1.

All the Sustainable Development Goals our classmates have

presented over the past few weeks are of great importance to
humanity. However, all of them require a tremendous amount of
resources and investments. In order to be able to afford such expenses,
the world must have a powerful economy. If we take a look at this
graph, we can see that this is not possible during war. If we look at
France, for example, we can see that in the 1930 it was doing just fine,
but when World War II happened, we can see a significant decline in
its economy. It can also be observed in all the countries directly
involved in the war. That shows that during wartime lots of human
and financial resources, which could be dedicated to research and
development, are wasted. From this we can conclude that peace is
absolutely necessary for humanity’s sustainable development.
However, peace with other nations isn’t the only requirement. We also
need equality before the law. The white map here presents the levels
of corruption in the different countries around the world. The dark
green ones are the least corrupt, whereas the red-brown ones are the
most corrupt. The grey map, on the right, shows their GDP. This time,
the ones in black and pink are the most developed and the ones in
white and light blue are the least developed. As you can see, apart
from some exceptions, these two maps coincide: the countries with the
most potent economies are the least corrupt and the ones with the
weakest economies have the highest levels of corruption. As we just
explained, the fulfillment of the SDG depends on the economy, but we
can’t have a powerful economy without peace, justice and strong
institutions. That’s the reason why Joro and I chose this key topic for
our presentation.
Now, let’s talk about the peace between countries. Many of you
may think that nowadays wars are exceptionally rare and don’t pose a
threat to us. But did you know that around one million Iraqis were
killed during the Iraq War? If you think about it, that’s one seventh of
Bulgaria’s population! But might be asking yourselves why should
our country put so much effort and money in resolving those conflicts,
when they seemingly don’t concern us. Now I’m going to tell you
why: if we take a deeper look at this issue, we can instantly
understand that an instability anywhere in the world present a danger
to all of us. For example, the main reason why the migration crisis of
the past decade happened is the above-mentioned war. Did you know
that according to the EU more than a million and a half migrants have
entered its territory during that period of time? This has led to a spike
of far-right movements and parties around Europe, clamouring for
stricter border control. This culminated in the 2016s Brexit
referendum, when the British decided to leave. When one of strongest
member states leaves the EU, it has a negative impact on the union as
a whole and therefore on us. And that’s how a seemingly unsignificant
and distant war affect us.
Now that we have shown you that wars anywhere in the world
are really bad for us, you might be thinking how can we prevent them
from happening. To answer this question, we first need to look at what
causes a war. Most of the times, a war erupts between countries with
an unbalanced relationship between them. For example, if we look
back at the Treaty of Versailles, we can see an unfair agreement
between Germany and the Triple Entente, which led to the rise of
Hitler and the birth of his ideas. The problem here was that there was
not an effective and trustful third-party organization to secure the just
resolution to the problem, like the UN is nowadays.
Another major reason why wars break out is because resources
aren’t distributed uniformly between the different countries. This can
create tension between them and, as we said, result in open war.
According to the UN, one long-term solution to this problem is to
teach our children from early age to respect people of different
backgrounds, ethnic origins, gender, sexual orientations or different
opinions. A study shows that, in the future, they will have a higher
chance of donating and helping people in need. This will allow for the
even distribution of resources to happen faster, while, at the same
time, avoiding the risk of war. Another solution to this issue is to
support a UN organization, like, for example, the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO). If you remember it, we studied about
it last year during our Geography classes. As you probably know, it
manages resources from different countries and feeds people from
poor families.
In order to learn more about the FAO Lyubo just mentioned,
please, tell me: what do you do at least three times a day? I am sure all
of you know that most of the food we eat is cultivated in rural regions.
But the huge problem we are facing is that during war, according to
the UN, rural populations continue to be the most affected. Attacks on
farming communities undermine livelihoods and force people from
their homes. Peace and food security are often mutually reinforcing.
Interventions to ensure food security and rehabilitate the agriculture
sector must address the root causes of conflict. FAO has a critical part
to play in peacebuilding and restoring rural livelihoods. The
Organization works with countries and partners to develop policy and
regulatory frameworks, innovative institutional arrangements, and
functional rural organizations that help small-scale producers to
overcome social, political, and economic barriers. This shows us that
food security and a healthy agricultural sector can play a critical role
in building peace.
As we already told you, we need lots of resources and
investments to fulfill the SDGs. So, now we would like to focus more
on other problems which in this case can lead to local insurgencies.
Some of them are the high level of economic inequality, racism,
domestic violence and power abuse in the country. Crimes that
threaten the foundation of peaceful societies, including homicides,
trafficking and other organized crimes, as well as discriminatory laws
or practices, affect all countries. Even the world’s greatest
democracies face major challenges in addressing corruption, crime
and human rights violations for everyone at home. The goal of the UN
is for people to feel free from all sorts of violence and feel safe with
their ethnicity, faith, sexual orientation, etc. Can anyone of you guess
the percentage of death due to violence, occurring in low- and middle-
income countries? (90%) That’s why all governments should heavily
invest in: the strong education system, which will provide new
opportunities for the poor; the strong law enforcement to fight against
racism, domestic violence and crime; the reform of the judiciary,
which will secure a strong and independent judiciary that shall apply
the law equally to everyone. This is an example of why we need
strong institutions.
As most of you can agree, democracy is the best existing
political system. But in order for it to work, it needs many institutions,
civil servants and people with public authority. For example, Bai Ivan
from Zlatosel is not capable nor qualified enough to decide the best
solution to every problem, facing the state. That’s why we have
representative democracy and Parliament, in which we elect people,
more knowledgeable than us in certain areas. But if you think about it,
that’s the perfect environment for corruption to appear. It’s the biggest
enemy of democracy and the only weapons against it is strong and
independent judicial system and the division of power. That’s exactly
what the UN strives for – to substantially reduce corruption and
bribery in all their forms.
Now, let’s focus on the situation In Bulgaria and the challenges
it’s facing. According to the UN, during the three-year period 2016-
2018, the trend of a significantly higher number of women trafficking
is maintained – 87.8% of all victims in the observed 295 pre-trial
proceedings for trafficking in human beings in 2018. There is an
increase of identified victims that are minors and underage persons –
57 in 2018 compared to 25 in 2016. There is a continued trend of
increase in the number of trafficked people for forced labour,
numbering 59 in 2018, compared to 31 in 2016. Violence against
children remains a serious challenge, as well. According to the
General Directorate National Police, in 2016 17.27% of young people
had experienced violence before they reached the age of 18. For 2017,
they are 13.81% and for 2018 – 14.74%.
And now, let’s take a look at the situation in Bulgaria during the
COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of health and the National
Operative Headquarters (o en búlgaro NOSHT) has issued various
recommendations and orders that shall protect the citizens against this
“plague”. In situations like this, there is always this segment of the
population that won’t take the measures seriously, thus endangering
the life of others. This is absolutely normal, but the state’s number one
priority is protecting the lives of its citizens. So, if we had a strong
institution that imposes strict control over this segment of the
population, many lives would have been saved.
In conclusion, in order to build a just, peaceful and prosperous
society, first of all, we need to be respectful towards people of
different ethnic origins, gender, sexual orientations or different
opinions and raise our children this way. Secondly, we need to have
strong and impartial institutions in the country that put everybody
equally under the law. And last, but not least, we need international
regulative organ that ensures the peace is maintained in all parts of the
world. And if we look at the projected numbers of the world’s
economy in the coming years, we are sure we will achieve that.