Welcome to Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee
Dear Delegates,
Welcome to the Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee at ILMUNC XXIX! My name is Allie Kronthal, and I have the distinct pleasure of serving as your Chair for what promises to be a weekend full of stimulating debate and outrageous laughs.
Hard to believe, but this will be my fourth ILMUNC. Model UN has truly been one of my most rewarding experiences as Penn. I have served as both the Under-Secretary-General for the Economic and Social Council and the Under-Secretary-General for Specialized Agencies.
A little bit about myself: I am a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences majoring in Political Science and Chinese. I’m originally from Harrison, New York. In addition to my involvement in the International Affairs Association, I intern for the Jewish Heritage Program, work with Seniors for the Penn Fund, and serve as a Peer Advisor for incoming freshmen.
I am particularly honored to be working with Annie Conde, Director of Special Events for the International Affairs Association. This year we have made a great effort to develop interesting and thought-provoking topics. We will be discussing Female Genital Mutilation and Juveniles in the International Criminal Justice System. As conference approaches, please use the background guide as a starting point for your research. However, in order to create more dynamic and innovative solutions, I would encourage you to supplement the background guide with outside research. If you have any questions or concerns before conference, or even want to introduce yourself, please feel free to contact our fantastic USG, Paula Berenguer.
Looking forward to meeting you,
Allie Kronthal
Chair, Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee
Ivy League Model United Nations Conference XXIX
Dear Delegates,
Welcome to the Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee! My name is Annie, and it is my absolute pleasure to be your moderator at ILMUNC XXIX. I am a senior in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and I am pursuing a major in Bioengineering and minors in Biophysics, American Sign Language and Engineering Entrepreneurship.
Even though my academic interests are wide-ranging, I have been involved in Model UN since high school. Better known as Anaconda, I was born and raised in Spain, where my love of traveling unlocked a keen interest in international relations, MUN, and languages. I joined Penn’s International Affairs Association freshman year and currently serve as the Director of Special Events. I also enjoy traveling with our intercollegiate Model UN team, and I am psyched to be moderating SOCHUM with the amazing Allie Kronthal for ILMUNC XXIX. When I’m not doing Model UN, I enjoy competing on the slopes, cooking elaborate meals, watching crappy TV, and pretending to work on problem sets while really online shopping.
I am extremely excited for this committee, especially since General Assembly is my favorite organ, and it’s also the one I have competed in the most when at conference. This year, we have two controversial and dynamic topics, which should make for a wonderful four days of stimulating debate and very innovative resolutions.
As we prepare for conference, I hope you will find the background guide helpful and a good starting point for further research. I encourage you to delve deeper into the issues we will be discussing and come up with creative and pragmatic solutions to them during conference. If you have any questions about the topics, the conference, or my favorite Pixar movie (Finding Nemo), please do not hesitate to contact your USG, Paula Berenguer.
I am looking forward to meeting you in January and having a great time at what will be my last (and what is sure to be the best) ILMUNC to date!
Annie Conde
Moderator, Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee
Ivy League Model United Nations Conference XXIX
Topic Summaries
Topic A: Inhumane Treatment of Juvenile Delinquents
Developed and developing nations struggle in the construction of a system that fairly and effectively treats juvenile delinquents in the international criminal justice system. The treatment of the imprisoned children has, to this date, not been effective in creating the correct balance between punishment and rehabilitation that will allow for their sustained progress. This process needs to be multifaceted, fostering both the youth’s development of skills and the youth’s preservation of health. From the perspective of this committee’s goals, modifying the treatment of juvenile delinquents is extremely important with regards to the physical and mental health of these children. It is essential for delegates to discuss the components of an ideal program for juvenile delinquents that will not only treat them fairly through international regulations and surveillance, but also work on rehabilitation of the criminal youth.
Topic B: Democratic Dictatorship
Developing nations have frequently faced leaders who have been democratically elected but have subsequently abused their power selfishly and ignored their population’s basic necessities. The process of replacing a fairly elected dictator can be an extremely controversial and difficult process because their forceful removal contradicts the basic principles of democracy. Therefore, it is important for delegates to conduct research and create innovative solutions that address how the international community can collaborate to either change the corrupt leaders’ agenda or to effectively oust them from power and smooth the transition into a new government. During debate, it is essential to look at this issue not only with the democratic process in mind, but also to consider the leaders’ human rights violations when making decisions for the future of these countries.