2016
El Toro High School’s Model United Nations Conference
Novice UNICEF Topic Synopsis
Hello, my name is Taylor White, and I am your Head Chair for the 2016 El Toro
Conference. I am a junior and have been in MUN for two years. Your vice chair will be Genesis
Sanders and your judge will be Kylie Olsen. Email us your position papers to
ethsnoviceunicef@gmail.com. You may also email us any questions or the conference in
general! We are looking forward to meeting you during committee and listening to the solutions
you create. See you there!
Topic #1: Child Labor
Background
Child Labor is the use of children in business or industries. Though the amount of child
labor has decreased since 2000, 85 million children are still in dangerous work conditions. The
most affected regions are in Asia, the Pacific, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Asia and the Pacific both
house 78 million child laborers, while Africa has 59 million; 9.3% and 21% of the populations,
respectively. The most common occupation utilizing child labor is the field of agriculture (98
million); but, services (54 million) and industry (12 million) still have high numbers of child
laborers, as it is easy to take advantage of the children whose families need extra income. Since
children are less expensive to employ than adults, employers are more inclined to use children
for their labor, showing why there is a significant amount of child laborers, and why children are
preferred as workers. Also, because of their size, children can fit into smaller places, so many
find that this solves the overcrowding issue in mines and in factories. Some major issues that
result from child labor include physical effects on the child, limits on attending school and
becoming educated, not being able to grow up in a safe environment, and not having a healthy
childhood. Children are denied educational opportunities, so they grow up lacking the necessary
skills and knowledge to integrate into the workforce.
UN Involvement
UNICEF has been working for quite some time to ensure safe and healthy environments
for working children worldwide. In addition, UNICEF continues to push towards sending
2016
El Toro High School’s Model United Nations Conference
vulnerable and younger children in society to educational environments. Working towards
outlawing all forms of work that are detrimental to children is another way that they strive to end
the worst of child labor. UNICEF also uses ratified documents, such as The Convention on the
Rights of the Child, to combat child labor, and encourages documents, like ILO Convention No.
182. to be ratified and implemented as soon as possible. Furthermore, UNICEF has participated
with The International Labour Organization (ILO), which is “the tripartite UN agency that brings
together governments, employers and workers of its 183 member states in common action to
promote decent work throughout the world,” (www.unbrussels.org/agencies/ilo.html) in
countries like Bangladesh, Brazil and Nepal, and to help parents realize what conditions their
children work in and to bring children back to school, all the while improving their conditions in
the workplace. This primarily serves to make parents aware of the dangers of child labor to their
children.
Questions to Consider
1. What is your country’s and/or your bloc’s position on the prohibition of child labor?
2. Is your country directly affected by the effects of child labor?
3. What actions, if any, has your country taken to potentially solve the problem resulting
issues?
4. Does your country have any plans or initiatives to work towards eventually eliminating
the utilization of children to perform jobs not suited for them specifically?
5. Is the monitoring component of your country’s legal framework/legislation adequate for
the prevention of child labor?
6. Keeping your country’s belief system in mind, how do the rights of a child differ from
general human rights?
Sources
http://www.unicef.org/protection/files/child_labour
http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/youthlabor/childlaborstatistics.htm
http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/child-labour/lang--en/index.htm
2016
El Toro High School’s Model United Nations Conference
http://www.unbrussels.org/agencies/ilo.html
Topic #2: Child Mortality
Background
The death of a child under the age of five is known as child mortality. When a child dies, the
experience leaves many emotional and physical scars on the parents. In 1990, the world average
of child mortality for children under five years old was 9 %, yet it decreased to 4.6 % in
2013. About 9.2 million children under five are dying each year. Sub-Saharan Africa, one of the
most affected places of child mortality, has an average of 9.2 % child deaths each year. In
developed countries, very few children die each year, while developing countries have a 5%
average of child mortality. There are many different causes of these deaths. The leading causes
for child mortality are pneumonia, diarrhoea, and other such health problems. In addition, over
one third of these deaths are linked to malnutrition. Many of these conditions can be prevented or
treated with simple interventions, yet because there is a lack of solutions, 70% of child deaths in
underdeveloped nations still occurs yearly. Children living in developing countries are also ten
times more likely to die before the age of five than children living in developed countries.
Because more than a third of child deaths take place within the first month of a child’s life, the
provision of skilled care to mothers during their pregnancy can contribute to child survival.
Death tolls are still very high, and there is a need for solutions.
UN Involvement
UNICEF is not alone in the fight against child mortality. Partnering with WHO and other
organizations, UNICEF works to end child mortality by promoting and funding cost-effective
and proven health and nutrition interventions “to reduce the number of neonatal and young child
deaths from preventable and easily treatable causes.” In addition, UNICEF is one of the world’s
largest purchasers of vaccines in an effort to distribute them and reach the millions of children
still vulnerable to diseases. Furthermore, UNICEF, along with its partners, strives to improve
family care practices, increase access to sanitary water supplies, and respond quickly to
emergencies where there are children at risk of death. Using these steps, UNICEF has seen a
decrease of 50% in child mortality between 1960 and 2002, and looks to see more of a decrease
in mortality rates.
Questions to Consider
2016
El Toro High School’s Model United Nations Conference
1. What is your country’s view and/or your bloc’s position on the death of infants and
children under the age of five due to factors that could potentially be prevented?
2. Is your country directly influenced by the consequences of child mortality? If so, to what
extent?
3. Which difficulties emerging from this issue does your country face?
4. What initiative, if any, has your country taken to reduce child mortality rates?
5. Does your country have any arrangements in place to ultimately get rid of the deaths of
children at or below the age of five?
6. Does your country provide vaccines for some of the most deadly childhood diseases;
which could potentially protect children from illness and death if received in a timely
manner?
Sources
http://www.who.int/pmnch/media/press_materials/fs/fs_mdg4_childmortality/en/
http://www.unicef.org/mdg/childmortality.html
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/stats_popup1.html
http://worldbank.org/