SOCHUM BMUN LXVII

Hi guys! Conference starts this Friday and we're even more excited for debate after reading and commenting on all of your position papers. We have uploaded your graded papers with feedback onto Huxley , so check them out. Even if you turned it in late, we are still going to supply you with comments so don't fret :) If you have any questions on your feedback, feel free to email or comment on the blog. We hope that our feedback will help you prepare for debate and answer some lingering questions that you might have had about the topics. Some common things that we saw to look at before conference: Topic 1: The topic is not LGBT/Digital/Environmental rights: those are just case studies that we used to show how the UDHR doesn't cover some rights that have become much more important in recent years. Your solutions can be about editing the UDHR and the Covenants to include these rights, but we are not looking for ways countries can protect these rights.  Research how a

Hi guys! Though our topic may be mitigating the effects of population growth in Asia, I felt it would be important to look at the success rates of many different techniques implemented in these countries as well as the current population trajectory's effects on the economies of many nations. The article can be found here . While Asian states are known for being densely populated, the East Asian region currently holds 36% of the world's population that is over the age of 65. This means that, by the year 2040, East Asia could lose as much as 15% of their current workforce, or around 211 million people - and the numbers continue to rise. The World Bank has claimed that the reason for this rapid aging is because of economic development in many Asian countries; better living conditions have lead to a change in social values and longer life expectancies. Coupled with dangerous legislative changes, like the one child policy in China, this has dramatically slowed economic grow

Hi everyone! I am going to share an article about Venezuela's Human Rights Violation that hopefully can inspire you upon the topic of Revisiting the UDHR. Although Venezuela is among the 48 signatories of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Venezuela, currently under the governance of President Nicholas Maduro, is severely violating human rights of the people.  Venezuela, after President Nicholas Maduro supported the Supreme Court of Justice to take over the National Assembly as an attempt to eliminate all forces of opposition against the Maduro Administration in the political arena. Therefore, numerous protests have happened in Venezuela to oppose Madruo Administration's tyranny.  According to Venezuela human rights civil society, Venezuela has used arm forces to repress protests, which has already caused 41 deaths of protestors in 2019. Moreover, a Venezuelan organization called "Foro Penal estimates the number of people currently detained for political re

https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/13/18223114/absher-criticism-google-apple-saudi-arabia-track-women-tim-cook In addition to the concerns of state/economic institutions abusing technology at the expense of the individual, this article brings to light issues surrounding sovereignty. While Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, Apple CEO Tim cook, and most people in Western countries (including myself) witness this Saudi Arabian app as "abhorrent," such behavior and methods of control are normalized in other parts of the world. How might your country, Western or not, amend the divide between your own state's value systems and that of others? What if the matter seems morally non-negotiable but the other side refuses to budge? Think about these questions during debate and when dealing with other representatives.

Hi everyone! Today's post from me will be short and sweet, discussing our technology policy  for committee, as well as some advice from the dais on how to feel prepared for debate. Like many other committees at BMUN, SOCHUM will allow use of laptops, tablets, phones, etc. to do research and type up position papers during unmoderated caucuses only . If people start using technology during debate, then we'll unfortunately also have to limit tech during unmod as well, so please be respectful. Now that the boring part is over, the dais has some tips for you on how to feel prepared for debating in a large committee like SOCHUM! Confidence is key Know your country's policies and allies before you come into debate, but also be open to work with new people Make sure your speeches and solutions are ~* unique *~ and delivered with passion. In a large committee your time to speak to everyone in debate is limited, so use it wisely!  Be open to all ideas during unmoderated

Hi Delegates,           I hope everyone is excited for the conference! :D           Here is a news article that I think will give you some inspirations about overpopulation mitigation in Asia. Since India stopped from its notorious policy of using sterilization to control its population growth, the government of India has implemented the new strategy of offering family planning educations and resources. Thus, they have seen major advancements as shown in the article: " According to the ministry of health and family welfare, India's rate of total population growth has declined  from 21.5% during the 1991 to 2001 period, to 17.6% during the 2001 to 2011 period" (Gupta, CNN). However, overpopulation still remains as a serious concern for India as there is a rising poverty rate happening in India. In India, insufficient resources could not be efficiently allocated to the growing population.  Therefore, s ome Indian politicians are proposing that India s

Hello Delegates! I hope everyone is excited for conference! For some current events regarding digital human rights and their inefficiencies within the UDHR, here are a few articles. http://fortune.com/2018/10/28/in-china-facial-recognition-tech-is-watching-you/ https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/20/world/china-toilet-paper-thieves-face-recognition-trnd/index.html https://www.recode.net/2019/1/30/18203231/apple-banning-facebook-research-app The first two articles outline a recent development in which China's facial recognition software has become so intelligent that it can track people to regulate everything from criminals to greedy toilet paper users. What are, if any, the ethical concerns behind such widespread surveillance? Should there be a check? The third article delves into the issue of commercial companies such as Facebook collecting users' information. What may be some overarching effects within your countries if such collection remains unchecked? What might your c

Article: China's population 'to peak' in 2029 at 1.44 billion Hey Delegates! Hope everyone is getting excited for conference. It’s Lucia here and I’ve found another article that you can browse through here . In short, the title speaks for itself. China’s population is going to soar to 1.44 billion people in 2029. While growth in recent years has slowed and the country will experience a period of population decline thereafter, the ever prominent question still remains: how will China deal with the ramifications its historical population growth? Specifically, I want to call to attention the growing problem of a disproportionate workforce. As a consequence of the One Child policy, the proportion of working adults (15-64 years) with respect to dependent age groups like children and the elderly is decreasing dramatically. In other words, China is now faced with the prospect of having to care for more people that can’t work or be independent with

Hey guys! BMUN is happening in less than a month, are you all excited? We absolutely are! The first due date for position papers (in order to be eligible for research awards) just passed this Sunday. The next due date for position papers is February 10th . If you don't turn in a paper by this date, then unfortunately you are not eligible for any committee awards, so please turn them in! Instructions on how to do so are on the website . If you have any trouble with submitting your awards, please email us. Today's post is going to be talking about how to use this blog effectively! All the way up to conference, we will be posting articles relating to the topics, as well as tips on how to feel prepared for conference (like this post.) Our substantive blog posts are going to be focused on news articles relating to either the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or population mitigation in Asia. At the end of each post, we summarize the article and connect it to the topics