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Topic A: The Adverse Effects of Illegal Immigration upon the Global Economy and how to prevent it Topic B : How to Combat the Growing trade of Drugs and Narcotics Globally
By Joseph Jung and Rishi Kumar, chairs for the ECOSOC committee of OAKMUN 2011
Dear delegates, It gives me a great pleasure to have you all in the first MUN of Oakridge International School. My name is Joseph Jung, and I will be chairing Economics and Social Council. I am a student of 12th grade of Oakridge International School, Hyderabad. I was born in South Korea but moved to India when I was in the 5th grade. I like economics and world history and I actively take part in formal debates like MUN, where I can display my skills in these areas. Im also the Sports Captain of my school and I try to arrange as many matches with different schools as possible both domestically and internationally, so that I can interact with different people from different environment. The topics for the ECOSOC are Illegal immigration and Drug trade. I thought that these are some of the major social problems that the world is facing today and therefore Im looking forward to listen to different opinions about these matters. I strongly believe that you will not only enjoy the conference but also come across the importance of unity of nations at the time of such crisis. I hope that OAKMUN gives you the maximum opportunity in displaying your art of diplomacy to help you build yourself as a successful leader of India and the world as a whole. I really look forward to meeting you all as soon as possible. Wishing you the best of luck Joseph Jung (josephjung93@gmail.com) ECOSOC Chair OAKMUN 2011
of which from Bolivia). That same year, the Brazilian Parliament approved an amnesty, opening a six-month window for all foreigners to seek legalization irrespective of their previous standing before the law. Brazil had last legalized all immigrants in 1998; bilateral deals, one of which promoted the legalization of all reciprocal immigrants with Bolivia to date, signed in 2005, are also common. Clandestine immigrants in Brazil enjoy the same legal privileges as native Brazilians regarding access to social services such as public education and the Brazilian public healthcare system. Most unauthorized immigrants in Brazil come from Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, China (mainly from Fujian), North Korea and sub-Saharan Africa. A Federal Police operation investigated Chinese immigrants who traveled through six countries before arriving in So Paulo to work under substandard conditions in the textile industry. After signing the 2009 amnesty bill into law, President Lula said, in a speech, that "repression and intolerance against immigrants will not solve the problems caused by the economic crisis", thereby also harshly criticizing the "policy of discrimination and prejudice" against immigrants in developed nations. An October 2009 piece from O Globo, quoting a UNDP study, estimates the number of unauthorized immigrants at 0.7 million, and points out to a recent wave of xenophobia among the general populace
Chapter 3: Consequences of illegal immigration: Economic and Social impacts of illegal immigration
Positive impacts: One of the prime advantages that the destination country faces because of illegal immigration is cheap labor. This keeps the economy moving smoothly as the immigrants fill up for the low-wage jobs. Illegal immigration increases the consumer base for the variety of goods and services produced in the country, hence boosting the economy in a big way. Quite often, the illegal immigrants contribute to the social security funds and then do not claim it back. This is add-on revenue for the state economy. It has been observed that illegal immigrants pay sales tax on time and diligently contribute to the revenue model of the country. Illegal immigrants, who are property owners and possess real estate properties, also pay real estate taxes and boost the economy of the state. While purchasing real estate, the immigrants, in turn, generate commissions for agents and brokers. Usually, the illegal immigrants take up properties in depressed locales, where finding tenants is a major difficulty. Illegal immigrants also contribute to mortgage loan profits. The financial and auto insurance loans immensely contribute to the insurers profit margins as well as to the countrys income. Since the illegal immigrants enjoy the banking services of the country, they pay interests and dividends to the banks, again strengthening the countrys economy.
Negative impacts: Due to illegal immigration, the overall population of the country spurts and results in major difficulties. There is overcrowding and increased burden in public places and public transport to name a few.
Serious judicial problems arise in case an illegal immigrant commits a crime and escapes the country borders. There is an increased crime rate among the population as well as increased risk of cases related to human trafficking. It is also seen that illegal immigration results in a burden on tax-based resources, costing taxpayers billions of dollars. Once the illegal immigrants fulfill the demand for cheap labor and low wages, there is a continued demand for it. There is a growing imbalance in the authorized immigration quotas which results in disparity between the legal immigrants who diligently follow every rule and those who dont and still live together within the aspired territories of a country. The country invests in quite a fortune for illegal immigrant maintenance cost and at the end of the day there is no government reimbursement of the fund. The illegal immigrants may pose a potential threat to the working and middle class citizens. It has been thoroughly observed that those who successfully trespass the border, inspire those who are left behind to tread on the same prohibited path. There is a lingering fear of a gradual imbalance in the ethnic diversity, which can lead to the dominance of one particular language or culture in the society.
Topic B: How to combat the global narcotics and illegal drug trade
Chapter 1: About the Global Drug trade
Drug trafficking is defined by the United Nations as a global illicit trade involving the
cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of substances which are subject to drug prohibition law. It is a global illicit trade involving the cultivation, manufacture,
distribution and sale of substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. The United Nations is continuing its research into global illicit drug markets in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of their dynamics as it is an imperative issue for all countries to combat. Globally, the United Nations estimates that between 155 and 250 million people (3.5 to 5.7% of the population aged 15-64) used illicit substances at least once in 2008. Globally, cannabis users comprise the largest number of illicit drug users (129 - 190 million people). Amphetamine-group substances rank as the second most commonly used drug, followed by cocaine and opiates
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Chapter 2: Major drugs which compromise the narcotics trade in drug-prone areas
A) Heroin
At current levels, world heroin consumption (340 tons) and seizures represent an annual flow of 430-450 tons of heroin into the global heroin market. Of that total, opium from Myanmar and the Lao People's Democratic Republic yields some 50 tons, while the rest, some 380 tons of heroin and morphine, is produced exclusively from Afghan opium. While approximately 5 tons are consumed and seized in Afghanistan, the remaining bulk of 375 tons is trafficked worldwide via routes flowing into and through the countries neighboring Afghanistan. The Balkan and northern routes are the main heroin trafficking corridors linking Afghanistan to the huge markets of the Russian Federation and Western Europe. The Balkan route traverses the Islamic Republic of Iran (often via Pakistan), Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria across South-East Europe to the Western European market, with an annual market value of some $20 billion. The northern route runs mainly through Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan (or Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan) to Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation. The size of that market is estimated to total $13 billion per year. Figure 1- Trade routes of heroin in Asia
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B) Cocaine
In 2008, global heroin seizures reached a record level of 73.7 metric tons. Most of the heroin was seized in the Near and Middle East and South-West Asia (39 per cent of the global total), South-East Europe (24 per cent) and Western and Central Europe (10 per cent). The global increase in heroin seizures over the period 2006-2008 was driven mainly by continued burgeoning seizures in the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey. In 2008, those two countries accounted for more than half of global heroin seizures and registered, for the third consecutive year, the highest and second highest seizures worldwide, respectively.In 2007 and 2008, cocaine was used by some 16 to 17 million people worldwide, similar to the number of global opiate users. North America accounted for more than 40 per cent of global cocaine consumption (the total was estimated at around 470 tons), while the 27 European Union and four European Free Trade Association countries accounted for more than a quarter of total consumption. These two regions account for more than 80 per cent of the total value of the global cocaine market, which was estimated at $88 billion in 2008. For the North American market, cocaine is typically transported from Colombia to Mexico or Central America by sea and then onwards by land to the United States and Canada. Cocaine is trafficked to Europe mostly by sea, often in container shipments. Colombia remains the main source of the cocaine found in Europe, but direct shipments from Peru and the Plurinational State of Bolivia are far more common than in the United States market. Following a significant increase over
the period 2002-2005, global cocaine seizure totals have recently followed a stable trend, amounting to 712 tons in 2007 and 711 tons in 2008. Seizures continued to be concentrated in the Americas and Europe. However, the transition from 2007 to 2008 brought about a geographical shift in seizures towards the source countries for cocaine. Seizures in South America accounted for 59 per cent of the global total for 2008, compared with 45 per cent in 2007.
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C) Cannabis
The United Nations estimates that the cannabis herb production ranged from 13,30066,100 metric tonnes and the cannabis resin production from 2,200-9,900 metric tonnes. The resulting total area under cannabis cultivation was estimated at 200,000-641,800 hectares. Trafficking of cannabis derivatives continues to affect most countries worldwide. Of the 147 countries and territories for which were surveyed, 137 had seized at least one of the cannabis derivatives: 129 had made seizures of cannabis herb, 92 of cannabis resin, and 26 of cannabis oil. Based on 2003-2008 data, approximately one half of seizure cases related to all illicit drugs worldwide involved cannabis herb, resin or oil. Cannabis herb was the most frequently seized drug in Africa, the Americas and Oceania, while cannabis resin was the most frequently seized drug in Europe, followed by cannabis herb. Globally, the number of people who had used cannabis at least once in 2008 is estimated between 129 and 191 million, or 2.9% to 4.3% of the world population aged 15 to 64.
D) Amphetamine-type Stimulants
Trafficking of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), along with their production, has come to affect the entire globe. The number of reported ATS( Amphetamine-type Stimulants)-related clandestine laboratories increased by 20% in 2008, and for the first time revealed the existence of manufacturing laboratories in Argentina, Brazil, Guatemala, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka. Information on the 8,408 detected laboratories came from 32 countries, with the largest numbers reported from the United States of America, the Czech Republic, Australia, China, Slovakia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Canada and Mexico.
The type and form of ATS manufactured vary across regions. For example, in East and South-East Asia, manufacture of methamphetamine is primarily in tablet form (yaba) and high purity crystalline form (ice), although there are increasing incidents of ecstasy (MDMA) manufacture. Tablets sold as Captagon in the Near and Middle East often contain amphetamine and are sourced from South-East Europe and from within the region. In
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Europe, ATS manufacture is mainly powder and tableted amphetamine and ecstasy (MDMA), with methamphetamine (pervitine) manufactured primarily in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and other eastern European countries, with evidence that manufacture is further spreading. South Africa-based manufacture is predominately methamphetamine (tik) and methcathinon. Global methamphetamine laboratory counts increased 29% in 2008 to 8,295, With the largest numbers reflected increases reported from the United States (7,226).
Chapter 3- Consequences of the illegal drug trade- the economic and social impacts on the countries which they plague and ways of combating the problem.
At the core of drug consumption lie the problem drug users: those who inject drugs and/or are considered dependent, facing serious social and health consequences as a result. Based on the global estimates of the number of cannabis, opiate, cocaine and ATS users, it is estimated that there were between 16 and 38 million problem drug users in the world in 2008. This represents 10% to 15% of all people who used drugs that year. It can be estimated that in 2008, globally, between 12% and 30% of problem drug users had received treatment in the past year, which means that between 11 and 33.5 million problem drug users did not receive treatment that year. Thus it is clear that drug users place a significant strain on countries healthcare systems, as each year, millions of dollars are used to treat drug related afflictions and diseases which are transmitted through drug use, such as the H.I.V virus which is spread through infected needles which are often used by heroin addicts. Furthermore, to prevent and discourage drug usage, governments around the world require large amounts of funds to pay for law enforcement and prisons to correct those who frequent drugs. Furthermore, unemployment, which can often be seen in populations of drug users coupled with a financial burden on healthcare systems is extremely detrimental to a countrys economy. Research indicates that spending on treatment produces savings in terms of a reduction in the number of crime victims, as well as reduced expenditures for the criminal justice system. At a minimum there was a 3:1 savings rate, and when a broader calculation of costs associated with crime, health and social productivity was taken into account, the rate of savings to investment rose to 13:1. These savings can improve disadvantaged situations where opportunities for education, employment and social welfare are undermined, and increase possibilities for families to recover battered economies, thus facilitating social and economic development. Nonetheless, huge amounts of funds are required to provide such
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treatment, and it is thus not feasible for many countries to do so. This is especially the case for developing countries As they have many other priorities and fewer resources and are not in a position to absorb the consequences of increased drug use. As a result, there is now the risk of a public health disaster in developing countries that would enslave masses of humanity to the misery of drug dependency. Thus, while options such as extensive seizures of drug stocks could be useful, it may only last for a short-term basis as significant resources are required to maintain such actions. Thus, while traditional methods are somewhat useful, newer methods which are much more effective are necessary to combat the growing drug trade lest it progress further.
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