Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
ECOSOC
Table of Contents
Table of Contents 1
Committee Description
Procedure
Topic A: Addressing the Trade War between the United States and China
Introduction
Background Information
Current Situation
Timeline
Definition of Key Terms
Guiding Questions
Block Positions
Resources
Topic B: Managing the Rights of Indigenous Communities in Latin America
Introduction
Background Information
Current Situation
Timeline
Definition of Key Terms
Guiding Questions
Block Positions
Resources
Committee Description
The Economic and Social Council ( ECOSOC) is at the heart of the United
Nations system to advance the three dimensions of sustainable development
– economic, social and environmental. It is the central platform for fostering
debate and innovative thinking, forging consensus on ways forward, and
coordinating efforts to achieve internationally agreed goals. It is also
responsible for the follow-up to major UN conferences and summits.
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at G20 summit in Osaka, 2019.
Introduction
The United States and the Republic of China, the world's two biggest
economies, have been in a vicious trade war for some time now. The tariffs
imposed by both countries have had effects on the entire global trade
community. This rivalry between the two countries does not seem like it will
end any time soon. Both Xi Jin Ping and Donald Trump have admitted that
they are not willing to back down at this point.
Mr. Trump originally stated that China had been abusing its power in
many ways such as stealing intellectual property, forced technology transfer,
and currency manipulation. The Chinese Republic has denied all claims made
Background Information
The trade war started around June of 2018 when the United States
imposed 34 billion dollars of tariffs on Chinese products. What President
Donald Trump aimed to do was profit over every Chinese product that was
sold in the US.
It is important to understand that the United States has been in a trade
deficit when it comes to Chinese imports. Multinational corporations s uch as
Apple, Boeing, and Ford produced most of their merchandise in China, where
the labor costs are cheaper. The products are then sold in the US and are all
subjected to taxes. Yet for most companies, it was still cost-efficient to go
through this process.
By doing so companies are incentivizing the growth of the Chinese
economy, while barely helping their own countries' economy.
The Chinese government was not satisfied with the tariffs imposed by
the United States, so in June of 2018 when the first list of goods subject to
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new tariffs came out China retaliated with its own list, imposing the same
values for the US. Ever since both countries have competing to see who will
be the first to stop imposing tariffs.
During the end of 2018, Xi Jinping and Donald
Trump came together in Argentina in order to look
for a peaceful solution. The decision made by the two
leaders was to delay the escalation of the tariffs to
March 1st. Though this decision did not last long, as a
conflict involving the citizens’ pro-democracy of
Hong Kong caused China to blame the US for this influence.
The war ended up escalating and affecting a lot more than just the
imports and exports of the two countries. For instance, an executive was
signed in May of 2019, stating that American communication companies
were not allowed to use telecommunications gear from foreign countries.
The United States has also had to create a bailout package for Farmers as
some of the people the war has harmed the most. Besides that, the US has
labeled the Chinese Republic as a currency manipulator and Trump has
accused China of reneging on a past commitment to buy more American
agricultural products.
Nevertheless, China has blamed the United States for stalling trade
negotiations multiple times. Besides that Xi Jinping has made various
political moves to indicate that the country and the government are ready to
fight. One of the many examples happened in May of 2019 when the
president of China visited one of the largest suppliers of rare-earth elements
in the country in order to show that they are in possession of a lot more
minerals than the United States. Both countries continue to increase the
product tariff despite all negotiations that have happened throughout this
year.
Current Situation
As of November 2019, Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met in order to
discuss the current issue. For now, both countries have agreed on pausing
and possibly even ending the tariffs. Though meetings like this have
happened in the past some experts, like Gao Feng, believe that this could be
an actual improvement on past agreements. Currently, both countries are
discussing the first phase of the processes, which will only cover specific trade
areas. Wilbur RossIf, United States commerce secretary, believes this a good
start though he has given no indication that rolling back tariffs would even be
possible at this point.
Currently, the last tariff imposed by the United States was in the
European Union. This happened due to the financial support that the EU
decided to give to the company Airbus, a direct competitor of the American
company Boeing. Since then the World Trade Organization has authorized
the United States to impose a total of 7.5 billion dollars of tariffs on a
multitude of different products. Until this moment the US has only said it will
impose tariffs on the airbus planes and on commercial goods such as wine,
whiskey, and cheese. The United States has announced it will not be charging
tariffs over the automobile industry. It is still not clear all the products that will
receive tariffs, but EU trade chief Cecilia Malmstrom has contacted U.S. Trade
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Representative Robert Lighthizer to start negotiation and settlement over the
Airbus and Boeing conflict.
Timeline:
Guiding Questions
What should be done to end this conflict?
“A Quick Guide to the US-China Trade War.” BBC News, BBC, 2 Sept. 2019,
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45899310.
Brett, David. “Which Countries Are Most at Risk from a Trade War? Five
Questions Answered.” S
chroders Global - Schroders,
https://www.schroders.com/sv/insights/economics/which-countries-are-mo
st-at-risk-from-a-trade-war-five-questions-answered/.
Chapman, Ben. “China and US Agree to Roll Back Trade Tariffs in Phases.” The
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/trade-war-china-us-ta
riffs-trump-xi-jinping-world-economy-a9188766.html.
Status.” S
outh China Morning Post, 18 Sept. 2019,
https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3027815/us-china-t
rade-war-presented-vietnam-golden-opportunity.
Nebehay, Stephanie. “WTO Clears U.S. to Target EU Goods with Tariffs over
goods-with-tariffs-over-airbus-idUSKBN1WT0T2.
“The US-China Trade War Is in Its 18th Month. Here's a Timeline of Everything
Insider,
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/trump-us-china-trade-wa
r-timeline-of-everything-thats-happened-2019-8-1028474486#1.
https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-relations-china.
“Which US Companies Are Most at Risk in a Trade War with China?” South
https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2104231/here-are-ameri
can-companies-most-risk-trade-war-china.
Introduction
Indigenous land rights are one of the main issues discussed concerning
indigenous people. While some countries feel indigenous populations have
been oppressed for too long, others believe that their land should belong to
the government. Throughout this trying debate, the indigenous communities
have become less patient. Meanwhile, some leaders, such as Brazils President
Jair Bolsonaro, have proposed policies to take the land for economic growth.
The debate has grown more polarized when adding the environmental
factors and the recent fires in the Amazon as part of the issue. Furthermore,
historical declarations of Indigenous rights leave much to be desired.
Although most countries in Latin America are part of at least one, enforcing
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the policies is difficult, especially when they clash with national laws and
constitutions.
Background Information
Many indigenous communities
suffered throughout Latin America when
European colonizers came to the country.
Many were forced into slavery and even
more died from diseases carried over by the
colonizers. Atrocities were committed by
colonists in Brazil, the Dictator in Chile, and
Coffee farmers in Colombia to name a few.
Until the 1930s, most Latin American
countries forced assimilation on the local
indigenous tribes. This was enforced in
many ways from the infliction of religion to
forced conversion to Christianity, the idea
being that the indigenous people were
savages and needed to be civilized.
In April of 1940, the First Interamerican Indigenist Congress was held in
the Mexican city of Pátzcuaro, where the Pátzcuaro agreement was created.
The congress included all the countries in the Americas except for Canada,
Paraguay, and Haiti. The agreement was a turning point in indigenous rights.
It did not necessarily change the assimilation policies but acknowledged then
as human beings. The agreement proposed to give them the right to
protection as well as better education and financial assistance.
Current Situation
Although Indigenous people in Latin
America have made social progress in recent
years, they are still disproportionally poor
compared to the rest of the population in the
majority of countries.
The UN has stressed that many
indigenous communities do not have fair if any,
access justice systems in their country. For this
reason, there is no effective way for them to
fight for their land rights. Not only are their
rights to the land threatened but also to the
resources on it. Many groups have sacred sites
on their land as well.
Timeline
Guiding Questions
Should the indigenous people gain rights to their land?
What rights should all indigenous people (at least all in Latin America) have?
Block Positions
Brazil: Brazil is home to more than 8
96,910 indigenous people, within 305
ethnic groups. The previous president, Michel Temer, created policies
regarding indigenous communities that directly violated ILO Convention 169.
In 2017, he made the demarcation of indigenous land impossible. He also
imposed a restriction that only those communities who could prove they
possessed their land by 5 October 1988 could have rights to their land. A task
that is virtually impossible since most communities did not know how to
write at the time. When President Jair Bolsonaro was elected in 2018, he
proposed to take protected indigenous lands and use them for farming and
mining activities. Before becoming president in 2018 he said, “If I become
President there will not be a centimeter more of indigenous land.” The
current amazon fires have created even more uproar among the indigenous
and international community, both balming Brazil’s current government
administration. Brazil’s goal in this conference is to establish their control over
their country and that they want no foreign interference within their borders.
Bibliography
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“C107 - Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957 (No. 107).” Convention
www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB%3A12100%3A0%3A%3ANO%3
A%3AP12100_ILO_CODE%3AC107.
www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB%3A12100%3A0%3A%3ANO%3
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www.un.org/press/en/2019/gashc4265.doc.htm.
www.worldbank.org/en/region/lac/brief/indigenous-latin-america-in-the-twen
ty-first-century-brief-report-page.
www.iwgia.org/images/documents/indigenous-world/IndigenousWorld2019_
UK.pdf.
Ortega, Roque Roldán. “Models for Recognizing Indigenous Land Rights in Latin
America.” W
orld Bank, Oct. 2004,
siteresources.worldbank.org/BOLIVIA/Resources/Roque_Roldan.pdf.
www.britannica.com/topic/South-Americas-Indigenous-Peoples-555848.
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nited Nations, United Nations,
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