Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee

Dear Delegates,

Welcome to the Harvard National Model United Nations 2011 Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee! My name is Giacomo Bagarella, I am a sophomore, and I will be directing what will become your virtual home for a few days in February of next year: the 3^rd Committee of the General Assembly.

I am Italian, but besides having been born there and having lived there for a short amount of time, I have little experience in what we call the Bel Paese. Shortly after my birth, my parents and I moved to Argentina. After a few years there and a brief parenthesis back in Italy, we were on the move again to Vietnam, where I would spend two and a half jolly years of my life. Following another interlude in my home country, we transferred to Macedonia where I spent the last nine years before moving to Cambridge last August. Thanks to a life of traveling, I am well acquainted with Italian, French, English, and know a little bit of German and Macedonian as well. Unfortunately the Spanish that I learned in Argentina went Missing In Action somewhere, but I’ve been trying to make up for that by studying Arabic at Harvard.

I plan on studying Government with a secondary field in Psychology and various citations in European football. I engage in some playing myself and still find it one of the most satisfying things in the world. Besides taking out my anger on a defenseless ball, I also do black and white film photography, reading, and cooking as out-of-school activities. My more serious engagements see me taking part in the Harvard Intercollegiate MUN team, being a member of the Woodbridge International Society’s board as Treasurer, and doing campaigns with the local Red Cross. Next year, I will be taking residence in Currier House, which for my joy is reputed to have the best dining hall at Harvard. For an Italian living abroad, food soon becomes an issue, but I have – with nearly two decades of experience – learned to cope.

Our committee will engage two topics that are at the center of global human rights controversies. The first one, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, is a specific problem which involves a decades-long political and armed conflict with a civilian population trapped in the middle. The second deals with international organized crime: a global scourge which reinforces existing imbalances in poverty and human rights violations throughout the world. I am convinced that they will provide worthy bread for thought’s hungers. They are both delicate issues which will stir up a heated debate, and I hope you will work together in addressing these multi-faceted matters for the triumph of human rights and social development.

Until our committee begins, I want to let you know that you can email me to ask me about anything you might have questions about. I will see you all in February.

Yours truly,

Giacomo Bagarella
Director, Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee
Harvard National Model United Nations 2011

Topic Area A: The Humanitarian Situation in the Gaza Strip

After a few years of almost complete closure, the Gaza Strip – a densely populated piece of land locked between Israel, Egypt, and the Mediterranean Sea – is witnessing a critical degradation in the primary services for its inhabitants, in terms of availability of food, fuel, medical care, and, very importantly, freedom of movement. Caught in the midst of a 60-year-old conflict, civilians in Gaza are trapped in a situation where they must endure daily hardships due to scarcity and lack of appropriate means of sustenance in addition to the constant threat of Israeli air raids. The political situation is not reassuring either. Even though Hamas has seemed able to restrain itself in the recent months, its record in regards to human rights is not perfect, and as its power is increasingly threatened by the rise of groups tied to Al-Qaeda, the context becomes jumbled up into a potentially explosive mix.

While most discussions approach this topic from the perspective of solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Social, Cultural, and Humanitarian Committee will concentrate of the issues that involve international law in the sub-fields of human rights and humanitarian treaties, both in terms of assuring basic necessities, reducing harmful situations, and setting a framework for the creation of a situation which can aid the Gazans – most of them refugees from previous conflicts – create a better livelihood for themselves in terms of peace, security, and livelihood.

What will necessarily have to be taken into consideration are the demands by Israel and its security issues. Important points will involve giving enough reassurance to Israel for it to loosen up its grip on goods flow into Gaza, as well as bringing in important regional players to provide a less tense environment to negotiate in. Useful documents to be considered include past UN statements and resolutions, findings by human rights groups, and documents regarding the living conditions and necessities of the inhabitants of Gaza.

Topic Area B: International Organized Crime

With an annual 12 billion Euro revenue, the Campanian Camorra is one of the organized crime groups that make up about 10% of the Italian GDP. The Japanese Yakuza has a similar profit rate. Albanian, Russian, Colombian and African groups control human trafficking, drug trade, weapon sales, and provide funding for many militia or other armed groups. Besides violating domestic laws in all of the countries these groups operate in, they break international law and human rights law as well. Their actions and networks have threatened the governments of several developing countries more than once, while their corruption and infiltration plague numerous other states and peoples. Like powerful corporations, crime groups have branches all around the world and deal with other competing clans just as their legal counterparts do: by establishing strategic alliances, arranging mergers, and battling each other both with both business-style and criminal methods.

In order to limit the spread and gains in power of these organizations, global and common measures should be agreed upon so that organized crime is dealt a serious blow. Not only is national security a crucial issue in countless nations, but so are the lives and dignity of thousands and possibly even millions of people. Core problems involve facing organized crime in the developing world. Will countries whose police forces have no means to face criminal organizations (or no interest in doing so) accept the types of aid from developing countries that could range from training to actual deployment of manpower? How can there be a balance between global action and sovereignty of all states? Broad measures are needed, for criminal groups have to be tackled in every aspect of their dealings (which also include the legal “face” businesses), or they will manage to take back in one part what they have lost in another. Cohesiveness and will are key, and it is up to the committee to provide them for this global fight against the groups that influence the daily lives of millions more than terrorist groups ever have.