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H.E.L.P. Camps

By: Sara Boulet

Fox News Channel

Late this morning the Security Council was able to adopt a resolution designed to help address the issue of Children in Armed Conflict. During the meeting the United States of America dominated the discussions with strong support from both the United Kingdom and South Africa.

While Brazil, Portugal, and India all strongly argued for the need of refugee camps, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and South Africa all argued for the pressing need for economic stimulus, both saying those were the best ways to address the issues involving Children in Armed Conflicts. There were several disagreements on how to distribute aid money, whether it should go to Non-Government Groups or to families directly; as well, there was many mentions of programs that are run in their own countries. The delegate representing the United States of America argued that “Refugee camps are a band-aid solution, and are a waste of both time and money.”

In the end, the Security Council decided to use a combination of refugee camps and economic stimulus to form “H.E.L.P. Camps” (Health, Education, Learning, and Protection). The purpose of these camps are to provide more focus on offering medical help, education and learning opportunities, with the intention of creating career opportunities. These H.E.L.P Camps are designed to be a safe haven for all children escaping out of armed conflicts.

There is to be 3 steps in this process:

The 1^ststep is to get these camps up and running, get all kids out of any armies and into the H.E.L.P Camps.

The 2^ndstep involves getting medical assistance, through a program similar to Doctors Without Borders, teach the kids about their own countries history, teach them important life skills, such as cooking and farming skills, and finally helping the kids to get actually jobs in their own communities.

The 3^rd  step would be turning the H.E.L.P Camps into H.E.L.P Centers and also creating H.E.L.P. Vans that would be traveling and offering assistances in  rural areas.

These H.E.L.P. centers would offer bursaries for new local businesses, providing they had a 5 year business plan, as well completing an interview with H.E.L.P Center officials. Through the H.E.L.P center there would also be special incentives for those who would hire youths.

During most of the discussions Germany, Russia, and Colombia remained largely silent. Only towards the end did the Russian delegate start to speak up. When he did, it was to argue that without more severe punishments for those countries that would not comply this was all useless. He made the comparison between laws and the proposed resolution, saying that laws required strict punishments; to which the delegate from South Africa pointed out that countries are a lot more complicated than a single man who has broken a law.

After the vote the representative from the United States of America expressed the main philosophy behind this resolution by using the old proverb: “Give a man a fish and you have feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you have feed him for a lifetime.”