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Letter from the Secretary-General
Dear Representatives of the Distinguished Nations,
I, in lieu of the Secretariat, am thrilled to welcome you to the third annual session of
Kabataş Model United Nations Conference). I, Orçun DOĞMAZER, have been studying
at Kabataş Erkek Lisesi for four years and am receiving the privilege to serve as the
third Secretary-General of this society.
KMUN Conference is the biggest student initiated organization in the illustrious 107
years old history of this community. How Buckingham Palace was used by King George
III to host diverse reputed bureaucrats and royal families, likewise Kabataş High School
was utilized to serve for those certain purposes at the times of Ottoman Empire. KMUN
2013 and KMUN 2014 have the distinctive honor to comprise more than 350 national
and international participants. As it was planned and announced a year ago, the
conference will be hosting more than 500 participants coming from various countries in
10 different committees this year.
Academic and organization teams of the conference have been challenging themselves
to set a different level of understanding in MUN for KMUN’s participants. Experiencing
both of the previous editions of KMUN, this year`s KMUN will differ from its previous
editions by not only mixing the interesting sides of the Model UN examples in Turkey,
but will also try its best to combine the understanding of the international Model UN.
All the research reports of the conference are written by the directors of the respective
committees with the guidance of the academic team of the conference. I do thank the
Student Officer namely Defne Talu for writing this very guide for the Open Working
Group Appreciating their efforts on this research report, I do believe that this report will
be a great start for our participant’s on their researches to prepare themselves for the
debates on the given agenda items.
In case you require any further instruction as to the academic content of the Open
Working Group, you may always contact your Committee Directors or me via
orcundogmazer@kabatasmun.org.
After a year full of work and dedication, I do believe that KMUN 2015 will manage to
create its dreamed atmosphere by taking further steps on its previous editions.
Orçun DOĞMAZER
Secretary-General
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Letter from the Student Officer
Dear Delegates,
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the UN Open Working Group on
Sustainable Development Goals at the 3rd session of Kabataş Model United Nations.
My name is Defne Talu and I am the president chair of this committee. I am both very
honored and excited to be directing the OWG at KMUN 2015.
I had my first experience in MUN when I was a freshman in Galatasaray Lisesi and it
has since been a passion of mine. Living in a Middle Eastern country comes with its
problems, and MUN is a great way to discuss these issues surrounding Turkey and also
other global issues. Alongside the intriguing discussions in Model UN, I had the chance
to meet the most amazing people who I now call my good friends.
I hope that our committee, UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development
Goals, will be a place where you can openly discuss new ideas and come up with
creative solutions. Since our topic is very broad and interesting, I am sure that we will
reach new horizons and come up with ideas that are equally interesting.
I believe that KMUN 2015 will be a great experience to those who are willing to make
the most of it. I sincerely hope that everyone will get as much out of Model UN as I did
in the previous years. Always remember to have fun and work hard!
Lastly, I want to thank the Secretariat and the Executive Board for giving such an
amazing opportunity to all of us by organizing such a great conference. I believe that
this will be an experience we won’t forget. I look forward to meeting you all.
Yours sincerely,
Defne Talu
President
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The UN Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals
Finalizing the Designing Process of the Sustainable Development Goals within the
framework of the UN’s Post 2015 Agenda
Introduction
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight set of goals regarding international
development. MDGs were established at the Millennium Summit, an international
gathering of world leaders, and were adopted with United Nations Millennium
Declaration. These set of goals were to be achieved in 15 years. In other words they
were time bound. Millennium Development Goals were listed as:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development
The underlying core goals that led to the formation of MDGs were the reduction of
poverty and the social development. Since their adoption MDGs has influenced the
development policies around the world. MDGs were also used as a framework for
United Nation’s developmental activities. The reasons why MDGs seamlessly integrated
into the international community were their conciseness, good intentions. Also, the
MDGs were hailed as the “world’s greatest promise”. Because they led the world
leaders to commit to the same purist of concrete developments on key social issues,
they certainly contributed to the bonding of the international community.
Despite the praise and attention that MDGs received in the last years, the MDGs are
now considered to be a failure. The world leaders, policymakers, civil societies and
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academics are debating the progress of the eight MDGs supported by 22 specific
targets and more than 60 indicators. With just a little time left for the fixed target date,
the MDGs are once again the main discussion topic. Although there was significant
progress for some of the goals that were set, many failures sill persist. Unfortunately,
many of the MDGs are still left unfulfilled.
The Success and Failure of MDGs
Despite the success and failures of MDGs, one thing is clear: MDGs certainly gained
the public and political support that was crucial for development. The annual Millennium
Development Goals Report lines out that the progress that has been made since the
adoption of the goals.
The proportion of those living in extreme poverty- i.e those living of less than $1.25 per
day decreased in all of the developing regions around the world except for Sub-Saharan
Africa and Southern Asia. Each of the developing regions managed to halve the
proportion of those living in extreme poverty during the period from 1990 to 2008,
achieving part 1-A of MDGs ahead of the targeted time. While this is a remarkable
achievement, there is still a lot of progress left to be made. Especially in in Sub-Saharan
Africa where policy makers are asking themselves: “Why were MDGs are unfair to
Africa?”. Unfortunately the global crisis has caused a deteriorating impact on the SubSaharan region. Even if not stalling through the progress slowed down by a significant
amount. This deterioration also affected the disparity between well-off nations and the
underdeveloped nation, slowing down the much needed development in the
underdeveloped and developing countries.
When it comes to offering children the opportunity of fulfilling a full primary school
course, it can be clearly seen that there were significant significant process made in
order to fulfill the set goal. The regions ranked among the worst in fulfilling a full primary
school course, have showed the greatest progress mainly from 1999 to 2004. With the
actions taken toward fulfilling this MDG, the gender disparities in education levels have
considerably reduced.
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The third MDG, that is to promote gender equality and empower women, had a relative
success. The stats for developing world show that a total of 96 girls were enrolled in
primary and secondary school for every 100 boys in 2009. As much as these
campaigns have benefited the young women and girls, the shown progress wasn’t
enough. 60 out of 131 countries had not yet achieved the gender parity in 2010. Aside
from the regional disparities, there are distinct differences depending on the level of
educations. Disparity most prominently occurred at the level of secondary education.
Another prominent problem for women is number of women who take part in nonagricultural employment. Due to the cultural differences and educational disparities,
women tend to turn to informal economy or not work at all.
That being said, significant progress has been made towards achieving the MDG-4,
reducing the mortality of children under the age of five by two-thirds. Eastern Asia and
Northern Africa has been in the regions where have made the most progress during the
period of time from 1990 to 2015, but this wasn’t the case with Sub-Saharan Africa. The
progress in Sub-Saharan Africa, similar to the progress that was made with other MDGs
in the region, was lagging. Despite the improving rates, the progress had previously
been too slow to reach the targeted rate. Similarly, progress has not been sufficient with
regard to deaths within the first five months of life.
A lot of progress has been made in combatting HIV, Malaria and other major diseases
which pose a great threat to all humanity. The number of people newly infected HIV has
continuously fallen since 1997. In addition to this great achievement, the number of
deaths due to AIDS has decreased. However, the lack of knowledge about HIV/AIDS
and the lack of using condoms create the biggest obstacles in the way of the fulfillment
of MDG-6. The newly found data regarding the issue indicates that the fulfillment of the
MDG is likely to be missed. Another issue regarding MDG-6 is the combat of malaria
and other major diseases. Thanks to the increase funding and the use of bed nets in
Sub-Saharan Africa, one of the regions where malaria is most common, the global
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estimated incidence of malaria has decreased by 17 percent since 2000 as well as the
malaria-specific mortality rates which have decreased by 25 percent since 2000. The
countries which had the needed access to improved treatments and malaria control
interventions had their child mortality rates fall by about 20 percent. Easy access to
treatments for tuberculosis also saved about 20 million lives between 1995 and 2011.
Unfortunately, MDG-7 didn’t see as much as progress as the other MDGs. The slow
progression of MDG-7 not only did it have major consequences for the environment; it
had major consequences for poverty, child mortality rates, etc. because the ensuring of
an efficient environmental policy is fundamental for the progression of the other MDGs.
The net loss in forest area is so drastic that the slight positive net changes in Asia and
Europe cannot compensate for this fact. On the other hand, there was a great progress
in the reduction of the substances in the ozone layer. These harmful substances that
pose a great threat to our proactive ozone layer were reduced by %98 percent. Other
measures are being taken, such as the United Nations Climate Change conference, in
order to ensure the continuous progress.
Protection of land and marine areas was also one of the issues that were addressed
with MDG-7, however a continuous and an even progress couldn't be provided
throughout the world. 86 out of 172 countries had their marine protection rates doubled.
59 out of 228 countries doubled their terrestrial protection and 54 countries had a %1 or
lower terrestrial and a marine protection. The efforts made in the conservation for
preventing the extinction of species, didn’t provide enough momentum for things to turn
better. Today more and more species are coming closer to the extinction, and one of
the main reasons is overfishing. Despite all the efforts, the amount of overexploited fish
is still %27 since 1989. The situation was even worse for the coastal states, the
percentage of overexploited fish being %39 percent.
The targets 7-C and 7-D contributed to the success of MDG-7. The target 7-C was
achieved five years before the target date with the proportion for people without
sustainable access to safe drinking water has halved. The target 7-D was also a great
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success since the living circumstances of 200 million people were improved rather than
the targeted 100 million. Despite the relative success of 7-C and 7-D, there are still
obstacles facing the future progress such as the number of the people who still cannot
access an improved source of water and the number of slum dwellers due to
urbanization.
MDG-8 included the further development of a better trading and financial system,
dealing with debts of developing countries, addressing special needs of the least
developed, landlocked developing countries and providing new technologies. Although
there was a continuous trend of rise in official development assistance, the first drop in
came ODA (Official development assistance) in 2011. In addition to this decrease, there
was also a dangerous drop concerning free trade and openness except the reduction in
tarries in the trade of agricultural products and the increase in the margin of preference.
The global economic crisis also had a huge impact on the external debts. The amount
of payments by developing countries to service external, as a proportion to export had
been fallen for decade until the major economic crisis. The economic crisis considerably
reduced the exports and altered the proportion of the payments to exports. When it
comes to providing new technologies, the penetration of mobile phone subscriptions
has grown by %13. Even though this certainly had a positive impact in the international
arena, two thirds of the people don’t have access to the internet hence the digital
divided ensues.
Criticism
Despite the relative success of some of the MDGs, some policy makers and academics
are making harsh criticism toward the overall concept and implementation of MDGS.
One of the main reasons that the progress of MDGs is being subjected to harsh
criticism is the lack of reliable data needed to measure progress towards many key
MDG indicators. There often significant time-lags. For some indicators who are crucial
for the measurement of the progress that was made, the most recent data is from 2012
or even worse from 2010. Researchers Varad Pande and Molly Elgin-Cossart, officials
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who worked on UN high-level panel on post-2015 development, note that more than 40
developing countries lack sufficient date to track extreme poverty and hunger. This
certainly casts a shadow on the reliability of the already “fulfilled” MDGs. Without the
accurate data, it is impossible to determine what progress has been made
Another reason that MDGs have been largely criticized is because the issues goals they
have omitted. Critics, for example, that the goals do not place enough emphasis and
sustainable development. The minimal interpretation of MDGs isn’t sufficient enough to
cover crucial issues such as peace and security. Other critics say oppose to these
criticism by saying that the MDGs have focused on broader measure of human
development, and not just economic growth alone improving the conditions in countries
with measurable targets.
Lessons learned from the MDG Process
With the successes and failures of the MDGs, the outcomes of MDGs constitute a
pathway we can use as a guideline. It is now clear that Sub-Saharan Africa is the
farthest from achievement of all MDGs, and that the strategy implemented in that region
simply didn’t work well enough to significantly improve the living conditions. Oceania is
also one of the regions who has seen deterioration in several areas, thus needs
different strategies and efforts to improve the even growth and improvement. Eastern
Asia is the region where the MDGs have worked significantly well compared to the other
regions. Although the overall progress in some of the regions were clear, as it was
stated before, the progress in some of the regions wasn’t clear to classify the MDGs as
working and not working in those regions. Aside from the progress and deterioration
made in some of the regions, one thing stands to be clear: Data has to be clear and of
high quality in order to properly measure the overall success. Also some of the critics
deem the MDGs to be overly imaginative and overly optimistic.
Sustainable Development Goals
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Since the eight MDGs are deemed as failure, failing to consider the root causes of the
major problems, a new set of goals were created. Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) are a new, universal set of goals, targets and indicators that will replace the
Millennium Development Goals once they expire in the end of 2015. Similar to
Millennium Development Goals, the Sustainable Development Goals, UN Member
States will be se these set of goals to shape their agendas and political policies until
2030. The SDGs were first formally discussed at the United nations Conference on
Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012 ( Rio+20) and were proposed
by the UN Open Working group on Sustainable Development Goals (OWG) on 19 July
2014. Goals are listed as:
1) End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2) End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable
agriculture
3) Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages
4) Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning
opportunities for all
5) Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6) Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7) Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8) Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive
employment, and decent work for all
9) Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and
foster innovation
10) Reduce inequality within and among countries
11) Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12) Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13) Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts (taking note of
agreements made by the UNFCCC forum)
14) Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for
sustainable development
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15) Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably
manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt
biodiversity loss
16) Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide
access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all
levels
17) Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for
sustainable development
Unlike the MDGs, the UN has conducted the largest consultation program in its history
to gauge opinion on what the SDGs should include. The UN Open Working Group had
representatives from 70 countries, had is first meeting in March 2013. Alongside the UN
Open Working Group, UN included 11 thematic and 83 national consultations and doorto-door surveys in the hopes of creating the most realistic and necessary set of goals.
Even though the seventeen set of goals are ready, the question of how the goals will be
funded is left unanswered. The calculations made by experts have put the cost of
providing a social safety net to eradicated extreme poverty at about $66bn a year, and
the annual investments in improving infrastructure such as transport and agriculture at
about $7tn. With the stakes so high, funding remains one of the biggest questions for
the feasibility of these goals. A major conference is will be help in Ethiopia in July to
determine the strategies of funding the SDGs.
Criticism
The new set of goals is facing criticism made by academics and think-tank foundations.
The experts who have revised the proposals deem the targets excessively vague or too
costly. Although Amina Mohammed, the UN’s assistant secretary-general wrote in a
recent opinion piece in the Japan Times that the proposals were “a momentous step”
and ground-breaking with the “breadth and depth” of the goals they set out, many of the
proposals are questionable. Some goals, such as having universal social protection
systems, fighting substance abuse or offering equal access to vocational or university
education would simply too costly relative to the benefits they offer. The targets linked to
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these goals such as “ensuring all learners to acquire knowledge and skills needed to
promote sustainable development” are too vague to be effective. Unfortunately goals
such as “to end poverty in all its forms everywhere” are deemed unrealistically
ambitious by academics. Overall the outcomes of Rio +20 and other UN conducted
activities didn’t meet the high expectations after the clear failure of MDGs. Mr Lomborg,
who is the founder of a highly respected Danish think-tank, said it all: “If you want to do
a lot of good for the world, you have to write clear, realistic goals.”.
Questions that should be addressed
IMPORTANT NOTE: The Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals
will not be producing typical resolution papers but a new list of SDGs and all of
the proceedings of the committee will be in accordance with its unique style. All
participants taking part in Kmun2015`s OWG must base their academic studies
and pre-documents on the above-mentioned procedure.
Both Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals are being
criticized for being highly unrealistic, and overly ambitious, thus the UN Open Working
Group on Sustainable Development Goals has to take into account the needs of the
international community and be able to set out clear and realistic goals and targets,
1. What steps can be taken in order to ensure the global cooperation?
2. How can the the new set of goals meet the need of the international community
without being overly-ambitious?
3. How can we better ensure the clarity of the goals?
4. What are some of the global problems that should be prioritized in the goals?
5. What should be some of the targets to achieve the set goals?
6. Which problems who weren’t previously addressed neither in MDGs nor in SDGs
should be added to the list of goals?
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Bibliography
U.N. General Assembly, 55th Session. (2000). Resolution 55/2. United Nations
Millennium
Declaration. (Online). Available at:
http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.pdf
U.N. General Assembly, 56th Session. (2001). Road map towards the implementation
of the
United Nations Millennium Declaration. Report of the Secretary-General (A/51/18).
(Online).
Available at:
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/UN/UNPAN004152.pdf
United Nations Development Programme, 2007. MDG Monitor. (Online). Available at:
http://www.mdgmonitor.org
United Nations Development Programme, 2007. MDG Monitor. MDG Profiles. (Online).
Available
at: http://www.mdgmonitor.org/factsheets.cfm
http://www.unwomen.org/mdgf/downloads/mdg-f_case-studies.pdf
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/interactive/2013/sep/24/millenniumdevelopment-goals-data-interactive
http://www.cgdev.org/files/3940_file_WWMGD.pdf
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgsproposal
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jan/19/sustainable-developmentgoals-united-nations
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