Committee Information Title: Sixth Committee: Legal Committee Chair: Kelly Hanan Moderator: David Rinder Topic A: International Law of the Sea Topic A Summary: Despite the establishment of several treaties and agreements, sovereignty and legal boundaries in the sea still remain unclear, and a source of much political friction. Both during times of peace, and especially during conflict, territorial lines become blurry and countries often use this grey area to advance their own political and military interests. Issues such as pollution and resource depletion of other states’ sea territories, and dispute settlement for violations of maritime law, remain unsolved. Proper treaties and more effective agreements need to be drafted and ratified by UN member states to reduce problems such as violation of sea territories and those mentioned above. Topic B: Human Cloning Topic B Summary: Cloning, aside from being an ethical, moral and religious issue, has for years been a serious legal issue. The advancement of science has now allowed us to not only clone and genetically manipulate fruit and vegetables, but animals as well. The power of cloning holds much promise as well as the potential for harm and clear laws and regulations need to be established to restrict cloning to solely those purposes that benefit – not harm – our international society.

Background Guide Background guides are not yet available. We will notify delegates when they are posted.

Letter from the Chair

Dear Delegates,

I am so excited to welcome you all to the Sixth Committee of UPMUNC 2013! General Assemblies have always been my favorite Model UN Committees, and as delegates in the Legal Committee, you all have chosen the best of the best.

Although I did not compete in Model UN in high school, I have been a part of our Model UN conferences (almost) every semester of my time at Penn. I have been hopping around the various GA committees every year. During my freshman year, I was a staffer on DISEC for both of our college and high school conferences, and sophomore year, I was Vice Chair of SOCHUM for both conferences as well. Last year, I was Chair of the Legal Committee at ILMUNC, but was abroad in Hong Kong first semester, so I missed out on UPMUNC and can’t wait to finally experience being Chair of Legal at UPMUNC!

At Penn, I am in the Wharton School studying business, with a dual concentration of Finance and Operations and Information Management. Outside of Model UN, I play club lacrosse, am a member of a sorority, and take photographs for the school newspaper, the Daily Pennsylvanian.

I hope that you all are as intrigued by this year’s topics as I am! Check out our background guide to get up to speed on both Human Cloning and International Law of the Sea. I cannot wait to hear all of your thoughts and suggestions on these important international issues and will look favorably upon concrete and collaborative solutions.

Feel free to contact me or your USG for General Assemblies, Aman Puri, with any questions or concerns about the committee or any other aspect of the conference. I look forward to getting to know all of you. Good luck at the conference!

Best,

Kelly Hanan
legal@upmunc.org
Chair, Sixth Committee: Legal Committee

Letter from the Moderator

Dear Delegates,

Welcome to the United Nations General Assembly Sixth Committee! My name is David Rinder, and it is my distinct honor to be serving as your moderator during UPMUNC 2013 while we tackle some of the world’s most pressing legal issues.

To give you some background about myself, I am a senior in The Wharton School majoring in Finance and Accounting. I live in Marlboro, NJ and have been pursuing my strong interest in international relations since high school. At Penn, I have immersed myself in the International Affairs Association. I have served as an Assistant Secretary General for UPMUNC, Penn’s college conference, as well as Business Director. In addition to my Model UN exploits, I was the President of the Wharton Management Club. Sports are another one of my passions, and I participate in hockey, soccer, tennis, and curling.

Our two topics this year, International Law of the Sea and Human Cloning, will hopefully prove to be stimulating and challenging for you. Ways you can prepare include: breaking out your finest eye patch and cutlass to raid some ships on the high seas, raising your own clone army to defend the Jedi Order, and studying the background guide. I encourage you to use the background guide as a starting point for your research, and to further explore these fascinating topics. Your preparation will determine the quality of debate, and I look forward to the innovate resolutions that I am sure you will come up with.

If you have any questions at all about the topics, background guide, or conference please do not hesitate to contact me. I served as the Moderator for ECOFIN at last year’s UPMUNC, and have Moderated Legal for Penn’s high school conference for the last two years. I am excited to meet all of you and I hope that you have a great conference!

Regards,

David Rinder
legal@upmunc.org
Moderator, Sixth Committee: Legal Committee