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Topic 1: Social and Cultural Rebuilding in Haiti

The preservation of national identities and the social and cultural heritage of individual nations is a principle area of the UNESCO mandate; this topic applies that section of the mandate to the current situation in Haiti. In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, UNESCO has taken a particular interest in rebuilding. UNESCO has started a forum to deal with rebuilding the social cultural and intellectual fabric of Haiti. When the earthquake hit Haiti, a large number of cultural heritage sites were destroyed. In Port au Prince alone, the National Palace, the Palace of Justice, the churches of Saint Anne and Saint Joseph, the justice and culture ministries, and several schools were among the sites destroyed by the earthquake.

A full understanding of cultural identity is necessary to fully understand the scope of this topic and when devising the specifics of preserving and rebuilding the country’s culture. This topic will charge the committee with examining UNESCO’s framework for preserving and developing culture, and for promoting global cultural diversity; the committee will then consider how these factors can be applied to Haitian cultural identity. This topic seeks to assess the initial damage to cultural frameworks and architecture in Haiti, and then assess the capacity development required for rebuilding. The linkage between culture and social structure in Haiti must also be taken into account; the committee should consider how to create a balance between cultural and social reconstruction. The committee must keep in mind that, through tourism, cultural heritage is closely tied to socioeconomic development and poverty reduction, problematic factors for Haiti both before and after the earthquake. It is important for this topic that cultural rebuilding and cultural identity are consistently linked back to socioeconomic structure and growth. Prior to the earthquake, UNESCO had already implemented many cultural preservation policies in Haiti, and these must now be re-evaluated and further developed, given the recent events of the earthquake.

Topic 2: Diminishing the Threat to Freedom of Expression and the Press

In recent years, the number of journalists killed annually has been on a dramatic rise. Between 2008-2009, UNESCO condemned the murder of 125 journalists, which almost mirrors the number from between 2007-2008. By contrast, between 2000-2001, 67 journalists were murdered, a much smaller number than recent figures. UNESCO is the only United Nations body with a mandate to protect freedom of the press and freedom of expression, and so, the alarming rate at which murders of journalists is increasing is a serious concern for UNESCO. The International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) is a UNESCO body that discusses these problems, and attempts to find solutions to the alarming global threat to freedom of the press. Delegates will examine the efforts of the IPDC and other previous attempts at diminishing threats to freedom of the press and expression, and the reasons why their success has been limited. This committee will then develop recommendations for revising and improving efforts to protect these freedoms.

Media in conflict zones is one of the primary focuses of threats to freedom of the press. When a journalist is murdered or killed, in a conflict zone, there is very little accountability for the perpetrators. The lack of designated responsibility is particularly concerning in light of the fact that the frequency of journalists murdered in their own countries is drastically increasing. The statistics on journalists murdered in 2008-2009 illustrate this increase, as the majority of the journalists killed during this period were working on reporting stories in their own country, and during times of peace. Because murders of journalists in their home country are increasing, the committee will be called to incorporate strategies to combat this growing threat into their recommendations. When discussing the issues of impunity and accountability for murders in both conflict zones and in the journalist’s home country, delegates must keep in mind the important role that individual governments play in impunity. Governments must have incentives to make freedom of the press as an important part of country policy. This often becomes a problem in countries with totalitarian governments and in military-controlled states, where the government controls much of the press and other forms of social/political expression. Delegates will have to take different forms of government, and their relationship with freedom of the press, into account. However, government regulation of freedom of the press cannot be effective without addressing the role of the individual. Therefore, this topic will also ask delegates to discuss and debate journalistic ethics.