did not fare exceptionally well. There is also a direct trade-off between income growth and children s wellbeing in the short to medium term, most clearly because sending children to school instead of making them work has immediate costs for income but enhances long-term growth. Increasingly, environmental limits are also forcing a rethink about the relationship between growth and poverty reduction. Climate change has been cited as the biggest global health threat to children in the 21st century,13 with an estimated 175 million children at risk of death each year as a result of climate-related disasters. OBSCURING REALITY When growth is measured in terms of the average increase in income per capita, we often miss the fact that large parts of the population those from a certain geographic area, or socio-economic group, for example may not be sharing in its benefits. India s rapid growth, for instance, has not significantly benefited the poorest 40% of rural households. Aggregate poverty statistics can also hide significant movements of different groups into and out of poverty over time. Data from China, Ethiopia, Pakistan and South Africa suggests that, rather than incomes gradually rising with growth, most poor households experience movements into and out of poverty over time.!23
BUILDING BLOCKS In terms of cost-effectiveness, research has repeatedly shown that investment in children is one of the most profitable investments that any country can make and that the benefits of such investments far outweigh the costs. The following areas of work as building blocks towards a child-sensitive and equity- improving approach to child poverty: A clear commitment to eradicate child poverty. Every country should ensure child poverty is explicitly on their agenda, and included as appropriate in national plans, policies and laws. This includes national definitions and measurement multidimensional and monetary poverty. Where child poverty is not expressly considered, it will not be effectively addressed. Expand child sensitive social protection systems. Child sensitive social protection has been shown to reduce the depth of poverty and improve child well-being. While this can include child grants, it goes well beyond this to effective social protection systems. Improve access to and affordability of quality services for the poorest. While there is extensive understanding of quality service provision, more needs to be done to ensure the poorest are able to effectively access high quality services. This includes ensuring an overall strategy to reach the poorest, backed by explicit programmes and adequate budget. An inclusive growth agenda to reach the poorest. It is widely accepted that to eradicate extreme poverty shared prosperity is crucial. The poorest children often live in large families, often with labour constraints or challenges in!24
finding productive work. Ensuring growth reaches these families will be essential in lifting children out of poverty. FURTHER RESEARCH This is an ambitious agenda that requires the collaboration of national governments, the development community and the private sector in a joint partnership for child poverty. Helping children avoid poverty and overcome its damaging effects will make a huge difference not only to their lives but also to the lives of their families, communities and members states. Delegates should consider questions such as: A. Why do children figure so little in poverty planning? B. Why is there such a fragmented approach to addressing their needs and rights? C. How does the poor alignment of child poverty and child rights discourses contribute to this lack of coordination in poverty planning, and what are the implications for addressing these concerns? D. What are the current challenges facing the implementation of post-2015 agenda? E. How will inequality, and inequity be addressed? F. What are the limitations of UNDP as an organisation in development of national and international frameworks? G. What goals, targets, and indicators should be included to ensure the viability and universality of the agenda moving forward? H. How do member states and international community include implementation, accountability, and follow-up mechanisms that allow for the!25
adaptability of the new development agenda in the future, and what might they include? I. What are the lessons from implementation of earlier MDGs set goals? J. How are children treated in your country? Does your government make special efforts to protect children? K. What is your government s position on child rights? Has your country signed or ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child? L. Are the rights of children being abused in your country or region of the world? What is being done about it? What should be done about it?!26