BUSUN 2012 Committees and Topics

The Preconference Delegate Guide and your committee's background guide are the best places to start your BUSUN research. They will provide useful information on the conference in general, as well as the specific topics and procedures for your individual committee. Both of these documents will be available in early Fall 2012.

Our featured historical and joint crisis committees can be found at the bottom of this page.

General Committees

GA Plenary

• Recognition of Palestine by the UN
• Creating global safeguards to prevent a future financial crisis
• Halting the spread of HIV/AIDS

GA 1 (Disarmament and International Security Committee)

• Lowering militarization along the demilitarized zone in Korea
• Creating a more durable peace between North and South Sudan
• Arms control in Libya

GA 2 (Economic and Financial Committee)

• Updating the Kyoto Protocol
• Smart Sanctions
• Free trade and labor exploitation

 GA 3 (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee)

• Transitional Justice in new democracies **
• Addressing the refugee crisis in Iraq
• Food security in developing states

 GA 4 (Special Political and Decolonization Committee)

• Establishing a more durable peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea
• Falkland Islands
• Examining ethnic tensions in Tibet

United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)

• Management of Ocean Resources
• International Response to Environmental Crises
• Cross-border Environmental Policies

Security Council

• Syria **
• Cyprus
• Restructuring of the Security Council
• Current Affairs

Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force

• Use of drone strike to counter terrorism
• Working to stem the funding of terrorism
• Terrorist threats in Afghanistan following NATO’s withdrawal

UN Human Rights Council

• Working to improve human rights in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya **
•  Tackling the issue of unpaid bondage within Southern Asia
• Balancing state sovereignty with human rights

UNICEF

• Enforcing stricter prohibition on child marriages
• Reforming global education standards
• Addressing the problem of female infanticide

ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council)

• Addressing extreme gender inequality in the developing world
• Working to create a new set of ‘millennium goals’ to lower global poverty levels **
• Advancing youth employment levels

European Union

• Integration of the Balkans into the European Union
• The Roma/Sinti Issue
• Economic/Debt Crisis **

Press Committee

Specialized and Historical Committees

American Medical Association - Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (AMA-CEJA)

• Physician Participation in Capital Punishment
• Radio Frequency ID Tags in Patients
• Reconsidering blood donation eligibility

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

• Request for interpretation of the Judgment of 15 June 1962 in the case concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear  (Cambodia v.Thailand, 2011)

INTERPOL

• Cyberterrorism and Web Security
• International Drug Policy and Intervention
• Intellectual Property and Copyright in Trade Agreements

International Olympic Committee (IOC)

• Reviewing London 2012
• Status Review: Sochi 2014, Rio 2016, Pyeongchang 2018
• Reviewing Applicants for the 2020 Summer Games

Office of Outer Space Affairs

• Power Generation in Space
• Use of Space Technology to Counter Climate Change
• Security in Space

Athenian Assembly, 445-429 BCE (Age of Pericles)

• Preparing the Athenian Empire for Future War
• Economic Balance within the Delian League
• The Plague of Athens

Gathering of the English Barons Under King John, 1215 **

• Drafting of a Great Charter
• War Against the Throne

Turkish Revolution, 1919 **

• This committee will simulate the Turkish Revolution of the early 20^th Century.  No formal topics are assigned, and the committee will function similarly to a crisis committee.

Anglo-Irish Treaty Negotiations, 1921

• The Ulster Countries
• The Oath and Allegiance to the King
• Status as a Republic

Conference of the Commission on the Status of Women, 1966 **

• Achieving Parity in Education, Politics, and the Workplace 
• Integrating Race and Sexual Orientation into the Feminist Discourse
• Reproductive Rights

Dayton Agreement, 1995

• Establishing Peace in the Yugosphere
• Re-establishing National Borders in the Balkans
• Reintegrating with the western world

South Sudanese Cabinet, 2011-2012

• Sudan – South Sudan Relations and Oil Negotiations
• Transitioning the SPLA to the South Sudanese Army
• Addressing the Current Humanitarian Crisis

Crisis Committees

Joint Crisis: East Asian Politics

• Japan
• North Korea
• Russia
• South Korea
• Taiwan
• United States
• China
  

Mini-Crisis: Dissolution of the USSR **

• United States
• USSR/Russian Federation
• Warsaw Pact