Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee (SOCHUM)

Introduction
The Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee
(SOCHUM) is one of the most important and
contentious bodies within the United Nations. One
of the founding missions of the united Nations
is the universal protection of human rights, and
SOCHUM is the committee of the General Assembly
where discussions of human rights issues take
place. SOCHUM’s mandate also covers a number
of other social, humanitarian, and cultural topics
from discrimination to drug control. the range of
problems debated in the Social, Humanitarian and
Cultural Committee ensures conflict between UN
member nations, but the success of the body has
been in bridging these differences to solve some of
the world’s greatest challenges.
The topics that I have chosen for SOCHUM to discuss
at WorldMUN 2013 cover two of the fundamental
tasks of the body. The fate of endangered languages
will force member nations to confront a pressing
issue of intangible cultural heritage. Although
over six thousand languages are currently spoken
across the globe, this number is rapidly dwindling,
as colonization, economic pressures, state policies,
and discrimination force minority groups to abandon
their mother tongues in favor of languages of
dominant ethnic majorities. The committee will have
to develop methods for documenting endangered
languages before they die and plans for ensuring
that minority language speakers can have full access
to public services, education, and employment
without switching to a dominant language. the
impoverishment of indigenous populations touches
on the universal right to economic development.
Millions of indigenous peoples live in acute poverty
because of trade liberalization, a disregard of their
land rights, and a lack of civic participation, and their
dire economic situation has stunted further progress
towards many of the Millennium Development
Goals. While the international legal precedent for
helping indigenous peoples escape poverty exists,
it is up to the committee to institute proposals for
the implementation of developmental measures for
indigenous groups. Both of these topics will force
the committee to come up with creative solutions to
some of the world’s most pressing problems.
History of the Committee
The Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee
is the third of six main committees of the united
Nations General Assembly. Created at the first
session of the General Assembly in 1946, it consists of
representatives from all 193 UN member nations, with
each country receiving one vote on all procedural
and substantive matters. As a main committee
of the General Assembly, SOCHUM is responsible
for passing resolutions with recommendations on
a number of important social, humanitarian, and
cultural problems. Of all of the General Assembly
committees, which include disarmament and
International Security, Legal, and Administrative
and Budgetary, SOCHUM has perhaps the widest
range of topics under its mandate. the committee
is responsible for all debate within the General
Assembly on human rights, and more than half of the
draft resolutions that it considers during each session
fall under this agenda item. Additionally, SCOHUM
discusses a number of other issues, including “the
advancement of women, the protection of children,
indigenous issues, the treatment of refugees, the
promotion of fundamental freedoms through the
elimination of racism and racial discrimination, and
the right to self- determination,” as well as “important
social development questions such as issues related
to youth, family, ageing, persons with disabilities,
crime prevention, criminal justice, and international
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