Definitions

Absolute poverty: a condition characterized by a severe deprivation of basic human needs,

including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education, and
information. Absolute poverty may depend not only on income but also on access to services.
Odious debt: a debt that is incurred by a despotic power, not to meet the needs of the people
of the country but to strengthen a despotic regime.
EU: European Union
Treaty of maastricht: Established the European Union, paved the way for single currency, the
euro and EU citizenship.
Schengen agreement: Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands agreed to
gradually remove controls at their internal borders and to introduce freedom of movement for all
nationals of the signatory countries
Treaty of Amsterdam: Set the maximum number of members of the European Parliament in
line with the parliament's request at 700.
Harmonization: the process of minimizing redundant or conflicting standards which may have
evolved independently.
FTA: Free Trade Agreement
NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement
Continentalism: the agreements or policies that favor the regionalization and/or cooperation
between states within a continent

Questions
1. Climate change
The Kyoto Protocol which was proposed in 1997, is an international attempt to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions that are a key factor to climate change. Countries that signed
this protocol agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by the year 2020.
Canada however has announced that it will not be able to reach the goal, doing so will
cost the economy 51 billion dollars. Many people speculate that since Canada is backing
away from the Kyoto protocol it will continue to be one of the worst polluters among the
world's developing countries.
The spread of disease
Throughout history diseases devastated various countries. The black death in the 14th
century spread across Asia, Europe and Africa killing about 125 million people and is
one of the deadliest epidemics ever. The WHO, a UN agency, is at the center of
international efforts to identify, monitor and control health threats including diseases. The
WHO expects three or four flu pandemics every 100 years. In response to this threat the
WHO has set up the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network. This international
group links health organizations in various countries, plans and coordinates international
responses and ensures that technical help is ready when an outbreak occurs.
 Access to water
Estimates say that Canada has 20% of the world's fresh water supply but only 0.5% of
the world population. But most people in the world do not. In 2006 the UN reported that
over 1.1 billion people did not have adequate access to clean water and more than 2.5
billion people did not have access to adequate sanitation. Nearly 2 million children died
of diseases because of dirty water and poor sanitation.
2. In 1996 the UN organized the first World Food Summit. 185 countries and the European
Community met in Rome and concluded this summit with a vow to reduce half the
number of hungry people in the world. They set 2015 as the target date. The goal was
reinforced in 2000 when the UNidentified eradicating extreme hunger and poverty as
one of its millennium development goals. Some progress has been made but experts
predict that efforts will fall short of the target goal. The UN pledged to achieve universal
access to AIDS treatment by 2010 as AIDS affects 22.5 million people. As a step
towards this goal governments have relaxed rules so companies can make cheaper
AIDS drugs and distribute them to developing countries. The IMF lends money to
developing countries so they can boost their economy and increase tax revenues.
In 1972 the UN established the UN environmental program to provide leadership in
dealing with environmental problems. This international organization worked with
governments, businesses, independent scientists, and local communities. When a
country violates human rights of its own citizens or citizens of another state the UN can
take actions against the violator. But political alliances come into play and achieving
consensus on actions is not easy.
3. Myanmar
People in Myanmar have been under military rule since 1962. In 2007 peaceful protests
began on how the country should be run. The government responded by ordering the
army to fire on the unarmed protestors. Thousands were killed and thousands of monks
were arrested and never seen again. The UN saw this and called on Myanmar to release
all political prisoners.
Darfur
60% of darfuris are farmers and most are black. Many of the rest are nomadic or semi
nomadic. There were droughts in the region and the land became more arid. The 2
groups began competing for land. In 2003 it became violent when the sudan liberation
army and other rebel groups attacked government targets in darfur. The SLA claimed the
Sudan government, which is mainly arabs, favored arabs over black farmers. Then a civil
war broke out. By 2007 over 200,000 people had been killed and 2.5 million had fled.
The UN tried negotiating with the Sudanese government and imposed economic
sanctions on the country. The international criminal court also began arresting war
criminals. After intense negotiations the Sudanese government agreed to allow a joint
force of UN and African peacekeepers into the country in 2008.
4. Internationalism makes solving conflicts easier with more support from other countries.
Things like curing diseases are proven to be effective through the help of
internationalism, however solving conflicts may be better to leave it to the individual
countries.