LebECOSOC

The official name of my country is the Lebanese Republic. Our climate is Mediterranean, with wet winters and hot summers. Our type of government is a republic. Our president is President Michel Sulayman and our prime minister is Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. The political parties are the Democratic Gathering Bloc, the Democratic Left, the Democratic Renewal Movement, the Future Movement Bloc, the Kataeb Party, the Lebanese Forces, and the Tripoli Independent Bloc. Our capital is Beirut and we are involved in international organizations such as ABEDA, ACCT, AFESD, AMF, FAO, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAS, MIGA, NAM, OAS (observer), OIC, OIF, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNRWA, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, and WMO. Our armed forces are reasonably sized and includes over 1 million men and women enlisted in our armed forces. === The official language of Lebanon is Arabic and the minor languages are French, English, and Armenian. Our ethnic groups are Arab and Armenian. The major religions are Muslim and Christianity. Lebanon’s population is currently 3,971,941, the growth rate is 1.154%, and our population distribution is sparse. Our major cities are Beirut, Tripoli, Baalbek, and Jounyeh. The infant mortality rate is 22.59 deaths/1,000 live births and the average life expectancy is 73.41 years. ===
 * __ Lebanon: Illegal Trafficking of Organs __**
 * A. Physical Geography **
 * B. Political Geography **
 * C. Cultural Geography **

D. Economic Geography
===  The GDP is $40.44 billion and the % of land usable for agriculture is 35%. Lebanon’s natural resources are citrus, grapes, tomatoes, apples, vegetables, potatoes, olives, tobacco; sheep, and goats. Our major imports are petroleum products, cars, medicinal products, clothing, meat and live animals, consumer goods, paper, textile fabrics, tobacco, and electrical machinery. Our major exports are authentic jewelry, inorganic chemicals, miscellaneous consumer goods, fruit and vegetables, tobacco, construction minerals, electric power machinery and switchgear, textile fibers, and paper. Our current currency is the Lebanese pound and has and exchange rate of 1,507.5 per US dollar. ===

Background Information
===  The definition of organ trafficking is that it occurs when a party finds or receives a person and forces them to give up their organs through threats or bribes. Organ trafficking has been used in poorer countries in order to bring in extra income to the country’s economy. Sometimes even government officials have direct relations with those who take the organs illegally. The current status of this topic is that it is abundant and still continues in some of the world’s poorest countries. No occasions of illegal organ trafficking have ever occurred in Lebanon. ===

UN Involvement
===  The UN committees currently involved with illegal organ trafficking are WHO and a panel that was created to directly deal with this situation. Several solutions have been passed by the General Assembly regarding the elimination of this terrible act. These solutions have helped to lockdown the trafficking of the organs and locating the donors and those who force the donors to give them the organs. ECOSOC has been directly involved in this topic because it is also an economic issue seeing as it can help a poor countries economy flourish. ===

Country Policy
===  Being part of the Middle Eastern Bloc, Lebanon strongly opposes the illegal trafficking of organs. We believe that this is not just an economical issue, but it is also moral. As stated previously, no incidents of organ trafficking have occurred in our glorious nation. Our country has supported the UN’s decisions to further pursue and halt this terrible act of moral indecency. A solution that we have created for this problem is to open up relationships with countries being accused of organ trafficking. By opening up such relationships, we can further assist these nations by providing them with economic stimulus and showing them other means of earning such money. Lebanon also states that we should tighten border controls and keep a harder look out for such illegal trafficking. === =__Lebanon Poverty in Eastern Europe__=

The official name of my country is the Lebanese Republic. Our climate is Mediterranean, with wet winters and hot summers.
 * A. Physical Geography**

Our type of government is a republic. Our president is President Michel Sulayman and our prime minister is Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. The political parties are the Democratic Gathering Bloc, the Democratic Left, the Democratic Renewal Movement, the Future Movement Bloc, the Kataeb Party, the Lebanese Forces, and the Tripoli Independent Bloc. Our capital is Beirut and we are involved in international organizations such as ABEDA, ACCT, AFESD, AMF, FAO, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAS, MIGA, NAM, OAS (observer), OIC, OIF, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNRWA, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, and WMO. Our armed forces are reasonably sized and includes over 1 million men and women enlisted in our armed forces.
 * B. Political Geography**

=== The official language of Lebanon is Arabic and the minor languages are French, English, and Armenian. Our ethnic groups are Arab and Armenian. The major religions are Muslim and Christianity. Lebanon’s population is currently 3,971,941, the growth rate is 1.154%, and our population distribution is sparse. Our major cities are Beirut, Tripoli, Baalbek, and Jounyeh. The infant mortality rate is 22.59 deaths/1,000 live births and the average life expectancy is 73.41 years. ===
 * C. Cultural Geography**

D. Economic Geography
The GDP is $40.44 billion and the % of land usable for agriculture is 35%. Lebanon’s natural resources are citrus, grapes, tomatoes, apples, vegetables, potatoes, olives, tobacco; sheep, and goats. Our major imports are petroleum products, cars, medicinal products, clothing, meat and live animals, consumer goods, paper, textile fabrics, tobacco, and electrical machinery. Our major exports are authentic jewelry, inorganic chemicals, miscellaneous consumer goods, fruit and vegetables, tobacco, construction minerals, electric power machinery and switchgear, textile fibers, and paper. Our current currency is the Lebanese pound and has and exchange rate of 1,507.5 per US dollar.

Background Information
The topic of poverty in Eastern Europe has recently reached an all-time interest high. Approximately 150 million people are living in these harsh conditions right now. However, these numbers used to be worse before the Russian financial crisis. These numbers have dropped after this harsh event that created more jobs and higher wages. Before, people could not afford anything because of inflation and the economic crisis income was decreasing. Although it is not as dramatic as it previously was, poverty in Eastern Europe still remains a very prominent issue.

UN Involvement
Since this problem is so immense and extremely hard to pinpoint the source, the UN has had difficulty coming up with a solution to this hardship. ECOSOC is completely responsible for this specific issue. The UN has passed resolution ECE/1424 that works in solving this problem. The UN has also attempted to work with the governments to create more jobs, taking more people out of severe poverty. **Country Policy**  Being a part of the Middle Eastern Bloc, Lebanon takes a keen interest in this topic. We are very concerned that this poverty will rise, therefore directly affecting our source of income. If our source of income is effected, Lebanon will also suffer from harsh economic times, throwing some of our own citizens into poverty. Lebanon is completely open to any solutions that clearly define and solve this terrible problem.