United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
TOPIC A: Trafficking in WomeN
TOPIC B: Post-conflict implications of gender violence
Gender inequality disrupts the community cohesiveness, affects economic development, and is detrimental to human rights advances. As such, it is an issue that affects everyone, not just women. Our goal as the Commission on the Status of Women is to help the UN and other bodies understand that human rights cannot exist without women’s rights.
In 1945, when the UN charter was signed, only 4 out of 160 signatories were women. These women paved the way for the founding and success of our commission. In the beginning, CSW focused on political rights, rights within marriage, illiteracy and educational inequality. It also conducted studies to fully understand the issues facing women. In 1987, the commission began to meet every year, and its efforts changed to promoting women’s equality as a “cross-cutting theme in economic development, human rights, political, cultural, as well as social policy issues.” By 1997, the goal was to mainstream gender into all policies and programs. In 2006, the committee adopted new methods of practice. At each session, there is now a theme. The sessions are standardized and offer two interactive panels on the theme. Then the commission produces a report to be adopted by the economic and social council.
This year, we will be focusing on trafficking in women and post conflict implications of gender violence. Trafficking in people is one of the largest, most vile businesses in organized crime. It is difficult to collect all statistics, but traffickers tend to target young women and girls, most younger than 25 years old, many from 12-18 years old. Proposed solutions should address both solutions for the countries of origins and for the countries of destination. Before creating any policies, I suggest defining what trafficking means to the committee. Next, we will discuss post conflict implications of gender violence. The negative effects of such violence are many: sexually transmitted diseases, psychological damage, forced pregnancy, infertility, stigmatization, and rejection from family. Gender violence can also take place within families. When analyzing this issue, be cognizant of “blame the victim” mentality, and look into what factors can be leading to such violence and how we can stop it.
Director Letter:
Dear Delegates,
Welcome to the Commission on the Status of Women at HNMUN 2022! My name is Nino Baghashvili and I am thrilled to be your director this year!
I was born in Tbilisi, Georgia. I lived there until I was nine years old. Then I moved to Long Island, New York. This move made me take note of the different views regarding women around the world. Therefore, I am so excited to hear you discuss our topic.
In high school, I ran track and was heavily involved in science research. I unfortunately did not have Model United Nations in high school. However, I fell in love with the club from the very first day. Currently, I am a sophomore at Harvard living in Eliot House, and I am concentrating in Applied Mathematics/Economics. I will possibly get a citation in Russian or French. Outside of HNMUN, I am the USG of Business at HMUN. I am also part of Harvard's Small Claims Advisory Service, a volunteer organization that distributes information about small claims law. Last summer, I worked with Harvard’s PBHA to teach English to refugees. When not in class, I love spending time with friends, cooking, taking pictures, and binge watching TV shows on Netflix.
I am so excited to meet all of you in the Commission on the Status of Women during what I hope will be an amazing weekend. I look forward to your insights about some of the most important issues regarding women (and I would argue, human kind in general). If you have questions or concerns in the time leading up to the conference, please do not hesitate to reach out. In the meantime, have fun researching!
Again, welcome to the Commission on the Status of Women at HNMUN 2022! I am so delighted to share this experience with you!
Sincerely,
Nino Baghashvili
Director, Commission on the Status of Women Harvard National Model UN 2022