The debate focused on family policies. Although policies aimed at improving the financial situation of families had broad support, there were disagreements about the specifics. The United States argued that the best way to support families is market deregulation, which has faced criticism, notably from Spain and Korea. The latter pointed to their example of families not utilizing child friendly policies due to market pressures, specifically work culture at large companies. They, along with Israel and Germany advocated for policies such as cash bonuses, extended parental leave, protections against layoffs for new mothers and more. There was disagreement whether or not countries will be able to finance these policies, notably the United States was against taking out loans for this purpose, while Germany, Canada and Turkey were in favour. Germany, along with Poland also spoke out against immigration to reduce associated costs and to improve security, the latter to make it more appealing for natives to stay in the country (Poland) and feel safe enough to start a family. Cultural and social issues, specifically women’s rights and secularisation were also mentioned as potential causes of the falling birth rates by the delegations of Korea, Turkey and Israel – there is no consensus whether economic incentives alone are enough to boost birth rates. The delegations of Poland and Switzerland spoke in defence of women’s- (and more generally human rights, mentioning Palestine) and secularisation respectively. There is currently one public working paper by the United States which will be formally introduced at the start of next week’s session. Initial reception from the delegations was positive.
