ECOSOC Heats Up With An Intriguing Debate

By Titilayo Ogundele

Just like in the real United Nations, the MUN ECOSOC is designed to assist the General Assembly in promoting international economic and social cooperation and development. At this year’s conference, one of the issues that ECOSOC debated was protecting children from sexual exploitation by so called “sex tourism.” This topic is a controversial one and a problem in many of the world’s developing countries. As the first topic of many to be debated, the discussion of sex tourism kept many delegates on their toes and ready to state their opinions.The Delegate of the United Kingdom, Jessica Ng, kicked off the morning as main submitter on the resolution discussing sex tourism. After her speech, which followed her reading of the resolution, three delegates eagerly got up to question the United Kingdom’s view on how to solve the issue. The first delegate to question this resolution was Jonathan Ng, the Delegate of Mauritania. Seemingly opposed to this resolution, the delegate questioned one of the United Kingdom’s clauses, which stated that information about sex tourism should be put into aircraft videos and brochures, even though many people don’t even bother to look at these items. Another delegate that questioned the effectiveness of the resolution was Daniel Sablerolle, Delegate of Pakistan. Upon grabbing the microphone, Sablerolle questioned “[h]ow informing tourists will stop sex tourism?” The United Kingdom seemed unable to respond to in terms that satisfied the Delegate of Pakistan. After this attempt of denouncing the effectiveness of the resolution, the Delegate of the United Kingdom called up Maria Stanislavova, the Delegate of Cuba, to take the floor. The Delegate of Cuba came onto the stage with a feisty and sure presence. As delegates asked questions to further denounce the resolution, the Delegate of Cuba continually shot down every opposing question to what she feels is an “excellent” resolution. As the first resolution to be debated, ECOSOC seems to be on their toes and ready to go. Even early in the morning, the delegates were so into the resolution that they were doing everything but yawning. The interesting discussion taking place really shows the enthusiasm of these delegates and how eager they are to get their point across.