International Issues: Illegal Drug Trafficking

       Each year at the MUN Spring Conference, certain issues of global security are heavily debated on and are the topics of several resolutions. One of these issues this year, and for many years past, is a problem that has seen significant growth: illegal drug trafficking. Drug trafficking is both a domestic and international issue, and one that affects nearly every country in the world.

        This illicit trade stands as one of the most lucrative illegal industries in the world. Certain studies and surveys show that drug trafficking averages between 200 and 750 billion dollars each year, most answers coming in between 400 and 500 billion. Overall, the drug trade accounts for about 1% of the world's revenue. It is also extremely difficult to control, because of the fact that this trade involves high levels of organization, drug lords, and complicated networks.

       

        Unfortunately, the illegal drug trade has detrimental effects on more than just those who are involved. While dealers and drug lords make enormous profits for themselves, they bring in significance costs for the state. In the United States alone in 2012, about 330,000 of the country's 1.6 million prison inmates were serving time for drug related offenses, costing 25 thousand dollars annually for each inmate, and totalling 8.2 billion. 

         Drug trafficking has other implications on countries as well, besides just fiscal cost. In many nations, the drug groups undermine state authority, fueling corruption and ruining fair elections. This negatively impacts the lives of the nation's citizens, now living in a state filled with corruption and weak government controlled by criminal groups.

       There are different types of drugs rampant and flourishing in different regions of the world, as shown by the map above:

        Currently, North America has the highest worldwide cocaine consumption, with the use of Amphetamine Type Stimulants (ATS) significantly increasing. The cocaine first arrives in Central America and Mexico from Columbia, and from there is sent by land or sea to the United States. Mexican mafias are highly involved in the drug trade, aiding in the smuggling of cocaine to America.

       In Western and Central Europe, the consumption of cocaine continues to rise, with opiates and ATS increasing as well. Western and Central Europe is a destination for tons of thousands of drugs, created by an elaborate inner European network. Amsterdam, Madrid, and the borders of Germany are all large destinations of control in this trade. The Czech Republic and a small portion of Slovakia, and Germany hold a large market for Amphetamines and Methamphetamines.
     
       South America is also known for its cocaine trade. Columbia, Peru, and Bolivia are the countries that produce almost all of the world's cocaine. In 2010, Columbia produced 40%, Peru also produced 40%, and Bolivia was at 20%. This is a dramatic increase from 2008's 52%, 35%, and 15%.

        Asia has the largest worldwide consumption of ATS and opium. While ATS comes from almost everywhere in the world, Myanmar is the world's largest producer of opium, at 20% of the world's cultivation and 12% of its production of drugs.
       
         While Southern Africa is not very involved in illegal drug trafficking, other parts of Africa are another story, with its increase of ATS consumption. Africa (excluding southern) serves as a transport route to Europe. However, its production remains insignificant.

          Eastern and South Eastern Europe have experienced greater consumption of opiates, because they are close to trade routes. Africa smuggles in cocaine to Western Europe by traveling through this region, and other regions smuggle in opiates to Western Europe through here.

          Near the Middle East, there is a high consumption of both opiates and ATS, which is on the rise. This is the main route to smuggle in opiates and heroine, in which over 20 countries are involved. Opium production remains primarily in Afghanistan (along with Myanmar in Asia). 63% of opium cultivation comes from Afghanistan and 74% of its production comes from here as well.

          Even though the "war on drugs" has been going on for a very long time, it is easy to see that illegal drug trafficking is still a large world issue that remains unresolved.



For more information regarding the drug trade, please check out the following links:

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-drugs-travel-around-the-world-2015-2
http://www.ibtimes.com/six-things-you-need-know-about-americas-illegal-drug-trade-whos-using-what-where-what-cost-convergex
http://www.un.org/en/ga/president/66/Issues/drugs/drugs-crime.shtml

Model United Nations attempts to synthesize nonviolent resolutions with political action. Often, the issues become segregated into different areas of expertise or agenda topics. Some of these include Health and Human Services, Human Rights, General Security, Economics, and the Environment. But sometimes, MUN fails to bring these different ideas and resolutions together. In world affairs, all aspects are interwoven into a tapestry of human life. Economics pertains directly to the environment. Health and Human Services coincides with the goals of human rights. And so it continues. 

The inter-connectivity of these issues can be seen in two controversial and contentious topics in today's society: the hijab and ISIS. 

The hijab is a source of controversy in both Western and Eastern nations. The recent activities of ISIS have seemingly plunged the world back into the frigid and tense atmosphere following the attacks on 9/11.




Much of ISIS's recent agitation derives from a discrepancy between the values of traditionally conservative Muslim states and the progressive, natural rights driven philosophy of much of the Western world. This heated disagreement appears in the resistance in countries like France to integration and also the laws in countries like Iran which prohibit women to enter the streets without first donning a hijab. Thus, this head garment symbolizes much more than just a piece of cloth wrapped around someone's head. It symbolizes the meeting and battling of two different schools of thought, creating animosity and a tendency toward violence that has erupted in the Middle East in recent weeks.

In France, children are not allowed to wear their niqabs (full-face veils) to school in affirmation of the policy known as loi de laicite. In English jargon, this refers to the separation of church and state, a principle the French democracy takes so seriously that mothers cannot even wear their berkas (a full-body and full-face hijab) to pick up their children. Here, the interstitial relations between Human Rights and Global Security comes to fruition. ISIS and their heinous actions compromise Global Security and have become a major topic for world issues, especially when the potential for a non-violent resolution looks increasingly slim. Yet ISIS cannot be examined just in the context of a Global Security issue. Its ramifications extend beyond the increased security risk and degradation of human life to the underlying issue of that conflict of value between Western and Eastern nations.

Though the hijab and ISIS might seem on entirely different scales, in entirely different spheres, they are manifestations of the same problem. Western and Eastern philosophies, including conflicts between Christianity and Islam, have differences that, up to this point, have been irreconcilable.

To read more:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-paranoid-but-determined-islamic-state-is-ready-for-a-fightto-the-death-in-mosul-10052377.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28106900

International Issues: Human Trafficking

Hey all, my name is Emily K and I am writing alongside Emily E to talk about international issues that are relevant to not only Model United Nations, but our own lives as well!

One important topic that recently came to our own PAS classroom just last week was human trafficking. We had three representatives from a group that helps raise awareness about human trafficking both domestically and internationally come and talk to our class about the issue. Their group is called YES, which stands for Youth Ending Slavery. They helped to open our eyes about the issue of modern day slavery, and the fact that it's not just some far away, unsolvable issue.

To start off talking about this issue, it's important to understand what human trafficking actually is. Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery that exists in three different types: sex trafficking, forced labor, and child soldiers. Sex trafficking involves forced prostitution and any form of sex trade involving minors. Forced labor comes in many different forms. Some people are forced into labor by being tricked by fake job opportunities. Others have to work because of a system that insists they repay their family's debts - this often involves lower class children. During times of political strife in developing countries, children are often forced into joining the military or even kidnapped by rebel armies to become child soldiers, an issue seen in Uganda during Kony's rebellion. Because it exists in more than one form and spans the globe, the issue is unfortunately very prevalent and effects all types of people. People who are trafficked suffer psychological, physical, and emotional damage.

Many people may think about human trafficking as something that doesn't really effect all of us living in the Portland, Oregon bubble. Our reality, however, is quite the opposite. Portland is ranked number one in the nation for child human trafficking and number two for human trafficking overall. For this reason, there are groups all around Portland that are currently fighting to stop the spread of human trafficking, those which include Rehab's Sisters, Compassion First, and Janus Youth Programs. Human trafficking is not just an international issue, not nearly.

Human trafficking is a large problem that affects millions of people all around the world. It is a thirty-two billion dollar industry and is currently the second largest-committed crime worldwide. Almost twenty-seven million people worldwide are affected by it and the number continues to grow. This is an issue that certainly isn't easy to beat, but with more awareness and involvement in stopping trafficking, the amount of people sold into slavery can be greatly reduced.

The YES team that brought this issue up to our PAS class last week provided us with several chilling statistics about those who are forced into trafficking:

- 1 in 3 runaways is recruited by a pimp within 48 hours of leaving home. For this reason, there are pimps waiting on the Portland "hotspot" for human trafficking, 82nd avenue, looking for runaways to recruit.
- The average age for entry into prostitution is 13 years old.
- 95% of women that are involved in prostitution report that they were sexually abused as children.
- The average life span of a woman being sold in the sex trade is only 7 years.



For more information about trafficking and the slave trade, you can check out the YES team's website at www.youthendingslavery.org

New Exploration: International Issues

Hey all! My name is Emily E and I will be writing, along with the other Emily (K) on the Lake Oswego MUN Planning Team, brief discussions of current international issues. We will select the issues we talk about based on the relevance to the Model United Nations Program, importance in the international arena, and impact on the United States. You can expect a blog post once a week!

Today, in light of the drastic decrease in the price of oil, I want to discuss the effect of this issue on the United States and international politics. It is unclear what the long term consequences of cheap oil will be. While Americans today may applaud the sharp decrease in gas prices, this development could actually devastate the US economy and these same average Americans who once praised the $30 price tag on their suburban fill-ups could face an economic crash and quickly degrading environment.

To understand the interplay among nations in the oil-based economy pervasive in developed nations, one must understand the formation of OPEC in the 20th century. OPEC stands for the Organization of  Petroleum Exporting Countries. It is a group of nations primarily in the Middle East committed to protecting their portion of the world's oil supply.
The countries in OPEC are pictured below:

With the recent surplus in oil, the nations in OPEC failed to reach an agreement to protect their monopoly on the world's most precious commodity. This decision unleashed the invisible hand of the market, following the simple laws of supply and demand. With too much oil and not enough demand, the price of oil decreased sharply and has consequently fomented instability and insurrection. 

In effect, the drastic reduction in price of oil, generally favored in the United States, has destabilized the international marketplace and, while it may have infused the lives of Americans with plenty and prosperity, the future remains uncertain. 

Some argue that, with the diversification of the United States economy and the shift away from fossil-fuel based transportation throughout the world, oil will never again be $100 a barrel. Instead, when the cheap oil runs out, the average American will have many different alternatives. In this case, reduction of oil prices will actually have no detriment to the global economy. Instead, people in developed nations will turn to cars which run off of renewable resources. 

This car (BMW i3) is an example of diversification. BMW, along with some other major car companies, has introduced all-electric vehicles. Once this technology becomes widely available for the average consumer, dependence on oil will become a thing of the past. 

But....this bright future represents only one outcome of cheap oil. If the oil surplus runs out or OPEC reaches an agreement to decrease production before the new technology is widely available, the United States economy will face extremely expensive gas and an economic downturn. 

Thus, the implications of cheap oil reach beyond the simple facts of $30 fill-ups and more money to spend on eating out and going to movies. It may trigger an end to the era of oil-based transportation in the United States. Or it may plunge the United States back into an economic downturn in addition to destabilizing the economies in oil-producing nations. 

To read more: 

http://www.darwinsmoney.com/economic-implications-of-cheap-oil/

http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/energy/item/19852-crude-oil-prices-the-politics-implications-and-backlash