SOCOMUN
XXVI
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
TOPIC: UN REFORM
SOCOMUN XXVI
General Assembly
UN Reform
Hello, my name is Kaylin Martin and I will be the committee chair for the General
Assembly as SOCOMUN XXVI! I am a senior at Santa Margarita and this is my fourth year in
the MUN program. I have attended a variety of different conferences, including conferences at
UC Berkeley and London, England. Next year, I am looking forward to attending an
international conference in Prague! I have discussed a variety of different topics ranging from the
Death penalty to Women’s rights to the Colombian Drug War, and I am looking forward to
discussing the topic of UN Reform and I can’t wait to hear what solutions and ideas everyone
brings to the table. I love doing MUN because it challenges my critical thinking skills and allows
me to practice public speaking while providing an enjoyable and interactive learning
environment. Not only does MUN allow me to stay up-to-date with global issues and events, it
also challenges me to be creative in making solutions to such complex issues. Besides MUN, I
am involved in a lot of other extracurricular activities both inside and outside of school. I play
for the varsity soccer team at SM as well as play on a club team, and I also run varsity track.
Beyond school I enjoy playing multiple instrument such as the piano and baking!
SOCOMUN is designed to be a learning conference, so don’t be afraid to ask questions
about procedure or MUN in general before and throughout the conference. Delegates will give
speeches regarding their country’s policy and possible solutions. Delegates are encouraged to
make points and motions throughout debate as long as they are appropriate and continue the flow
of debate. There will be time for delegates to further discuss the topic itself and their solutions
during informal caucus, and delegates will be expected to collaborate to create a resolution
document combining solutions into formal operatives and clauses (there is expected to be more
than one resolution group in committee). Resolutions will then be presented and voted upon in
committee during voting bloc. It is important that you come to the conference prepared, so make
sure you know the topic and your country’s policy. If you have any questions, feel free to contact
me at [email protected]. See you in committee!
Background:
UN reform is an extremely broad topic covering a variety of different discussions,
proposals, and research regarding the question of restructuring the United Nations. The goal of
UN reform is to strengthen the United Nations and make it more effective in aiding the
international community. In 1946, the United Nations was founded upon the goals of promoting
global cooperation and maintaining peace among nations while addressing world issues and
crises. The actions of the United Nations have revolved around maintaining and achieving these
goals, yet by analyzing past operations of the UN in response to different events, it is evident that
their success has been inconsistent. Most recently, the United Nations has received criticism
regarding its actions and faces a lot of stigma. Many individuals around the world, particularly in
the United States, view the international organization as being ineffective, overly expensive, and
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overall incapable of achieving its goals and maintaining peace. This is one among many other
reasons why the United Nations is making reform one of its newest goals and discussion topics.
After existing for over fifty years, the United Nations feels it needs to make changes to its
structure, amendments to its charter, and reform across its bodies in order to make the
organization effective in dealing with current issues that the world is facing in the twenty-first
century. The problems that the world faces are becoming more and more complex and
complicated, making it extremely difficult for the United Nations to take effective and efficient
action. UN reform seeks to make the United Nations successful in ending these types of issues.
Reform has been proposed for a variety of various aspects of the United Nations,
including reform in terms of amending its original charter, making its operations more costeffective, enlarging the Security Council and making permanent membership easier (which has
been debated since 1993), and making the organization more transparent and more accountable.
These types of reform have been directed at the UN as a whole as well as at individual branches
of the United Nations and their specific functions. Moreover, reform initiatives have also sought
to change the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the United Nations.
Controversy over which aspects of this topic are the most important has sparked discussions
across the country, and certain countries are pushing for certain types of reform over others.
Many types of plans for action have been proposed by a variety of outside groups such as
the Independent commission on Multilateralism and the Commission on Global Security, Justice
and Governance. Members of the United Nations have already taken steps to reform certain
aspects of the organization. The former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made
UN reform a top priority for the organization’s agenda in 2008, and since this point many
different reform strategies and techniques have been implemented within the United Nations.
Over the past several years the UN has made reform in its peacekeeping operations, including the
approval of the Global Field Support Strategy, which is a five-year plan that started in 2010 with
the goal of improving the cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and speed of implementation regarding
peacekeeping. Additional changes have been made regarding the means of which peacekeepers
are hired, evaluated and paid. These changes have aided peacekeeping from the United Nations
in rebuilding its reputation and has resulted in a large reduction in operational costs. Along with
peacekeeping, transparency of the United Nations has also been an important topic of discussion.
To improve transparency, the UN now utilizes the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS)
to make international audit reports available to the public through its online database. Similar
actions have been taken by individual branches of the United Nations, including UNICEF,
UNDP, and UNFPA. These are only two facets of reform that the UN has focused on in recent
years. The President of the sixty-second General Assembly, Srgjan Kerim of the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, has made it clear that it is essential that the United Nations
continues this reform and the importance of ensuring that the steps that they take are sustained.
The United Nations itself if in a period of transition as the elections for the next UN Secretary
General are held, and it is vital that the new leader of the UN continues the process of reform in
several aspects of the United Nations.
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Possible Solutions
For this topic, it might be beneficial to focus on specific aspects of the topic for your
solutions instead of having solutions that are too broad and too general. Try to make the
solutions as detailed as possible, and have fun coming up with unique ideas that might help the
issue. It is important to be not only creative in this process but also to understand the capabilities
of the General Assembly and what the purpose of the committee is while being realistic in the
achievability of the solution. Make sure you stay within these parameters when creating solutions
and also make sure to stay on policy. This means that you make sure that your solutions are
actually something that your country would suggest. A lot of previously solutions that have
actually been proposed in the United Nations have sparked serious controversy between nations
and led to heated debate, so be ready to support your claims and make sure you are on policy at
all times. Overall, have fun with this part of debate and don’t be afraid to bring something new to
the table!
UN reform is a very general topic, so I will focus on two key components of the issue:
cost-effectiveness and management. One major concern for the United Nations is that it is very
expensive for them to operate, which puts many countries in a financial strain and also leads to a
lot of criticism from countries such as the US who provide the UN with a lot of funds. Also, it is
nearly impossible for the UN to function in an effective manner if their budget is under constant
strain. The United Nations spends about 30 billion dollars each year. Even though this number is
much smaller compared to certain countries’ own budgets, the past two decades have been
financially challenging for the United Nations and the organization has been forced to cut back
on spending within important programs that address global problems such as poverty, lack of
education, and health. Additionally, certain countries have not paid their dues and are cutting
back on their funds towards the organization, putting more strain on countries such as the United
States who in 2010 accounted for eighty percent of the body’s budget. Proposals of auditors and
oversight bodies have been discussed and implemented as seen in the OIOS and its publication
of auditing reports in order to raise funding for the United Nations and cut back the spending of
the organization, but an alternative approach that can be taken towards this aspect of the issue is
global taxes. Taxes can be placed on things like carbon emissions which will reduce global
climate change as well as on currency trading, which will decrease instability in the world’s
foreign exchange market. As these taxes bring in more revenue for the United Nations they also
work to address issues such as those listed above. This solution has faced much opposition from
countries such as the United States, yet more and more countries are supporting this type of
solution and the idea of international taxes is gaining more and more momentum.
In terms of management, there have been past actions taken throughout the United
Nations that restructure the organization itself and its departments. Following the Millenium+5
Summit in 2005, many countries are supporting the idea of changing the role of the United States
in the global community. Many see the international body as acting like a government, and some
believe that organization would function more effectively and efficiently if it runs like a business
instead. Individuals who support such a change believe that without doing so the funds for the
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organization will continue to decrease and its effectiveness will continue to drop until the
organization becomes completely dormant and ineffective. This proposal is very controversial as
it focused primarily on the UN’s finances and not the effect of the change on people and
countries around the world. Another approach to management is internal structural reform within
its departments. For example, instead of having only six permanent members within the Security
Council, some countries are pushing for more permanent additions and easier means to become a
permanent member of this council. Moreover, multiple countries are calling on changes within
the UN General Assembly and its functions and processes, which is both daring and
controversial seeing that this organ of the United Nations is at the center of its operations.
Questions to Consider
The following questions are provided to guide your research. However, you are not required to
answer them explicitly in committee.
1. Regarding country policy, where does your country stand on the topic of UN reform?
Have your representatives proposed or supported any major solutions? Have they
opposed any?
2. What aspects of the United Nations should reform be focused on (cost-effectiveness,
accountability, management, etc.)?
3. What is the best means to implement these reforms in the most cost-effective and
efficient manner?
4. What topics are currently the center of debate within the United Nations regarding reform
and which countries are taking which side?
5. What past actions have been taken by the United Nations regarding reform and were
these implementations sustained and effective?
6. Why is it important the reform be implemented now and in the future? How will these
reforms help the United Nations function as a whole?
7. How can you ensure that your solutions are effective if implemented and how can they
maintain their effectiveness?
8. Who should be the main figures in implementing strategies of reform (member-states,
independent organizations, individual countries, etc.)?
9. Have there been any formal resolutions passed regarding this issue? If so, what did they
include and how effective were they?
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Works Cited
"UN Reform." Better World Campaign. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2017.
<https://betterworldcampaign.org/un-101/un-reform/>.
This website gives an overview of U.N. Reform and explains concepts such as transparency,
peacekeeping, the members in it, and the on-going steps to reduce costs and enhance
effectiveness. This website is helpful, because it has a brief overview of information on key
topics. I found this website to provide some insight on regarding UN Reform. It provides
information on the importance of transparency, peacekeeping, and the steps to reduce costs and
improve overall effectiveness.
Kofi Annan and Gro Harlem Brundtland. "Opinion | Four Ideas for a Stronger U.N." The
New York Times. The New York Times, 06 Feb. 2015. Web. 22 Apr. 2017.
<https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/opinion/kofi-annan-gro-harlem-bruntland-fourideas-for-a-stronger-un.html?_r=0>.
This website provides four ideas of possible reformation for the United Nations, specially
touching on the current issue of reforming the Security Council. This website is quite helpful, as
it provides four ideas to help form solutions on ways to improve and reform the U.N. I found this
website to be helpful in providing ideas for the creation of solutions, as well as keeping up on
current issues of reformation for the U.N. right now and today.
"United Nations Reform." United Nations. United Nations, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2017.
<http://www.un.org/en/strengtheningtheun/index.shtml>.
This website provides some very brief information on strengthening the U.N., which is explained
in “Process of renewal.” There are more articles provided internally (see “Delivering Results,”
“Doing More with What We Have,” and “Strengthening Accountability”) which show more
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information on what the United Nations does, has done, and what its goals are. This website has
a lot of information, however the information provided is does not explain much about
reformation, making the site For the purpose of obtaining information about the U.N., this shall
be very valuable. However, I found this site to be considerably lacking when concerning purely
the subject of U.N. Reformation.
CenterforUNReform. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2017. <http://www.centerforunreform.org/>.
This website provides a library of close to all U.N. reformations, information about reformation,
all the different topics of U.N. reformation, as well as Fifth Committee reports. This website has
a bound of information, and can provide many types of resources for the subject of U.N. Reform.
This website shall prove an invaluable resource for all sorts of information, especially the
different types of reformations, topics to work on, and special reports.
OurWorld20. "United Nations Security Council Reform." Our World. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr.
2017. <https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/united-nations-security-council-reform>.
This site talks about the different bloc positions, and focuses on a very in-depth discussion on the
current topic of Security Council reform. This website has very good information concerning one
of the main U.N. Reform topics, but not much else besides it. This website, while lacking in
variety, has a wealth of information on the background, progress, and ideas for reformation of
the Security Council, making it a viable recourse to that extent.
1. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/1995-09-01/reforming-united-nations
This website has history and further background on U.N. Reform. This website shall be
beneficial for those wanting to understand more of the history to present day problems. This
website would be helpful except for the fact that it requires a membership to view the full article
or have complete access.
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Thomas G. Weiss & Tatiana Carayannis, Nathan Yaffe, Youssef Mahmoud, Arthur Boutellis,
Michael R. Snyder, Megan M. Roberts, and Michael R. Snyder and Adam Lupel. "January 1,
2017: Let the Honeymoon for UN Reform Begin." IPI Global Observatory. N.p., n.d. Web.
22 Apr. 2017. <https://theglobalobservatory.org/2016/09/united-nations-secretary-generalhippo-ban-ki-moon/>.
This site provides an overview of current U.N. Reform, names and talks about important people
who contribute to the reformation, as well as providing dates along with the information to retain
accuracy. This site provides and expands upon important, modern events for U.N. Reform,
including the very large topic of the Security Council, while providing information on those
involved and what they do. I found this site to be very beneficial in obtaining date-to-date
information, as well as named figures, and more in-depth material on current events.
"Updated Security Council Must Reflect Changing Global Reality, Member States Say, as
General Assembly Debates Ways to Advance Progress on Reform | Meetings Coverage and
Press Releases." United Nations. United Nations, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2017.
<https://www.un.org/press/en/2016/ga11854.doc.htm>.
This webpage, provided by the U.N. itself, provides a tremendous expanse of information and
record on current reformations, named countries and their policies (/ideas) , dates, events,
agendas, and assembly debates concerting over fifty different countries on this issue – each with
their own opinions, leading to a wealth of information. This site shall provide an extremely large
base of information and records, which shall be beneficial in concerning modern actions and
country policies, as well as the ideas brought forth in General Assembly debate. I found this
website to be extremely informational, however it has so much information that could be
difficult to read it all!
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"General Assembly Adopts Oral Decision Enabling Security Council Reform Negotiations to
Continue during Seventy-first Session | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases." United
Nations. United Nations, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2017.
<https://www.un.org/press/en/2016/ga11808.doc.htm>.
This site contains information of a U.N. Assembly on the topic of U.N. Reform. This has a
limited information, and the majority of such said information on one singular meeting on this
topic.
"Reform of the United Nations." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Apr. 2017. Web. 22 Apr.
2017. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_of_the_United_Nations>.
This multi-party website page provides a concise overview of the topic of U.N. reform, its
history, how it works, and some modern events. This webpage provides a general overview on
the topic of U.N. Reform, and can be a beneficial first basis of knowledge on the topic. While
lacking some internal citations, I still found this webpage to provide a nice overview on the topic
of U.N. Reform, which could prove beneficial before starting closer or further research on the
topic.
Paul - Global Policy Forum, James. "UN Reform." UN Reform. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr.
2017. https://www.globalpolicy.org/un-reform.html
This website discusses what the UN Reform is, what they do, the members in which are in it, and
how long it has been around. This website is very useful and stable for information. I found this
website very helpful for finding information regarding the UN Reform. It provides information
on background, current state, and the members in the committee.
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"United Nations Reform." United Nations. United Nations, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2017.
http://www.un.org/en/strengtheningtheun/
The UN.org does not provide much information regarding UN Reform. It provides a small
paragraph regarding what the UN Reform does. This website is not helpful for information
Reflection: this website lacks information and education about the UN Reform.
"CenterforUNReform." CenterforUNReform. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2017.
http://www.centerforunreform.org/
This website gives enough information about the topic to make a few paragraphs. It gives
background and evidence. This would be a good website to use for information. This website is
very helpful and provides plenty of evidence and information towards the topic.
Sachs, Jeffery D. "3 Reforms the UN Needs as It Turns 70." World Economic Forum.
N.p., 24 Aug. 2015. Web. 1 Apr. 2017.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/08/3-reforms-the-un-needs-as-it-turns-70/
This cite gives lots of reasons what the UN Reform needs to fix as it turns 70. Talks about the
past and the future of the UN Reform. I found this website quite beneficial towards the research
of the topic.
Sachs, Jeffery D. "United Nations Security Council Reform." United Nations University.
N.p., 9 Dec. 2014. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.
https://unu.edu/publications/articles/united-nations-security-council-reform.html
This source gives background on the topic and talks about Blocks, what reform is, reflective,
representation, gives stats, and the future for the UN Reform. This website is good, but not great
this is because the stats are a little bit out dated (not by much). It provides a great source of
education. I found this website beneficial and good source of facts or statistics.