TICMUN 2022 – International Press Report on the proceedings of the conferences
TICMUN 2022: Reporting’s on the proceedings of conferences by International Press of TICMUN (Thames International College Model United Nations)
“Countries economically backward, need to focus on utilizing available raw materials”, says the USA
By Parisha Bhattarai, CNN,4th June 2022
“It’s not about business but about environmental conservation. Also, it’s a profitable business, otherwise, China wouldn’t have been importing waste from Northern America and Europe for the last two decades” says the Chinese delegate, in reply to the questions raised by Bangladesh during the discussion on how in 2018, China, the world’s biggest importer of waste, suddenly stopped accepting and got out of , global waste trade.
The power dynamics in the garbage trade and management appear to pose a bigger risk to the environment, necessitating further attention.
As nations assemble to deliberate on the waste management crisis and delve into issues on proper management, Pakistan, China and Nepal asked for clarification from France about the outsourcing of waste to poorer nations instead of treating them in their own country. The US delegate confirms the presence of EPA that has come up with a waste reduction hierarchy being implemented in the US and UK among other nations.
As the discussion progressed, the Nigerian representative questioned delegates of the USA and China if the economy is above the environment, which later got recognized when the representative of France focused on the economic aspect for survival, rather than on the natural environment. “Countries economically backward, need to focus on utilizing available raw materials”, a statement made by the USA raised tension among the nations, but this is the ultimate truth.
The committee then went on the fact that the concept of sustainability is evolving and should be a priority. As the discussion progresses the exchange of solutions to the existing catastrophic problem is expected to continue further, and expand into an exchange of perspectives as representatives of the member states target a detailed policy-making session.
Causes of the refugee settlement and the war
By Syed Rehaan Shah, BBC, June 4th, 2022
The refugee settlements are one big topic to discuss. Find the root causes of refugee settlement raised question by a delegate of Pakistan. In reply, the delegate of Ukraine requested all the delegates in the room to consider the fact of the military offense on Ukraine and seeks immediate humanitarian support from everyone. Adding to the topic France said that every single minute 55 children fled Ukraine and in every single second a Ukrainian child became a refugee since the beginning of the war. Ukrainian waits 60hr to reach Poland from the border. Allowing people to stay without Visa.
Saudi Arabia said that the civilians must never be targeted. 5million people have left for their home country whereas more than 6.5 million people are still left trapped in Ukraine. Nepal saying there is an active hostility accurate covid mental health problem demanding the UK to withdraw military force from territory force. The US claims that even though there is a war going on, they are still welcoming the refugees with enough supply of food. Belarus claims to provide protection there. Russia claimed even when the war broke out; they are still an open home to the asylum, opening the border to 146 million people. Iran seeking immediate help from everyone. Ukraine again claims that the reason behind the war breaking out is due to Russia and they have been actively invading Ukraine for a long period of time. Where Pakistan staying a neutral country.
Keeping the fact Humanitarian Corridor, people of Pakistan unlawfully leave the country and people surviving PTSD, says the delegate. Adding to this China claims to not the problem by force. Russia claims the refugee follows procedures.
In the motion raised by France on the Contribution of nations as UNHRC members, Iran responded with a managerial resolution. France dropped emergency aids in Ukraine with the establishment of funds.
Chemical Pollution
-By Aayushma Kharel, Reuters, June 5th
Having one of the world’s most dangerous chemical pollution generators led to the death of 1.1 million Chinese people. The highest economic growth which might be the cause of chemical pollution was pointed out by China. Having the most air pollution in the world China has exceeded AQI by 5 to 7 times. Followed by the USA which emits the most amount of CO2.
Policies by the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal had many policies which were hard for all the delegates to believe could be implemented.
Climate change being a challenge for all humanity, Pakistan pointed out how it has affected their monsoon rate.
G-7 by the end of the next decade has promised to half the carbon emissions, and also committed to ending direct government support for unabated international thermal coal power generation by the end of 2021. Also assures providing up to 2 billion dollars for developing countries.
“Climate crisis also an opportunity to create millions of good-paying and middle-class union jobs”- USA
Resolution 1.4.0 which was passed by all delegates by the end of the session was
Strongly condemning eco-friendly and sustainable lifestyles, focusing on protecting natural resources, researching hazardous chemical fertilizers, reducing food waste, and establishing a waste-to-energy plant in developing countries.
Alarmed by the fact that 2.01 billion tons of solid waste were produced in 2016, also realizing warnings- global will increase up to 70% on the current level by 2050 delegates abide by the given resolution.
The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine
By Samiksha Das, Al Jazeera, 4th June 4, 2022
“Special military operation” Vladimir Putin announced on the 24th of February. True to his words the invasion started early morning of the 24th. Missiles and airstrikes hit across Ukraine and Kyiv. ‘Why is the Russian-Ukraine war a humanitarian crisis?’ you would ask.
Since the attacks in the majority have hit the highly populated areas, civilians are seeking refuge in subway stations causing many to survive without electricity, water supplies, or just the basic necessities. According to the UNOCHA, “humanitarian conditions deteriorate while needs grow, primarily in southern and eastern Ukraine”.
10 million people have been displaced with 4 million fleeing to neighboring countries.
Europe has been quick to respond and has already homed millions of refugees. The only official response given by the middle-east is by Yemen where they have denounced Russia’s invasion.
Though the middle-east empathizes with the crisis in Ukraine, different treatment for the Ukraine refugees has led to some sort of bitterness. Balancing the relationship between Russia and US, middle-east has been caught in this conflict.
Middle-east aspires to aid the Ukrainian needs.
Humanitarian Crisis in Ukraine
By Syed Rehaan Shah, BBC, 4th June 2022
Not only in recent times, but Ukraine has been going through a humanitarian crisis for a long time. Many people are in the need of humanitarian support whereas more people are on the verge of conflict. Ukraine as a country is facing a crisis in electricity, gas, and water supply. The lack of supply that a person needs in daily life is one of the reasons for the cause of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. Due to the excessive rise in the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, the price of food and other essentials needed in daily life will be increasing in no time which will be difficult for a normal human being to adjust to life.
The war is also one of the reasons behind this crisis. The invasion of Russia in Ukraine, created one of the largest humanitarian crises the world has ever seen. The rise of war has scared the people so much that nearly around 4million people have fled to their neighboring countries. The daily dose of attack has left no choice but to people rather than seek refuges and leaving many people without food, water supply, electricity, etc.
European countries have shown support for this. Around 1.5 million people have fled to Ukraine whereas the other has flown to Hungary, Romania, etc.
Inside the Committee Hall
By Samiksha Das, Al Jazeera, 4th June 2022
The session today had 4 moderated caucuses. The first moderated caucus was ‘refugee settlement’. Where many nations remained neutral and supportive of the cause, Saudi Arabia made an impactful comment stating ‘civilians should be protected and must never be targeted’. This made a round full of appreciation across the table.
The second moderated caucus was ‘security and humanitarian corridors access and aid’. The USA countered Russia on measures regarding the safe way corridor while Ukraine felt it necessary to take action against Russia for violation of laws.
‘History and root causes of the war’ being the third caucus became an interesting part of the session. Iran openly accused Ukraine of being puppets at the hands of the USA. France retaliated saying this is all just Russia’s obsession with restoring its territory. What do we think?
Russia blamed ‘NATO’ for its actions as a triggering point, to which the USA retaliated as to why would Russia feel this threat from Ukraine alone and not other countries like Poland who too have borders with Russia and think likewise? This made majority of the table filled with energy against Russia.
The caucus ended with the USA commenting on how the focus of the discussions should be based on the agenda ‘humanitarian crisis in Ukraine’ and not past events.
‘Contribution of nations as HRC members towards Ukraine crisis’, was the fourth caucus. France seemed to have provided much help like food packaging and being home to many refugees. With India providing medical help and U.S. in the lead other nations remained neutral.
The session involved Russia, the USA, Iran, and Ukraine mostly and did not infer any solutions even by the end.
The session ended with MOE which was enjoyed by all the delegates.
Outsourcing Plastic Waste
-ByAayushma Kharel, Reuters, 4th June 2022
“Enough to fill over 800 thousand Olympic sizes swimming pool”- UK, ranking 14 in the waste index did not have anything to say about what can be done even after knowing the reasons for increased waste. France then started their plan which is to recycle 100% plastic waste up to 2025.
Being the first to implement an electric policy and ban the destruction of unsold non-food products France was Proud.
“Bound to get worse before it gets better” and producing double the amount of plastic within the decade Maldives still showed some hope to make it better. Developing countries like Nepal questioned and somewhat blamed developed countries like the USA for exporting waste to Nepal and not recycling it in their respective country.
Questioned by developing countries like Ethiopia and Nepal whether they were taking advantage of poor countries’ rules and regulations, The delegate of the USA stated the benefit they could gain -Raw Materials, Employment, and many more to which Ethiopia demanded “We are ready to accept the import if you provide equipment and labor for recycling” and Nepal argued if USA thought “Nepal does not have enough natural resources.” to which China showed their support USA then argued, “Nepal is unable to utilize their own material so maybe our raw materials might help them.”
China was able to address its improvement how after the new policy they were able to recycle the waste from 242 million Tons in 2019 to 235 million Tons in 2020. The delegate also asked developed countries if they were not capable enough to recycle their own waste.
France was quick to question developing countries “Why not ban, importing waste.” To which the Chairperson questioned if France was okay if they did not export any waste.
As the discussion progressed the UK and Pakistan were able to give vague solutions. India agreed with the USA on the employment issues. Pakistan producing more than 9000 Tons of Waste daily having only 3 dumping sites and a 2.5% rise in waste, annually, still shows hope. Nigeria questioned France’s role and questioned if developed countries only cared about economic benefit.
Questioned by many, The Chairperson explained how China had to spend more on medical treatment than on recycling and hence implementing the non-import rule.
Discussion is expected to continue further and move into another session.
People fighting for their life being a worldwide attention
A person fighting for life is what they are scared to think. Talking to that the delegate of Afghanistan raised a point saying there are millions of people who day and night are fighting for their life which is finally coming to the attention worldwide. “Invasion is what violates the humanitarian laws”, said the delegate of Pakistan. The UK promised to support Ukraine economically whereas the delegate of Russia gave six points to Ukraine to stop the war.
A point and motion being raised by a delegate for how long does it take the nation to provide visas or temporary residents to Ukraine. The delegate of Pakistan chose to speak first on its own point claiming 3 million people in Ukraine are in need of humanitarian support. If there are any sorts of needs in the Visa then they should be on the terms with UNHRC. Ukraine giving a statement on needing more support for women, the elderly, and sick people as soon as possible. Iran adding to its request and seeking any sorts of support as well. Saudi Arabia stated that it takes nearly 72 hours for the availability of visas for the Arabians. The delegate of the United Kingdom explained that the countries provide school and health care. The United States of America seeks help from the embassy, and consultancy to provide immediate aid to Ukraine said its delegate. Whereas France is currently not seeking any sort of Visa. India on the other hand is not taking any refugees however still provides visas for up to 60 days of staying in the country. Belarus provides visas for no less than 30 days but temporary visas for up to 90 days. The United States of America is straightforward in its goal which wants to see a democratic Ukraine.
This all led to a press conference where the International Press asked the questions to the delegates where the BBC asked the delegates of Pakistan regarding the people leaving the country unlawfully and proper space for people surviving PTSD, how does the government think the reason for this problem, and how it aims at solving it. In reply, the delegate of Pakistan said, due to the rise in the health problems among the people from the ongoing problems people have been suffering from PTSD, and in search of care, they have no choice but to leave the country unlawfully.
Similarly, a question was asked to Iran regarding the statement given by the current supreme leader saying, “Countries relying on US help must know it’s a mirage”. In reply, the delegate replied by saying that the delegate is aware of the statement and saying since the countries supporting the US are not in terms of Iran, they will face problems in the future.
Privileged waste?
By Parisha Bhattarai, CNN,4th June 2022
We’ve been preaching the motto reduce, reuse, and recycle for a long time. And with all the buzz around, it may seem like every bottle or plastic packaging is recycled and brought into a new life. But it’s a long way from reality, as is the guilt-free and satisfying bubble we live in.
The global catastrophic issue is the excessive production of solid waste which is outsourced from larger nations to smaller nations for disposal. But the majority of our plastic ends up “recycling” in our landfills and natural environments or becoming carbon pollution.
Waste is kept ‘out if sight’ through outsourcing by wealthier nations. On the other hand, poor nations ironically become victims of diseases and ultimately suffer more health-wise, from political pressure, and their ‘shortcut to elude poverty’ comes at a great cost.
UNEP has been researching and creating systems to manage agricultural biomass, and plastics systems. However, without unrelenting joint efforts, the world we live in may not even exist to consider the scope of world wars.
Road to Nowhere
A cycle of pointing out flaws but important issues not yet addressed
By- Tanushree Malla Shrestha, The Guardian, 4th June 2022
Today the 4th of June 2022, the members of the united nations human rights council set out to discuss the current Russia-Ukraine war. Various motions were put forth by countries to the chairperson, vice-chairperson, and the various delegates, the whole committee in short.
Out of the many, the first was raised by the Pakistani delegate on the motion ‘Refugee settlement’.
The Ukrainian delegate highlighted the conditions of refugees in its country having faced military offense and requested urgent support for this call.
Russia on the other hand said that “Russia is still an open home to refugees seeking asylum”. Similarly, the Iranian delegate came to support Russia and justified its acts comparing it to the Syrian bombing done by the united states of America.
The United States of America, France, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, and Pakistan all pointed out a similar crisis like human rights, medical support, trafficking issues, gender-based violence, and the addition of COVID-19 not helping the situation.
The second motion in play was raised by Ukraine, namely “Providing security at humanitarian corridors”.
The United States of America questioned Russia for putting up an act of accepting refugees and rather putting them into filtration camps to which Russia clarified it as not being filtration camps but simply following a procedure to take in the refugees.
The third motion raised by Russia was “history and root cause of the Ukrainian-Russian war”. During this motion, countries like Iran, China, USA, Ukraine, and India presented their own pointers that in general can be summarized toward political inclination. This motion was critiqued by the chairperson for being irrelevant to the present topic and agenda.
The final motion put forth was by Pakistan again stating “Contributions of nations as UNHRC members towards the Ukrainian crisis”.
Almost all of the discussions were about financial aid, medical and military aid. This motion was too criticized by the chairperson as it was past-oriented and not really a solution-bearing argument.
The second day of discussion is to be set which will hopefully lead to better and targeted agendas and motions by the representatives of member nations.
Sessions End, Humanitarian Crisis Does Not
Negotiations are being done by the UNHRC nations.
By Samiksha Das, Al Jazeera, 6th July 2022
Failing to discuss the agenda of the session on the prior day, the committee of UNHRC sought to work together as a committee and find a solution to the humanitarian crisis faced by Ukraine by the end of the second day. Moderated caucuses like the time span involved in providing a visa or temporary residence were discussed.
During the ongoing discussions, Putin sent a warning declaring the 2nd phase of the war, targeting Chernihiv, Sumy and Dripo, clearly the states with the highest population in Ukraine. The UNHRC members were now supposed to evacuate 1,594,000M civilians. They sought to discuss negotiations on how this evacuation can be made possible.
The UNHRC came up with 7 operative clauses of which few seemed practical. UNHRC would use Belarus to house and also as a transportation medium later to Poland. Since the western part of Ukraine is the safest for the given situation, civilians are to be sent to the western side and then evacuated later through aircraft. The directive passed.
The International Press conference was held. The news agencies challenged the delegates with interesting questions to which the delegates I believe couldn’t give confident answers.
Al Jazeera specifically questioned Russia on their sly statement like “having no laws against helping Ukraine” implying to make UNHRC nations believe their definition of humanitarian towards Ukraine. To this Russia justified itself with donations and charities being permitted towards Ukraine. Acts of humanitarian I must say.
The next question was directed to Ukraine on challenges faced due to the attack on Mariupol, inhibiting the supply of goods to cities. Ukraine yet again pleaded for help instead of stating how they as a nation are working towards this challenge.
The Humanitarian Crisis in Ukraine
By Tanushree Malla Shrestha, The Guardian, 4th June 2022
The war declared by Russia towards Ukraine has now crossed the 100-day mark and Russian president Vladimir Putin has no intention of withdrawing anytime soon.
The uproar of war has raised concern for many countries. There might be many in support of the affected which is Ukraine but there are also some who have justified the acts of Russia.
Some of the major humanitarian crises that have been raised include displaced settlements of the Ukrainian citizens and immediate attention to seek refuge. Similarly, the health concerns of these displaced refugees also pose an issue.
The humanitarian corridors also come into question with the crisis. How safe is it to move out of Ukraine or go in? A recent report informs that 2 journalists were killed and two were lightly injured in Eastern Ukraine.
Similar to this, the gender-based violence and human trafficking concern further questions the refuge and asylum procedures of countries.
Yes, the Ukrainian crisis has become a huge issue in the world. But, how are these issues being prioritized by countries? Maybe addressing these could lead to some kind of solution.
Waste Management Crisis
By Aayushma Kharel, Reuters, 4th June
“3.4 billion tons waste by 2050 will be produced by and in this world” – World Bank
As recycling is one of the major solutions discussed by most of the delegates here in UNEP, 4th June, Von Hernandez of the Break Free from plastic campaign addressed “Recycling can’t compete with overproduction.” and Singapore said, “We won’t be able to just recycle or reduce our way out of it.” So it is quite not sure how to find solutions to these scenarios.
The urban country produces more trash and less than 10% is recycled. Countries like China have implemented law favoring over-production that is each household producing two children compulsory.
90% of waste is dumped in lower-income countries by higher-income countries which results in 5% of carbon emissions. 33% of waste is managed through dumping or burning which affects the poor and vulnerable. Countries like Pakistan suffer the most seeing how 5 million people die due to diseases caused by poor waste management.
Hence, the answer to how different countries contribute to reducing the waste management crisis and not just exporting it to other countries still remains questionable.
What a waste
By Parisha Bhattarai , CNN, 5th June
Only 16% of global waste is recycled while a massive 46% is disposed of. Unless urgent actions taken, world waste will increase by 70% by 2050. For a fast pace of growth, industries are needed and ultimately there is the emission of chemicals.
“China is willing to invest in plans and policies of other countries regarding renewable sources of energy” replied the delegate of China when asked about how they will contribute to the waste that has been ever-growing and are the leading dumpsters of 270 million chemicals on the coastal sides of the ocean as said by the delegate of Maldives.
There is urgency in action rather than policies and thus there isn’t any data to show a proper reduction in carbon emission, especially by developed nations. Every waste management practice produces GHG, and thus the change could be obtained little by little according to the delegate of the US. The waste crisis could also be taken as an opportunity to create millions of good-paying, middle-class union jobs as discussed on the first day.
Alarmed by the fact that 2.01 billion tons of solid waste were produced in 2016, all the nations have united to reduce the dependence on Fossil fuels and use a rather renewable source of energy.
On the climate change and the exhaustion of raw material, the committee adopted a new waste policy direction, which goes beyond preventing pollution and moves towards the construction of a sustainable resource recycling society, by managing waste as a recyclable resource and improving resource productivity.
The actors staying neutral were to make unified resolution taking a stance. Eco-friendly transport system, deep research on hazardous chemical fertilizers, education of good waste through consumer awareness, food waste management programs would be conducted as per the plans.
