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Dear Delegates,
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs Committee at Harvard World Model United Nations 2012. My name is Ken Li and I am a rising senior at Harvard living in Winthrop House. As a visual arts and anthropology student, I am involved with a number of student film projects on campus and love writing and directing my own short films, in both narrative and documentary. I am very passionate about cinema, photography, and literature and am always up for a discussion on movies and books.
In addition to WorldMUN, I am involved with the Crimson Key Society and give official campus tours to visitors from around the world. In my free time, I love travelling, writing, and sports. I look forward to meeting each and every one of you. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or if you would just like to introduce yourself!
Best Wishes,
Ken Li
Chair, SOCHUM
World Model United Nations 2012
sochum@worldmun.org
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Topic Area A: Primary Education Development
One of the goals of the United Nations is to establish free, universal, and compulsory primary education. However, there is a huge disparity in primary education levels across the globe with third world countries lagging behind developed nations. While literacy levels are nearly 100% in places such as the United States and the European Union, they lie at around 30% to 40% in countries such as Sierra Leone and Ethiopia. Looking at systems around the world, it is clear that a strong primary school system is important to a nation’s economic development, political stability, and general well-being. However, when many developing nations are facing daunting challenges of war, hunger, and political unrest, the development of primary education becomes a secondary issue.
Today, there are many non-profit and government organizations seeking to establish stronger and more fruitful primary education throughout the world as a means of creating a more fruitful future for our youth. How should the United Nations work to facilitate such development and work in cooperation with these other organizations? How should individual governments strive towards better standards for educating their youth and measure progress of education over the years? The future of many nations rests upon the future of their youth – it is of utmost importance that the United Nations work to help secure and develop that future.
Topic Area B: Establishment of Adequate Housing
Homelessness is a problem that affects even the wealthiest of nations and there are currently over 100 million homeless individuals across the globe. There are many types of homeless ranging from urban poor to rural refugees. Generally, in developed economies, most homeless people are single and young. However, in less developed nations, most homeless people are families, or even entire tribes. Additionally, the causes of homelessness range from urban poverty to warfare to mass destruction or disaster. In this committee, we will delve into case studies of recent events such as the tsunami in Japan and Hurricane Katrina to analyze how governments responded to the effects of natural disasters. It is of critical importance that governments work to establish accessible and adequate housing for their citizens and that the United Nations work in conjunction with non-profit organizations (such as Habitat for Humanity) and governments on this issue. How can governments work to build up a system of accessible housing? Additionally, how can governments and international forces better respond to homelessness caused by sudden natural disasters?