Committees and Issue Briefs

Topics:

• Implementing UN sanctions on DPR Korea
• The situation in Gaza
• The situation in Ukraine

Background:

The Security Council (SC) is the most prominent UN body, responsible for prevention and management of international crises. Its primary goal is maintenance of international peace and security. The council is dominated by its five permanent members (the P-5) with the right to veto any resolution: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and United States. No resolution can be passed unless they all support or abstain. The other ten seats rotate with two-year terms, distributed by region. Non-permanent members do not have a veto, but contribute to majorities necessary to approve resolutions. The Presidency of the Council rotates among the members alphabetically.

Faced with an issue, the Security Council can call for a Special Representative assigned by the Secretary-General to investigate and report, or mediate. It can enact economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions. Or it can authorize states to intervene militarily with peacekeeping forces, to name but a few of its options.

The Security Council often is gridlocked due to the P-5 veto or veto threats. During the Cold War, the ideological rivalry of the United States and the Soviet Union brought the UNSC to a standstill in all but a handful of instances. Today the United States often uses the veto to protect unique interests, China and Russia less often.

Topics:

• Implementing the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
• Establishment of a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in the Middle East
• The question of state support for non-state armed groups

Background:

First Committee is the principle global forum for countries to address issues of war, armed conflict and armaments. It deals with some of the same issues as the Security Council, but works more broadly to set global disarmament priorities, policies and goals. First Committee resolutions are politically and morally binding, not legally. It can request and appeal for state action. Unlike the Security Council it cannot demand action.

As the technology of war evolves, First Committee targets global attention on the weapons and policies it thinks most dangerous and destabilizing. Some governments are convinced that nuclear disarmament is overwhelming and must come before any other action. Others want to focus on more immediate killers like landmines and cluster munitions. Some believe only threats from states are the business of the UN system, others think terrorism is equally important.

Like most UN bodies, the committee tries to work through consensus whenever possible, to insure as much international support for its recommendations as possible. But often compromise is impossible, a reality reflected in voting patterns.

Topics:

• Financing UN peacekeeping operations
• Financing science and technology for sustainable development
• The future of the World Trade Organization and international free trade

Background:

Second Committee often is the scene of the greatest controversies in the UN. Responsible for economic, financial and environmental affairs, It is where Member States face some of the most challenging and practical problems of international governance, as they strive to find a balance between unlimited dreams for global development and the limits of Member States ability and willingness to provide money for those goals.

Second Committee strives to promote sustainable development for all Member States, rich and developing alike. Its focuses on issues related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Agenda 2030. Its mandate includes financing for development, managing the causes and consequences of climate change, interdependence and globalization, poverty eradication, food security, as well as communications and information technologies for development.

Like the rest of the General Assembly, Second Committee cannot force compliance on the sovereign Member States. It focuses instead on establishing goals—including financial and goals—that all Member States are expected to implement.

Topics:

• UN peacekeeping in Africa

• The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination
• Measures to eliminate international terrorism

Background:

Special Political, GA Fourth Committee, specializes in some of the most demanding issues facing the international community, issues that divide the UN's 193 member states, including disputes over state sovereignty, shared resources and rival paths of economic and social development. Unlike the Security Council, General Assembly resolutions are non-binding, but the path they create influences everyone.

Issues focusing on peoples lacking national self-determination (ruled by other countries) are among the most controversial of all for the UN system. How do states adjust with rising demands of previously unrecognized or powerless groups? Do they give up territory, concede autonomy, or assert their sovereign authority? Should the UN create special structures to deal with such problems? How does the international community ameliorate the suffering of peoples caught up in rebellion and political turmoil?

Topics:

• Strategies for ensuring the welfare and development of children

• Preventing child labor

• Mitigating the effects of pandemics on children

Background: check back. 

Topics:

• Developing a global fund for sustaining coral reefs

• Financing solutions to combat food insecurity in Least Developed Countries

• Invest in Women: UN gender strategy

Background:

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is a principal organ of the UN. The UN Charter states the ECOSOC 'may make or initiate studies and reports with respect to international economic, social, cultural, educational, health, and related matters and may make recommendations with respect to any such matters to the General Assembly to the Members of the United Nations, and to the specialized agencies concerned.' For more on its role, see the United Nations Charter, Chapter X.

The ECOSOC consists of 54 Member States, elected by the General Assembly to three-year terms. Seats are allocated for geographic representation of UN regional groups. It normally meets for one four-week session each July.

The ECOSOC is the central forum for international economic and social issues, and formulating policy recommendations to Member States and the United Nations System. It also oversees cooperation with over 1,600 non- governmental organizations recognized by the UN.

The most important power of the ECOSOC is oversight of UN specialized agencies, such as the UN Development Program UNDP), UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Food Program (WFP). It also can instruct the Secretary-General. But like the General Assembly, it cannot demand action from the sovereign UN Member States. ECOSOC only can request action and set goals for the Member States. This is ECOSOC's greatest challenge; how to make sure Member States live up to their promises?

Topics:

• The role of ECOWAS in international migration

• Promoting tourism in West African nations

• Ecowas and authoritarian governments

Background: check back. 

Topics: 

• Toward a code of conduct for states in the South China Sea

• Preservation of forests in Southeast Asia

• Creation of an ASEAN group of experts on domestic armed conflict

Background: check back.