SOCHUM BMUN LXVII

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 ...

Article: How to Manage Urban Growth in Pakistan Panoramic cityscape of Karachi in Pakistan.  Karachi’s urbanization has had a physical impact on surrounding cities,  creating sprawling and underleveraged agglomerations Credit: World Bank Hey Delegates! I hope everyone is having a great kick-off to the new year. This is Lucia here and I'm excited to share with you all an article our team found that will help color your understanding into one of the areas of our second topic, overpopulation. You can find the article here . In brief, this article details the challenges of rapid urban development in the cities of Pakistan and highlights the toll of urban agglomerations on the country's development. Concerns over job growth, prosperity and livability are all key issues that keep economists, politicians and problem-solvers alike, up at night. To put the extent of Pakistan's rapid urban expansion into perspective, "Pakistan faced an urban housing shor...

Hi guys! Here's a quick rundown of what the dais will be looking for in your position papers. I'll only be going over some of the important aspects from the position paper guide, so please take a look at this first! Firstly,  I received a few emails asking this question, so I wanted to clear this up: for double delegations it doesn't matter how you split up the work .  One person can take one topic, or you can work on both topics together. However, I advise that both members of the delegation be prepared to debate on both topics: it's important for dual delegations that both of you are contributing and speaking throughout debate, not just for a particular topic. BMUN position papers include 4 sections: Past and Current International Action Common mistakes:  Only summarizing/restating the topic synopsis and not doing further research  Putting country policy here rather than international policy Country Policy Common mistakes: Leaving this sectio...

In 2015, Wang Quanzhang was among 709 political activists incarcerated for acting against the government of China and promoting human rights within the country. Wang specialized in defending political activists and victims of land seizures, as well as representing banned religious groups in the country. Wang's case stands out from the other activists as he was held in detention for three and a half years before being sentenced to another four and a half years in prison, prompting UN human rights groups to call for his release. Human rights groups like Amnesty International China have spoken out against the sentencing, calling it unfair and unjust, as no real crime was committed; still, Wang was imprisoned for 'subverting state power,' though he was peacefully standing against human rights abuses in China. Part of Wang's sentence stems from his involvement with the organization China Action, which focuses on training lawyers and providing legal representation to t...

Hello! My name is Edward Kang, and I am one of your vice chairs for SOCHUM. I am a sophomore at Berkeley majoring in Rhetoric (and something else)... and this is my second year in BMUN! At Cal and in the area, I am part of the campus film fraternity Delta Kappa Alpha, I interned at the political consulting company Storefront Political Media last semester, and I was part of Haas Undergraduate Research Assistant Program for behavioral studies two semesters ago. For fun, I like to play with my various cats. Food.  If you have any questions about anything, feel free to contact me at ekang@bmun.org. 

Hello delegates! I am Yuki Bian, and I am so excited to be one of your vice-chairs in SOCHUM for BMUN 67! I am a Freshman intending to major in Political Science and Cognitive Science. This is my first year at BMUN, so I really look forward to talking to you and hearing your inspiring debates in this March. Aside from BMUN, I am also an associate in Senator James Li's Office at ASUC (Cal's student government). I work there to promote cultural exchange between Cal's East Asian community and help every international students gain a better college experience at Cal. As an international student from Shanghai, China, I am so curious about your insights on issues about human rights and overpopulation. Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any question about college or BMUN. I look forward to meeting each one of you! ☺💖