The 6th Taipei Model United Nations Junior Conference

Taipei Youth Leadership Forum

Study Guide

Economic and Social Council

Shared Responsibilities: Post MDGs

2015 TMUNJ Academics

2015/9/17

 

 

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Table of Contents

Study Guide

I. Committee Introduction 3

II. Topic Background 4

III. Past Actions 6

a. i. Economic and Social Council 6

b. ii. United Nations Agencies 7

c. iii. Other International Organizations 7

IV. Statement of the Problem 8

V. Questions to be Answered 9

VI. Bibliography 11

 

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Shared Responsibilities: Post-MDGs

I. Committee Introduction Established in 1946, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is one of the six principal organs

of the United Nations (UN), which deals with problems related to economic, social, environmental

and humanitarian development. According to the UN charter, ECOSOC is required to “make or

initiate studies and reports with respect to international economic, social, cultural, educational,

health, and related matters.”1 The overall mandate of the Council covers a wide range of issues

from higher living standard, full employment, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all to the

solutions of international economic, social, health, and related problems.2 The Council takes on

responsibilities of offering policy recommendation to UN Member States and UN agencies, and also

monitoring the implementation of the adopted development goals.3 After the adoption of Resolution

68/1, the Council has been strengthened and is required to pay more attention to the emerging

challenges along with the integrated and cooperated practice of the decisions made by UN.4

The Council summons up a wide variety of stakeholders-governmental organizations, policy makers,

academics, business sectors representatives and numerous non-governmental organizations, and

engaging them in productive dialogues through programmatic cycles. The programmatic cycles of

ECOSOC include High-Level Segment, Integration Segment, Humanitarian Affairs Segment,

Operational Activities for Development Segment, Coordination and Management Meetings, Youth

Forum and Partnership Forum. 5

                                                                                                               1 United Nations, “CHAPTER X: THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL,” United Nations Official Website,http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/chapter10.shtml (26 June 1945) 2 United Nations Economic and Social Council, “ECOSOC Brochure, ”United Nations Economic and Social Council Official Website,http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/docs/pdfs/ecosoc_brochure_en.pdf (12 July 2015) 3 United Nations Economic and Social Council, “About ECOSOC, ” United Nations Economic and Social Council Official Website ,http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/about/ (12 July 2015) 4 United Nations General Assembly,” Review of the implementation of General Assembly resolution 61/16 on the strengthening of the Economic and Social Council, “United Nations Official Website,http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/68/1(13 December 2013 ) 5 United Nations Economic and Social Council, “About ECOSOC, ” United Nations Economic and Social Council Official Website ,http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/about/ (12 July 2015)

 

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Following the Millennium Declaration, the Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were

adopted by the General Assembly (GA) in the year of 2001. The Council has devoted itself to the

implementation of MDGs by taking many actions, including evaluating the progress of the MDGs,

giving comprehensive advices and assistance to enhance the United Nations’ humanitarian

assistance.6 To advance the UN development agenda beyond the 2015 expiry date of MDGs, the

ECOSOC will continue its key role in facilitating the transition through the theme “Managing the

transition from the Millennium Development Goals to the sustainable development goals: What it

will take”.

II. Topic Background In September 2000, UN Member States adopted the Millennium Declaration, reaffirming the values

and principles of the UN, and demonstrating the will of global leaders to solve global issues through

international cooperation. A year later, the Declaration was advanced as The Eight Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs), setting various targets to be accomplished by 2015, aiming to eradicate

poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality, reduce child

mortality, improve maternal health, combat common diseases, ensure environmental sustainability

and develop a global partnership for development.7

The Council submits the Millennium Development Goals Report annually to the General Assembly

in order to provide the most comprehensive global assessments of the progress. Years of efforts are

shown in the latest report, “The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015”,8 confirming the

reduction of the population living in extreme poverty from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015,

the number of under-five child mortality has dropped from 12.7 million to almost 6 million in 2015,

global births attended by skilled medical personnel have increased by 12 percent since 1990. The

                                                                                                               6 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs , “ECOSOC as a unifying platform for sustainable development,” Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform,https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/intergovernmental/ecosoc (25 July 2015) 7 United Nations General Assembly, ”United Nations Millennium Declaration,” United Nations Official Website, http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm(8 September 2000) 8 United Nations Secretariat-General, “The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015”,United Nations Official Website, http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2015_MDG_Report/pdf/MDG%202015%20rev%20(July%201).pdf (25 July 2015)

 

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progress mentioned above showed the targets of MDGs featuring clear, time-bound and quantifiable

value. Nevertheless, there are problems remained unsolved in the post-2015 era, requiring more

efforts to carry on the tasks of MDGs.

The Post-2015 Development Agenda is currently being discussed through informal consultations of

the UN General Assembly. An open working group proposed numerous inputs to the agenda, notably

known as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), incorporating an Intergovernmental Committee

of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing, GA dialogues on technology facilitation and

many others.9

As the SDGs are being adopted by the General Assembly in September 2015, limitations in the

MDGs shall be taken into consideration while drafting the new development agenda. Drawing from

the experience of the past decade, the future discussion shall focus on finding the root causes of

poverty and a more profound accommodation to ongoing issues. Continuing the efforts in the eight

goals of MDGs, SDGs are inclusive of raising environmental awareness, reducing inequality in all

aspects, and combating climate change.10

According to Adam Smith, “No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater

part of the members are poor and miserable.”11 Economic inequality may hinder the progress of

development. As mentioned by the OECD, the richest 10 percent of population earn about 9.5 times

of the income of the poorest 10 percent. The increased income disparities affect the quantity and

quality of parental education background, later limiting the access to adequate job opportunities.12

Studies have shown that the growing economic inequality among and within states may impede the

long-term development and result in social instability.13 The Nobel Economic Memorial Prize

                                                                                                               9 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs , “Post-2015 process,” Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015 (7 August 2015) 10 United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda, “Towards a Sustainable Development Agenda”, United Nations Official Website, http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/ (12 September 2015) 11 Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (Middlesex, Eng.: Penguin Books, 1979), pp.79. 12 Federico Cingano, “Trends in Income Inequality and its Impact on Economic Growth,” OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 163, OECD Publishing, http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/trends-in-income-inequality-and-its-impact-on-economic-growth-SEM-WP163.pdf (10 August 2015) 13 William Easterly, “Inequality does cause underdevelopment: Insights from a new Instrument,” Journal of Development Economics, Volume 84, Issue 2 (2007), pp. 755–776

 

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recipient, Joseph Stiglitz argues that the existing inequality has been transferring money from the

poor to the rich, from people who would spend the money to people who do not need to spend the

money. As a result, the global aggregate demand declines, which might eventually lead to another

Great Depression.14

III. Past Actions

i. Economic and Social Council（ECOSOC）

As “a principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on

issues of economic and social development and for the follow-up to the Millennium Development

Goals,”15 the ECOSOC plays an important role in monitoring and implementing the MDGs.

In 2005 World Summit, the General Assembly adopted the 2005 World Summit Outcome

Resolution, in which the Council was assigned to evaluate implementations and give constructive

recommendations to UN agencies and summits. The resolution also expressed the necessity of the

annual ministerial-level substantive reviews (AMRs) in order to assess progress.16 Thus, the

General Assembly enhanced the function of the ECOSOC by adopting Resolution 61/16 on the

“Strengthening of the Economic and Social Council”, which makes clear regulation and duty of

AMRs.17 Since 2007, the ECOSOC has made recommendation and evaluation annually through

AMRs on the actions adopted by the committee.

In the post-2015 era, the ECOSOC takes the responsibility to help define new goals of the future.

Dialogue has been made through the Development Cooperation Forum in order to reach consensus

about the renewed global partnership.18

                                                                                                               14 Joseph Stiglitz, “The global crisis, social protection and jobs,” International Labour Review, Vol. 148, No. 1–2 (2009) 15 United Nations General Assembly, “Keeping the promise: united to achieve the Millennium Development Goals,” United Nations Official Website, http://www.un.org/en/mdg/summit2010/pdf/outcome_documentN1051260.pdf (19 October 2010) 16 United Nations General Assembly, “2005 World Summit Outcome,” United Nations Official Website, http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N05/487/60/PDF/N0548760.pdf?OpenElement (24 October 2005) 17 United Nations General Assembly, “Strengthening of the Economic and Social Council,” United Nations Official Website, http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N06/495/39/PDF/N0649539.pdf?OpenElement (9 January 2007) 18 United Nations, Economic and Social Council, “Trends and progress in international development cooperation,”

 

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ii. United Nations Agencies

Numerous UN Agencies are currently participating in achieving the MDGs including United

Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and World Health Organization (WHO).19

As a scorekeeper, UNDP coordinates and provides financial support for the preparation of MDGs

country monitoring reports and forges closer collaboration with UN Member States.20 The WHO,

on the other hand, helps with achieving MDGs targets related to healthcare, with an emphasis on

drinking water and sanitation.21

iii. Other International Organizations

Other international organizations have also paid considerable attention to the global development

and provide assistances for the progress of the MDGs. The IMF has been devoted to halving

poverty and improving the welfare of the poorest countries, providing consultation, technical

assistance, financial relief to countries in need. Alongside the World Bank, the IMF assesses the

progress of the MDGs through annual reports.22 By advocating for a open, stable and multilateral

trading system, work of the WTO accelerates the progress of global partnership. 23 The WTO also

cooperates with the IMF, World Bank and Organization for Economic Co-operation and

Development (OECD).24

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   United Nations Official Website, http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=E/2014/77(15 May 2014) 19 United Nations Economic and Social Council, “Millennium Development Goals and post-2015 Development Agenda,” Economic and Social Council Official Website, http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/about/mdg.shtml (8 August 2015) 20 2015 United Nations Development Programme, Millennium Development Goals, United Nations Development Programme Official Website, http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/mdgoverview/mdg_goals/ (12 July 2015) 21 World Health Organization, “Meeting the MDG drinking-water and sanitation target The urban and rural challenge of the decade,” World Health Organization Official Website,

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/monitoring/jmp2006/en/ (12 August 2015) 22 International Monetary Fund, “The IMF and the Millennium Development Goals,” International Monetary Fund Official Website, https://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/mdg.htm(15 April 2015) 23 “UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water,” INVESTING IN WATER AND SANITATION:INCREASING ACCESS,REDUCING INEQUALITIES,” World Health Organization Official Website,https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/coher_e/mdg_e/global_partnership_e.htm(16 August 2015) 24 2015 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,” About the OECD,” Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Website, http://www.oecd.org/about/ (12 July 2015)

 

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IV. Statement of Problem

With the expiration of the MDGs approaching, many goals are yet to be achieved. For instance, in

2015, women still earn 24% less than men on average and there are about 800 million people around

the world still living in extreme poverty. Conditions in education, gender equality, environment and

sanitation require more efforts to reach the expected outcomes. 25

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is one of the areas suffering seriously from these problems. Although

tremendous achievement has been made to stimulate economy of this region, population growth,

conflict and cultural factors increase the difficulties of meeting challenges. For instance, up to 70%

of newly diagnosed cases of HIV are found in SSA26, posing great threats to people’s health in this

region. Aside from severe HIV infection, lack of medical personnel and insufficient health care are

deteriorating the circumstances, resulting in short life expectancy and high child mortality.27

Moreover, the problems in education and gender equality are often neglected due to reoccurring

conflicts and disturbances within the region, school age children have obstacles receiving education,

which leads to high illiteracy rate. Despite the fact that woman status has risen in the past decade: as

shown in the number of female seats in parliament up by 14% between 2000 and 2014, the feat of

violence against women continues infringing women’s rights.28

Confronting hardships mentioned above, Figure 1 shows that SSA has a serious problem of

economic inequality: the rich can receive better education, health care and get employed, while the

poor does not have the same opportunity. Without tackling with social inequality, mere pursuit of

economic growth will only widen the gap between the rich and the poor.

                                                                                                               25 United Nations Secretariat-General, “The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015”,United Nations Official Website, http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2015_MDG_Report/pdf/MDG%202015%20rev%20(July%201).pdf (25 July 2015) 26 WHO2015, “HIV/AIDS,” World Health Organization Official Website, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs360/en/ (12 August 2015) 27 Ellsberg, A. & Betron, M. “AIDSTAR-One: Spotlight on Gender :Preventing Gender-Based Violence and HIV: Lessons from the Field,” UNAIDS Official Website, https://www.k4health.org/sites/default/files/AIDSTAR-One_Gender_Spolight_Gender-based_violence.pdf (12 August 2015) 28 UNAIDS, “High-level Taskforce to tackle gender inequality,” UNAIDS Official Website, http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2011/december/20111208uawomen/ (08 December 2011)

 

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(Figure1, source: World Bank 2015/7)

V. Questions to be answered While the expiration of the MDGs is approaching-a set of new goals called the SDGs have been

mentioned in the ECOSOC to conduct a more effective approach towards ongoing global issues.

Advancements are needed in pursuit of sustainable development in considering the progress and

failure recorded in the MDGs Annual Reports. Member States are asked to recall the past efforts and

provide adjustments to the post-MDGs era. One of the main criticism of the MDGs is that those

targets focus only on development but ignore the reduction of inequality. Although the topic covers

multiple aspects, an acceptable resolution should at least manage to provide the solution to address

these three types of inequality:

i. Gender Inequality

Despite the fact that MDG3 aims at eliminating gender disparity in education, the

target does not provide enough incentives for policymakers to improve the overall

situation. In order to remove discrimination to the full extent, indicators should cover

more dimensions of the issue, for example, gender inequality in working place, in

decision-making and in healthcare.

ii. Health Inequality

Health inequality may result from individual differences, which are fixed and

inevitable, including genetic and biological factors. Member states should pay

0  20  40  60  80  100  120  

Angola  [A

GO]  

Burkina  Faso  

Burund

i  [BD

I]  Cameroo

n  Ce

ntral  A

frican  

Congo,  Dem

.  Co

ngo,  Rep

.  Co

te  d'Ivoire  

Ethiop

ia  [E

TH]  

Gabo

n  [GAB

]  Gh

ana  [GHA

]  Gu

inea  [G

IN]  

Libe

ria  [LBR

]  Madagascar  

Malaw

i  [MWI]  

Mali  [MLI]  

Mauritania  

Mozam

biqu

e  Niger  [N

ER]  

Nigeria  [N

GA]  

Rwanda  [R

WA]  

Sene

gal  [SEN]  

South  Africa  

Swaziland

 [SWZ]  

Tanzania  [T

ZA]  

Togo  [T

GO]  

Ugand

a  [UGA

]  Zambia  [ZMB]  

The  Inequality  of  sub-­‐Saharan  Africa  

Income  share  held  by  highest  20%   Income  share  held  by  fourth  20%  

Income  share  held  by  third  20%   Income  share  held  by  second  20%  

Income  share  held  by  lowest  20%  

 

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attention to those variables that can be addressed by actions of the government, for

instance, the disparities in the access to qualified healthcare, prevention of diseases,

distribution of healthcare resource are created by policies. Member states are expected

to evaluate the outcomes of the current MDGs targets with regard to health inequality

and to provide a solution to improve inequality in healthcare.

iii. Income Inequality

Economic growth has long been one of the priorities for states, but at the same time,

importance of the income equality should not be overlooked. The widening wealth

gap between the rich and the poor can severely disturb social stability and impede the

development. A comprehensive solution to mend income inequality is needed.

 

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Bibliography Book Smith, Adam, The Wealth of Nations,  Middlesex, Eng.: Penguin Books, 1979, pp.79.

Journal  Easterly, William, “Inequality does cause underdevelopment: Insights from a new Instrument,” Journal of Development Economics, Volume 84, Issue 2 (2007), pp. 755–776

Stiglitz, Joseph, “The global crisis, social protection and jobs,” International Labour Review, Vol. 148, No. 1–2 (2009), pp. 1-13 Internet resources “2015 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development About the OECD,” Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Website, http://www.oecd.org/about/ (12, July 2015)

“2015 United Nations Development Programme, Millennium Development Goals,” United Nations Development Programme Official Website, http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/mdgoverview/mdg_goals/ (12, July 2015)   A, Ellsberg. & M, Betron. “AIDSTAR-One: Spotlight on Gender: Preventing Gender-Based Violence and HIV: Lessons from the Field,” UNAIDS Official Website, https://www.k4health.org/sites/default/files/AIDSTAR-One_Gender_Spolight_Gender-based_violence.pdf (12, July 2015) Cingano, Federico, “Trends in Income Inequality and its Impact on Economic Growth,” OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 163, OECD Publishing http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/trends-in-income-inequality-and-its-impact-on-economic-growth-SEM-WP163.pdf (10 August 2015)

International Monetary Fund, “The IMF and the Millennium Development Goals,” International Monetary Fund Official Website, https://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/mdg.htm (15, April, 2015) United Nations, “CHAPTER X: THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL,” United Nations Official Website, http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/chapter10.shtml(26 June 1945) United Nations Economic and Social Council, “ECOSOC Brochure,”United Nations Economic and Social Council Official Website, http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/docs/pdfs/ecosoc_brochure_en.pdf (12 July 2015) United Nations Economic and Social Council, “About ECOSOC,” United Nations Economic and Social Council Official Website, http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/about/ (12 July 2015)

 

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United Nations General Assembly, “Review of the implementation of General Assembly resolution 61/16 on the strengthening of the Economic and Social Council,” United Nations Official Website, http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/68/1 (13 December 2013) United Nations Economic and Social Council, “About ECOSOC,” United Nations Economic and Social Council Official Website, http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/about/ (12 July 2015) United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “ECOSOC as a unifying platform for sustainable development,” Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/intergovernmental/ecosoc (25 July 2015) United Nations General Assembly, ”United Nations Millennium Declaration,” United Nations Official Website, http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm (8 September 2000) United Nations Secretariat-General, “The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015”, United Nations Official Website, http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2015_MDG_Report/pdf/MDG%202015%0 rev%20(July%201).pdf (25 July 2015) United Nations General Assembly, “Keeping the promise: united to achieve the Millennium Development Goals,” United Nations Official Website, http://www.un.org/en/mdg/summit2010/pdf/outcome_documentN1051260.pdf (19 October 2010) United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “Post-2015 process,” Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015 (7 August 2015) United Nations General Assembly, “Keeping the promise: united to achieve the Millennium Development Goals,” United Nations Official Website, http://www.un.org/en/mdg/summit2010/pdf/outcome_documentN1051260.pdf (19 October 2010) United Nations General Assembly, “2005 World Summit Outcome,” United Nations Official Website, http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N05/487/60/PDF/N0548760.pdf?OpenElement (24 October 2005) United Nations General Assembly, “Strengthening of the Economic and Social Council,” United Nations Official Website, http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N06/495/39/PDF/N0649539.pdf?OpenElemen (9 January 2007) United Nations, Economic and Social Council, “Trends and progress in international development cooperation,” United Nations Official Website, http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=E/2014/77 (15 May 2014) United Nations Economic and Social Council, “Millennium Development Goals and post-2015 Development Agenda,” Economic and Social Council Official Website, http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/about/mdg.shtml (8 August 2015) United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda, “Towards a Sustainable Development Agenda”, United Nations Official Website, http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/ (12 September 2015)

 

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United Nations the Secretary-General, “Note to Mr. Malloch Brown,” United Nations Development Programme, http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/MDG/english/SGs%20letter.pdf (20 November 2014) UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water, “INVESTING IN WATER AND SANITATION: INCREASING ACCESS, REDUCING INEQUALITIES,” World Health Organization Official Website, https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/coher_e/mdg_e/global_partnership_e.htm (16 August 2015) United Nations Secretariat-General, “The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015”, United Nations Official Website, http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2015_MDG_Report/pdf/MDG%202015%20rev%20 (July%201).pdf (25 July 2015) UNAIDS, “High-level Taskforce to tackle gender inequality,” UNAIDS Official Website, http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2011/december/20111208uawomen/ (08 December 2011) World Health Organization, “Meeting the MDG drinking-water and sanitation target: The urban and rural challenge of the decade,” World Health Organization Official Website, http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/monitoring/jmp2006/en/ (12 August 2015)

WHO2015, “HIV/AIDS,” World Health Organization Official Website, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs360/en/ (12 August 2015)