CommitteesGA Committees
ECONOMIC & SOCIAL COUNCILS
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[DOUBLE & NOVICE] Social, Cultural, and Humanitarian Committee (SOCHUM)Chairs: Claire Jiang & Brooke Foley Email: [email protected] & [email protected] Topic A: Societal Impact of Access and Freedom in Digital Media Despite its relatively young existence, the presence of digital and social media has had an immense impact on citizens’ lives worldwide, as it serves for many as a beneficial, accessible, and irreplaceable means of communication, creation, connection, and as a way to receive news and updates on national and international affairs. However, with the convenience of social media comes the ease with which restricted and unrestricted access to all sorts of content worldwide can create potential conflict in both developed and developing countries. In some cases, propaganda and filtered content can create misperceptions in the media, whereas in other cases, complete transparency and freedom of expression can lead to verbal conflicts and violence that can escalate to real-world conflict. Furthermore, communities and/or countries with limited access to digital media may find themselves unable to contribute their own voice in a matter that concerns them, potentially leaving those without easy access to technology without representation in certain global matters. Delegates in the SOCHUM committee will have to carefully consider this topic and how it applies to a wide variety of nations & communities, and will need to work together to craft thoughtful solutions toward addressing the need to either broaden or limit social media’s role and impact in and upon international affairs. Topic B: Addressing Ageism in Society With the downward trend of birth rates in the world today, the demographic of age in society begins to shift towards an increase of the elderly population. By 2030, 1 in 6 people will be above 60 and by 2050, the number of individuals above 60 will double to 2.1 billion. With that, a problem begins to arise: ageism. Often overlooked, ageism is the discrimination against people based on their age, typically referring to older populations. Ageism is rapidly becoming the forefront of what communities need to address as there are detrimental impacts of prejudice against age. Discrimination based on age can occur on multiple levels, domestic, work, online, and in healthcare systems. As people age, their dependency on healthcare and medicine becomes apparent, and oftentimes, it highlights the lack thereof in many countries. Studies have shown that healthcare systems disproportionately invalidate patients of older age, stating that many of their issues occur due to age instead of a serious health condition, resulting in serious inadequacies. Additionally, those in the elderly population are more likely to face violence and coercion due to ageist attitudes in society and lack of care and acknowledgement. Even those still in the workforce are perceived to be less “useful” due to their age and often face unequal employment opportunities. Delegates in the SOCHUM committee will have to consider a wide variety of topics to eliminate ageism in our society, giving the best quality of life possible to an increasing demographic. Multifaceted solutions addressing healthcare, work discrimination, abuse and violence, social life, and other issues are encouraged. Creating frameworks for legislature, programs, non-profits, and incentives within individual nations, groups of nations, or with the UN are also potential solutions. This is a double delegation committee, which means each country will be represented by two delegates from the same school. When assigning positions to this committee, we ask that you assign two delegates to every position assigned within the SOCHUM committee. This is also a novice committee, which is intended for delegates who are new to Model UN. |
