These conference agendas are designed to help you focus your research on the issues within your sub-game.  The agendas serve three purposes: 

First, they guide the discussions that take place during the conferences. Conference sessions are not free-for-all discussion, but structured debates moderated by SIMCON. Issues that are not outlined in the conference agenda will not be discussed during that conference session. 

Second, the agendas offer a direction for your research. You must be familiar with your country’s position on the issue areas and the questions posed in the conference agenda.

Lastly, the agendas set the tone for your negotiations over the normal mail system prior to the conferences. Since you know what will be discussed in the conference, the days and weeks prior to the conference should be spent building coalition and trying to negotiate rough outlines of agreement so the conferences will be productive.

Prior to each conference, a somewhat more detailed conference agenda will be posted. These agendas might reflect a discussion of proposed treaties addressing pertinent issues. The conference agendas listed below are broad guidelines concerning the points that will be addressed. According to the normal conference format, after the first agenda item is discussed, the conference will move on to the next agenda point, and so on.

Both Economically Developed Countries (EDCs) and Less Developed Countries (LDCs) alike have a difficult time combating terrorism. For decades terrorism was used as a means to draw attention to a particular issue when it otherwise received little attention in the international community. In the post-Cold War world, terrorism has taken on different motives and even methods, making it an even more difficult and complex problem to solve.

The international community has made a number of efforts towards conserving biodiversity. Yet, treaties go unsigned and countries do not commit to the Convention on Bio-Diversity framework. Treaties and conventions can be signed or rejected. Sometimes, however, a country will sign a treaty, but not implement the changes to conform to the terms of the treaty. Not implementing the policy could be a result of disagreement with the terms, indifference to the decision, or even because a country does not have the means---money, personnel, resources---to implement the policy. The ineffectiveness of a number of environmental treaties can in part be attributed to these implementation problems.

For example, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is opposed by many of the Southern African and intermediary countries including Mozambique, Malawi, Uganda, Oman, Yemen, and Burundi that do not benefit from big game tourism but do benefit from ivory sales.

One obvious dividing factor in the implementation of these treaties and conventions is the economic gap between the EDCs and the LDCs. Countries also fear that a commitment to these pacts might infringe upon their sovereignty. However, without a real international effort to protect the diverse species and ecosystems throughout the world, every day species become extinct.

In most countries women not only care for the household and the children, but they also must work. Women’s work is generally limited to selling produce that they have grown along side of a road or taking home-made crafts such as baskets and clothing to market. In other cases, women work long hours in factories under terrible conditions without breaks or benefits, while they produce products that sell for more than they make in a week.

Many women factory workers, sweat shop laborers, fruit pickers, and coffee bean gatherers work in factories owned by multinational corporations (MNCs). Over 75% of all MNCs are owned by EDCs with most of the remainder being owned by newly industrialized countries (NICs), some with a gross domestic product (GDP) that is higher than that of some EDCs.

1. Should the EDCs, the MNCs, the LDCs, or a combination of them be held accountable at the international level for improving the terrible working conditions of women in LDCs? Should MNCs be held to a specific standard of working conditions?
2. What steps could be taken to improve poor working conditions, increase low wages, and guarantee benefits?

Another problem women confront is breaking down constricting cultural barriers. In some cultures, a woman does not have the right to decide who—or even if—she wants to marry. In Pakistan, a woman who dishonors her family by choosing her partner is likely to become a victim of an ‘honor killing’, where the woman would be tortured and quite possibly killed. In several Asian countries, women with dual citizenship who return to their native country to visit family might have their passports and travel tickets confiscated by their family members in order to force the women into pre-arranged marriages.

For example, a Bangladeshi woman who has acquired citizenship in the UK might return home for a funeral. Upon arrival, to uphold family honor, her brothers take her passport and return ticket, confine her to their home, and make wedding arrangements for her. Because women are considered second-class citizens without their own rights, they have no choice but to stay and be married.

1. Arguably, education is the key to changing cultural norms that oppress women. With the majority of women living under conditions described above, and others being subjected to violence, is it possible to provide them with access to education?
2. In addition to education, what efforts can be made by the international community to address cultural realities that infringe on women’s human rights?
3. What is the best strategy or set of strategies to help improve the position of women without offending cultural norms?

 

Financial crisis in even one country can send a shock-wave of problems throughout world because of the integrated global economy. Several of the European Union nations recently adopted the Euro as their single form of currency. This move is aimed to preserve strong economies like Germany, while improving fragile economies such as that in Greece. Other regional economic organizations have also been exploring the possibility of adopting a single currency.

Many LDCs have heavy debt burdens, some which date back to the 1970s. When most of their income goes towards paying off their debts, it makes development even more difficult. One way to help the LDCs, and arguably the global economy, is to persuade creditors to reduce debt to sustainable levels.

1. Is it in the interests of the EDCs to encourage the IMF and World Bank to reduce LDCs’ debts, even if it means that the lending institutions in the EDCs would earn less interest?
2. What would be the best strategy or strategies to accomplish this goal of finding a means to reduce LDCs’ debts, if it is in the interests of the EDCs?
3. If the EDCs agree that debt reduction cannot be afforded to the LDCs, then what alternative plan can the international community devise to help the LDCs develop?

 

Extensive resources including money, personnel, facilities, and chemicals go towards developing new medicines to cure communicable diseases. Addressing health issues is not only the responsibility of the EDCs who can financially afford to promote health care and do research. LDCs are also responsible for finding ways to improve the health of their people. By working with intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) like the World Health Organization (WHO), LDCs can train people in their own countries to teach and administer health care.

Health issues affect all people of the world, regardless of their economic status, age, race, ethnicity, gender, or nationality. Diseases know no political boundaries. A person might be visiting a relative in Namibia, get on a plane and return home to Texas without even realizing that he/she was infected with the Bubonic Plague virus. Within a few days, the virus has spread from Namibia to Texas, infecting every person that traveler contacted along the way.

Conference I

Conference II

Communicable diseases can also be spread through transplanting bodily organs or blood. Recently, two Chinese nationals were arrested in New York for allegedly attempting to sell body organs from executed Chinese prisoners for transplant operations. This incidence occurred at about the same time that an offer appeared on E-Bay, an Internet auction site, for the sale of a kidney.

There is a dire need for kidneys both in the United States and abroad. In India, kidney donation is a lucrative enterprise. Last year, police arrested 10 people and shut down a private hospital in connection with a kidney donation racket. Poor people are particularly susceptible to the lures of such rackets because they are offered money or jobs in return for donating their organs.

In Africa, supplies of blood and medical equipment are in such short supply that often times doctors do direct transfusions from the donor to the patient, without any prior medical knowledge about the donor. With the huge number of people infected with the AIDS virus in Africa, untested blood donations only help to spread the disease.

Obviously one way of controlling communicable diseases is to carefully monitor organs and blood before any transplants or transfusions are done. Many places where these operations are performed have serious shortages of medical supplies and trained personnel.

1. What approach can the international community take to control further spread of communicable diseases through transplants and transfusions? Should countries of the international community be expected to support through money and resources international organizations like the WHO to check the health status of potential organs for transplant or the International Red Cross as a means to ensure blood is not infected? Or should the international community pass laws that require all blood to be tested before others receive it? How might such a policy be implemented?
2. What can the international community do to encourage people not to sell their organs when it might be their only means to feed themselves or their families?