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Position Paper Comments and General Concerns

Delegates, Your graded position papers are now on Huxley! Please be sure to check them out and read through the comments. The comments on the papers will help you understand what you should further research and provide details for going into committee. Hopefully, they will really help you clarify and specify the solutions that you want to present to committee. We attempted to ask thoughtful questions which will help you recognize some of the nuances and difficulties with solving these topics. From reading these papers, some of the biggest concerns which the Dias noticed are: Peacekeepers are not always seen as neutral by many countries. Their presence could undermine the neutrality of aid workers. Be sure to understand the problems with Peacekeepers and be ready to defend your use of them if you plan to have them as a solution. Be sure your solutions adhere to the SMART framework (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Timely). These solutions should have an exact plan
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Some Food for Committee Thought

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Delegates, While we can all be caught up in the rigor of academia as well as the competitive nature of debate, Model UN is ultimately about expanding your world vision and expanding your knowledge about real world concerns that continue to impact people from a multitude of backgrounds and communities today. What sparked my interest in international affairs wasn't Model UN, but rather the solution building approach from it that made me more keen on learning about marginalized communities and attempt to use the same mindset when thinking about complexities that impact so many lives. I'm not asking you all to go seek projects to work on or tackle on some of the most difficult issues in the world to address, this weekend rather, I encourage you all to build an enthusiasm for striding toward solution-building and understanding how multi-faceted issues are, because no issue is simple, they have very diverse and concrete implications on the world. I hope to see developed and tho
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Aid Worker Attack Database

One of the most important solutions that the head of the Red Cross, as well as various other humanitarian organization leaders, have rallied behind is the collection of data. They claim that by quantifying the issue they can present a better case to the United Nations as to why protection of humanitarian aid workers should be on their agenda. Furthermore, a well established database can provide guidance on where solutions need to be focused and what the root cause of the majority of the attacks is. However, many leaders have admitted that this data collection will not be an easy task. Due to the widespread locations of humanitarian organizations and the hectic nature of many conflict zones, gathering information on all attacks committed will likely take more time and resources than is currently being spent. That being said, Humanitarian Outcomes, a research consulting specialist group, has created  The Aid Worker Security Database , which organizes instances of reported attacks dat
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Internal Displacement, Climate Change and the Crisis of International Law

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From the 1990s when multiple substantive proposals were brought forward concerning IDPs at the UN, the world has drastically changed in terms of its environment and environmental impacts on local populations. The primary alteration in recent years, has been the augmented influence of climate change on displacement. According to a study by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), one of the primary conflicts that comes up due to the displacement caused by climate change-related disasters or rising sea levels, is the ambiguity of international law concerning climate change induced displacement.  (For the full report see report attached) The report published by the IDMC discusses how a legal distinction between forced and voluntary displacement becomes especially difficult in the cases regarding climate change. Other primary difficulties regarding climate change displacement are identified in the report including but not limited to assessing risks that are more slow developing
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BMUN LXVII Is in Less Than Two Weeks! Get Ready!

Hello Delegates! Berkeley Model United Nations LXVII is less than two weeks away! Your positions papers are turned in. You've done your research! What now? Here are some general and committee tips and tricks! The first thing we want to emphasize to you, the delegates, is that Berkeley Model United Nations prides itself in creating environments for learning and growth . We are all here to support you in this learning process so do not be afraid to ask questions! As soon as y'all receive your position paper grades and comments, take some time to look through what we have written in the comments! There is always room for improvement (and for now, time!) to make your proposed solutions the best that they can be. Some good questions you and your partner should be thinking about: How can we communicate our proposed solutions in a clear and easily understood way? How can we do this in a 1 minute 30 second speech? How can we do this in a 30 second moderated caucus? What o
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Yemen Overview of Events

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Yemen has grown into one of the gravest humanitarian crises from its initial period of civil unrest. Since Yemen is a frequently-cited case study, we wanted to provide delegates more context about the conflict. The situation in the country today is an international conflict that includes a proxy war waged by Saudi Arabia and its allies against rebels that align with the sect of Islam, Shi'ism,  as opposed to the Saudi-state Sunni sect. While it's not fair to say that the war in Yemen is solely religious, as it is much more dynamic and involves political rights and marginalization of minorities, it is essential to understand that the Houthi rebels in Yemen have been accused of being backed by Shi'a supporters in the Iranian government and in the Lebanese government. Therefore, Yemen has frequently been characterized as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, despite its roots being in civil conflict between those who support the ousted president Hadi and the Houthi rebels
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China's South-North Water Transfer Project

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China has been at the forefront of recent concerns of internal displacement due to development. Their previous project, the Three Gorges Dam, set a record for the amount of people displaced due to a single development (1.2 million). Although it is the world's largest hydropower dam, it did not come without consequences. Those who were relocated were often done so against their will and had no say in the planning of locations they would be moved to. It was seen as a clear violation of human rights. Despite these problems, many private Chinese companies have looked to the Three Gorges Dam as a breakthrough and have started new projects along the same lines. One of these projects is China's South-North Water Transfer Project. This project is set to forcibly displace another 330,000 citizens. Attached here is a report by International Rivers detailing what the government is doing better, after having learned from their experiences with the Three Gorges Dam, and what the gove
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