Position Paper Guidelines

Transcription

1 thetuni s i an nati onal di aloguequartet WMI DMUN XV

2 Position Paper Guidelines Position Paper Guidelines What s it all about? The purpose of a position paper is to display your understanding of the committee topics as well as your position s stances on different issues. Writing a position paper will assist you in your research and preparation for the conference. The position paper will be comprised of three to four sections, depending on the number of topics your committee covers. Section One: Background Information Introduce your country or position by providing basic information and background. This section should start out broad, followed by any general information that is relevant to the committee as a whole. This only needs to be done once not for every topic. Remaining Sections: Topics Write one section for each topic. The header of each section should be the topic name as it is titled in your Background Guide. These sections should be roughly half a page to one page (double spaced) in length and should include: 1. Background information on the topic 2. Your position/country s stance on the issue at hand 3. Statistics and other relevant information with respect to your position 4. Policies or actions your position/nation has supported 5. Proposed solutions to each of your topics The Fifteenth Annual William & Mary Middle School Model United Nations Conferen XV

3 Position Paper Guidelines 6. Responses to the Questions to Consider provided throughout the Background Guide Formatting A position paper should be formatted like a formal essay: use 12 pt Times New Roman font, black ink, and 1 margins. All information that is not common knowledge should be cited using your most comfortable format (ex. MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.). The header of your paper should include the following pieces of information: 1. Your Full Name 2. Full School Name 3. Committee (World Health Organization, United Nations Development Program, etc.) 4. Country/Position The Fifteenth Annual William & Mary Middle School Model United Nations Conferen XV

4 Letter from the Director Sponsors and Delegates, Welcome to the at the fifteenth annual William and Mary Middle School Model United Nations Conference. My name is Risa Nakata and I am the director for this committee. It is a pleasure to have all of you and I look forward to directing this conference. This is my first year at the College and my first year with our International Relations Club. I am planning on double-majoring in International Relations and Economics, and I really enjoy the fact that this committee deals with topics that touch upon both subjects. The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet will deal with the social and governmental issues in the Tunisian Republic that emerged in the aftermath of the 2011 Jasmine Revolution, which started a string of revolutions in the Arab World that came to be known as the Arab Spring. During the conference there will be general debate and the drafting of legislative proposals and resolutions. Keep in mind that your actions during the conference will determine the way in which the committee progresses, and they do not necessarily have to closely adhere to historical events in the real world. You will also receive news updates from the outside world as the conference takes place, which will require you to utilize your analytical and problemshooting skills as you either work with or work around these updates presented to you. WMIDMUN requires that every delegate submit a position paper. In the position paper you are to summarize the stance your delegation has on the issues. While your actions during the conference do not have to be identical to your delegation s actions in past, note that your stance does. Both topics require you to create a plan, and positions papers should be 1 page per topic. Please bring your position papers to the first committee session. If you have any questions regarding the committee or either of the topics, feel free to send me an . I look forward to welcoming you to our campus and WMIDMUN in February.

5 Best, Risa Nakata Director, The Fourteenth Annual William & Mary Middle School Model United Nations Conference 2

6 Background The is a coalition of four civil society groups, the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT), the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade, and Handicrafts (UTICA), the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH), and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers. After the President Ben Ali was ousted as a result of the Jasmine Revolution in 2011, the Constituent Assembly of Tunisia was established and assigned to devise a new Tunisian constitution. This proved to be a difficult task, and the assembly failed to meet its one-year deadline. Meanwhile, the newly formed three-party coalition government consisting of the Islamist Ennahda party led by Rashid al-ghannush, the Congress for the Republic (CPR) led by Moncef Marzouki, and secular social democratic party Ettakatol was also facing growing dissent among its people. It appeared incapable of tackling either economic or security challenges, and were also widely criticized for its lenient attitude towards radical Islamists. The assassinations of opposition leaders Chokri Belaid on the sixth of February in 2013 and Mohamed Brahmi on the twenty-fifth of July the same year, as well as the killing of Tunisian soldiers by Islamic fundamentalists led to a rapid surge in dissatisfaction and anger towards the government. Opposition forces such as the Popular Front united with each other to form the National Salvation Front and organized massive street protests that called for the resignation of the government. Facing the seemingly imminent clash of violence, the nation s worker s federation, the Tunisian General Labor Union stepped forward and created a civil society alliance, joining forces with its historical rival, the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade, and Handicrafts. The Tunisian Human Rights League and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers later joined the alliance, further adding to the legitimacy and influence of the Tunisian Dialogue. In addition, the quartet received 3

7 significant international support. The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet formulated a roadmap designed to guide the country towards political harmony and stability. On October 5 th, 2015, the quartet was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts in peacefully directing Tunisia towards a pluralistic democracy. Front, which was founded through the joining of the Popular Front and the Union for Tunisia. Many other unaffiliated protesters, such as Liberals, Secularists, Leftists, and Feminists also participated in demonstrations against the government. The government itself was split into three, Ennahda, the Congress for the Republic, and Ettakatol. Topic 1: Immediate Containment On the July 27th, 2013, just days after the assassination of Mohamed Brahmi, violent clashes between protesters and the police occurred outside the parliament building, resulting in the death of one protester. Two days later the Tunisian General Labor Union called for talks between the regime and the opposition to take place. This was going to be an extremely difficult task not only because of the heightened political tension, but also due to the numerous parties within the opposition coalition that each had their own agenda to follow. There were two main opposition parties, the Tunisian General Labor Union and the National Salvation In this conference, the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet must plan out the negotiations that will take place between the government and the opposition. The most obvious questions are when, where, and how the talks will be held. With more and more people taking to the streets and conflicts breaking out, it would be sensible to host the national dialogue somewhere in the near future. We must consider whom to invite to these talks (With so many parties in the opposition, do we invite representatives from each and every group? How about those that are less organized and lack clear structures within their organization as well as goals for the future?) and how to keep the negotiation as 4

8 neutral as possible. Incentives for the current government to cooperate in these talks is crucial as well. It could continue to use riot police and/or the military to deal with the protesters, which would lead to more violence and loss. Once we have the logistics down, we can move on to discussing the issues that must be tackled in this country, the most pressing of which is the protests and the general dissatisfaction the people have against the government. We have two choices, either to reform the current government, which would mean the resignation of some officials (such as select members of the Islamist Ennahda party) and new regulations being implemented, or to give in to the protesters demands and create a completely new one, in which case all members of the current regime will be switched out and replaced with new ones. Reforming the government would be less drastic and require less effort and time, but creating a new government by having the current government resign immediately and thorough way of ridding the government of the people and ideals that are to blame for the chaos Tunisia is faced with today. Questions to Consider 1. What would the consequences be for either actions? 2. How do we, a civil society union, make the government comply with the people s demands? Topic 2: Ensuring Future Political Stability The logistics for the National Dialogue has been set, and we now have to work on ensuring political cooperation and stability once the new government comes in place. It is necessary to formulate a detailed plan, or roadmap with clear roles, goals, deadlines, and enforcement mechanisms for the nation to follow. We must address the issues that were present in the former government regime and figure out how to overcome them. replacing it with new members would be a more 5

9 First and foremost, the new government, unlike its predecessor, must deal properly with radical Islamists in the country and prevent acts of terror as much as possible. Ansar al-sharia in Tunisia, the Salafist pro-islamist group, has been held responsible for multiple attacks in the postrevolution period, including the attack on a television station broadcasting the movie Persepolis in October 2011, clashes with police officers over alcohol sellers in May 2012, the attack on a controversial art exhibit in June 2012, the attack on the US embassy in September 2012, and supposedly the assassinations of Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi. Recognizing and labelling the Ansar al Sharia and similar groups as terrorist groups and taking measures such as heightening security and surveillance may help alleviate the situation. On the other hand, addressing the social pathologies that produce these ideologies and their followers would help prevent future generations from joining in their footsteps. Islamic agenda in the government is another problem that has been voiced multiple times by the people in the past. The formerly leading party Ennahda was criticized for sharing sympathies with Islamist groups and attempting to lead the nation towards a more fundamentalist route. In August 2012, thousands of people protested against the government s move to reduce women s rights by referring to women as complementary to men in the draft constitution. While secularism seems like the obvious answer to this issue, it is without a doubt extremely difficult to achieve at this point, and we should also keep in mind that there is a fair amount of people in the country that support more fundamentalist ideologies, and silencing them completely would not be the best way to handle things. Equal representation in the government is one of the most crucial things the quartet should strive for. Tunisia, as well as many other Arab countries, has a history of denying places in the political system to ethnic groups or religious sects, usually through force. 6

10 These groups, along with secularists, liberals, leftists, and feminists should certainly be granted political representation in the system, but Islamists must also be guaranteed representation to ensure peace and fairness in the future. On a wider scale, the country has also been dealing with economic hardships such as an incredibly high rate of youth unemployment and state socialism. Laws that allow and encourage public-private infrastructure investments and the gradual privatization of industries could be passed to reform the economic system. Questions to Consider 1. How do we ensure the maximum number of parties cooperating with each other and signing the agreement? 2. How would we make equal representation work? 3. How do we avoid a similar crisis from occurring again? 7

11 References 1. Tunisia profile - Timeline." BBC News. October 13, Middle East Online: No dialogue with Ennahda: Tunisia opposition proposes government of national salvation." 3. Tunisia: Artists under attack." Artsfreedom. August 03, "Salafism in Tunisia: Challenges and Opportunities for Democratization." Middle East Policy Council. 5. Who are Tunisia's Salafis?" Foreign Policy. 6. "Tunisia's democratic road map." The Washington Post. 7. Samuel Osborne. : What is it and why did it win the Nobel Peace Prize? The Independent. 8. Bird, Pamela Engel and Mike. "Here's the background on the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet, which just won the Nobel Peace Prize." Business Insider. October 09, "Spring is still in the air." The Economist. October 25, "Tunisia's new government in trouble." Tunisia's new government in trouble - Al Jazeera English. 11. "Tunisia PM forms 'unity government'" Tunisia PM forms 'unity government' - Al Jazeera English. 8