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Committee: General Assembly Topic: Global cooperation in achieving the Millennium Development Goal of eradicating poverty and hunger
Director: Fernando Acosta Ruiz Moderator: Mariely Canales Pérez
The Committee: The General Assembly is the main organ of the United Nations, every country is part of the UN, each one of the members has the same importance that the other. The GA controls the budget of the UN, so it gives the money for the works that the UN needs to do in the entire world. All the elected members of the UN discuss about important issues involving the UN, their members, and the countries. The GA gives some recommendations to committees as the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and Human Rights, thinking in the best ways to end hostilities and global problems around the world. Also the GA could take actions if the Security Council doesn´t. The G.A mainly gives recommendations in the issues of: Human Rights, Education, Health, Culture, and Economics.
Facts to know: The MDG target of cutting in half the proportion of people in the developing world living on less than $1 a day by 2015 remains within reach for the world as a whole. However this achievement will be largely the result of extraordinary success in Asia, mostly East Asia. In fact, little progress had been made in the sub-Saharan Africa. What we are trying to reach? Basically what the GA is trying to reach by debating this topic is to find the ways of how the World´s rates of poverty and hunger will be reduced. The World Bank by 2005 estimated that around 1.4 billion people were living in extreme poverty. Thanks to the UN and NGOs, these data estimates that the rates had fallen in a period of 24 years. The estimated fallen rates are the following, from 52% in 1981 to 42% in 1990 and to 26% in 2005. Also, these rates have been reflected in the percentage of poverty in East Asia, who had fallen from 80% to less than 20%. But it’s not the same thing in sub-Saharan Africa because the percentage has been oscillating all this period of time in about 50%. Even though the proportion of people suffering of malnutrition and hunger has fallen since 1990´s, the number of people lacking access to food had risen. With recent increases in food prices, it is estimated that about 1 billion people will go hungry, while another 2 billion will be undernourished. The proportion of children under five who are undernourished declined from 33 per cent in 1990 to 26 per cent in 2006. However, by 2006, the number of children in developing countries who were underweight still exceeded 140 million.
History of the topic: Talking about ways of reducing poverty and hunger, there´s only one that has worked the most. This has helped families to give something to eat to their families while gaining more money. This is the Microfinance which refers to the provision of financial services to low-income clients, including consumers, and self-employed. This has helped many of the world´s poor to increase their incomes through self-employment and empowerment. With access to small loans and other financial services such as savings and micro-insurance, microfinance clients, mostly women, had formed micro-enterprises that generate income. Through this the poor are able to establish support networks for improving health.
The UN places the following proposals to end with poverty and hunger: Implement concrete steps to moderate hunger through promoting national, regional and international cooperation to improve food security and reduce trade distortions. Promote that there are social safety nets to minimize the consequences on the poor of the global economic slowdown and higher food and energy prices. Urgently increase food aid to enable WFP (UN World Food Program) and other food-aid programs to provide emergency food assistance. Promote school feeding programs. To help developing countries, such as the sub-Saharan Africa. Promote equal access to economic resources and respectable work opportunities, especially for the disadvantaged groups, such as women and young people. Try to reach the basic needs to all the marginalized areas. Adopt foreign enterprises so the country´s economy could be adapted to the global market.
Millennium Development Goal´s Targets: The MDG to eradicate poverty and hunger is the first out of 8. These counts with different targets, which establish the actions the UN is trying to achieve. The first target establishes that by 2015 UN is going to reduce in half the people whose income is less a dollar a day. This hasn´t been possible because of the worldwide increases in food prices. The poor are the most affected by this because then they would not have enough money to buy food and fall into hunger and malnutrition. Having a job is a really important factor to heal poverty, but this can´t be possible because of the lack of jobs and enterprises in countries. That´s when the global market appears, through here countries with low development can make new foreign enterprises come to their countries basing themselves on the resources its country has. Talking about jobs, that´s when the second target applies, this establishes that we need to achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people. By young people we do not refer to children, because then it will be child labor, instead we are talking about recent graduates that spend basically years trying to find a job. Poverty reduction cannot be accomplished without full and productive employment and decent work for all. The proportion of working-age population that is employed is a good indicator of the ability of an economy to provide jobs. However, there is no optimal employment –to-population ratio. Developed countries have lower ratios than developing countries because their higher productivity and incomes mean that fewer workers are required to meet the needs of the entire population. On the other hand, the very high ratios in the sub-Saharan Africa indicate that large numbers of poor people have to work to subsist, despite of the quality of the job. Another factor is that low-paying jobs leave one in five developing country workers stuck in poverty. For millions in the world today, jobs provide little relief from poverty because their pay is so low. Employed persons living in a household where each member earns less than a dollar a day are considered “the working poor”. Finally for this target there is one more thing that influences in the improving of this MDG, this is that half of the world´s employees work in unstable, insecure jobs. Remunerative employment alone is not the answer to poverty. Jobs must also provide certain degree of security. Half of the world´s workers will descend abruptly into poverty if they suddenly lose their job and have no means of covering their expenses, either through their own resources or public support. And almost 1.5 billion work in unstable, insecure jobs. For the most part, women in developing regions are more likely than men to be in vulnerable employment situations.
Overview to the countries:
Burkina Faso: One of the poorest countries in the world, lock landed Burkina Faso has few natural resources and weak industrial base. About 90% of the population is engaged in agriculture, which is vulnerable to periodic drought. Since 1998, Burkina Faso has embarked upon a gradual but successful privatization of state-owned enterprises. Burkina Faso hopes to attract foreign investors. While the bitter internal crisis in neighboring Cote d'Ivoire is beginning to be resolved, it is still having a negative effect on Burkina Faso's trade and employment. Burkina Faso received a Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) threshold grant to improve girls' education at the primary school level, and signed an MCC compact that focuses on the areas of infrastructure, agriculture, and land reform in July 2008. $1,200 (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 208 $1,200 (2007 est.) $1,100 (2006 est.) Population below poverty line: 46.4% (2004)
China: China's economy during the past 30 years has changed from a centrally planned system that was largely closed to international trade to a more market-oriented that has a rapidly growing private sector and is a major player in the global economy. Annual inflows of foreign direct investment rose to nearly $84 billion in 2007. In recent years, China has re-invigorated its support for leading state-owned enterprises in sectors it considers important to "economic security," clearly looking to foster globally competitive national champions $6,000 (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 133 $5,500 (2007 est.) $4,900 (2006 est.)
France: France is in the midst of transition from a well-to-do modern economy that has featured extensive government ownership and intervention to one that relies more on market mechanisms. It maintains a strong presence in some sectors, particularly power, public transport, and defense industries. GDP growth dropped to 0.3% in 2008; the French government plans to increase public investment and continue injecting capital into the banking sector to alleviate the negative effects of the crisis during 2009. With at least 75 million foreign tourists per year, France is the most visited country in the world and maintains the third largest income in the world from tourism. $33,200 (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 39 $33,300 (2007 est.) $32,800 (2006 est.) Population below poverty line: 6.2% (2004)
Ghana: Well endowed with natural resources, Ghana has roughly twice the per capita output of the poorest countries in West Africa. Even so, Ghana remains heavily dependent on international financial and technical assistance. The domestic economy continues to revolve around agriculture, which accounts for about 35% of GDP and employs about 55% of the work force, mainly small landholders. Ghana signed a Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact in 2006, which aims to assist in transforming Ghana's agricultural sector. Thematic priorities under its current Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy, which also provides the framework for development partner assistance, are: macroeconomic stability; private sector competitiveness; human resource development; and good governance and civic responsibility. $1,500 (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 197 $1,400 (2007 est.) $1,300 (2006 est.) Population below poverty line: 28.5% (2007 est.)
India: India's diverse economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of services. Services are the major source of economic growth, accounting for more than half of India's output with less than one third of its labor force. Slightly more than half of the work force is in agriculture, leading the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to articulate a rural economic development program that includes creating basic infrastructure to improve the lives of the rural poor and boost economic performance. The government has reduced controls on foreign trade and investment. Higher limits on foreign direct investment were permitted in a few key sectors, such as telecommunications. The economy has posted an average growth rate of more than 7% in the decade since 1997, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points. India achieved 9.6% GDP growth in 2006, 9.0% in 2007, and 6.6% in 2008, significantly expanding manufactures through late 2008. India also is capitalizing on its large numbers of well-educated people skilled in the English language to become a major exporter of software services and software workers. $2,900 (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 166 $2,700 (2007 est.) $2,500 (2006 est.) Population below poverty line: 25% (2007 est.)
Iraq: Decreasing insurgent attacks and an improving security environment in many parts of the country are helping to spur economic activity. Iraq's economy is dominated by the oil sector, which has traditionally provided over 90% of foreign exchange earnings. In March 2009 Iraq concluded a Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) with the IMF that details economic reforms. The SBA allows an 80% reduction of the debt owed to Paris Club creditor nations. The Central Bank has been successful in controlling inflation through appreciation of the dinar against the US dollar. However, Iraq's challenge will be to use macroeconomic gains to improve the lives of ordinary Iraqis. Reducing corruption and implementing structural reforms, such as bank restructuring and developing the private sector, will be key to Iraq's economic success. $3,700 (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 161 $3,500 (2007 est.) $3,500 (2006 est.) Population below poverty line: NA%
Mexico: Mexico has a free market economy in the trillion dollar class. It contains a mixture of modern and outmoded industry and agriculture, increasingly dominated by the private sector. Recent administrations have expanded competition in seaports, railroads, telecommunications, electricity generation, natural gas distribution, and airports. Per capita income is roughly one-third that of the US; income distribution remains highly unequal. In 2007, during its first year in office, the Felipe Calderon administration was able to garner support from the opposition to successfully pass a pension and a fiscal reform. The administration continues to face many economic challenges including the need to upgrade infrastructure, modernize labor laws, and allow private investment in the energy sector. Calderon has stated that his top economic priorities remain reducing poverty and creating jobs. $14,200 (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 81 $14,200 (2007 est.) $13,900 (2006 est.) Population below poverty line: 13.8% using food-based definition of poverty; asset based poverty amounted to more than 40% (2006)
Democratic Republic of Congo: The economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo - a nation endowed with vast potential wealth - is slowly recovering from two decades of decline. Conflict that began in August 1998 has dramatically reduced national output and government revenue, increased external debt, and resulted in the deaths of more than 5 million people from violence, famine, and disease. $300 (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 228 $300 (2007 est.) $300 (2006 est.) Unemployment rate: NA%
Russia: Russia ended 2008 with GDP growth of 5.6%, following 10 straight years of growth averaging 7% annually since the financial crisis of 1998. Over the last six years, fixed capital investment growth and personal income growth have averaged above 10%, but both grew at slower rates in 2008. Corruption, lack of trust in institutions, and more recently, exchange rate uncertainty and the global economic crisis continue to dampen domestic and foreign investor sentiment. Russia has made some progress in building the rule of law, the bedrock of a modern market economy, but much work remains on judicial reform. Moscow continues to seek accession to the WTO and has made some progress, but its timeline for entry into the organization continues to slip, and the negotiating atmosphere has soured in the wake of the Georgia and global economic crisis. $16,100 (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 73 $15,200 (2007 est.) $14,000 (2006 est.) Population below poverty line: 15.8% (November 2007) \
South Africa: South Africa is a middle-income, emerging market with an abundant supply of natural resources; well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors; a stock exchange that is 17th largest in the world; and modern infrastructure supporting an efficient distribution of goods to major urban centers throughout the region. Growth was robust from 2004 to 2008 as South Africa reaped the benefits of macroeconomic stability and a global commodities boom, but began to slow in the second half of 2008 due to the global financial crisis' impact on commodity prices and demand. However, unemployment remains high and outdated infrastructure has constrained growth. Daunting economic problems remain from the apartheid era - especially poverty, lack of economic empowerment among the disadvantaged groups, and a shortage of public transportation. South African economic policy is fiscally conservative but pragmatic, focusing on controlling inflation, maintaining a budget surplus, and using state-owned enterprises to deliver basic services to low-income areas as a means to increase job growth and household income. $10,100 (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 105 $9,800 (2007 est.) $9,500 (2006 est.) Unemployment rate: 22.9% (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 171
United Kingdom: The UK, a leading trading power and financial center, is one of the quintets of trillion dollar economies of Western Europe. Over the past two decades, the government has greatly reduced public ownership and contained the growth of social welfare programs. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanized, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with less than 2% of the labor force. Britain's economy enjoyed the longest period of expansion on record during which time growth outpaced most of Western Europe. The global economic slowdown, tight credit, and falling home prices, however, pushed Britain back into recession in the latter half of 2008 and prompted the BROWN government to implement a number of new measures to stimulate the economy and stabilize the financial markets; these include part-nationalizing the banking system, cutting taxes, suspending public sector borrowing rules, and bringing forward public spending on capital projects. $36,500 (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 32 $36,400 (2007 est.) $35,500 (2006 est.) Unemployment rate: 5.6% (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 69
United States of America: The US has the largest and most technologically powerful economy in the world, with a per capita GDP of $46,900. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. Long-term problems include inadequate investment in economic infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and pension costs of an aging population, sizable trade and budget deficits, and stagnation of family income in the lower economic groups. The merchandise trade deficit reached a record $819 billion in 2007 and $821 billion in 2008. The global economic downturn, the sub-prime mortgage crisis, investment bank failures, falling home prices, and tight credit pushed the United States into a recession by mid-2008. To help stabilize financial markets, the US Congress established a $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in October 2008. $46,900 (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 10 $46,800 (2007 est.) $46,300 (2006 est.) Unemployment rate: 7.2% (December 2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 91
Uganda: Uganda has substantial natural resources, including fertile soils, regular rainfall, and sizable mineral deposits of copper, cobalt, gold, and other minerals. Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing over 80% of the work force. During 1990-2001, the economy turned in a solid performance based on continued investment in the rehabilitation of infrastructure, improved incentives for production and exports, reduced inflation, gradually improved domestic security, and the return of exiled Indian-Ugandan entrepreneurs. Growth continues to be solid, despite variability in the price of coffee, Uganda's principal export, and a consistent upturn in Uganda's export markets. In 2000, Uganda qualified for enhanced Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief worth $1.3 billion and Paris Club debt relief worth $145 million. These amounts combined with the original HIPC debt relief added up to about $2 billion. $1,300 (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 203 $1,200 (2007 est.) $1,200 (2006 est.) Unemployment rate: NA%
Questions for the delegate: -In what ways does your country helps to reach this MDG? -What measures do the countries have to take to reach this MDG? -Where does this MDG need to be focused? -What requirements do people need to start their own credit and start a business? -What kind of programs need to be created? -Are there enough programs to combat poverty and hunger? -Do we have enough time to reach this MDG? -In what ways the economical crisis has been affecting the world? -Because of the economical crisis, the rates are growing and making more difficult to reach this MDG? -In what ways developed countries will help developing countries? -Is it possible to reach this MDG, why? -How would developing countries reach foreign enterprises? -How are the incomes going to be distributed? -What security measures do the jobs need to have? -What is the minimum salary needs to be for the job to become in a well-paid job? -In what ways the governments influence in the issues of poverty and hunger?
Bibliography Book: Basic Facts about the United Nations http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2008highlevel/pdf/newsroom/Goal%201%20FINAL.pdf http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/poverty.shtml http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2008/MDG_Report_2008_En.pdf#page=11 http://www.aneki.com/poorest.html https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cg.html
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