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Committees:
Law and Human Rights
Law and human rights are two inter-related concepts; a large volume of human rights conventions and treaties have been signed and ratified by United Nations member states, yet many member states are still violating human rights and have yet to meet the international human rights standards.
How can law be used as an effective tool to uphold human rights? How can youth be part of the legislative procedure to ensure human rights standards are compiled?
Gender and Society
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target 3 aims at promoting gender equality and empowering women, by eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015. Up to date, there is still a significant imbalance in gender equality and hence this causes an adverse impact on the society. On the other hand, rather than solely focusing on female participation in the society, shall we aim at a fair selection instead?
Media and Freedom of Speech
With the development of the internet and modern communication technology over the past few years increasing amounts of information have been made available to a rising number of people. Consequently current controversies and events, such as the democratic movements in the Middle East and the wikileaks debate, force certain questions upon us. How can we make use of the media and technology available today? What are the risks of new forms of communication and the increased spread of (mis)information?
Such questions are intricately linked to the issue of freedom of speech: the new opportunities to spread information, opinions and beliefs have raised the question of which methods of spreading information and which contents that are being spread should be allowed, which restricted and why? How can youths take an active role in leading our world into a new, safe, multimedia future?
HIV/AIDS
Despite the fact that several of the millennium goals aim to halt and reverse the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and enable universal access to treatment, HIV/AIDS remains a serious problem to date. Often people (including youths) lack the knowledge on how to effectively protect themselves against the HI Virus. Apart from the rise in infections (over 7000 new infections a day were estimated in 2009), there are numerous other problems related to HIV, including stigma against those infected, lack of medication and education, lack of empowerment and education among women, children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS and many more. What can youths do to help fight the epidemic? How is it possible to promote education and empowerment? How can stigma be challenged and reduced effectively?
Global Sustainability and Development
Sustainability is the capacity to endure over a long period of time. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of our well-being on Earth, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and requires use to responsibly manage our resource usage. Human sustainability intertwines with economics through the social and ecological outcomes of various economic activities. Moving towards prolonged sustainability is also a social challenge that entails factors such as national and international laws, urban planning and transport and the individual’s lifestyle. How can we, as those determining the outcome of all these variables, ensure that we further strive to sustain and develop this world and what can we, as individuals, do to make it happen?
Health and Food Security
All over the globe, the most important necessity for survival is food. However, what if this common necessity is not available, or what is available is not sufficient? Millions of individuals across the planet are plagued by malnutrition and lack of proper food, not only in poverty stricken countries while many others enjoy this everyday commodity. How can we bring awareness to the malnutrition millions are faced with and the struggle over food?