The In Case You Missed It Series will highlight news articles from the United Nations that are relevant to the topics being simulated at AMUN 2017. This AMUN Accords post covers selected news from the week of 25 September.

The General Assembly Third Committee will be discussing The human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. In Bangladesh, the UN is trying to get access to clean water to more than a half million Rohingya refugees. And in Dominica, about 80 percent of the population is without access to food and clean water after the nation was battered by Hurricane Maria.

The General Assembly Plenary will be discussing the Review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture. The UN Security Council has strongly condemned an attack on UN Peacekeepers in Mali where an unknown number of assailants targeted a convoy of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

The General Assembly Plenary will also be discussing A world against violence and violent extremism. UN experts on human rights expressed concern over a new terrorism law in France that could adversely affect French citizen’s’ rights to freedoms of movement, peaceful assembly, and expression of religion.

The ongoing Situation in the Ukraine is a possible topic for the Contemporary Security Council. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein (OHCHR), commented on a new report on the human rights situation in Crimea saying that “imposing citizenship on the inhabitants of an occupied territory can be equated to compelling them to swear allegiance to a power they may consider as hostile, which is forbidden under the Fourth Geneva Convention.” The report also detailed rights violations like arbitrary arrests and detentions, enforced disappearances, ill-treatment and torture.

The General Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization will be discussing Antimicrobial resistance. In Nigeria, an outbreak of Cholera, of which there are antibiotic resistant strains, is hitting children, women and especially pregnant women hard. And violence by Boko Haram is making it difficult for affected peoples to get treatment.

The World Summit on the Information Society +10 will discuss Human rights in the Information Society. The World Bank has noted that millions of children in low and middle-income countries face dim economic prospects because of under-investment in education. The Right to Education is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the information age, these children will face a loss of opportunity and wages as a result of their lack of education.

The General Assembly First Committee will be discussing Women, disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control. The UN’s Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism (PVE) recognizes promoting gender equality as a key factor to stopping violent extremism, making Saudi Arabia’s decision to lift its ban on women drivers a welcome decision in promoting gender equality and combating extremism.

Check back in to the AMUN Accords in the future as we keep you up-to-date on UN News that affects the simulations at the 28th Annual American Model United Nations Conference. If we missed some news of note, let us know on our Facebook page or Twitter feed and share the news with other upcoming attendees to the Conference.