COMMITTEE: Special Conference

ISSUE: The question of automation in the workplace

MAIN SUBMITTER: Hungary

CO-SUBMITTERS: DPRK, Iran, France, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Poland, UNICEF,

Nigeria, Bulgaria, UNWTO, Germany,

THE SPECIAL CONFERENCE,

Alarmed by the high rates of unemployment that automation is estimated to cause

in the next 5 years: a United Nations forecast of a 1.1 million increase in the global
unemployment rate by 2020,

Further alarmed by studies predicting that more women will be more impacted by
the rise of automation as men will have one job for every three lost, and women
face more than five jobs lost for each new job, herewith deepening gender
inequalities,

Conscious that these figures result mostly from the fact that technology is
eliminating jobs at a faster rate than it is creating them,

Further conscious that current workers lack the required knowledge and training to
work with new machines and robots,

Aware that 2.1 million new jobs will have to be created to respond to the situation,

Convinced that people will be no more as active as they were, and so social
problems will rise,

Aware that there are still unsuitable Legislation and Regulations for the entrance of
the machines and robots in the job market,

Keeping in mind that if we allow technology to be generalized to all levels of life,

including Court justice, we will be questioning collective life and human rights
conquests that took centuries to be achieved,
1. Affirms that Isaac Asimov’s four laws of robotics are taken by all UN
member countries as a frame for future legislation and decision-making,
hereby subscribing that:
a. A robot may not injure humankind or, through inaction, allow
humankind to come to harm,
b. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction,
allow a human being to come to harm,
c. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except
where such orders would conflict with the First Law,
d. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such
protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws;

2. Encourages that priority is given to the development of machines with

a positive end for humans, such as medicine or science;

3. Trusts that human work behind automation is valued more than

machines;

4. Solemnly affirms that automation must be a complement to the

development of society, not the principal agent;

5. Calls upon the creation a UN body that studies effective measures to

keep resilient people's no longer active skills in such a way that,
a. in case of catastrophe or any other kind of need, human
beings are still capable of performing old tasks such as in agriculture,
calculation, among others,
b. those who wish to continue performing tasks where
automation has taken over can continue doing so as leisure and may
be volunteering to pass them on to the new generations,
c. no cultural, civilizational or ethnographic patrimony is lost;
6. Approves the formation of production cooperatives based on social
solidarity and built on local resources as necessary to work for job
creation and spur regional and local development, as well as reduce
inequalities and segregation in education;

7. Requests investment in the future generations in order to make them

prepared to face a future of technology and automation;

8. Further requests that each nation’s government defines the taxes to

be paid by companies according to the degree of automation introduced
in the workplace;

9. Recommends the implementation of a yearly minimum 2-month

system of training to workers in order to update their skills and
knowledge of new technologies and machines, thus being able to meet
the companies’ goals;

10. Supports that in the workplace the workers do different types of tasks
as long as it is neither repetitive nor a habit;

11. Recommends that local, national and international organisms are

created to advise all age groups about the careers to follow and the
steps to take in order to be eligible for the work market;

12. Further recommends that more and new vocational courses are
implemented;

13. Affirms that the role of the State is to support the livelihoods of the
great majority, not just to serve corporate interests;
14. Further affirms that support must be given to alternative labour
markets, social cooperation, community production and marketing, and
opportunities for reasonable public employment;

15. Encourages changes in Legislation and Regulations, for the benefit of

unprotected workers;

16. Notes that investment in Artificial Intelligence is delayed until there is

thorough knowledge, testing and degree of reliability in these devices,
especially when used for driving long distances or having human lives
depending on them;

17. Condemns the use of machinery to make decisions that require

analysis based on human rights, values and aesthetic views;

18. Decides to remain actively seized upon the matter.