Committee: UNICEF 1

Topic: Protection of Orphan and Vulnerable Children

Country: India

There are over 143 million orphans and vulnerable children throughout the world and a
large percent of them live in India. Additionally, an estimated 57,000 children are infected by
HIV/AIDS each year in India. India has the third largest HIV/AIDS infected population. In
order to lower the rate, the government of India has displayed a commitment to preventing
HIV-infections and mitigating the medical impact of the virus on the lives of those already
infected. Through this program and with the help of several NGOs and the UN, we have
managed to reduce the rate of HIV/AIDS by 50%. The emergence of India as a world
economic power places a responsibility to cover the essential needs of the country’s most
vulnerable citizens, including OVCs.

The main problem in India is inequality (which also generates stigma) and unavailability
of getting an education. This is caused by the caste system, a society where a group of
people are discriminated. These people are called the “untouchables”, which means that they
do not have a chance to get an education or a decent future. Talking about the biggest
democracy in the world, we can state this is a problem which should be debated because it is
also causing other issues such as poverty and inequality. Another worrying problem is sexual
abuse, but our government is currently working on a law which will be brought in soon.

Taking into account the past ten years, we can say that India was starting its economic
emerging process. Until then we were a developing country without enough funds to assist
the most vulnerable citizens and prevent the extension of HIV infection. Over the last five
years, four USAID programs have been implemented to support our government’s initiatives:
Samarth in New Delhi, APAC in Tamil Nadu, Avert in Maharashtra and Smastha in Karnataka.

Our government is committed to preventing HIV/AIDS in our country. There is a new

law policy which focuses on providing medical treatment for infected people aimed at
preventing more infections. It is difficult to cure them all, because there are a lot infected by
the virus, but thanks to the World Health Organization and the UNAIDS, the number of OVCs
in India has been reduced by 50%. There are 470 NGOs working with orphans in India and
30 of them work with HIV/AIDS related orphans. They help to prevent the spread of the
disease and they provide support, education and a place to live (if they do not have one) to
those who are already affected by it.

In order to build more orphanages, India proposes the creation of a donation based
program with the aim of helping to improve lives of OVCs in developing countries and
emerging ones where the rate of HIV/AIDS is over one million. Recognizing the importance
of HIV transmission, we suggest performing free AIDS tests to women that might be infected
by the virus so they do not give it to their children. To stop the virus, there is a treatment
from mother to child which is cheap and effective, called antiretroviral therapy. Additionally,
we request more clinics with advanced technology to improve medical conditions.

By doing this, some of the Millennium objectives (eradicating extreme poverty and
hunger, achieving universal primary education, reducing child mortality rates, improving
maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases) could be achieved by 2015. As
Kerry Pelzman, director of the Health Office of the USAID, said, “The ability to achieve an
AIDS-free generation is possible with all of us working together to reach the collective region
of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.” These are our
main goals as a HIV/AIDS infected country.
 REVISION

WRITING A POSITION PAPER

1. How many paragraphs does the text have?

2. Label the following basic elements every position paper should have by
writing A, B, C, or D next to each paragraph.

A) General topic outline (outline the topic in general and provide

information into the source of the conflict or problem.)
B) Country Description (identify and describe your country, state how your
nation relates to the topic, and explain how the issue has affected your
country in particular.)
C) Policies and Proposed Solutions (outline your country’s past actions to
solve the problem, present policies to solve the problem, areas needing
reform, and proposal for future action.)
D) Conclusion (restate your country’s position and sum up what you hope
to achieve throughout the duration of the conference.)

3. How many paragraphs have been devoted to A, B, C and D above?

A _1_ B ___ C___ D___

4. In C (Policies and Proposed Solutions), which parts outline

• PAST ACTIONS
• PRESENT ACTIONS
• FUTURE PLANS?

5. Position papers are expected to be written in formal English. Underline

THREE sentences in the text that illustrate this.

6. Numbers are important elements in position papers as a result of the

research process. Circle all the numbers you find in the text. How do you read
them?
7. Abbreviations and acronyms are also likely to appear in position papers:

- An ABBREVIATION is a word formed from the first letters of each word

in a phrase and generally pronounced one letter at a time. e.g. Non-
Governmental Organization = NGO /ˌen dʒiː ˈəʊ/
- An ACRONYM is a word formed from the first letters of each word in a
phrase and generally pronounced as a word: e.g. North Atlantic Treaty
Organization = NATO /ˈneɪtəʊ/

Write a list of abbreviations and acronyms in the text. Then decide how you
would pronounce each of them:

8. Paragraphing:
- How many sentences do most paragraphs have?

- In what way(s) is the first sentence in each paragraph different or similar to

the rest?

- How are the sentences within each paragraph linked together? Write
THREE examples.