IE MASTER INTERNATIONAL

RELATIONSA. If you had the opportunity, what actions would you demand of the United Nations Secretary General and why?

Gonzalo Gimeno CasanovaFor IE Business School

1. Prevent and dissolve Violence & Conflict Between States2. Prevent and cure the Internal Conflict within a State and Activities Involving Violence3. Combating Transnational Terrorism4. Promote and support the Global Economic System5. Mitigate and Adapt Climate Change6. Prevent Nuclear Proliferation7. Promotion and better management of Cyber Governance8. Promotion of Global Trade 9. Promote Global Health and servicies 10. Promote Development11. Promote gender equality and empower women

Dear Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,

I would like to demand you the following actions:

1. PREVENT AND DISSOLVE VIOLENCE & CONFLICT BETWEEN STATES:

-Preventing acquisition of territory by force.-Protecting sanctity of borders.-Upholding collective legitimization of the use of the force.-Resolving territorial disputes peacefully.

WHY? Since April 2014, the conflict in Ukraine has resulted in more than six

thousand deaths among citizens, soldiers, and reporters. The number of people driven from their homes by the Ukraine conflict now

exceeds one million. After the NATO combat mission in Afghanistan ended in December 2014,

12,500 troops remain. Eight uninhabited islands in the East China Sea are disputed between China

and Japan.

2. PREVENT AND CURE THE INTERNAL CONFLICT WITHIN A STATE AND ACTIVITIES INVOLVING VIOLENCE:

-Preventing largescale internal violence and mass atrocities.-Mediating conflicts.-Conducting effective peace operations.-Stabilizing war-torn states.

WHY? The year 2014 was the deadliest yet for the Syrian civil war; the conflict

killed 76,000 people. Roughly 13.6 million people were displaced by conflicts in Iraq and Syria in

2014. In 2014, the number of refugees worldwide exceeded fifty million for the

first time since World War II. The UN led sixteen ongoing peacekeeping operations in 2015.

3. COMBATING TRANSNATIONAL TERRORISM:

-Containing active terrorist groups.-Combating terrorist financing.-Supporting terrorism prevention and deradicalization efforts.-Fighting terrorism while respecting human rights.

WHY? Between July 2013 and July 2014, deaths from terrorist attacks increased by 30

percent, after a 61 percent jump in 2013. Between May 2011 and December 2014, 8,213 people died in Nigeria in

violence related to Boko Haram. In a single attack on a school in December 2014, 132 children were killed by

the Pakistani Taliban. In the Paris bomb blast on 13th November, 2015 by the Islamic State of Iraq

and the Levant (ISIL), 130 people were killed, and 368 people were injured. A few months later on March 23, 2016 at least 34 people were killed and 190

wounded when three explosions hit Brussels. The first two at Zaventem airport and the third on a subway train near European Union headquarters.

4. PROMOTE AND SUPPORT THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC SYSTEM:

-Coordinating macroeconomic policies and exchange rates. -Regulating financial institutions, bank capital, and liquidity.-Adapting governance of international financial institutions.

WHY? The International Monetary Fund projects that the world economy will grow

at 3.4% in 2016 and 3.6% in 2017. As of November 2014, thirty banks were designated as global systemically

important banks, or too big to fail. The G20 has pledged to lift global GDP by 2 percent above the business-as-

usual projection by 2020.

5. MITIGATE AND ADAPT CLIMATE CHANGE:

-Curbing greenhouse gas emissions and climate pollutants.-Protecting carbon sinks.-Supporting alternative energies.-Promoting adaptation strategies.

WHY? Global CO2 emissions rose by 2.5 percent from 2013 to 2014. According to the International Energy Agency, global fossil-fuel subsidies

totaled $550 billion in 2014. Global temperatures will rise more than two degrees Celsius, unless

emissions shrink to net zero before 2100. 2015 was the hottest year on record.

6. PREVENT NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION:

-Preventing acquisition of nuclear weapons by state actors such as Iran.-Strengthening the legal and normative framework.-Ensuring nuclear security and safety.-Making progress on disarmament.

WHY? There are approximately 16,300 nuclear weapons worldwide. Between 2012 and 2014, seven countries removed all or most of their

weapons-usable nuclear material. 85% of nuclear material is outside civilian programs. 9 nuclear-armed states.

7. PROMOTION AND BETTER MANAGEMENT OF CYBER GOVERNANCE:

-Negotiating norms of Internet governance.-Developing rules for state conduct in cyberspace.-Balancing security and freedom in cyberspace.-Preventing and responding to cybercrime.

WHY? Forty percent of the world—almost three billion people—had an Internet

connection by 2014. More than four billion people, including 3.2 billion living in only twenty

countries, do not have an Internet connection. There are 550,000 miles of undersea fiberoptic cable that deliver Internet

traffic. Every year, cybercrime and economic espionage cost the global economy

an estimated $445 billion.

8. PROMOTION OF GLOBAL TRADE: -Eliminating trade barriers and promoting regulatory convergence.-Trade facilitation and trade financing.-Integrating developing economies into global trade.-Supporting negotiating forums for global trade.

WHY? G20 members introduced 112 new trade-restrictive measures in the first

half of 2014 alone. Global trade grew by 3.1 percent in 2014, below the WTO's prediction of

4.7 percent. $18.8 trillion worth of goods was traded in 2013. 70% of trade falls under the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

(TTIP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

9. PROMOTE GLOBAL HEALTH FACILITIES AND SERVICIES:

-Managing acute pandemics.-Addressing infectious diseases.-Addressing noncommunicable diseases.-Supporting global health institutions.

WHY? In 2014, 20,206 people contracted Ebola and 7,905 died. As of March 2014, 80 percent of the world’s population lives in polio-free

regions. By 2030, losses from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are projected to

reach $47 trillion. Since 2001, new HIV infections have declined by 38%.

10. PROMOTE DEVELOPMENT:-Development Priorities.-Supporting sustainable development practices.-Reducing poverty and vulnerability.-Advancing good governance.-Reducing the gender equality gap.

WHY? Worldwide, 1.1 billion people subsist on less than $1.25 a day. From 1990 to 2010, the percentage of impoverished people fell by half as a

share of total population. 785 million people, or one in five people around the world, have basic or no

reading skills. Globally, the United Nations estimates that 842 million people do not have

enough food. 

11. PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN:

-Strengthen nutrition, disease prevention, and maternal health programs.-Improve women’s and girls’ education and life skills.-Expand women’s access to credit and economic opportunity-Equal schooling for both boys and girls is the foundation for development.

WHY? There are still more boys than girls attending school in many countries. Some 54 per cent of the world’s out-of-school children are girls. Twenty-eight countries have less than 90 girls in school per 100 boys. In many countries, girls are faced with barriers to education ranging from

negative attitudes to the burden of household work and distance to school. Of the 759 million adults who cannot read or write, around two-thirds are

women. This proportion has remained unchanged since 2000.

BILIOGRAPHY Council of Councils. Grades on Global Issues. <http

://www.cfr.org/councilofcouncils/reportcard/#!/grades/2014/6#item-issue-6 >(Accessed:23rd March 2016).

BBC news. How uninhabited islands soured China-Japan ties. <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-11341139>(Accessed: 23rd March 2016).

Ukraine civil conflict. <http://ukraine-civil-conflict.weebly.com/ukraine-civil-conflict.html> (Accessed:24th March 2016).

Gladstone, R (2015) “Syria Deaths Hit New High in 2014, Observer Group Says” in The New York Times. <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/01/syrian-conflict-deadliest-year-yet> (Accessed: 24th March 2016).

International Monetary Fund (IMF). Weak Pickup in Global Growth, with Risks Pivoting to Emerging Markets <http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2016/RES011916A.htm> (Accessed: 25th March 2016).

Sotubo, J (2015) “Death toll rises to 7,905” in pulse.ng.< http://pulse.ng/health/ebola-outbreak-death-toll-rises-to-7905-id3380215.html > (Accessed: 24th March 2016).

Nuclear Threat Initiative. NTI Celebrates Progress, Congratulates 7 Countries that Eliminated Materials. <http://www.nti.org/newsroom/news/nti-celebrates-progress-congratulates-7-countries-eliminated-materials/ >(Accessed: 24th March 2016).

World Economic Forum and the Harvard School of Public Health (2015). The Global Economic Burden of Non-communicable Diseases <http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Harvard_HE_GlobalEconomicBurdenNonCommunicableDiseases_2011.pdf> >(Accessed: 25th March 2016).

Center for Strategic and International studies, Intel Security (2014). Net losses: Estimating the Global Cost of Cybercrime. <http://www.mcafee.com/us/resources/reports/rp-economic-impact-cybercrime2.pdf> (Accessed: 26th March 2016).

World Food Programme. Hunger. <https://www.wfp.org/hunger >(Accessed: 26th March 2016).

The World Bank. Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women by 2015.<http://www.worldbank.org/mdgs/gender.html>(Accesed: 26th March 2016).

RESPECTFULLY YOURS,

GONZALO GIMENO CASANOVAMIR Candidate

IE Business School