Position papers will be due on February 5th, 2021. The position paper format, and all other important conference documents, can be found on our conference website, http://lhhsconference.weebly.com/ . Email all position papers to our committee email:[email protected]. Feel free to contact us via email if you have any questions or concerns!
Hey everyone! My name is Blake Jaffe and I will be your Head Chair at our conference. I am currently a senior at Laguna Hills High School and am in my fourth year of Model United Nations. I’ve played varsity Volleyball since sophomore year and played for clubs including 949 and OCVC. MUN has always been a great opportunity for me to learn about relevant issues while practicing public speaking skills. I hope you all have an amazing time at Laguna Hill’s 2020 Conference and I’m looking forward to meeting you all in committee.
Hey everyone! My name is Sevana Cherkezian and I will be your Vice Chair at this year's conference. I am currently a junior at LHHS and am in my third year of Model United Nations. In addition to MUN, I am a part of our school's tennis team, CSF, and Think Pink Club. With everything going on in the world lately, aside from school I really enjoy hanging out with my friends, binge watching movies, and doing some online shopping. Being involved in MUN has allowed me to improve my public speaking ability along with gaining a sense of worldwide awareness, and I genuinely think it has prepared me for a future beyond high school. I look forward to seeing and meeting everyone in committee!
Hey everyone! My name is Pierce Trinephi and I will be your Moderator for this year’s conference at Laguna Hills High School. I am currently a sophomore at LHHS and this is my second year in the MUN program. I am involved in many other extracurricular activities other than MUN at school including cross country, soccer, and track and field. Model United Nations has really been an amazing experience and a great opportunity for me to practice crucial professional skills such as communication, research, and public speaking in addition to making many new friends. I am really excited to see all of you in committee and hearing your thoughts!
Topic: Combating Drug Trafficking in Latin America
Background Over the past few decades, the excessive use, as well as the manufacturing and sale of opioids and drugs throughout South America, have increased exponentially, and millions of families throughout the region are heavily affected by this ever-worsening crisis. Despite continuous and rigorous efforts from the UNODC to monitor global markets of illicit drugs, heroin and cocaine seizures in South America have continued to increase from 2002 to 2008, and even to this day, amounting to over 711 tons of cocaine being seized in the Americas alone in 2008. These accounted for 59% of the global total of that year, whilst South America’s global seizures only accounted for 45% of 2007’s global total. These global tallies show that cocaine and illicit substance markets are continuously flowing into South America, only furthering the consumption and trafficking of these products. Cocaine use per capita in the continent, and particularly in Argentina and Brazil, is steadily increasing, and goes hand in hand with the increasing demand caused by a larger middle class. Oftentimes, the introduction of new societal and political developments occurring in Latin America, such as democratization, leads to a larger and more fluid network of trade throughout the region. This, in turn, causes a sharp increase in the transit of illicit products, as their trade is often intermingled with the trade of legal goods. This aspect of political development provides a new and extremely difficult roadblock in the fight against drug trafficking, and provides many challenges to eliminating illicit product trading in South America for good. It is absolutely essential to tackle this issue as quickly and efficiently as possible, since many families and their children are negatively affected by drug consumption. With easier access to these products in Latin America, families with a member addicted to drugs is much more likely to fall into a cycle of extreme poverty since purchasing the substances themselves, as well as seeking treatment can be severely taxing financially for an average Latin American family. Moreover, the excessive consumption of certain drugs can lead to large-scale and long-term mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and paranoia. The increasing local consumption of illicit substances, as well as a larger network of trade in South America, has caused their use to become more commonplace, leading to financial, mental, and emotional crises within individual families. This is the reason that addressing this problem is something that must be resolved as soon as possible, in order to prevent a drug addiction epidemic of a larger scale in the region.
UN Involvement As a part of the UNODC, the office has executed the global program, CRIMJUST, which focuses on the implementation of counter-narcotics tactics along with strengthening law enforcement and criminal justice collaboration to combat the use and distribution of illicit drugs. This program is aimed mainly at the high volume trafficking issue in Latin America and West Africa, as it calls to minimize the amount of drug trafficking, especially cocaine trafficking, with means of capacity building and institutional integrity among investigations, in addition to the support of law enforcement, including multiple forms of training, operational activities, and investigative support. Many UN branches such as the GA, ECOSOC, and the UN Commission of Narcotic Drugs (CND), have also passed many resolutions the past year regarding narcotic drug control and drug trafficking, which pertain to the Latin American region. For example, the CND passed Resolution 60/9, which calls for the training to implement an increase of capacity law enforcement and border control and security to be sure to tear down criminal groups involved in heavy drug activity. CND also passed Resolution 53/8, which agrees upon international cooperation to address the importance of political involvement in efforts to end criminal activity and corruption. As the UN operates the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it has become very clear from a global perspective that drug control and policy reform are much needed to achieve any targeted goal. The “War on Drugs'' must be ended in order for the UN to further develop strategy in other areas of needed development, such as poverty and healthcare, and with Latin America being a region with some of the highest numbers of drug cartels, it has become known to intervene and bring attention to the issue. Specifically, SDG 16, “Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions”, has means to lower violence, crime, and death rates involving drug trafficking and cartels with the exclusion of military tactics, and to institute reformation policies focusing on drug trade profitability to lessen the emergence of narcoterrorism. Also, the UNODC is partnered with the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs (VNGOC), which provides many resources to international and local NGOs. This involvement of NGOs will allow for the relationship enhancement among states and officials, and also provide needed support and additional services, along with any necessary funding.
Country Blocs Western Bloc: Nations inside of this bloc have been persistent in their efforts to strengthen their borders in order to decrease drug trafficking from Latin America, but seem to be the most lucrative regions for consumers. This bloc's established development and financial situations allows for the providing of funds and aid to help combat and decrease rebel drug groups.
Latin Bloc: Illicit drug production and trafficking has rapidly spread across Latin America. The region's increased poverty has caused a large dependence on drug creation and trafficking to foreign nations. This increased handlement of illicit drugs has allowed for various drug rebel groups to form. As these groups have grown stronger, there has been drastic increases in violence throughout the region. As the drug market continues to control a large portion of the region, alternative development projects have been put aside in the attempt to combat the illicit drug issue.
African Bloc: While the African region has not been a large source for production of these illicit drugs, the ability to constrain the consumption has been a major issue for the region. While African governments have attempted to combat the importation of these illicit drugs, there has been little major enforcement of these policies. The African bloc has become a major zone for importation of drugs coming from Latin America and the Middle East.
Asian Bloc: Economic development and stricter regulation has allowed for increased protection against drug trafficking from Latin America in the bloc. However, the Asian bloc is struggling from its own internal production of illicit drugs including opioids and poppy (used for making heroin). While there has been tight regulations set in countries like China and Russia, the large total population in the region makes the Asian bloc a great target for drug trafficking from Latin America.
Questions to consider: 1. How can the UNODC prevent the formation of new drug rebel groups? 2. Will short term or long term solutions be the most effective? 3. How can NGOs and the UN be used to combat drug trafficking? 4. What role should international actors like the UN play in the fight against the illicit drug trafficking in Latin America? 5. What should be done about nations that refuse to teach certain topics that are pertinent to the issue?