ECOSOC+Canada

ECOSOC- Canada Illegal Organ Traficking

Kathryn Reuter

A. Physical Geography

1. Canada 2. climate: South- subartic North- artic 3. key: Area- 9,984,670 square miles

a. Absolute location- Lat: 60 00 W Long: 95 00 W Relative location- north of the United States of America b. Physical features- plains, mountians in east, lowlands in southeast

B. Political Geography Canada consists of a constitutional monarchy as well as a parliamentary democracy and federation. political parties and leaders are as follows: Bloc Quebecois [Gilles DUCEPPE]; Conservative Party of Canada [Stephen HARPER] (a merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party); Green Party [Elizabeth MAY]; Liberal Party [Michael GNATIEFF]; New Democratic Party [Jack LAYTON] Canada's capitol is Ottawa. Canada is affiliated with the following: ACCT, ADB (nonregional members), AfDB (nonregional members), APEC, Arctic Council, ARF, ASEAN (dialogue partner), Australia Group, BIS, C, CDB, CE (observer), EAPC, EBRD, ESA (cooperating state), FAO, G-20, G-7, G-8, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MINUSTAH, MONUC, NAFTA, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS, OECD, OIF, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, PIF (partner), SECI (observer), UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNMIS, UNRWA, UNTSO, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO,and ZC. The Canadian Armed Forces includes 62,000 individuals, not including the 25,000 Reservists.  C. Cultural Geography  The official languages of Canada are English and French. The Canadian people are 28% British isles origin, 23% French origin, 15% other European, 15% Amerindian, 32% Mixed Background or Other. Major Religions include Roman Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, Babtist, lutheran, muslim, and other christian. Canada's population stands at 33,212,696 with a growth rate of 0.83%. major cities include Dawson, Whitehorse, Vancouver, Victoria, Montreal, Churchill, Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Quebec, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Goderich, Toronto, Halifax, Hamilton, Igalluit, St. John's, Saint John, and Sept-Lies. the infant mortality rate in Canada is 5.08 deaths per 1,000 live births. life expectancy at birth is 81.16 years. there are approximatley 2.2 doctors per thousand population in Canada.  D. Economic Geography Canada's total GDP is $1.271 trillion while per capita is $38,600. the percent of land that is arable used for agriculture constitutes 4.57%. Canada's natural resources include iron ore, nickel, zinc,copper, gold, lead, molybdenum, potash, diamonds, silver, fish, timber, wildlife, coal, petroleum, natural gas, and hydropower. Canada's major agriculture products are wheat, barley, oilseed, tobacco, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, forest products, and fish. major industrial products include transportation equipment, chemicals, processed and unprocessed minerals, food products, wood and paper products, fish products, petroleum and natural gas. major exports are motor vehicles and parts, industrial materials, aircraft, telecommunications equipment, chemicals, plastics, fertilizers, wood, pulp, timber, crude petroleum, natural gas, electricity, and aluminum. major imports aremachinery and equipment, motor vehicles and parts, crude oil, chemicals, electricity, and aluminum. currency is the Canadian dollar with and exchange rate of 1.0724 per u.s dollar. II. Backround Illegal organ trafficking is the illegal removal, sale, or transplantation of an organ that was obtained illegaly. Until recently, organ trafficking was viewed as unfathomable idea from a science fiction horror, or a taboo topic. Now, organ trafficking is common in both developed and developing countries. With donors and receivers at both ends, Canada has its share of illegal organ trade. However, both selling and buying is becoming less rare, III. UN Involvement    currently many UN organizations are working to combat the illegal trade of organs. some major ones include the United Nations office for Drug and Crime, WHO, and ECOSOC. the First ever Global Forum on Human Trafficking to Launch united Campaign to fight the crime was held in Vienna 2008 by the U.N Office for Drugs and Crime, the forum discused ways to stop the forced remoal and trade of human organs. another meeting concerning the illegal trade of organs is the Panal INtersecting Human Rights Crisis: Organ Transplantation and Organ Trafficking, with speakers exploring the ethical issues, shortage of organs for transplant, and the black market for the illegal trade of organs. IV. Country Policy/ Possible Solutions ===with 13.5 donors per milion people, Canada has a shortage of organs. Canadians wait from two to ten years on the transplant list. The Human Tisue Gift Act (Section 3.10) states that "No person shall buy, sell or otherwise deal in, directly or indirectly, for a valuable consideration, any tissue for a transplant, or any other body part or parts of it other than blood or a blood constituent, for theraputic purposes, medical education or scientific reasearch, and any such dealing is invalid as being contrary to public policy." the Canadian government has adopted this act to ensure the safety of its citizens. selling one's body parts and accepting others illegally is inhumane and tarnishing the the already shaky reputation of organ transplants. to help combat this crime, canada is looking forward to discussing possible solutions with other members of the UN. Canada proposes that instead of having citizens of developed nations sign up to become organ donors, they will have to apply not to be an organ donor. being an organ donor is a citizen's duty to their nation, if one decides against it, they can become a non-donor.=== code code code

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