HIV/AIDS PREVENTION

HIV/AIDS has become a disease that not only affects the person who has but everyone around them. People can no longer say that in is only in one area of the world or with in a certain class or group of people; thou they may try. HIV/AIDS is a global disease and it is everyone's responsibility to do their part in its prevention and treatment. "According to UNAIDS 2009 report, worldwide some 60 million people have been infected, with some 25 million deaths, and 14 million orphaned children in southern Africa alone since the epidemic began." The stigma attached to HIV/AIDS has had some violent back lashes but predominantly the sigma causes social divides. It is unfair because some people contract the disease because of blood transfusion (Ryan White), needle transfers (typically drug addiction or substandard hospitals) and most commonly sexual intercourse of some kind (in which case the blame fell predominantly on the homosexual population).
     Currently the Aids pandemic is having a greater effect on those regions of the world that are culturally or consciously choosing to be belligerent or ignorant. There is a stigma towards a woman's sexual and reproductive rights in these place and the resources for testing or treatment are unavailable. Ostracism from ones family and the community and eventually death is the reality.
The meeting I attended was held by EcoSoc (economic and Social committee) they discussed the mandate and resolutions on the floor and many country representative disclosed what was a particular problems were relevant to them and a desire to see that addressed in the forthcoming document.

Security Counsil Meeting on Sudan

Sudan, the first thing that comes to mind when many hear of that country is the conflict in Darfur. The war in Darfur broke out in 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement (Army)(SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) groups in Darfur accused the Sudanese government of oppressing non-Arab Sudanese in favor of Sudanese Arabs. The Janjaweed are responsible for a lot of the fighting they hold a racist ideology that the Arab population in Sudan are the supreme race. They are on a campaign cleansing the land "are cleaning the land of non-Arabs." The Arab dominate government is accused of supporting the Janjaweed militia and condoning the mass human rights atrocities

•     An estimated 2.7 million people had at that time been displaced from their homes.
• The UN puts the death toll between 300,000-400,000 (many of the calculations do not include deaths from violence)

The Security Counsil had put out a mandate that would require a pannel to assertain the damage and what needs to be done to help save lives in the refugee area's and stop the violence. The panel assigned to do this has not been able to do their job. Why? they have been denied their visas since they arrived the government will not issue visas and so they can not stay in the country. The meeting discussed what they can do to help them get their visas, whether their mandate should be extended, and alternatives the Security council may need to consider. The UN has faced a lot of pressure from humanitaian organizations in terms of their progress in resolving the conflict, but they are doing what they can. The ICC (International Criminal Court) has:

• issued arrest warrants for the former Minister of State for the Interior, Ahmed Haroun, and a Janjaweed leader, Ali Kushayb, for crimes against humanity and war crimes in 2007.
• the Prosecutor filed ten charges of war crimes against Sudan's incumbent President Omar al- Bashir, three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder on July 14, 2008
• Finally in July, 2010, President Bashir charged by Hague for orchestrating Darfur genocide, three counts of genocide in Darfur by the ICC.

To learn more about the conflict in Darfur and what you can do to get involve please visit http://www.savedarfur.org/ 

UN Women Meeting 2

The Draft Resolution is out !!! The members present when over the resolution prior to the meeting with a fine tooth comb. There where minor adjustments to the resolution for the most part and made sure past rules and regulations they need to abide by were not side stepped. The meeting over all when well and there will be a final draft on Friday before it gets submitted to the board for approval.

UN Women

     Some people may know that UN- Women is a combination of several once separate organizations under the UN that had the same goal; the advancement of women and securing their rights all over the world. This meeting i attended was geared to toward the creation of a new resolution they would put forward. The resolution would included the goals for the up coming year, a break down of what they included, how they would achieve (who would be a part of what and the financial aspect). Some of the nations present for the meeting where; USA, UK, India, Russian Federation, Argentina, Japan, Tanzania, Canada, Malaysia, Norway, and many more.  Many people forget that even here in the United States women do not have equal pay as men for the same job, but in many other countries women have more worries than their salary some worry about their very lives.
     The problem many people see with the UN is the enforcement of their decisions, this resolution will tackle that problem as well with a break down of check ins and reports and investigations into how things are progressing the frequency of these check ins have yet to be determined. Everything must follow a tight rule of law and procedure, all the i's must be dotted and t's crossed

HAPPY PERSIAN NEW YEAR

First Day of spring and what a cold dreary day to kick off spring. The weather didn’t stop the UN Permanent Missions of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Iran from celebrating Norwruz and the Persian New Year. Norwurz is not a strictly Islamic or Arabic tradition it is celebrated throughout the world by people of different races, creeds, ethnicity, religions, and political affiliations. At the celebration I sat next to Josee Reboul, a member of network 20-20 (an organization that is dedicated to getting people for high school to college age into international affairs. Ensuring that the leaders of tomorrow are more cognitive of the world today). After the main speech at the Millennium Hotel we went back to the main UN Building for a gathering in the General Assembly Hall, which was followed by traditional Persian food, dessert, music, and dance. The night was memorable and gave me far more incite to the world of Persian culture and its relations to our culture than I could have imagined.