ECOSOC Committee

Dear Delegates of the ECOSOC Committee,

It is our great pleasure to be your Chairpersons for the Economic and Social (ECOSOC) committee and to take the tradition of MUN even further. It is our strong belief that the experience gained through participation to IASIMUN opens new perspectives and creates a new understanding of the world and that is why these Chairspersons have dedicated themselves to creating and chairing the committee with profesionalism.

We are looking forward to working with you and to seeing you in Iasi, where we will begin to shape the world through resolutions, cooperation and enjoyment.

Sincerely,
Catalin Toma and Andreea Tudose
ecosoc.iasimun@gmail.com

ECOSOC Committee Topics

1. IMF’s austerity measures

In the light of relatively recent events concerning the insolvency of certain countries the IMF has decided to take stricter measures when making loans to help different countries repair their bleeding economies. But these measures mean for some the impossibility of accessing such funds and therefore their certain downfall. However, other countries, mainly the most prominent contributors to the IMF, endorse these new measures, as is to be expected. Nevertheless, because each economy depends on so many others, the threat of one of them truly collapsing beyond any help and setting off a domino effect is more real than some may think.  Perhaps there are other ways of pressuring a country to own up to what they signed to accomplish. Then again, maybe the measures are necessary for a sustainable future, the only plausible, if harsh, solution to the crisis; the slow, but steady start needed to get all economies going again.

What can the UN do to ensure equity and/or implementation of these measures? Which one would be desirable – harshening or softening them?

Questions to consider:

1. Which are the sides in this battle of creditors against debtors?
2. How best should the IMF balance the sides?
3. What solutions can the UN offer alongside the IMF?
4. What would your country’s interests be in this matter? Whose side would it be on and what stance should it adopt?

2. Rising food prices

When the weather is against us and unforeseen changes in the weather patterns and intensities render millions of acres of croplands useless, food – already almost a luxury commodity in a large number of less developed countries – is bound to become even more expensive. And while some people spend as much as half their daily income on food alone, and not top quality material at that, others more blessed waste vast quantities in a typical consumerist manner. Developed countries export food at their own leisure, setting the prices and quality standards. In such circumstances, countries which span territories with very little to no arable land, also usually poor and populous, unable to produce just enough crops to sustain their own people, are left to try to satisfy the huge demand with money from other sectors – thus health, industry, services are all affected.

Access to food keeps negativity towards a ruling at bay. As many tyrants have found out, denying it to the people is the straightest path to restlessness, riots and maybe revolutions. In a world already suffering from a serious food shortage, making what little is available – to some – more expensive than they can afford is the last thing anyone would want. Yet the world is heading in that direction. It is our duty to ensure cheap and guaranteed access to food for all people, fair trade and fair quality for food as the most important step towards consolidating a foundation on which health, economies and the environment can be saved from collapsing.

Questions to consider:

1. What measures can be taken to increase supply while at least keeping the food prices as they are now?
2. How can underdeveloped countries be helped to either afford the given prices on the world markets without drawing funds from other important sectors, or to be able to grow their own food? Should they only help themselves?
3. What would the world market need to allow/restrict in food trade in order to make both buyers and sellers content? What would your countries be happy about?
4. What are the economical and political interests of different countries/blocks and how would they fit in the bigger picture?

3. The global job crisis

It has been reminded that “there cannot be long-term macroeconomic stability and sustainability without strength in the labor market, without employment, and without greater equity.”( Dominique Strauss-Kahn). It is only normal for unemployment to be one of the most hazardous issues modern-day society has to face – without jobs, people rely on government money, without money, the government increases taxes, which brings small businesses to bankruptcy, which in turn creates more unemployed people and so the circle closes. It is a vicious circle, hard to keep under control and even harder to break. The IMF is currently conducting more research in the matter as governments struggle to deal with their own problems internally, creating yet another barrier world-wide – work-force displacement.

It is a tenuous and very important problem which is, as expected, also particularly difficult to crack. With jobless people everywhere and foreigners taking up their empty spots in most developed countries, the question is can we solve it in time? Can the international community find a joint solution or will it come to an armed conflict again, as it has in northern Africa?

Questions to consider:

1. What (other) problems contribute to the crisis? What do they stem from?
2. How can the international community help best? Funding? Workforce?
3. What solution is there to the massive workforce displacement throughout the world?

What is the desirable framework to allow the appearance of new businesses/workplaces which could take up the excess of unemployed?

ECOSOC Committee Co-Chairs:

Catalin Toma

After 2 years of being part of the IasiMUN team, Catalin returns for the last time to reprise the role of chairperson, but now in the ECOSOC committee. Having attended a few MUN conferences, he is eager to get back to business, especially since medical school can get a bit too much, and once again delve in the surprising and always demanding world of MUN debate. The memories of the first conference he attended – SPIMUN in St Petersburg, two and a half years ago, surrounded by 600 other people eager to debate – still remain, and give him the confidence that anyone with an ounce of curiosity and free spirit can step in and take on the role of a UN delegate.

Andreea Tudose

Andreeea got involved in the IasiMUN project in 2009, under the guidance of Mr. Pi. Since then she continued her experience as a delegate in various committees by representing different countries and won an Honorary Award. The ECOSOC Chair encourages students to take part in the 2011 IasiMUN conference, as they will become more aware of international issues, bring about a change, develop essential speaking and debating skills and gain confidence in order to produce a lively and fruitful discussion.

José Antonio Villena

José Antonio is a PHD Candidate in Constitutional and International Law at the University of Salamanca. After getting a Master in Government and Public Administration, he has been Director of the areas of Constitutional Law and Human Rights of Transparency International, chapter Ecuador, and for electoral and constitutional-reform processes in Ecuador. After that, José Antonio Villena became external adviser for the trade-commerce agreement between the European Union and South American Countries.

In the area of MUNs, he took part as Secretary General for NAPOMUN (Cluj Napoca, Romania) and MUNUSAL (Salamanca, Spain). He also was a chairperson for BIMUN (Bonn, Germany), PIMUN (Paris, France) and MILMUN (Milano, Italy). His current project is about leading the integration process in South America, for the creation of a South American Community of Nations. As Advisor and trainer for “The Climate Project “