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VYMUN 2016

UNITED
IN

DIVERSITY
DREAM OR
REAL ITY

THE UNITED NATIONS

ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL COUNCIL


Your guide to ECOSOC Committee

WELCOME LETTER
Welcome delegates to the ECOSOC Committee of VYMUN 2016!
This years 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 increases, the capacity of these areas to provide urban dwellers with basic necessities 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 manufacture, 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 pertinent to the wellbeing of citizens all over the globe.

CHAIR INTRODUCTION
Hello delegates! I am Vu Son Tung, and I have just finished my
freshman year at Vassar College with intended majors of International 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 delegates, directly engaging myself with the materials and the topics
being discussed. I welcome you to VYMUN 2016 - ECOSOC Committee, 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 challenged 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, lets 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. Im 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

COMMITEE OVERVIEW
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 functional commissions and five regional commissions. The council is at the heart
of the UN system, charged with the advance of the three dimensions of sustainable development: Economic, Social as the name stated, as well as Humanitarian and Cultural. Being the central platform to the UN system,
ECOSOC is the council that fosters substantive debate and innovative thinking, forging international consensus on ways forward, and coordinating
efforts to achieve internationally agreed goals.

HISTORY
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 international policies in trade, finance and investment, there has been numerous
reform proposals aim to enhance the relevance and contribution of the council. One of the major reforms was based on the proposals submitted by Secretary-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, policies 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 Development 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, particularly the expired Millennium Development Goals and the recently adopted
Sustainable Development Goals.

MANDATE
Being one of the six main organs of the UN, ECOSOC follows the purposes 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 principal 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 methods, giving special attention to the integrated and coordinated implementation
of, and follow-up to, the outcomes of all major UN conferences summits.

MEMBERSHIP
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. Decisions are taken by simple majority vote. The presidency of ECOSOC changes
annually.

GOVERNANCE AND STRUCTURE


ECOSOC engages a wide variety of stakeholders policymakers, parliamentarians, academics, major groups, foundations, business sector representatives and 3,200+ registered non-governmental organizations in a productive 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, ensuring a sustained and focused discussion among multiple stakeholders.

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

BIBLIOGRAPHY
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;
Encyclopdia 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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TOPIC 1: DRUG CONTROL

HISTORY OF THE TOPIC


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 substances 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 Dangerous 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 Leagues purview,
namely, the 1925 Opium Convention, the 1931 Convention For Limiting the
Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of Narcotics, and the 1936 Convention 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 UNs
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 international community adopted three pillars to the international drug control mechanism: 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.

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 technical, logistical, and financial assistance from the international community to
Member States that are struggling in the combat against drugs. This document also entrusts the CND as the international body that oversees drug control, conducting research and making recommendations for the aims and provisions 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 hallucinogenic 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 previous 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 (UNGASS) 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 UNs 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.

CURRENT SITUATION
Despite aforementioned achievements, the global situation on combating the illegal production, use and trafficking of drugs has been stagnant,
showing no signs of improvements in the last three-year period, thereby continuing 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 equivalent of 27 million people) are problem drug users, suffering from drug dependence 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 conducted 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 million, 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 worldwide, 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 substances, 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 objective 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 psychoactive substances to medical use only has not been achieved.

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 Todays 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 numbers involved make the relationship worrisome. The inter-linkage between
illicit drug trade and terrorism is exemplified in the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias 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 benefits 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 transnationally. 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.

RELEVANT UNITED NATIONS ACTIONS


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 treaties 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 assistance to developing countries. The UN established the United Nations International Drug Control Programme in 1990, conferring upon this body the responsibility 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.

In 1999, in order to strengthen the UNs machinery for international


drug control, ECOSOC adopted Resolution E/RES/1999/30, specifically structuring 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 establishment 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-Generals reports on the international cooperation against drug control to the UNs 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 importance 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 prevention. 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 organizations 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 specialize 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 initiate 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 consensus-building, capacity-building, technical assistance,... such as the Paris
Pact Initiative and the Horizontal Initiatives.

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 community-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 Suppression 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 resolutions pertaining to the suppression of the financing of terrorism such as resolutions S/RES/1373 (2001) and S/RES/1566 (2004).

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
Although the international drug control system has have made certain
achievements in the global combat against drugs, it has given rise to five unintended consequences. The first consequence is the aforementioned diversification 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 geographical 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 successful containment of the Chinese drug epidemic in the 20th century. The fourth consequence 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 international 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) minimizing drug-related crimes.

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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 strengthening 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 discussions on potential changes for the improvement of the international drug control framework. The first consideration is the Alternative Development (AD) strategy, 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-specific, 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 international 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 information as well as enhanced cooperation of law enforcements has received much
attention in the recent years.

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FURTHER RESEARCH
In order to craft policies that hold the potential to effectively address
drug-related challenges facing the UN and the international community, delegates should consider these following questions prior to the upcoming sessions
of ECOSOC: Does your represented State belong to one of the main manufacturing locations/trafficking routes of drugs? If yes, how can the international framework address these issues without infringing upon your internal affairs and self-determination? If no, what can your represented State and the international community contribute to the battle against illicit drug trafficking? What should the role of
other stakeholders, such as Civil Society Organization (CSOs) and Non-Governmental 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?

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 Eradicating 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 Commission 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.

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002

TOPIC 2: INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS

HISTORY OF THE TOPIC


The right to adequate shelter is a pillar to basic human rights, and it is
enshrined in the UNs 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 (ICESCR), the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 (CRC), the Convention 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 quality of life and to the full satisfaction of basic needs such as employment, healthcare, education and recreation, the UN and the international community convened the first UN Conference on Human Settlements in Vancouver, Canada
in 1976, subsequently adopting the Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements. This is the first international document that focuses solely on human
settlements, aiming at realizing sustainable development and securing the universal 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 Settlements, which is also known as the Habitat Agenda, was subsequently adopted. This document calls for the participation from all relevant stakeholders:
international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Civil

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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 homelessness, unemployment, social exclusion and lack of adequate planning.
According to UN-Habitat, informal settlements are defined as the residential 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 Segment of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, focusing on Sustainable 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 settlements by incorporating all economic, social and environmental dimensions
and their inter-linkages.

CURRENT SITUATION
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

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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 emerging of poverty, marginalization, new forms of social exclusion.

RELEVANT UNITED NATIONS ACTIONS


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 contributed its shares to this cause. ECOSOC, in particular, held an integration segment on sustainable urbanization in 2014, focusing on the corollary between
sustainable urbanization and a sustainable development. This integration segment 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 implementing 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

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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
peoples 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 development, urbanization and human settlements.
Informal settlements remain an aching obstacle to sustainable development as well as the fulfillment of basic human rights such as the right to adequate shelter and right to other basic necessities. Therefore, the UN incorporated 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 governments, 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 frameworks, the rural-urban inter-linkages as well as the legal, financial and spatial
design.
In preparation for Habitat III, UN-Habitat has published numerous publications and guidelines for Member States, national authorities and relevant
stakeholders as a means of assistance for the realization of sustainable urbanization and mitigation of negative effects stemming from uncontrolled urbanization. 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 informal settlements as well as key drivers for action and efficiency.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
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, meaning removal of such settlements due to the fact that the lands they were built
on had been illegally acquired; or resettlement, meaning uprooting and

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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 dwellers, 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 conditions 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 solution is land tenure regularization. Tenure regularization means granting property 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 adequate 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 conditions.
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 disadvantages. 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 provide 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 preserve the facilities, and governance structures broke down without the continuous assistance of international experts. Negligence, especially from the government, 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 settlements), needed to be achieved alongside economic improvements.
Consideration can also be given to the problem of unclear or acquisitioned 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 community, land ownership is not well-defined, which makes it hard for providers of
upgrade facilities to charge their recipients. This proves an especially challenging problem for developing nations, who cannot keep up free provision of infrastructure 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 infrastructure, 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 achievable given the existing framework and methodologies. It has been argued that
informal settlement upgrading excessively emphasizes the role of the free
market and peoples self-help capacity, and only fix existing slums rather than
the problem of slum itself.

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FURTHER RESEARCH
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 countermeasures have your country taken against the rise of informal settlements? If no,
what solutions have proven effective? How can the participation of slum-dwelling 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 housing 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 organizations? Who stand to gain or lose the most from the status quo, or a change to
the status quo?

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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- UN-Habitat, State of the Worlds Cities 2012/2013: Prosperity of Cities, 2013.
- UN Economic and Social Council, 2014 Integration Segment: Sustainable Urbanization, May 29th, 2014.
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http://citiscope.org/habitatIII/explainer/2015/06/what-new-urban-agenda, Accessed June 15, 2016.
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International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation,(ITC), Enschede, the Netherlands,
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of Seraleng, Rustenburg Local Municipality, North West Province.

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