NTUMUN 2018 Press Corps

Conference Coverage and Press Releases

[ntumun-blog]

The Yemeni Civil War - To Intervene or Not to Intervene

By Natalie Song, Agence France-Presse

The Middle East has been a hotbed for crisis for years, with terrorist regimes and civil wars in Iraq and Syria taking spotlight in the international community. Amidst the media buzz surrounding ISIS and the Syrian Civil War, there is one conflict that has remained largely ignored - the civil war in Yemen. With a power vacuum enveloping the region, threats from terrorist regimes, and nearly 30 million people in need of humanitarian aid, Yemen is ostensibly begging for help. However, foreign intervention has not taken its intended effect.

In confronting  this issue, certain bottom-line views can be unanimously agreed upon. Humanitarian aid is an imperative. The ceasefire is likewise indispensable. Terrorist regimes must be suppressed. But beyond the theory behind said policies, the Security Council is chiefly entangled in discord and strife. At the crux of the matter is the question of Resolution 2216.

In 2015, France, United States, and the United Kingdom exhibited unyielding support for the continued execution of Resolution 2216. Today, France and the United States remain true to that stance. As eloquently stated by the delegation of the United States: “if it ain’t broke, why fix it?” A working paper submitted by France echoes the sentiments put forth in Resolution 2216 in specific regards to a ceasefire. However, a glaring fault remains. Since 2216’s adoption in 2015, Yemen has not experienced substantial diminishment of political tension. The resolution demonstrates unwavering support for Hadi troops and demands that only the Houthi forces disarm. It is unrealistic to expect the Houthis to comply to these terms; such plans have only ignited bitterness toward the UN and the international community, further dissuading the Houthis from peace talks. The delegation of Poland brought this to light, declaring the necessity of a bilateral ceasefire. The United Kingdom, in a notable turn of events, articulated doubts concerning the unilateral nature of the peace talks outlined in 2216.

A divergence between the two apparent blocs - pro-2216 and anti-2216 - can also be observed in the question of the legitimacy of the Houthis. Poland adamantly demanded the necessity of the recognition of the Houthis for the purpose of speeding peace talks and ensuring bilateral agreements. Kuwait, United Kingdom, and France opposed this, citing illegal insurgencies as a justification for illegitimacy. Kuwait retains a hardline stance against international intervention and Houthi legitimacy, but United Kingdom and France reopen Kuwait’s wounds by reminding the house of the Iraqi aggression in Kuwait, revealing flawed foreign policy. The council remains divided on how to address the Houthis.

The essence of the dissent in the council is the varying views on the principles of foreign intervention, which is ultimately derivative of a much larger conflict. Foreign intervention in the region has only served to exacerbate the catastrophe in Yemen. Saudi Arabia is a staunch ally of Hadi, whereas Iran stands on the opposing side with the Houthis. Saudi Arabia and Iran have been embroiled in a large-scale rivalry for dominance over the Middle Eastern region. As partners of Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France have supplied arms, training, and intelligence to the Saudi-led coalition. Opponents of Resolution 2216 claim that the foreign involvement and attempts to solve the issue have been tainted by their own political agendas. Many have brought to light the atrocities committed by both sides of the conflict. The US, UK, and France fear being found complicit in the civilian airstrikes and targeting operatives done by the Saudi forces.

Ultimately, the Yemeni civil war is intertwined in a mess of external and internal problems: terrorist regimes, opposing political agendas, political anarchy, and religious divergence. A multifaceted, complex issue as such deserves the undivided attention and unyielding effort. The first step, however, should be first and foremost to let go of political agendas and underlying motives and instead, work toward global unity and peace in a region that has only known conflict.

[ntumun-blog]

Two super powers leading the council to solution

By Chan Cheyenne Dominique Chong

On the final day of the UNCLOS conference, delegates rejoice as the draft of resolution regarding on IUU fishing has been approved and authorized. The two super powers, China and The United States led the council throughout the session and succeeded to gain the favor of majority.

The resolution by UNCLOS initiated policies was involved in three levels: National, regional and global cooperation. The overall framework aimed on increasing involvement and mandatory arbitration, the council proposed Mutual Integration and Assistance (M.I.A). Over 20 countries are major sponsors or signatories, such as The French Republic, The United Kingdom of Great Britain, New Zealand, Fiji, Japan and ASEAN countries. M.I.A focuses on strengthening the roles of states and their national bodies in the mutual assistance of combatting and tackling IUU.

China stood firm on their stance, stating that it is the only resolution on the floor that has feasible and practical resolution. It ensures national and global cooperation by monitoring global licensing, record system, enhance foreign transparency, national observer scheme, legalities and ambiguities and states fulfilling responsibilities. Moreover, to provide education in order to raise awareness among the fishermen.

The United States also added that to strike illegal fishers and shipping vessels, an effective way shall be to provide other job opportunities for income and resources. As stated in the resolution in Article 3, “…Recommends countries to develop and to provide alternative sources of income for affected fishermen thereby, expanding fishery sub-sectors.”. These shall help decrease the number of illegal fishers and monitor the waters.

As the United States is one of the largest trading partner in the world, she has been taking action in protecting the waters and to yield security for the fisheries industry. In December 2016, the US government officially confirmed the Seafood Import Monitoring Program to address illegal fishing and for those unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing products entering the market. The new rule, in effect on Jan. 1, 2018, reports and keeps the record for certain seafood products to prevent IUU-caught or misrepresented seafood from entering US commerce. This program applies to a list of imported fish and fish products identified as endangered and vulnerable to illegal fishing and fraud.

However, there are also oppositions towards the resolution. As China made it clear that the policies are in benefit of the major countries, delegate of Mexico believe that the proposal is sticking to the status quo, that it only fixed the framework and tackle the problem.

The resolution created by UNCLOS is in fact very similar to the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). The convention has more comprehensive measures that are being carried out that include fitting vessels with a mandatory satellite system to track fishing locations, a centralized vessel monitoring system to make sure no ships are avoiding inspection, an electronic catch documentation scheme and an illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing vessel blacklist to show the seriousness of the crime. The measures created by CCAMLR are more all-rounded and inclusive, the resolution should take in reference and consider applying those measures as well.

[ntumun-blog]

Gaps in SOCHUM’s Resolution: Child Labour Laws

By Angus Yip, Al Jazeera

Debate in the Social, Cultural and Humanitarian Committee (SOCHUM) continued today as delegates worked to refine the draft resolution submitted previously by the delegates of China, Canada, and Brazil.

One main focus of discussion was about possible measures to ensure the transparency of any solutions proposed in the draft resolution. This discussion was initiated by the delegate of China, who emphasised the need for caution in the implementation of solutions, explaining how its current commitment to anti-corruption is part of Xi Jinping’s larger stand against graft. The delegate wished to ensure that all solutions would be enforced thoroughly, preventing perpetrators of laws against child labour from using bribery as a means of escaping scot-free.

There were several ideas proposed by the council regarding this. However, the ideas proposed suffered from a lack of depth as numerous details were glossed over.

The delegate of China proposed the creation of a special anti-corruption commission by governments to track down government officials who have been bribed. In response to the delegate of Brazil’s opinion that such commissions too can be corrupted, several delegates suggested turning to a third party to regulate these commissions – non-governmental organisations.

The delegate of China explaining her proposal to establish an anti-corruption commission.

However, delegates did not expound over what non-governmental organisations can do to regulate the behaviour of governmental bodies. Neither was this included in the resolution,  causing this discussion to be rather shallow in nature. The role of non-governmental organisations must be clarified further.

Oddly, the delegate of China was one of the key supporters of the concept that non-governmental organisations should be watchdogs of the government, even though the domestic situation in China suggests otherwise.  According to the 2017 Democracy Index, a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit that rates countries according to how much it abides with principles of democracy such as freedom of speech and a free press, China is classified as an “authoritarian regime”. It is odd that the council has chosen to debate the issue with the assumption that civil society organisations have complete autonomy in all nations, which is not the case.

Delegates also pointed out that there is a need to enact accountability measures to ensure that these non-governmental organisations are not corrupt themselves. This is indeed an issue that must be addressed — even in countries where non-governmental organisations are allowed to operate with a high degree of autonomy, many organisations do not operate with completely transparent principles. It is perhaps telling that 11 out of 17 of France's largest NGOs chose not to participate in a study by Médecins du Monde on corruption in 2008, which looked into managing procedures to tackle the problem. The council’s decision to discuss this issue is therefore rather apt.

However, this discussion was not taken further after the delegate of China expressed her desire for other delegates to propose possible measures. On the whole, therefore, this proposal for an anti-corruption commission remains unclear as many details are missing. These pieces of the puzzle must be filled in for this proposal to be implementable.

The second key issue the council discussed was how the proposed solutions in the resolution can be funded. The resolution has listed solutions ranging from the establishment of Social Assistance Reference Centres to aid victims of child labour, to the introduction of vocational and technical training programmes in schools, and even to the adoption of cash transfer programmes for families living in poverty. Considering the wide-ranging nature of the proposals in the resolution, a large amount of funding is required to implement these solutions.

The delegate of China argued that funding will not be an issue, since it is up to individual nations to devote as much money as they wish to the implementation of these schemes. Countries who do not have the financial resources to can therefore choose to cut back on these proposals. Such a mode of thinking, however, fails to take into account that the least economically developed countries are the ones who must implement policies the most thoroughly to tackle this issue.

The delegate of Brazil acknowledged the need for funding, and argued that governments can increase fines for corporations who practise child labour and invest the money obtained from this into rehabilitation schemes. Such a solution could help to fund rehabilitation efforts in the long run. That being said, the delegate failed to explain how the money required to enhance enforcement and successfully prosecute perpetrators can be obtained, making this solution rather infeasible.

The issues of corruption and funding were left hanging as the council session was then adjourned for a break. The delegates of the United States, Switzerland, and Germany have expressed their desire to introduce a second resolution in the council, which may allow for a more comprehensive discussion of these issues.

[ntumun-blog]

Terror in Crisis

By Cherylynn Tan, Al Jazeera

Last night, news of Philippines being attacked by J5, a Greenpeace affiliated terrorist group spread across the globe.  The president of Philippines has also been kidnapped, and it was known that this is an act of revenge in response to Russian assassination of J5’s president. 

This morning, the Crisis council came together and debated vigorously on how to resolve the issue. A poll was even added to Twitter, asking the public if the council should save the Philippines. Thankfully, 53% voted that the council should and in the meantime, many countries have offered to render aid to the Philippines. Iran has suggested that peacekeeping troops should be sent in by the Russian government to maintain peace and stability and assured that Iran will support and send aid to the peacekeeping force to establish martial law.

This came as no surprise to many, as Iran had always been in support of using martial law to enforce control during political chaos. One of the most recent incidents where a martial law was put in place was during that of the Iranian presidential elections in 2009. Accusations of the legitimacy of the elected president was being thrown around and a then Al Jazeera reporter claimed that “tens of thousands” were involved in protests. As such, a martial law was ordered, to keep the nation in check.

However, a frightened Philippines was even more fearful when other nations offered to send military aid to the Philippines. The Philippines, responded in awe, even questioning the Russian Federation, “Is the Navy going to take over the Philippine government?” Philippines further clarified that they were more in favour of alternatives and propose that ASEAN states like Indonesia and Cambodia sponsor funds to help construct shelters.

Philippines demanded that countries do not send military aid during an unmoderated caucus

Yet, in my opinion, this is highly impractical because Indonesia and Cambodia themselves are facing domestic issues, and is unlikely to have much spare funds to aid the Philippines. Cambodia, in particular, is a Less Economically Developed Country (LEDC) and is constantly plagued by famine and water scarcity issues.

True enough, Cambodia came up to clarify that as much as they would like to help, they “do not have sufficient resources to fund shelter, medical and food supplies for the refugees”. Finally, the Philippines had agreed to receive aid from the UN, after they have exhausted almost all of their proposed solutions. Indonesia had also claimed that it has many constraints when trying to establish a refugee camp for the Philippines.

Seeing that the council is about to reach a stalemate, Korea, Turkey and the Philippines came together to issue a joint council directive, detailing solutions for the refugee crisis. In it, these countries propose the use of the ASEAN’s Disaster Emergency Logistic System to construct shelters for the refugees. These countries also proposed for the involvement of bodies to assist in building infrastructure in countries willing to take in refugees and in the transportation and distribution of humanitarian aid.

South Korea explaining their proposed solutions

While the council is still debating on the directive, it is heartening to see that the council had prioritised solving the Philippines refugee crisis and that countries had actually worked together to lend a helping hand. Through extensive consultation with the ambassador of the Philippines, countries had also ensured that the Philippines point of view was taken into consideration, so that measures proposed will truly aid the Philippines in this crisis. It is indeed a commendable effort from countries, and I look forward to this resolution being passed successfully.

[ntumun-blog]

Arab League Struggles to Reach a Consensus on Water

By Cassandra Yap, Al Jazeera The Arab League has moved on to the second topic regarding hydropolitics, however the council has once again repeated its mistakes by running around in circles. Al Jazeera acknowledges that hydropolitics is a difficult issue to solve. Geographically, it is not easy getting water from here to there as water cannot be transported easily. There are countries who are not on good terms with each other and it is hard to collaborate or come to an agreement. It is not easy to incentivise countries into working with each other. Additionally, the stability of the Middle East has already been compromised which complicates the situation—countries such as Yemen are plagued with terrorism and there is an imminent fear of rebels accessing the possible funds given for the development of a self sustainable water system. The quickest solution would be to share water among countries. However big nations such as Saudi Arabia explicitly mentioned that the country would not be agreeable to sharing water as they are already a facing a water shortage. While that may be a legitimate reason to refrain from helping via other means such as economic collaboration or the funding of technology, it raises suspicion on the sincerity of Saudi Arabia in curbing this issue. On the other hand, Qatar who has a similar water wastage crisis, offered to help Iraq who has an even more desperate need for water. This highlights the feasibility of this solution. While sharing water might be a successful short term solution, it is in the long run detrimental. Qatar has volunteered out of goodwill; however, it will backfire as Qatar would be aggravating its own internal problems. Eventually, no parties will truly benefit from this solution, and thus a better solution will need to be introduced. Iraq produced quality content, suggesting the need for restriction of water intake for upstream nations. Other ideas include the importing of water from other countries, self strengthening of internal water policies and requesting for foreign intervention. However countries are mostly not in favour for foreign intervention, which Al Jazeera also agrees with it—Arab League should prove its effectiveness by solving the crisis within themselves. However the council is unable to proceed to more in-depth discussion as the countries are unable to come to a consensus. With numerous ultimately pointless straw votes brought up and the constant objection of motions, there has been no ideas well formulated. At least two free assemblies has been raised, but the council is still not united as one. Seeing that debate has gone nowhere, there is a slight change in the details discussed. Debate eventually evolved into Saudi Arabia and Qatar—the China and USA of the Arab League—working together to push for alternatives to frameworks. Will fruitful debate come out of the unlikely alliance?

Qatar (left) and Saudi Arabia (right) in a Q&A session on Alternatives of Framework

While this NTUMUN Arab League has proven to be somewhat inefficient, it might have been a true reflection of the Arab League in this very world—symbolic more than substantive, and very, very torn apart

[ntumun-blog]

Food is Gold

By Arnav Goyal, The New York Times

The former Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban ki Moon once said this “In a world of plenty, no one, not a single person, should go hungry”. This one statement completely summarizes the firm stance of the entire United Nations regarding the issue of food security. But today in the Crisis council, the delegates conviction to uphold this statement was tested to its limits.

After two days of debate, the delegates in the Crisis council were rocked from their temporary state of peace by being faced by another crisis as soon as council session began. At the start of day 3, the council was faced with the food shortage crisis in the Philippines. Philippines, in order to craft it's image of a progressive nation, was one of the first countries to support Genetically Modified Foods. Its staple food, rice, was replaced with the Genetically Modified version of rice, Golden Rice, as the new staple food of the Philippines. Through multiple investigations and research studies, Philippines was confident of the nutritional benefits and resistance of these new crops. But this decision proved to have heavy consequences as all the Golden Rice crops were infected by a disease that wiped out the crops. This created a food shortage within the country and drastically increased the price of food to many times its usual price. This sparked off civil unrest within the nation on multiple levels: the citizens who were not being provided enough food and the farmers who had trusted the government and were now striped of source of food and income. Although the issue originally started off as a local problem, this rapidly escalated into an international problem as there was refugee crisis due to the fact that the people on Philippines started to migrate to other countries to obtain this precious resource called food. This in turn resulted in the development of the refugee crisis.

Even though the delegates in the crisis council this time had a more generous demeanour and were willing to help the Philippines in the crisis, this was the cause of even further problems as the people of the delegates countries were unhappy due to the fact that they were also affected by the failure of the Golden Rice crop, resulting in a civil unrest in other countries too. This was ironic as usually, problems are not created due to the lack of cooperation by countries. For example in Russia, the Russian Government's endeavor to help the Philippines in its crisis by selling all its crops to the Philippines at half the market value, resulted in a civil unrest on such a large scale that all government institutions and buildings within Russia had to be closed down. It is disappointing that even in their rare state cooperation, the delegates are hampered by the roadblocks within their countries.

Even though the civil unrest is an unfortunate and uncontrollable result of this cooperation, we hope that the countries involved will not stop their cooperation due to this and will quickly resolve these civil unrests as this is a global crisis and if the countries stop their cooperation, then reaching a resolution for this issue would be impossible.

[ntumun-blog]

The Security Council is Divided Over Yemen

By Ariq Dmitri Andrei, The New York Times

The Yemeni Civil War erupted in 2015 and already claimed at least 8,000 lives and forced at least another 3 million to be displaced. To make matters worse, the lack of stability in Yemen provide a fertile ground for terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda to grow and control several patches of land in the war-stricken country.

After hours of lengthy and intense discussion, the United Nations Security Council achieved significant progress compared to the previous sessions. The stances of the delegates can easily be spotted, with a wide gap separating two contending blocs. The source of the debate can be traced to two contrasting views regarding the methods of intervening in The Yemeni Civil War.

The delegate of United States presented the approach of “house of cards method”–in which a ceasefire between the two contending parties; Yemeni government under Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and Houthi insurgents should be the first step to take. This stance attracted outrage from various delegates, with the delegates of Ethiopia and France being the most vocal.

Other delegates proposed that humanitarian aid is more essential compared to creating a temporary ceasefire. The delegate of United Kingdom urged that the blockade of Yemen under Saudi Arabia’s coalition to be lifted in order to send a humanitarian relief. This notion was approved by the majority of the council, with the delegates of France, Kazakhstan and Sweden expressed a strong support.

Among several delegates, the delegate of Kuwait expressed a strong objection on the notion of placing ceasefire as a second priority behind humanitarian aid. The delegate of Kuwait cited that “Houthi rockets could threaten our borders”. This statement might raise several questions, as the two countries are separated by more than 1,000 kilometers away and are likely to be beyond Houthi’s missile capability. According to several defense institutes, Houthi’s most capable missile; The Scud-C, has a maximum reach of approximately 600 kilometers.

Furthermore, the working paper submitted by the delegate of The United States, supported by Kuwait, sparked even further debate inside the council. While several articles in the working paper such as the elimination of terrorist groups were well-accepted, some articles such as the enforcement of Hadi’s return to power in Yemen received mixed responses from other delegates.

The blockade towards Yemen conducted by The Gulf Cooperation Council members have been criticized and considered to create a humanitarian disaster in Yemen, leading to the outbreak of severe cholera within the Yemeni people. The blockade was criticized by various delegates and urged to create a resolution to lift the blockade for a humanitarian pause. Again, this was received skeptically by the delegate of Kuwait, which believed that humanitarian aid could fall into the hands of the insurgents if permitted to enter Yemen.

Indeed, humanitarian aid is essential for the already starving Yemeni population. The conflict can be seen as proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the two competing powers within the region. Furthermore, the delegate of Poland proposed that other ports of arrival such as Djibouti can be utilized as a checkpoint for foreign aid to enter Yemen. After inspected and proven free from non-humanitarian contents, the humanitarian aid can be sent to Yemen immediately to aid the Yemeni people, as proposed by the delegate of Poland.

Furthermore, several delegates adopted a milder stance towards the conflict and did not align with any bloc. One particular delegate mentioned that “both Hadi’s government and The Houthis are the same”. Regardless of the contrasting stances between delegates within the council, countries should put by national interests and unite to create a common policy to end the conflict that has devastated Yemen and to prevent such conflicts to occur again in the already fragile region.

[ntumun-blog]

The Security Council is Divided Over Yemen

By Ariq Dmitri Andrei, The New York Times 

The Yemeni Civil War erupted in 2015 and already claimed at least 8,000 lives and forced at least another 3 million to be displaced. To make matters worse, the lack of stability in Yemen provide a fertile ground for terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda to grow and control several patches of land in the war-stricken country.

After hours of lengthy and intense discussion, the United Nations Security Council achieved significant progress compared to the previous sessions. The stances of the delegates can easily be spotted, with a wide gap separating two contending blocs. The source of the debate can be traced to two contrasting views regarding the methods of intervening in The Yemeni Civil War.

The delegate of United States presented the approach of “house of cards method”–in which a ceasefire between the two contending parties; Yemeni government under Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and Houthi insurgents should be the first step to take. This stance attracted outrage from various delegates, with the delegates of Ethiopia and France being the most vocal.

Other delegates proposed that humanitarian aid is more essential compared to creating a temporary ceasefire. The delegate of United Kingdom urged that the blockade of Yemen under Saudi Arabia’s coalition to be lifted in order to send a humanitarian relief. This notion was approved by the majority of the council, with the delegates of France, Kazakhstan and Sweden expressed a strong support.

Among several delegates, the delegate of Kuwait expressed a strong objection on the notion of placing ceasefire as a second priority behind humanitarian aid. The delegate of Kuwait cited that “Houthi rockets could threaten our borders”. This statement might raise several questions, as the two countries are separated by more than 1,000 kilometers away and are likely to be beyond Houthi’s missile capability. According to several defense institutes, Houthi’s most capable missile; The Scud-C, has a maximum reach of approximately 600 kilometers.

Furthermore, the working paper submitted by the delegate of The United States, supported by Kuwait, sparked even further debate inside the council. While several articles in the working paper such as the elimination of terrorist groups were well-accepted, some articles such as the enforcement of Hadi’s return to power in Yemen received mixed responses from other delegates.

The blockade towards Yemen conducted by The Gulf Cooperation Council members have been criticized and considered to create a humanitarian disaster in Yemen, leading to the outbreak of severe cholera within the Yemeni people. The blockade was criticized by various delegates and urged to create a resolution to lift the blockade for a humanitarian pause. Again, this was received skeptically by the delegate of Kuwait, which believed that humanitarian aid could fall into the hands of the insurgents if permitted to enter Yemen.

Indeed, humanitarian aid is essential for the already starving Yemeni population. The conflict can be seen as proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the two competing powers within the region. Furthermore, the delegate of Poland proposed that other ports of arrival such as Djibouti can be utilized as a checkpoint for foreign aid to enter Yemen. After inspected and proven free from non-humanitarian contents, the humanitarian aid can be sent to Yemen immediately to aid the Yemeni people, as proposed by the delegate of Poland.

Furthermore, several delegates adopted a milder stance towards the conflict and did not align with any bloc. One particular delegate mentioned that “both Hadi’s government and The Houthis are the same”. Regardless of the contrasting stances between delegates within the council, countries should put by national interests and unite to create a common policy to end the conflict that has devastated Yemen and to prevent such conflicts to occur again in the already fragile region.

[ntumun-blog]

Hesitancy Outer Space

By Lintang Maharani, New York Times

One of the delegates, Democratic Republic of Korea giving his speech

Today, the flow of debate from The Special Political and Decolonization Committee has progressed well since the second day. At first delegates spent a lot of time debating the agenda which one they should debate first, whether militarization or privatization; but after voting as shown early in the council United States of America and Democratic Republic of Korea took the initiative to publish their working paper then followed by the other states.

All of the delegates debating about militarization, privatization, constitutional for private sector company, space debris, etc.

All of the delegates doing vote for the order of the agenda

Most of them are criticizing the working paper of United States of America such as Argentina, who believes that militarization is important to be debated first. Since militarization of space is the placement and development of weaponry as well as military technology in outer space. However the United States and the Soviet Union began to develop anti-satellite weapons to blind or destroy each other’s satellites.

Germany requested that the council to be more specific and clearly in debating something because all of the delegates just debating the progress on discussing mechanism instead of focusing on the actions as the resolutions.

Hopefully, this council would progress further form militarization into another specific factor.

Sum up from the progress of council, it’s hard to disagree with the most shown up as a dominate committee in this council. Hopefully, all of the countries in this council can set aside the solutions regarding the outer space issues.

[ntumun-blog]

Bahrain: “We are in the Middle East! Where are we going to import water from?”

By: Adri Faris, Reuters

Members of the Arab League Convened This Morning to Talk about Water.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The issue of hydropolitics in the Middle East has always been relegated to secondary importance under the banners of the Arab League, when weighed against other pressing issues facing the region. However, the delicate issue of water was finally given its dueful share of attention this morning, when delegates representing Arab League’s member states convened in Singapore to discuss about it; albeit bringing about limited success in forming a general consensus on the necessary developments.

The contentious issue of water which transcends international borders can be discussed through the political, economical and social lenses. As such, it has the capacity to influence security and stability within the region just as much as other traditional factors such as military threats or civil wars. The problem of water scarcity which plagues the Middle East exacerbates the situation even further - it complicates the relationship between states which must obtain water from shared sources; necessitating such a meeting this morning.    

After hours of debating, three things were clear - delegates were well aware that water can be used as a bargaining chip in political discussions; regional and domestic conflicts which plague the region have an important role to play in deciding the necessary steps to be taken and; a comprehensive framework is fundamental in resolving the issue at hand.

In his opening speech, the delegate of Yemen recognised that the discussion pertaining to hydropolitics in the region will inevitably be intertwined with “the playing of political gains” by some countries. As such, he proposed that “no country should get itself mired in any politics”. His sentiments were echoed in the delegate of Saudi Arabia’s subsequent speeches. She pushed for the “apolitical basis of handling this issue”, acknowledging that water sources in the region are mainly transnational.

Related to the concerns brought forth by the delegates of Yemen and Saudi Arabia were the concerns related to the civil wars and conflicts happening in the region. Such events were believed by many, including the delegates of Morocco and Palestine, to be significant in undermining the overall effectiveness of the framework which is to be established as soon as a general consensus has been reached. The delegate of Morocco pointed out that the presence of underlying tensions between states surrounding the region would mean that some countries might not want to cooperate with the guidelines set up by the framework. To make things worse, the delegate of Palestine also pointed out that some countries “such as Sudan and Iraq”, are “facing problems with countries beyond the League.”

Even with these valid points of contention brought forth by the aforementioned delegates, the general sentiment which pervaded the council was still one which believes in the necessity of a framework - as highlighted through a straw poll vote where 10 out of 17 delegates present voted “yes” when asked if “whether the framework is necessary”.

Delegate of Saudi Arabia and Qatar working together in a joint Q&A Session initiated and conducted by them.

One interesting occurrence which took place during council proceeding this morning was the collaboration between the delegates of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. This collaboration is worth mentioning due to the fact that just last year, Saudi Arabia said that it took the decision to cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, citing Qatar’s support for various militant groups which are “aimed at destabilising the region” as the fundamental reason. This decision to collaborate with Qatar even with the presence of underlying tensions is perhaps a move by the delegate of Saudi Arabia to portray her stance; which she laid out very clearly at the beginning of council session when she said, “We need to push through these (other political) issues right now to solve the problem at hand!”  

The meeting this morning is a testament to the Arab League’s efforts to collaborate with one another to mediate water issues within the League; acknowledging the fact that water is a valuable resource which provides the basis of life and any restriction to its access by any state may cause conflict. Experts have previously met in Canada to discuss the issue of water and security as well. According to a statement about the 2011 talks that took place in Toronto, “The world’s top ranked water conflict hotspot is the Arab region, comprised of the Middle East and North Africa.”

[ntumun-blog]

Sustainable Economic and Environmental Development a Necessity

By Chelsea Ong, Xinhua

Delegates of the world passionately wanting to pass motions to discuss the important situation at hand

“If you have a jar of sweets and you keep taking sweets out of the jar without replacing any, the sweets will eventually deplete and there will be no more sweets.” The delegate of Congo made use of the analogy of a sweet jar to illustrate the importance of sustainable economic and environmental development.

Indeed, sustainable economic and environmental development is extremely important, not just for countries to flourish, but also for the survival of humankind. Currently, the top three resources being depleted in the world are water, oil and forests. With no water and fresh air, how would we survive on this Earth?

Having economic development is, of course, one of the main priorities of every nation. However, without the right strategies, policies and goals in place, rapid unsustainable economic development can lead to harmful social, economic and environmental changes.

In the recent ECOSOC council session, the delegate of Russia rightly pointed out that economic goals should be set on a sustainable basis, and recommended that countries choose to set goals that best suit the country’s pace of development. The delegate of Russia also suggested that there should be greater investment in research and development to develop alternate methods of technology to counter the effects of environmental degradation.

The delegate of China agreed wholeheartedly with the points raised by the delegate of Russia, adding that countries should look to renewable energy as another option to counter adverse effects of pollution. She suggested that for global efforts to promote sustainable growth, MEDCs with greater dependency on renewable energy invest in research and development, and through bilateral and multilateral cooperation with LEDCs, ensure that countries are sustainable, which was agreed on by the UAE and Sweden.

Other delegates of countries such as Germany and Australia brought up the importance of government planning and policies. For example, having rules and regulations that only a certain percentage of trees can be cut down in a forest, or that if the trees are cut down, they must be grown back. Other points raised also included the expansion of EU’s emissions trading scheme.

On the whole, it was agreed upon that sustainable economic and environmental development was imperative for all nations, and all should do their part to help each other out in ensuring such a policy takes place.

China has been a strong advocator for sustainable growth despite it being an economic giant (the world’s second largest economy) with much to gain from its industrial works. Filling the gap the United States of America (USA) has ironically left empty, China is currently fore-fronting global efforts to promote sustainable development through its ratification of the Paris Agreement and green industrial policies -- setting an example for the world to model.

It is important that countries take the lead from global powerhouses, such as China, to make efforts in building a sustainable economic growth without compromising on the environment. China is doing her utmost to play an active role in trying to work towards sustainable growth, unlike other countries like the USA, whose president calls climate change “created by and for the Chinese in order to make USA manufacturing non-competitive”.

The delegates of the nations of the world seem to be making good progress on moving toward a cooperative stance on this important issue in this day and age where the crisis of climate change is already happening right now. Much more progress, however, needs to be made to ensure policies are solid and workable across the board for all nations.

[ntumun-blog]

SOCHUM - Resolution revolution

By Jeremy Tan, Xinhua News Agency

The delegate of Switzerland conveys his concerns about the resolution to China and Canada.

A young girl is led out of the dilapidated house. Flanked by 2 policemen, she staggers into the daylight. For her, the torment is over, and the road to recovery starts here. But for 215 million other children like her around the world, they are trapped in this nightmare, with the best years of their childhood melted away in the heat of brick kilns and sweatshops.

What then, are delegates in SOCHUM doing about it? As day 2 of the special summit draws to a close, it appears that efforts made by delegates so far are progressing accordingly. A draft resolution has been introduced by the delegates of Brazil, Canada, and China, and although the main ideas of the resolution are generally good, it is lacking in several other solutions that have been discussed and generally agreed upon, and could be polished up further.

The content of the resolution, which has also been backed by other countries such as India, mainly revolves around the provision of education and vocational training to children in order to replace child labour. Unsurprisingly, it is obstructionist Western delegates like the US and France that have so far been the main disruptors of council progress. Seemingly for no reason, they apply needless delaying tactics such as the submission of multiple unfriendly amendments to stall the passing of this resolution. It is to the detriment of the millions of children stuck in terrible working conditions that these delegates aimlessly quibble.

Now, that is not to say that the resolution is perfect, but instead of focusing on and highlighting minor technicalities, debate should be taking place on the actual solutions proposed in the resolution. To this end, several points have been raised about how it could be improved. Switzerland expressed reservations about a clause that would enable cash stipends for families living in poverty that sent their children to school, stating that there was no way to ensure funds would not be misappropriated. Brazil and Canada refuted this, pointing out that there were stipulations for the accountability of such families, through the attendance taking of children in schools. However, they merely the reliability of the source of funding, but did not address the way to ensure that funds would be used for the reasons specified in the resolution.

Other solutions that were not covered in the resolution were also discussed. The delegate of Myanmar, for instance, questioned the lack of a solution to the problem of corruption that has plagued the implementation of existing laws on child labour. Corruption in Myanmar is an extremely serious problem, with Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index ranking the country 136th out of 176 countries in 2016. If corruption is not solved, any solutions proposed would lapse time and time again when it comes to the enforcement of policies.

Amidst the raft of points brought up, and the furor of debate, some progress has indeed been made towards refining the resolution. Two amendments, one friendly and one unfriendly, were passed. Firstly, France and Sweden rectified the omission of civil registration from the resolution, a solution that had been previously debated upon and generally accepted by council. Civil registration refers to the proper documentation of all citizens of a countryThis was followed by the passing of a friendly amendment, adding a clause for the introduction of labour ministry representatives to look into child labour hotspots. These additional solutions will go a long way towards plugging gaps, producing a much more comprehensive resolution that effectively encapsulates council debate.

As of yet, the exact ramifications of this resolution remain unknown. Yet experts have made several predictions about the limitations of specific solutions mentioned in the resolution. For one, the provision of continued funding for measures such as education could render these areas continually dependent on the government. While that may be fine in developed countries, in developing countries where there are issues with accountability in terms of the ability of institutions to deliver the proper resources.

Nevertheless, these issues are slowly being ironed out over time, and optimism remains for a fruitful and productive end to council. This young girl, and the millions of others facing a similar plight, truly owe a debt of gratitude to China for its initiative in stepping forward to take the lead in dealing with a complex issue that most other countries shied away from. It is with this same initiative that the problems of the world, present and future, can be dealt with.

[ntumun-blog]

Nations yet to agree on the establishment of the peace-keeping body

By Chan Cheyenne Dominique Chong

After the bloodiest war in human history, representatives from around the world met in the San Francisco Conference in hopes to set up a peace-keeping body.

In sessions 1-3, there was discussion on multiple issues, delegates mentioning topics such as structure, trusteeship, peacekeeping, solidity and funding. Before the break, delegates were able to hold an unmoderated caucus, allowing them to clarify discussion direction and focus on the topic of funding.

Lebanon, Denmark and Czechoslovakia proposed a draft resolution that sought to democratise peacekeeping. It focused on not having dominant powers and to have permanent seats in the Council of States.

France propounded upon the function of the legal body, that their main role is to set up legalize documents and not deciding territories.

An additional draft of resolution was initiated by France, UK, Soviet Union and China, they had prepared a comprehensive drafted general principle of The Assembly, Policeman Council, Economic and Social Council, Justice League. Moreover, the funding mechanism, trusteeship, secretariat and finally amendments. They mentioned that the key feature is the notion of veto power, holding nations together in times of difficulties and crisis.

The issue of veto power had caught the attention of nations, the United States believed that veto power enables country to compromise with other parties, making it multilateral and easier to control situations.

Nations are still far from coming to a consensus, resolutions have yet to be finalize and shall be continued in the following day.

[ntumun-blog]

Is an Imperfect Resolution Better than No Resolution?

By Natalie Song, Agence France Presse

In Catalonia, hordes of people wave flags and hold up signs reading, “We are not Spain!” In Hong Kong, students raise up umbrellas in protest to mainland China. In Scotland, people paint their faces blue and scream, “Yes!”

All around the globe, people are demanding their right to self determination. There are hundreds of separatists movements currently underway that claim that their rights are not being adequately upheld by their government. They rally together in hopes to form a state of their own. According to Article 1, Clause 2 of the UN Charter, one of the core principles of the United Nations is the establishment of “friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples.” In the wake of pervasive separatist movements, it is the duty of the United Nations Security Council to settle such disputes and interpret the implications of Clause 2.

The delegation from France submitted a resolution with the support of China and the US. In essence, the resolution postulated that while the right to self-determination should be upheld, internal self-determination should be given favor over external. In short, this resolution does not condone secession.

The reasons for this is made clear: granting rights is managerially, relationally, and politically easier than granting an entire new country. Every ethnic community cannot have their own country. If that were the case, the world would fragment into more than 24,000 countries, effectively ruining any chance of global unity and administration. Furthermore, establishing a new state can open a Pandora’s box of problems in itself.

Take South Sudan, for instance. The Christian minority was systematically oppressed by the Muslim majority, sparking a bloody 22-year long civil war. The Bush Administration under the United States initiated the “Sudan Caucus”, a coalition that worked toward the freedom and provision of the Southern Sudanese. The nation diverged in 2011 from the Republic of the Sudan, thus beginning the Republic of the South Sudan. The former US ambassador the UN stated it was “a day of triumph for all who cherish the rights of all people to govern themselves in liberty and law.” Barely two years later, South Sudan succumbed to chaos. To symbolize harmony across ethnic backgrounds, the two primary ethnic groups were placed in power together, as president and vice-president. Underlying tensions bubbled up until it erupted in 2013, inciting a massacre of thousands and the displacement of hundreds of thousands. Without political guidance and a strong foundation, the efforts put forth by the Sudan Caucus were immediately rendered futile. In the same way, the establishment of a new state can birth a plethora of legal, social, economic, and political problems.

Given these risks, the resolution outlines a plan for internal self-determination, by means of the creation of a Special Administrative Region (SAR), such as that of Hong Kong, which manages separate judicial and legislative branches. They are additionally provided legal, judicial, economic, political, and educational autonomy. To maintain relations, a basic legislation, law enforcement agencies, and liaison offices are created.

These actions are a functional means for self-determination, but also for France and China, as writers of the resolution, to cease secessionist claims in their respective regions. France hosts seven separatist movements and China four, prominently Taiwan, Tibet, and Hong Kong.

However, many secessionist groups arise as a result of humanitarian crises. In Kosovo, for instance, Serbia enacted a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing against the ethnic Albanian minority. The UN established the state of Kosovo, but to this day, it suffers from economic stagnation and a lack of worldwide recognition. The resolution stated clearly that in the case that an ethnic group’s rights to protection (R2P) are violated, then external right to self-determination can be granted. But where do we go from there? How do we protect the natural, inherent rights of all minorities, and how can countries hold obligations to represent them all fairly?

In the final vote, Ethiopia said, “This resolution is not perfect. However, an imperfect resolution is still better than no resolution.” While the resolution proposed by France had holes pertaining to external self-determination, it still protects the rights of those pleading internal self-determination. Kuwait voted against, retorting that “no resolution is better than an imperfect resolution.” Therein, is where the debate on France’s resolution in United Nations Security Council essentially lie - is an imperfect resolution better than no resolution? For many member states today, the answer was yes - the resolution passed 10 - 2. The full preservation of the right to self determination still remains unaccounted for, but for now, some is better than none.

[ntumun-blog]

COULD THIS BE A RUNAROUND?

By Wong Shi Hui, Agence France-Presse

Human resources are key to all economies around the world. It sets the precedence for economic growth and development of countries. While there are those who are applauded for their profession, it seems that those faced with drudgery go unnoticed. Modern slavery poses as a social problem not exclusive to developing countries; a few examples would be bonded labour, descent-based slavery, forced labour, early and forced marriage, human trafficking, organ trafficking and other slave-like exploitation.

On the first day of the conference in the African Union committee, delegates are not engaged with the debate and discussion only revolved around problems of the Belt Road Initiative (BRI). There are aspirations to resolve the issue but the process leading to it stagnated. Many critical issues are yet to be discussed like improvements on government structure and minimizing the harmful effects on the environment caused by chinese corporations. Seeing that there were little to no progression on the resolutions of the debate on the Dais had attempted to set the agenda moving forward into the second committee session.

Dais attempts to set the direction for the debate

However, despite the many attempts to exit the runaround, the African Union continues to be trapped within the whelms of it. Finalised solutions for workers rights was raised for the 3rd time as a moderated caucus during the debate; with resolutions like establishing ratifications and protocols , introducing tax reduction schemes when working conditions are met as a reward and increasing the expertise and rights of trade unions are a few plausible solutions which was raised to be finalized eventually.

Some may argue that all hope is not lost. As the committee continues to struggle through into the 4th committee session, delegates managed to introduce a draft resolution to the committee. But South Africa, Uganda and Mozambique being the main sponsors of are met with the outrage of Nigeria as he fervorously points out the redundancy and flaws with the DR. On the point of clause 3, it is stated seeked to “ further encourage the creation of a government-based workers’ union in each nation state that is facilitated by The Committee on Health, Labour and Social Affairs”. Yet it is known to many that such a resolution has already been set in stone. The delegates should have then attempted to introduce an amendment if they have had ideas on how to add value or improve the existing measures. On top of that, Mozambique, in his defence of clause 8 on “proposing the creation of a African Union-wide public bidding portal and associated regulatory tribunal (Sale of African Votes Entity (Africa)) to commodify votes in international bodies to be sold to foreign entities” was heavily criticized . The delegate clearly was not adhering to his country stance as he attempts to argue that sovereignty could be compromised for the sake of economic gains. As the AFP network gains an interview with the delegate, he claims that it is “wise to maximize the power the country has over its determination on whether or not to exchange their vote of support for economic gains”. By making such claims, Mozambique has hints of the country’s intentions to “cut away the hand that feeds it”. However, It clearly contradicts what they would be doing since China has invested heavily with a total amount exceeding USD 2.28 billion from 2000 to 2014, in the building of the Maputo/Catembe bridge, due to be opened in the next few months in the Mozambican capital.

The African Union continues to be confined within the gloomy whelms of not addressing sufficient and viable resolutions tagged to the agendas in the 4th committee session. This situation suffice to be a worrying sign that African nations may eventually fall to the bidding of a superpower nation like China.

[ntumun-blog]

An Arab League Coalition Without Saudi?

By: Adri Faris, Reuters

“The council has spoken, this coalition cannot survive without Saudi Arabia.”

Those were the words of the delegate of Saudi Arabia, after a straw poll vote showed that a majority of the council does not believe that the military coalition will be effective without contributions from her country.

The delegate of Saudi Arabia listed three specific conditions which must be met before her country agrees to join the military coalition. Firstly, Saudi Arabia must be accorded with veto powers in the coalition. Secondly, the number of troops provided by each member state must be proportionate to their respective active military personnels. Lastly, the delegate of Saudi Arabia insisted that the joint military coalition must not be used against her allies.

The Delegate of Saudi Arabia Strong With Her Stance

Saudi Arabia’s unyielding stance portrayed in council brought about a strong reaction from the other member states, particularly regarding her first condition related to the accordance of veto powers. In a separate straw poll vote introduced by the delegate of Morocco, 13 out of 17 delegates present voted “no” when asked if they were amenable to “any types of veto”.

In a Separate Straw Poll Vote

This point of contention even extended to Bahrain-Saudi relations which have generally been friendly for a long time. Just last year, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia has collectively worked together to sever diplomatic relations with Qatar, citing support for militants.

However, in council session today, the delegate of Bahrain had an autonomous stance, different from that of Saudi Arabia. He stressed the importance of not according any country, including Saudi Arabia, with veto powers. He emphasized the need to do so to ensure that “no country have the capacity to entrench their powers too much”. He also cited reasons related to efficiency to back his argument, stating that without the accordance of veto powers, “the League could minimise unnecessary stalemates” when resolving conflicts.

The quandary remains as to how the Arab League should find it amongst themselves the political will and an effective metric system to determine the extent of contributions - both and economical - from each member state in this joint military coalition.

The huge spectrum in non-uniform levels of military capability, influence and economic capacity that exists within the League necessitates this pertinent discussion related to the extent of contributions from each member state. On one end of the spectrum, we have states such as Qatar and oil-rich Saudi Arabia with high economic capacities; and on the other end of the spectrum, we have states such as Comoros and Somalia with low Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per Capita levels.

Image Source: This is an original piece created by the writer.

After rounds and rounds of debate and caucuses, the debate was tabled that evening and a general consensus has still not been reached.

[ntumun-blog]

Time Is Money for ECOSOC Discussions

By Shan Yunhong Reuters

ECOSOC indeed presents itself as a diligent council, with around 8 working papers being introduced on various topics regarding sustainable population growth, including food insecurity, ageing population, population and urbanisation, funding and so forth.

However, diligence does not necessarily equate to efficiency. Due to the lack of effectiveness in communication or response to the opposing delegates’ proposed solutions, many working papers overlap in contents.

Furthermore, the council constantly failed to reach consensus on agendas proposed. Since the first council session, waves of placards calling for motions of moderated caucuses have swept across the floor; however, most of the motions raised did not reflect agreement on the agenda, resulting in invariable fails. As a result, the chairs had no choice but to commence unmoderated caucuses for delegates to reiterate and amend the proposed agenda, after which this vicious cycle ensued.

All these preceding factors led to a slow and painful discussion haunting the council floor. During the procedure of General Speakers’ List on food scarcity, for instance, countries brought up past experiences and current solutions on distinct areas of focus, such as the reduction of food wastage, sustainable farming, equal distribution of food and invigoration of the local market. Although this approach to discussion by the council may be effective in presenting all the existing subordinate areas of issues needed to be addressed subsequently, it was circumlocutory within the same topic, and concrete, detailed solutions to resolve such issues were lacking. As moderated caucuses to discuss specific solutions were unable to pass, ideas soon drained out.

This was an inherently flawed approach towards a profound and expansive topic such as sustainable population growth. The topic encompasses numerous aspects, such as food insecurity, challenges in urban planning and policy-making, and environmental degradation, to name a few. The unbalanced population growth between developed and developing countries leads to different problems as well.

Due to such an inappropriate approach, the discussion went much slower than the timeframe entailed, with the topic of environmental degradation and climate change eventually being left out of the frame.

Despite major loopholes, some interesting solutions proposed still managed to garner attention on the floor. China introduced several viable solutions from its rich experience with the issue of population growth. For urban planning, in particular, she suggested the construction of compact cities, where educational, medical resources and transportation are easily accessible within a smaller landscape. She also postulated how this measure can be adapted to accommodate LEDCs with less funding and political will to execute such massive city transformations, by grouping neighbouring rural villages into one compact city, or forming flocks of new compact cities on the peripheries of a large city, so as to leverage on the resources available in the metropolis in the vicinity. This suggestion finally received response from delegates from other LEDCs. Congo applauded China’s compact city approach, and corroborated her proposed solution by invoking area-based development planning programme. UNDP’s policy of area-based development planning to alleviate poverty, promote equality and catalyse urbanisation has been proven effective in LEDCs such as Afghanistan and Congo.

For the next issue on illicit financial flows, ECOSOC should be reminded to agree on a clear agenda, listen attentively to other delegates’ speeches, as well as identify promptly and communicate effectively points of resonance or disagreements with each other, so as to accelerate the discussions.