The question of supporting low-income communities, including access to healthcare, education, and employment opportunities

Low-income communities are continually plagued by lack of basic necessities. According to the World Bank, extreme poverty rate is expected to fall by 6.8% by 2030, with hopes of creating a safer, and more accessible environment for all (Yoshida and Wu). Nonetheless, doing so will certainly be a challenge. When discussing the nature of poverty, the United Nations (UN) defines it as follows: “Poverty entails more than the lack of income and productive resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods. Its manifestations include hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination, and exclusion, as well as the lack of participation in decision-making” ("Ending Poverty").

Over half of the world's extremely impoverished people live in Less Developed Countries (LDCs). Not only are these countries struggling to survive economically, but there have been alarming rates of malnourishment, such that 768 million people globally are being deprived of food, including 34% of people in LDCs. Factors such as trade measures being restricted, higher prices, and inflation are worsening the availability of food. Ongoing food crises have led to an increase in food prices and food riots that impacted over 30 LDCs. There have been protests in Haiti, Cameroon, Senegal, the Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mauritania, and other parts of Africa. Most of these populations spend the little income they earn on resources that are crucial for their survival, like food, and are being hit hard by these increased prices (Kark). 

Adding on, conflicts between countries have also taken a toll on food production and exporting. The current situation between Ukraine and Russia has shocked the global food trade as countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia have relied on countries like Russia and Ukraine for their imports, however due to this war, both countries have reduced its exports (Welsh). Despite the fact that food has been declared as a basic human right in numerous World Food Summits, it is still being denied to many, and is being considered as a trade item rather than an essential good needed for survival. One of these summits includes the World Food Summit Plan of Action adopted in 1996, which aims toward eradicating hunger, as well as the Millennium Summit, which reestablished commitments of attaining universal access to nourishment and high-quality nutrition. There has also been a lack of water, and resources for safety ("Why the least").

Additionally, unemployment continues to be a recurring issue in LDCs. Migrant workers that are not working in their home country are losing their jobs due to economic recessions. Although the demand made from these migrant workers, for jobs overseas in developed countries increase, there has been no luck for them. This leads to remittances declining, especially in Pacific LDCs such as Samoa, Tuvalu, etc. due to slow progression of labor markets and high unemployment’s rates in USA, New Zealand, and Australia. This is alarming as a lot of LDCs rely on remittances for their Gross Domestic Product and the funding of migrant families. These rising rates of unemployment are only expected to increase in the future (Kark). 

Ending Poverty is the UN’s number one goal in its Sustainable Development Goals. Unfortunately, the aims to meet this goal have not been advancing at the speed or scale required for the 2030 objective. In order for this crisis to be combatted, Less Developed Countries and More Developed Countries must come together and resolve these issues. The debate at IMUN will work towards achieving this exact goal. 

Works Cited

"Ending Poverty." United Nations, www.un.org/en/global-issues/ending-poverty. Accessed 5 Oct. 2023.

Kark, Arjun. "THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS AND THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES: CITIZENS' CONCERNS." Social Watch, 2009, www.socialwatch.org/node/813. Accessed 5 Oct. 2023.

Welsh, Caitlin. "Russia, Ukraine, and Global Food Security: A One-Year Assessment." Center for Strategic and International Studies, 24 Feb. 2023, www.csis.org/analysis/russia-ukraine-and-global-food-security-one-year-assessment#:~:text=First%2C%20though%20Russia's%20war%20in,over%20the%20past%2012%20months. Accessed 2 Nov. 2023.

"Why the least developed countries need urgent action." United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 6 Mar. 2023, unctad.org/news/why-least-developed-countries-need-urgent-action. Accessed 5 Oct. 2023.

Yoshida, Nobuo, and Haoyu Wu. "Challenges to Accelerating the Pace of Poverty Reduction." United Nations, 23 Dec. 2022, www.un.org/en/un-chronicle/challenges-accelerating-pace-poverty-reduction. Accessed 5 Oct. 2023.