UN Educational Aid Act

The UN Educational Aid Act (UN Resolution #171) was the first proposal in the new Education and Creativity category to reach the floor of the United Nations and be adopted as a resolution, passing by a supermajority. It was the eighth resolution sponsored by Gruenberg, and was written collaboratively by Chief of Staff Rono Pyandran and Legal Aide Lori Jiffjeff. The resolution aimed to promote sound educational policies and help fund programs in developing nations, whilst also supporting national sovereignty.

Resolution History

The resolution had its genesis in a conversation between Moltan Bausch and Lori Jiffjeff, during the former's time as Ambassador to the UN. Returning to the office enraged and inebriated following the passage of the IT Education Act, against which he had furiously railed, Bausch sourly commented to Jiffjeff that it was ridiculous that the UN "was wasting its time teaching kids Unix hacking and clittoral stimulation", yet "hadn't even bothered teaching them to count"; Jiffjeff suggested he write a proposal about this, though her suggestion was likely only a ruse to distract him from his lecherous advances for a few precious moments.

Bausch did write a proposal, entitled "Basic Numeracy Drive" and based on the Reformed Literacy Initiative resolution, for which he admitted admiration. As an afterthought, he added a line stating that following passage of the resolution, all other apsects of educational policy were a national prerogative. Despite seeking comments from Sam Palleel, who responded favourably, Bausch never presented the proposal to the UN, discarded it in his office, and returned to trying to get his hand up Jiffjeff's skirt.

Many months later, the representative of Hersfold introduced a draft proposal on musical education.¹ Rono Pyandran opposed this, but attempted to offer constructive criticisms^2,3; although little attempt to accept these criticisms was made, the proposal was eventually dropped. Nonetheless, Pyandran came to realize that the UN was likely to pass future resolutions on education, and was determined to continue Gruenberg's strong opposition to UN interference in educational affairs. At this point, he was made aware of Bausch's previous draft, and worked with Jiffjeff to produce a more comprehensive proposal.

Drafting

The proposal was drafted in secret in the Gruenberger Office of UN Affairs, and no other nations were involved in the process. Whilst secret drafting has sometimes been looked down upon, no criticism in this instance was made of this tactic. Both authors contributed more or less equally to the draft; Jiffjeff was particularly pleased with clause 8, whilst Pyandran came up with the idea of sandwiching clause 6 between two larger clauses.

Campaign

The proposal was submitted and a telegram campaign launched, again solely conducted by members of the Gruenberger Office of UN Affairs. It reached quorum on its first submission, with Pyandran noting that it was clearly easier to get a proposal on education to vote, than it was for certain other subjects, given it was clearly a favourite topic of many delegates. At this stage, the proposal was presented to the UN Forum for comments.⁴ Relatively confident of success, no lobbying in feeders or other regions with significant UN votes was conducted, although once the proposal went to vote, some efforts were made to convince Texas to support the measure, some voters having confused it for a defiance, rather than an affirmation, of national sovereignty.⁵

Debate

The resolution received strong support, even eliciting the votes of those normally opposed to blockers,⁶ and the debate was hence comparatively tame, despite the usual attempts by the representative of Discoraversalism to hijack it into a discussion of copyright.⁷ A number of voters expressed their support for the resolution, including Zarta Warden of Zeldon 6229 Nodlez, who commended its support for adult education opportunities,⁸ whilst the people of Sconchilgioso Zeta were gratified to learn that clause 6 would allow them to take measures to defend their public education system from intrusion from corporations.⁹

The representative of Greedandmoria attempted to argue against the proposal, fearing that they would be forced to contribute to the UN Educational Advancement Fund;¹⁰ their argument was not heavily suppported, nor one upheld by a reasonable reading of the proposal, which clearly stated that UNEAF contributions were voluntary. In his rebuttal, Rono Pyandran uttered the now famous line, "If, though, you mean it'll be voted in by the left, and opposed by the right...pretty much. That's what I was counting on - why else would I write what amounts to a national rights resolution in such puffed-up - though I don't believe poorly composed - prose?"¹¹ This has been taken as an admission of an especially cynical legislative philosophy.

Whilst the likes of Ceorana and Norderia were willing to vote for the resolution, despite normally opposing national sovereignty resolutions, the Queendom of Witchcliff eventually decided to abstain, after a heated discussion between their UN representatives, Kirin (arguing against) and Panyer (arguing for, and clearly hot for Pyandran).¹²

Kalymnos65 initially opposed the resolution, arguing that it violated national sovereignty;¹³ Pyandran responded with repeated references to clause 6, informing that they were mistaken,¹⁴ and they agreed to change their vote, with their UN ambassador being fired for incompetence.¹⁵ At this stage, Pyandran expressed disappointment at the low level of opposition and lack of debate on the resolution, mockingly dubbing himself "Chief of zzzzzzzzzzzzzztafff".¹⁶ However, little further criticism was forthcoming; the representative of The Second Atlantis offered some,¹⁷ but these mostly could be rebutted on grounds that they referred to optional clauses, which nations would be able to implement as they saw fit.^18,19

Resolution Text

Description:
The United Nations,

Firmly convinced that a high quality of education is worth securing for all people,

Acknowledging that some nations, especially those with developing economies or poor infrastructure, or these experiencing problems of internal stability, may experience understandable difficulties in providing such services,

Determined to help all people achieve access to education, and to work with, rather than against, nations and institutions encountering particular problems in this regard:

1. Proclaims it the duty of nations to ensure opportunities for education and training are reasonably accessible for all their nationals, and especially for children and young adults;

2. Declares its support for all projects aimed at increasing the availability of good, free or affordable educational services;

3. Condemns all forms of unfair and unreasonable discrimination with national educational systems, and motions for effective remedies to such;

4. Promotes schemes such as distance learning courses, part time adult education universities, and opportunities for deferred study, to ensure that those with jobs, young children or other responsibilities are able to benefit from the opportunities of education;

5. Establishes the "UN Educational Advancement Fund" (UNEAF) to:

- solicit voluntary donations from national governments, charitable and other organizations, and individuals;

- organize international conferences on educational methods, relevant technologies, academic subjects, and any other relevant topics;

- act as a point of liaison for any international academic or educational projects seeking assistance in the acquisition of funding, resources or membership;

- provide funding for research projects, infrastructure development programs, academic journal distribution and any other approved academic or educational programs, where approved by both an independent advisory council to the UNEAF, and the national government(s) of any nation(s) receiving such aid;

6. Entrusts nations with the right and responsibility to decide on the structure of their public education systems and the role of private institutions, mandatory, encouraged and prohibited subjects, skills and course elements in educational institutions, and the financing of educational programs, subject to previous UN legislation still in effect;

7. Encourages nations to ensure a sustainable supply of good teachers, educators, instructors and other educational professionals, through:

- providing small bursaries and grants to those seeking to train as educational professionals;

- ensuring reasonable pay and benefits for those working in the public education sector;

- engaging in the creation of opportunities for those in other industries to retrain and enter the educational profession;

- rigorously checking such applicants for history of violent or sexual abuse, especially involving children, and prevent any applicants who are considered a significant risk to children from obtaining teaching posts;

8. Also recognises that education is not solely an institutional prerogative, and as such requests that nations respect the importance of family and community education programs and teaching systems, formal or otherwise.

Votes For: 11,250

Votes Against: 2,307

Implemented: Sun Aug 20 2006

Gameplay Impacts

The resolution was the first to increase education spending in UN nations; some also saw a small tax rise. A more significant effect was as a blocker resolution, on account of its clause 6. This clause declared most aspects of educational policy to be national rights, thus preventing future resolutions enforcing educational mandates. Deliberate attempts were made to disguise its blocker status, in using somewhat round-about language and placing the clause between two much larger ones, designed to minimised attention on it. That said, its sponsor was open about their intentions in debate.

Notes

1. Draft: Musical Education Directive
2. ibid.
3. ibid.
4. UN Educational Aid Act floor debate
5. Texas regional discussion of UN Educational Aid Act
6. International Democratic Union regional discussion of UN Educational Aid Act
7. UN Educational Aid Act floor debate
8. ibid.
9. ibid.
10. ibid.
11. ibid.
12. ibid.
13. ibid.
14. ibid.
15. ibid.
16. ibid.
17. ibid.
18. ibid.
19. ibid.

Additional Materials

• UN Educational Aid Act UN Floor Debate
• Gruenberg and the United Nations
• UN Educational Committee
• UN Timeline
• Index of UN Resolutions
• United Nations
• Students Demand Financial Aid NationStates issue dealing with educational aid