VYMUN 2016

UNITEDIN

DIVERSITYDREAM

REAL ITYOR

THE UNITED NATIONSECONOMICS AND SOCIAL COUNCIL

Your guide to ECOSOC Committee

WELCOME LETTER Welcome delegates to the ECOSOC Committee of VYMUN 2016! This year’s committee takes into consideration two of the most pressing issues on the international stage: informal settlements and drug control. The first topic of this year's committee focuses on the question of securing socio-economic and cultural rights for population groups that are currently living in different forms of informal settlements. According to UN-Habitat, by 2050, more than two-thirds of the world population will be living in urban areas/cities. As the influx of people into urban areas increas-es, the capacity of these areas to provide urban dwellers with basic neces-sities such as housing, basic sanitation, water, nutrition, education,.. is diminished. Therefore, the number of slum dwellers and those living in other forms of informal settlements has not only increased, but those living in informal settlements are also stripped of basic human rights. This topic is, therefore, of high importance to stabilizing the socio-economic situation both regionally and internationally. The second topic takes international drug control mechanisms into consideration. Even though past treaties, programs and bureaucracies have achieved commendable results in the combat against illicit drug manufac-ture, distribution and trade both on the regional and international level, the global fight against drugs has shown signs of regressions into stagnancy. To exacerbate the situation, illicit drug trade has been increasingly utilized by terrorist and extremist groups as a means of financing their operations, making drugs a malady not only to public health but also international peace and security. We welcome you to this year's conference, hoping that all delegates will garner extensive knowledge and experience of not only Model United Nations, the United Nations itself, but also of current affairs that are perti-nent to the wellbeing of citizens all over the globe.

CHAIR INTRODUCTIONHello delegates! I am Vu Son Tung, and I have just finished my freshman year at Vassar College with intended majors of Interna-tional Studies and Economics. Having been involved in Model UN since 2014, I have had experiences both as a delegate and as a committee chair. VYMUN 2016, however, is the first conference in which I have the chance to prepare the background guide for dele-gates, directly engaging myself with the materials and the topics being discussed. I welcome you to VYMUN 2016 - ECOSOC Com-mittee, and I hope that you all will have an intellectually engaging and fun experience with our committee.

Hi. My name is Nguyen Tien Thanh and I just finished my senior year at Hanoi - Amsterdam High School, specializing in English. My background in MUN is perhaps among the humblest here. Having gone to 2 conferences and chaired at 1, I still feel chal-lenged by the prospect of acting as a co-chair at VYMUN 2016. With specific regard to this conference, after learning about VYMUN 2014 a few days too late and wistfully looking on as VYMUN 2015 passed by since I was abroad at the time, I seriously cannot wait for VYMUN 2016, unlike you. No, it's actually because we have to prepare for a lot of stuff so that you all have the most

enriching and fun experience. Welcome to ECOSOC.

First and foremost, I would like to send my warmest of welcomes to all of you delegates. Secondly, let’s talk about one of my favorite topics: Me. My name is Le Thanh Trung (however, you can call me John) whichever you prefer, although you have to call me Chair whenever we are in session, of course. I’m a student at HUS High School for Gifted Students, a Chemistry major, currently in grade 10. I have been both the delegates and chairs of numerous MUN conferences, however every conference was so different that it helped create a lot of memories. Therefore, I hope the streak still continues, meaning I entrust all of you in the quest of creating heated debates, a joyful experience and a memorable time.

ABBREVIATIONS

ATS Amphetamine-Type Stimulants

CND Commission on Narcotic Drugs

CRPD Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child

ECOSOC United Nations Economic and Social Counchil

FARC Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia

Habitat I The First United Nations Conference on Human Settlements

Habitat II The Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements

Habitat III The Third United Nations Conference on Human Settlements

ICERD International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

ICESCR International Covenant on Ecomic, Social and Cultural Rights

MDG Millennium Development Goals

PWID People Who Inject Drugs

SGD Sustainable Development Goals

UN United Nations

UN-Habitat The United Nations Human Settlements Programme

UDHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights

UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

UNGASS United Nations General Assembly Special Session

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COMMITEE OVERVIEW

HISTORY

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The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is one of the principal organs of the United Nations (UN), responsible for coordinating the economic, social and related work of 14 UN specialized agencies, their func-tional commissions and five regional commissions. The council is at the heart of the UN system, charged with the advance of the three dimensions of sus-tainable development: Economic, Social as the name stated, as well as Hu-manitarian and Cultural. Being the central platform to the UN system, ECOSOC is the council that fosters substantive debate and innovative think-ing, forging international consensus on ways forward, and coordinating efforts to achieve internationally agreed goals.

Alike the other main organs of the UN, ECOSOC was established in 1946. However, the system consisting of 54 Member States as it is right now has varied greatly in time. Initially, the council was established with 18 Member States. Then, membership expanded from 18 to 27 in 1965 and again to 54 members in 1973. Due to the complex nature in of the governance of the multilateral system, thus the limited the capacity of the ECOSOC to influence interna-tional policies in trade, finance and investment, there has been numerous reform proposals aim to enhance the relevance and contribution of the coun-cil. One of the major reforms was based on the proposals submitted by Sec-retary-General Kofi Annan and was subsequently approved by the 2005 World Summit. The Summit aimed to establish the ECOSOC as a quality platform for high-level engagement among Member States, international financial institutions, the private sector and civil society on global trends, poli-cies and action. With its high-level segment responsible for reviewing trends in international development cooperation and promote greater coherence in development activities, the Council was to hold biennial high-level Develop-ment Cooperation Forums at the national-leadership level. Additionally, it was also assigned to hold annual ministerial-level substantive reviews to assess progress in achieving internationally agreed development goals, par-ticularly the expired Millennium Development Goals and the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals.

MANDATE

MEMBERSHIP

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Being one of the six main organs of the UN, ECOSOC follows the pur-poses and principles of the UN, which was established in the first chapter of the UN Charter 1945. Accordingly, the Council serves to foster international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion. Unlike its twin – the Security Council – ECOSOC enjoys little authority in international policymaking. However, the Council is the princi-pal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on aforementioned fields, as well as for implementation of the internationally agreed development goals; it has also been strengthening its working meth-ods, giving special attention to the integrated and coordinated implementation of, and follow-up to, the outcomes of all major UN conferences summits.

The Council has 54 member states out of the 193 UN Member States, which are elected by the UN General Assembly for overlapping three-year terms. Seats on the Council are based on geographical representation with 18 allocated to African states, 13 to Asian states, 8 to East European states, 13 to Latin American and Caribbean states and 13 to West European and other states. Since 2010, all five permanent members of the Security Council have been continuously reelected because they provide funding for a large share of the budget of ECOSOC, which is the largest of any UN subsidiary body. Deci-sions are taken by simple majority vote. The presidency of ECOSOC changes annually.

ECOSOC engages a wide variety of stakeholders – policymakers, par-liamentarians, academics, major groups, foundations, business sector repre-sentatives and 3,200+ registered non-governmental organizations – in a pro-ductive dialogue on sustainable development through a programmatic cycle of meetings. The work of the Council is guided by an issue-based approach, and there is an annual theme that accompanies each programmatic cycle, ensur-ing a sustained and focused discussion among multiple stakeholders.

GOVERNANCE AND STRUCTURE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Annually, the programmatic cycle of ECOSOC includes the high-Level Seg-ment, the Integration Segment, Operational Activities for Development Seg-ment, the Youth Forum and the Partnership Forum. Additionally, there are Co-ordination and Management Meetings (CMM) held throughout the year, as well as the Humanitarian Affairs Segment, taking place in alternate years.

ECOSOC, the UN Charter, Chapter X, 1945, art. 61 - 66;ECOSOC, ECOSOC at a Glance, ECOSOC Background Information;ECOSOC, Wiki Gender, United Nations Economic and Social Council;Encyclopædia Britannica, Economic and Social Council, http://www.britannica.com/topic/Economic-and-Social-Council

ECOSOC, ECOSOC-70: Taking Action to Improve Lives, 2016;ECOSOC, United Nations Elections, Economic & Social Council, 2011.ECOSOC, United Nations Economic & Social Council, Subsidiary Bodies of ECOSOC, 2011.

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The use of narcotic drugs, psychoactive substances, and several other plants with hallucinogenic properties has been reported in social history to have occurred in ancient times as far as 4,200 B.C. The use of these sub-stances was prevalent in different parts of the world for medical purposes and ritual rites, even though it has been limited to different sectors of the society. However, it was not until the emergence of India-China large-scale trade and its resulting health and social problems in the 19th century when the impetus for creating an international drug control system arose. In 1909, the international community met in Shanghai, China for the Opium Commission – the first international conference regarding drugs. Three years following the Shanghai Conference, the first international drug control treaty – the International Opium Convention – was passed in The Hague. The League of Nations, via its Advisory Committee on the Traffic in Opium and Other Dan-gerous Drugs, took responsibility in the global fight against drug trafficking before handing the drug control functions and authority on the issue to the UN. Three international conventions were developed under the League’s purview, namely, the 1925 Opium Convention, the 1931 Convention For Limiting the Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of Narcotics, and the 1936 Con-vention for the Suppression of Illicit Traffic in Dangerous Drugs.

As the UN assumed responsibilities on the question of drug control, foundational international legal frameworks were established. The UN’s ECOSOC established the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in 1946 as a functional body advising the Council on matters relating to drug control. Under the auspices of ECOSOC and its functional bodies, the UN and the internation-al community adopted three pillars to the international drug control mecha-nism: the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971, and the Convention on the Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988.

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HISTORY OF THE TOPIC

001 TOPIC 1: DRUG CONTROL

The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 was adopted as the first international framework on the question of drug control. This framework calls for limiting the production, manufacture, export, import, distribution of, trade in, use, and possession of drugs to be exclusive to medical and scientific purposes. Another core principle of this framework is the provision of techni-cal, logistical, and financial assistance from the international community to Member States that are struggling in the combat against drugs. This docu-ment also entrusts the CND as the international body that oversees drug con-trol, conducting research and making recommendations for the aims and pro-visions of this Convention. The ban on narcotic drugs enshrined in the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 inadvertently gave rise to the use of hal-lucinogenic substances, which were used in replacement of narcotic drugs. To address this newly emerged problem, the UN adopted the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, basing upon the structure and provisions of the 1961 Convention and targeting psychotropic substances. While the two previ-ous conventions placed great emphasis on the manufacture and cultivation of narcotic drugs and other synthetic psychoactive substances, the Convention on the Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988 serves as an international instrument that assists Member States in more forcefully attacking the complex problem of drug trafficking through concerted international actions.

In 1998, the twentieth UN General Assembly Special Session (UN-GASS) was held with the main focus on the world drug problem. The Political Declaration on Global Drug Control was subsequently adopted; this document re-affirms the negative effects that drugs have on the health and well-being of society; it also invites all relevant stakeholders to join hands in the combat against illicit drug use and trafficking, setting the year of 2008 as a target date for Member States to successfully reduce drug-related crimes and the illicit manufacture and trafficking of psychotropic substances. International drug control mechanisms have yielded commendable achievements. The international community has witnessed unprecedented consensus on drug control, with one hundred and eighty-three countries being parties to the three aforementioned international drug control conventions, equivalent to 95 percent of the UN’s Member States. More importantly, the net decline rate for opiates, cocaine, and amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) was estimated to be 40 percent over the last century.

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Despite aforementioned achievements, the global situation on combat-ing the illegal production, use and trafficking of drugs has been stagnant, showing no signs of improvements in the last three-year period, thereby con-tinuing to pose challenges that need to be addressed to the international drug control system. In addition, health consequences of illegal drug use emerge as a major global concern, as approximately 10 percent of drug users (an equiva-lent of 27 million people) are problem drug users, suffering from drug depen-dence and drug use disorders. To further exacerbate the situation, the majority of problem drug users continue to have no access to treatment due to the lack of infrastructure and shortfall in the provision of services. A joint study conduct-ed by the World Health Organization/UNAIDS/the World Bank/ UNODC finds that the 2013 global estimate of People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) is 12.9 mil-lion, corresponding to 0.26 per cent of the adult population aged 15-64. This large proportion of global drug users, more alarmingly, are prone to the high risk of HIV infections. Indeed, PWID account for more than 30 per cent of new HIV infections. Moreover, the annual number of drug-related deaths remains unchanged (estimated at 187,100 in 2013).

While the global use of opioids and opiates has remained stable, with the former having 32.4 million users and the latter 16.5 million users world-wide, the opium poppy cultivation and production have soared to 7,554 tons in 2014, reaching a historical height since the 1930s. Similarly, drug trafficking has shown signs of evolution. Although the locations in which drug cultivation and manufacture take place have experienced little change, drug trafficking routes have been in a constant state of flux, as exemplified in the diversification of drug routes or the advent of new smuggling platforms. Seizure of these sub-stances, on the other hand, has declined by 6.4 per cent from 2012 to 2013, signaling inefficiency in the drug supervision and control. Therefore, the objec-tive of “eliminating or reducing significantly the illicit cultivation of the coca bush, the cannabis plant and the opium poppy by the year 2008” delineated in the 1998 UNGASS, has not been achieved. In addition, it is obvious that the primary goal of the three pillar conventions, which is “to restrict the use of psy-choactive substances to medical use only” has not been achieved.

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CURRENT SITUATION

While the global combat against drug trafficking stalled, another drug-related malady ensued. In an era in which non-state actors has become an important stakeholder in global terrorism, illicit drug trade has been utilized by terrorist and extremist groups to finance their operations. In a conference recently held in Istanbul named “The Role of Drug Trafficking in Promoting and Financing Today’s Global Terrorism,” UNODC Senior Terrorism Prevention Office Irka Kuleshnyk remarked: “While it is difficult to establish how widely terrorist groups are involved in the illicit drug trade, or the breadth and nature of cooperation between these two criminal groups, the magnitude of the num-bers involved make the relationship worrisome.” The inter-linkage between illicit drug trade and terrorism is exemplified in the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucio-narias de Colombia (FARC) [the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia], the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda. According to available statistics, the FARC receives half of their funding from drug-related revenue. In Afghanistan, the Taliban ben-efits financially from the institutionalized taxation and its active involvement in heroin trafficking. Similarly, the Al-Qaeda has received millions of dollars per year through its production and distribution of opium regionally and transna-tionally. Thus, there is convincing evidence that illicit drug trafficking has been, and is, a crucial source of funding for terrorist and extremist groups in waging the terror globally.

In 1961, with the adoption of Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, the UN established the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) as “an independent, quasi-judicial and regulatory body” that works directly with governments to monitor the implementation of UN drug control conventions and to regulate and supervise legal drug markets. In order to strengthen the international control over drug-related issues ECOSOC adopted Resolution 9(I) of 1946, establishing the CND, determining the purpose of this body to be advising and assisting the Council in exercising supervision over all matters pertaining to the control of narcotic drugs, including supervising existing trea-ties on the issue. In 1972, the United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control was created in 1972 with the purpose of raising funds to implement technical assis-tance to developing countries. The UN established the United Nations Interna-tional Drug Control Programme in 1990, conferring upon this body the respon-sibility of directing the UN on all of its drug control efforts, but also provide technical, financial, logistical assistance to Member States regarding the implementation of international drug control treaties as well as regional and international cooperation strategies. 8

RELEVANT UNITED NATIONS ACTIONS

In 1999, in order to strengthen the UN’s machinery for international drug control, ECOSOC adopted Resolution E/RES/1999/30, specifically struc-turing the CND into two distinct segments: (1) a normative segment that deals with drug control issues from a treaty-based and normative approach and (2) an operational segment that “exercises its role as the governing body of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme and considers issues related to the provision of policy guidance to the Programme.” After the estab-lishment of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, the CND has since become the governing body of this Programme.

The UN General Assembly – Third Assembly (GA3), which focuses on a wide array of social, humanitarian and cultural affairs, also contributes its share in reinforcing international drug control and combating the spread of illicit drugs. In this regard, GA annually presents (1) various reports on international drug control and (2) the Secretary-General’s reports on the international coop-eration against drug control to the UN’s Plenary. The latest report of GA3 calls for the convention of a Special Session of the General Assembly (UNGASS) on the world drug problem to be held in 2016 and led by the CND. This report also reaffirms commitment from Member States and underscores the impor-tance of practical action and effective cooperation among Member States and international and regional organizations in mitigating negative effects of illicit drug use and trafficking, as well as assessing and improving measures of pre-vention. In accordance with the proposal made by GA3, the General Assembly adopted Resolution A/Res/70/181, deciding to convene the 2016 UNGASS on the world drug problem from 19 to 21 April, 2016. The UNGASS was an exceptional opportunity for relevant stakeholders such as Member States, regional groups, international organizations, and non-governmental organiza-tions to engage in meaningful dialogue and action on the issue.

With a view to tackling an international issue using a regional approach, the UN, specifically the UNODC has initiated numerous programs that special-ize in different regions of the world. In this regard, the UNODC has launched programs with regional focus in Central Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, Mexico - Central America and the Caribbean as well as West and Central Africa, establishing platforms on which the UNODC as well as states in the region initi-ate measures regarding border control, information-sharing as well as other substantive measures in combating transnational drug trafficking. The UNODC has also launched partnership initiatives that are responsible for con-sensus-building, capacity-building, technical assistance,... such as the Paris Pact Initiative and the Horizontal Initiatives. 9

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

The UNODC has also launched drug user-centric initiatives that seek to battle against illicit drug trafficking and drug trade from the demand side. These programs target all relevant sectors of any communities, providing families, schools and working places with treatment, information and education regarding the prevention of substance use. Of all active programs, TREATNET has been a longstanding program with a commitment to health-centered and communi-ty-based treatment of drug dependence. TREATNET was launched in 2005 and is currently operating in 27 countries spreading over five regions all over the world.

Similarly, the UN has also been active in addressing the linkage between illicit drug trafficking and the financing of terrorism. The UN General Assembly spearheaded this effort by adopting the International Convention for the Suppres-sion of the Financing of Terrorism, prohibiting state sponsorship of terrorism as well as requesting Member States to take appropriate measures to ensure that all criminal acts within the framework of the Convention are held liable. Similarly, the UN Security Council has also been an important contributor, having passed reso-lutions pertaining to the suppression of the financing of terrorism such as resolu-tions S/RES/1373 (2001) and S/RES/1566 (2004).

Although the international drug control system has have made certain achievements in the global combat against drugs, it has given rise to five unin-tended consequences. The first consequence is the aforementioned diversifica-tion of smuggling routes and the advent of black markets such as the “deep web.” The second consequence called “policy displacement,” arises as the two aspects of the fight against drugs, namely law enforcement and public health, compete with each other for resources. The third unintended consequence is the “geo-graphical displacement” of drug production, meaning that successfully controlling drug issues in one region will inadvertently cause the issue to increase in another region, as exemplified by the emergence of the Golden Triangle after the success-ful containment of the Chinese drug epidemic in the 20th century. The fourth con-sequence is “substance displacement” – the phenomenon describing drug users switching to other psychoactive substances once their commonly used ones have been contained. The last unintended consequence is the perception of drug use of governments and policymakers, failing to create an inclusive social system for drug users, thereby further denying drug users of treatment and rehabilitation. Therefore, given the aforementioned challenges and also failures of the interna-tional community in achieving some of its goals, a few areas of concern remain: (1) improving public health, (2) reducing drug supply and demand, and (3) minimiz-ing drug-related crimes. 10

The UNODC has pointed out that progress in the global combat against drugs can be achieved if at least three objectives are realized: (1) the reaffirmation of basic principles in the fight against drugs, (2) the improvement and strengthen-ing of the drug control system, and (3) the containment and eradication of the aforementioned unintended consequences.

As the combat against international drug use and trafficking showed signs of regressing into stagnance, the international community has been having dis-cussions on potential changes for the improvement of the international drug con-trol framework. The first consideration is the Alternative Development (AD) strate-gy, which aims at addressing the question of drug control from the supply side. AD has been recognized by the UN as one of the comprehensive approaches to the elimination of illicit narcotic crops. AD is intended to provide and promote lawful, socio-economically sustainable options for communities and population groups that have resorted to growing illicit narcotic crops as their only livelihood. Previous experiences showed that the success of AD projects is situation-specif-ic, and that there was hardly any template applicable to all cases. However, with the adoption of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Alternative Development in 2014, the UN as well as the international community has made a great stride in utilizing AD as a tool to improve international drug control mechanism through the supply side.

The second consideration is the decriminalization of drug use, which seeks to remove prosecutions and penalties related to the consumption of drugs. This alternative is based is on the argument that the current global control mechanism under the “war on drugs” framework has failed, posing devastating economic and social consequences, and thus, a paradigm shift to one that treats drug users as matters of public health rather than criminals would allow better communication, prevention and treatment, thereby reducing net drug consumption. Opponents of decriminalization, on the other hand, claim that this method is counter-productive, since it would provide everyone with percussions-free access to drugs, thereby increasing the number of drug users and drug-related crimes.

The third consideration in the discussions is the improvement of the inter-national monitoring system. The Joint Ministerial Statement of 2014 identifies the deficiency in the monitoring and interdiction of drug-related criminal organizations mechanism on both the national and international scale. Therefore, the proposal of an international monitoring system that allows for timely exchange of informa-tion as well as enhanced cooperation of law enforcements has received much attention in the recent years. 11

FURTHER RESEARCH In order to craft policies that hold the potential to effectively address drug-related challenges facing the UN and the international community, dele-gates should consider these following questions prior to the upcoming sessions of ECOSOC: Does your represented State belong to one of the main manufactur-ing locations/trafficking routes of drugs? If yes, how can the international frame-work address these issues without infringing upon your internal affairs and self-de-termination? If no, what can your represented State and the international commu-nity contribute to the battle against illicit drug trafficking? What should the role of other stakeholders, such as Civil Society Organization (CSOs) and Non-Govern-mental Organizations (NGOs), be in this combat against the global drug problem? Should the de-criminalization of drug use be realized? What should be taken into account should such a paradigm shift be implemented? How the regulation on drug-related crimes can be improved, and how the international cooperation on the issue be enhanced? Have the international reporting and information sharing been effective? How should the international reporting and monitoring mechanism be improved, given the situation that some Member States do not even have an adequate ones themselves? Has AD been an effective strategy? What can be done improve AD programs? What can be done to weaken the inter-linkage between illicit drug trade and terrorism?

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BIBLIOGRAPHY- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2015 World Drug Report- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2011 World Drug Report- Olayemi Jacob Ogunniyi and Bonifacio Aderemi Britto, Historical Perspective of International Efforts at Eradi-cating Illicit Drug Trade and Abuse (European Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 2 No. 3, 2014)- UN ECOSOC, Resolution E/RES/9(1) – On the Establishment of a Commission on Narcotic Drugs, 1946- UN ECOSOC, Resolution E/RES/1999/30 - Review of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme: Strengthening the United Nations Machinery for International Drug control within the Scope of the Existing International Drug Control Treaties and in Accordance with the Basic Principles of the Charter of the United Nations, July 28th, 1999- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes, A Century of International Drug Control, 2008- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Status of Treaty Adherence Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 2007 - United Nations - Department on Public Information, Uncivil Society: Crime, Illicit Drugs and Terrorism, 2004- United Nations – General Assembly, Third Committee, A/70/491: International Drug Control - Report of the Third Committee, December 2nd, 2015- Global Commision on Drug Policy, Report of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, June 2011- Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, Drugs and Democracy: Towards a Paradigm Shift, 2010- Drug Watch International, Against the Legalization or Decriminalization of Drugs, - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Joint Ministerial Statement: 2014 High-Level Review by the Com-mission on Narcotic Drugs of the Implementation by Member States of the Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation Towards an Integrated and Balanced Strategy to Counter the World Drug Problem, March 2014.

The right to adequate shelter is a pillar to basic human rights, and it is enshrined in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 (UDHR). Accordingly, no citizen shall ever be denied of their rights to adequate shelter, which consists of adequate housing as well as access to basic needs such as food, clean water, sanitation and social services. The UN and the international community have further recognized the universality of the right to adequate shelter through numerous other conventions and legal frameworks such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966 (ICE-SCR), the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 (CRC), the Conven-tion on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of 2007 (CRPD), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination of 1965 (ICERD),... Recognizing the proper human settlements as prerequisite to the quali-ty of life and to the full satisfaction of basic needs such as employment, health-care, education and recreation, the UN and the international community con-vened the first UN Conference on Human Settlements in Vancouver, Canada in 1976, subsequently adopting the Vancouver Declaration on Human Settle-ments. This is the first international document that focuses solely on human settlements, aiming at realizing sustainable development and securing the uni-versal right to adequate shelter, especially that of marginalized groups of people.

As conditions for human settlements showed signs of deterioration over the years, and the policies, programs of developing countries proved to be inefficient in realizing the objectives delineated in the Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements, the UN and the international community decided to convene the Second UN Conference on Human Settlements in Istanbul, Turkey in 1996. At this conference, the Istanbul Declaration on Human Settle-ments, which is also known as the Habitat Agenda, was subsequently adopt-ed. This document calls for the participation from all relevant stakeholders: international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Civil

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HISTORY OF THE TOPIC

002 TOPIC 2: INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS

Society Organizations (CSOs); it also calls for the need to strengthen regional as well as international cooperation in protecting universal human rights, including the right to adequate shelter for all, by comprehensively addressing unsustainable consumption and production patterns as well as unsustainable population changes, determining that priority should be devoted to homeless-ness, unemployment, social exclusion and lack of adequate planning.

According to UN-Habitat, informal settlements are defined as the resi-dential areas where: 1) inhabitants have no security of tenure towards the land they inhabit, with modifies ranging from squatting to informal rental housing, 2) the neighborhoods are usually lack of basic services and city infrastructures, 3) the housing may not comply with current planning and building regulations, and is often located in geographically and environmentally hazardous regions. Often having poor sanitation, limited access to health service, substandard food storage facilities and drinking water quality, inhabitants living in informal settlements face with high range of pathogens. Basic cooking and heating facilities also pose an excessive risk of explosion and indoor pollution. The complex nature of these regions incorporates with numerous social problems – overcrowding, drugs and violence – to name a few. Ensuring economic, social and cultural rights for residents of informal settlements is an important goal discussed in the first ever Integration Seg-ment of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, focusing on Sustain-able Urbanization. It also goes in line with the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the UN in 2015. To achieve this goal, Member States of ECOSOC need to address obstacles to ensuring the rights for residents of informal set-tlements by “incorporating all economic, social and environmental dimensions and their inter-linkages.”

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The UN estimates that by 2030, approximately 70 percent of the world population of the world will be living in cities, making urban areas the dominant form of habitat for mankind. As the influx of people into urban areas increases, the capacity of these areas to provide urban dwellers with basic necessities such as housing, basic sanitation, water, nutrition, education,... is diminished. A large number of those living in informal settlements are low-income, common laborers or workers working in informal sectors. As the number of urban dwellers increased, those living in slums and informal settlements find

CURRENT SITUATION

themselves vulnerable, socially excluded and stripped of their basic human rights. The issues of ensuring the social, economic and cultural rights of slum dwellers and those living in informal settlements will be of high priority to almost all Member States, especially among developing Member States, natural disaster zones or dwellings of refugees.

The pivotal year of 2008 has brought monumental challenges to the international community, introducing multifaceted crises from financial, social, political to environmental. These crises obstructed the hard-earned and fragile stability within many Member States, wreaking havoc on societies and their people. As a result, instead of being places of opportunities, cities gave in to inequality, deprivation and exclusion. In developing parts of the world, the social gap widened considerably, making the quest for social cohesion and prosperity an uphill battle. Social gaps, unequal access to opportunities and resources have been pushing many people into “favelas, bidonvilles, Katchi Abadis or campamentos” [also known as slums and informal settlements]. The developed part of the world, on the other hand, is now witnessing the emerg-ing of poverty, marginalization, new forms of social exclusion.

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Ever since its establishment, the UN and its body organs have been playing an important role in forging international cooperation as well as guiding Member States and their national governments, local authorities and relevant stakeholders in securing safe, sustainable, socially inclusive and equitable human settlements; UN-Habitat, UNEP, UNDP and ECOSOC have all contrib-uted its shares to this cause. ECOSOC, in particular, held an integration seg-ment on sustainable urbanization in 2014, focusing on the corollary between sustainable urbanization and a sustainable development. This integration seg-ment underscores the opportunities and challenges towards the fulfillment of sustainable development, which will in turn reduce the number of people living in informal settlements as well as protect the rights of those still living in such situations.

The international community has shown relative efficiency in imple-menting the Habitat Agenda, having achieved the Millennium Development Goal of improving the life quality of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020. However, as the number of inhabitant of slums and other forms of informal

RELEVANT UNITED NATIONS ACTIONS

Previous to the 1980s, most governments’ approach to solving the problem of informal settlements are either negligence, which assumes that informal settlements are inevitable but temporary phenomena; eviction, mean-ing removal of such settlements due to the fact that the lands they were built on had been illegally acquired; or resettlement, meaning uprooting and

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

settlements soared, the UN decided to convene the third UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat III) in Quito, Ecuador in October 2016 as a forum for all relevant stakeholders to invigorate their commitment and cooperation towards a global sustainable development and urbanization that secures the people’s right to adequate housing. The New Urban Agenda - the outcome document of Habitat III - will lay the groundwork for policies and approaches of all relevant stakeholders for the next 20 years regarding sustainable devel-opment, urbanization and human settlements.

Informal settlements remain an aching obstacle to sustainable develop-ment as well as the fulfillment of basic human rights such as the right to ade-quate shelter and right to other basic necessities. Therefore, the UN incorpo-rated the question of informal settlements as a major topic in the roadmap towards Habitat III; a Thematic Meeting on Informal Settlements was held in Pretoria, South Africa from 7-8th April, 2016. At this meeting, national govern-ments, local authorities, intergovernmental agencies, UN agencies and other relevant stakeholders adopted the Pretoria Declaration, underscoring that informal settlements can only be effectively addressed if they are part of an integrated approach that takes into consideration national urban policy frame-works, the rural-urban inter-linkages as well as the legal, financial and spatial design. In preparation for Habitat III, UN-Habitat has published numerous publi-cations and guidelines for Member States, national authorities and relevant stakeholders as a means of assistance for the realization of sustainable urban-ization and mitigation of negative effects stemming from uncontrolled urban-ization. Among those, Issue Paper Number 22 addressed specifically the topic of informal settlements as well as of securing the rights of those living in such areas. This paper provides an overview of the global situation regarding infor-mal settlements as well as key drivers for action and efficiency.

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relocating informal settlements to the outskirts of cities. However, these approaches have been seen as costly and not addressing the root causes of informal settlements. An alternative approach, slum upgrading, with three main components: (1) providing basic services, (2) regularizing land tenure, and (3) furnishing access to credit adapted to the economic conditions of slum dwell-ers, has gained general favor and been officially endorsed by UN-Habitat. Slum upgrading, influenced especially by the writings of John F. C. Turner and his book Freedom to Build, maintains that the problem of slums can be solved by slum-dwellers themselves, given that they are granted improved living condi-tions in existing settlements and recognized property rights.

The first component consists of provision of services such as access to clean water, adequate sewage and human waste disposal, and safe electricity distribution, as well as healthcare and health education programs. Turner argued that slum-dwellers have the necessary organizational skills to maintain the provided facilities trustably. But the rationalization underpinning this solu-tion is land tenure regularization. Tenure regularization means granting proper-ty rights and legal recognition for holder of informally settled lands. Often these lands are obtained via illegal channels, and so are subject to possible arbitrary seizure or demolition by the government. According to the theory of urban upgrading, ensuring secure tenure not only recognizes settlers’ rights to ade-quate housing and full citizen status but also, when combined with facilitated access to credit, provides incentives for them to improve the sites they dwell on. Tenure security is determined by (1) probability of forced eviction, (2) level of access to basic services and (3) ability to improve housing and living condi-tions.

Consideration can be given to methods of ensuring tenure security. Current tenure regulations are either done by government or delegated to community agencies, each method with their own advantages and disadvan-tages. On the one hand, the government may not understand the needs and requirements of settlers community, so their policy might be seen as restrictive rather than helpful. On the other hand, community-based agencies might pro-vide more suitable aids but lack the capacity and guidelines to achieve the task. Therefore, knowledge of the needs and requirements of the community, clear directions, and necessary technical support are needed in ensuring tenure security.

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Another problem worth considering is to ensure the participatory and inclusive nature of the upgrading process. Upgrading cannot be sustained without the commitment of both the government and the community. In many cases, governments overlook service maintenance, communities fail to pre-serve the facilities, and governance structures broke down without the contin-uous assistance of international experts. Negligence, especially from the gov-ernment, can allow community issues like violence and conflict go undeterred and hinder upgrading efforts. Thus, institutional models that continuously incentivize, fully inform, and clearly define the roles of each party are needed for the process to be sustainable. In addition, social inclusion, such as gender and racial equality for settlers (e.g. the prevention of segregation within settle-ments), needed to be achieved alongside economic improvements.

Consideration can also be given to the problem of unclear or acquisi-tioned land ownership. Private acquisition of lands is concerning. Private owners can derive considerable profits from upgrading projects while doing very little to improve their lots of land. Furthermore, since many settlers go for temporary stay or have informal arrangements with the surrounding communi-ty, land ownership is not well-defined, which makes it hard for providers of upgrade facilities to charge their recipients. This proves an especially challeng-ing problem for developing nations, who cannot keep up free provision of infra-structure for an extended period.

Financing is thus a visible issue. Another way it is complicated is by the fact that slum upgrading does not take high priority on the agenda of many governments. Many try to minimize expense by providing low quality infra-structure, which in turn costs more for maintenance and/or reparation. This problem is reinforced by lack of participation and poor governance. Finally, consideration must be given as to whether the goals of upgrading are achiev-able given the existing framework and methodologies. It has been argued that informal settlement upgrading excessively emphasizes the role of the free market and people’s self-help capacity, and only fix existing slums rather than the problem of slum itself.

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Delegates are advised to research on the current situation of informal settlements in their respective countries, as well as actions that they have taken on an international level. Suggested questions for research are: How extensive is the problem of informal settlements/slums/shanty towns in your country? Has the problem been on the rise lately? If yes, what countermea-sures have your country taken against the rise of informal settlements? If no, what solutions have proven effective? How can the participation of slum-dwell-ing communities, commitment of the government, and knowledge-sharing of international experts be motivated and sustained? Is self-help enough, or should government play bigger roles in providing dwellers with adequate hous-ing and facilities? What should the role of local authorities, NGOs and CSOs, and the private sector be in addressing informal settlements? How can the problem of unclear ownership and organized land acquisition be solved? Should the international community adopt a universal approach to solving informal settlements, or should they be treated on a case-by-case basis? Should land tenure regulation be put in the hand of the central government, local agencies, or non-governmental, civic society, and international organiza-tions? Who stand to gain or lose the most from the status quo, or a change to the status quo?

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FURTHER RESEARCH

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BIBLIOGRAPHY- The United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948.- The United Nations, Resolution A/RES/47/180, December 22nd, 1992.- The United Nations, The Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements, 1996.- ECOSOC, ECOSOC 2014 Integration Segment http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/integration/pdf/programme.pdf, Accessed April 13, 2016. - UN-Habitat, State of the World’s Cities 2012/2013: Prosperity of Cities, 2013.- UN Economic and Social Council, 2014 Integration Segment: Sustainable Urbanization, May 29th, 2014. - The United Nations General Assembly, Resolution A/RES/66/207: Implementation of the Outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) and Strengthening of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), March 14th 2012.- Citiscope, What is the New Urban Agenda: http://citiscope.org/habitatIII/explainer/2015/06/what-new-urban-agenda, Accessed June 15, 2016.- The United Nations, Pretoria Declaration for Habitat III, April 8th, 2016. - United Nations Human Settlements Programme. (2003). The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements. Earthscan Publications Ltd.- United Nations Human Settlements Programme. (2010). State of the World's Cities 2010/2011 - Cities for All: Bridging the Urban Divide. UN-Habitat.- Turner, J. F., & Fichter, R. (1972). Freedom to build; dweller control of the housing process. New York: Mac-millan.- UNISDR. (2011). Global Report on Human Settlements 2007. Retrieved June 16, 2016, from http://ww-w.unisdr.org/files/2585_2432alt1.pdf.- Midheme, E. (2007). State Vs Community-led Land Tenure Regularization in Tanzania. M. Sc Dissertation, International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation,(ITC), Enschede, the Netherlands, Retrieved June 16, 2016, from http://www.itc.nl/library/papers_2007/msc/upla/midheme.pdf.- United Nations Human Settlements Programme. (2003). The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements. Earthscan Publications Ltd.- Werlin, H. (1999). The Slum Upgrading Myth. Urban Studies, 36(9), 1523-1534.- Tshikotshi, V. (2010). The Challenges of Eradicating Informal Settlements in South Africa by 2014: the Case of Seraleng, Rustenburg Local Municipality, North West Province.