Disarmament and International Security Committee (DISARM) - The Disarmament and International Security Committee, DISEC, is the First committee of General Assembly. The resolutions created by DISEC are not obligatory and cannot be enforced, but solely suggested. The main objectives of DISEC are to promote international peace and prevent conflicts from becoming armed. Every nations that is apart of the United nations gets a vote in DISEC and all votes are worth the same amount. In many cases resolutions passed by DISEC are recommended to the Security Council, which has the power to enact many of the clauses in the resolutions. DISEC deals with issues regarding disarmament and national security. This conference DISEC will be run resolution style. Caroline Blanck carblanck1@gmail.com Adhana Asfaw atasfaw@gmail.com South China Sea Conflict Introduction The South China Sea is located to the southern part of China, and is surrounded by China, Vietnam, The Philippines, Taiwan and Malaysia. It contains multiple shipping lanes, oil reserves and are very valuable. The South China Sea Conflict is an argument between China and it s neighbors who share the China Sea, primarily Vietnam and partially The Philippines, regarding territorial claims
over the Paracels and the Spratlys islands, the Scarborough Shoal and other areas of the ocean. Also, the territorial claims are centered on the shipping lanes, which all the nations in the area use to export and import goods. China voices territorial claims over the nine-dash line which extends hundreds of miles into the ocean from China s most southern tip, Hainan. The nine-dash line extends into other nations sovereign territories and is playing a large role into the conflict, China voices these claims because they believe that this land has been theirs since the time of their ancestors over 2,000 years ago. Hundreds of Chinese and Vietnamese lives have been lost due to this conflict in the past. The Paracels and the Spratlys islands are desired by many nations because of the multitude of natural resources they hold. The amount of oil reserves speculated to be in these islands is estimated to be between 30-200 billion barrels of oil. It is also estimated that there is about 900 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves in the islands. History China and Vietnam have been fighting over the Paracels and the Spratlys islands for over 30 years. China first asserted the Guangdong Province should rightfully rule the Spratly Islands in 1946. Japan s signing of the treaty of San Francisco, in 1951, which formally ended World War II, ends Japan s empire and it s claims to the South China Sea Islands. But, there was not any official statement of what nation would rule the territory following. Due to the lack of documenting who would take possession of the South China Sea Islands from Japan, many nations began to fight over them, forming the roots The two bloodiest battles occurred in 1974 and 1988 when China captured Spratly and Paracel, killing over 70 Vietnamese and when the two countries again battled over Spratly killing over 60 total, respectively. The Paracels and the
Spratlys islands are much closer to Vietnam than China, however both sets of islands are far beyond either nations shore. In 1991, China officially claims the Spratly and Paracel Islands under their control by invoking the Law on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone of the Republic of China. A few years following, in 1995 China seizes the Philippines Mischief Reef in the Spratlys Islands, this was significant because the reef is only 130 miles from the Philippines coast, which under the UN Law of the Sea says it is apart of the Philippines Exclusive Economic Zone. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea says that a countries exclusive economic zone extends from its shores to 200 nautical miles out to sea, which is 230 miles, making the Spratly Islands apart of the Philippines. This is extremely relevant to the topic of the South China Sea because China is directly breaking international law. In retaliation, in May 2000, the Philippines captured a Chinese fishing boat in the Scarborough Shoal and they killed one of the fishermen and arrested seven others. In 2002, China wrote the China-ASEAN Declaration on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea. To help ease the tension, the Code of Conduct was been written up for the nations to comply with but it has little to no effect. It stated that the countries would resolve their issues peacefully and through negotiations. Trying to prevent military conflict, the Southeast Asian Nations met in late June and gained China s agreement to work toward a binding Code of Conduct. In 2004, China agreed to international maritime relations governed by international law, The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Current Situation China, Vietnam and the Philippines fighting over the Islands is growing and becoming more explosive. Each claim historical and geographical proximity claims. Like so many other territorial disagreements, it comes down to oil. US Energy Information Administration estimates 28 billion barrels of oil while the EIA believes the most significant thing is the natural gas estimated at 900 trillion cubic feet. In July of 2012, China and the Philippines had a naval standoff over the Scarborough Shoal. In 2008, China made it clear that they would go to war over areas in the South China Sea and that they were extremely set on obtaining the territory. Since 2010 many events have occurred which have intensified the conflict. Scientists from China have planted a flag into the bed of the sea such as Neil Armstrong did with an American flag on the moon, many fishing disputes have occurred and the largest issues which has occurred has been a dispute over the Scarborough Shoal. In June of 2011, China and Vietnam were fighting over the territory, causing many countries around the world, such as the United States, to worry. The quarrel between China and the Philippines over the Scarborough Shoal Standoff began on April 8 th, 2012 due to the Philippines Navy attempting to arrest Chinese fishermen under the claims that they were illegally gathering coral, fish and many other things from the Scarborough Shoal. The Philippines Navy did not end up arresting the Chinese fisherman because Chinese maritime surveillance ships stopped them. Since then, the Filipino people have boycotted many Chinese goods, China has suspended tours to the Philippines and tensions have only increased. In September, China will host a meeting to work on the issue. Also, in late June, Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang went to China to strengthen his countries relationship
with China. Both countries agreed to follow the new future laws and resolutions. However, it is unclear if the Chinese civilian government can persuade its military branch to agree with the agreements. The Chinese government can accept regulations, but it may be difficult for them to enforce their military to follow the new laws because of the deep-rooted tensions. Today China has a strong economic interest in the South China Sea. Ninety percent of its trade and more than eighty percent of its energy imports go through the South China Sea and the Malacca Strait. South China Sea is one of the most dangerous areas for piracy in the world. Pirates often hijack the ships and sell the goods on the ships themselves. Although China is stronger than it s contenders in the conflict, the United States is willing to back the other nations if they wish or need. Questions to Consider 1. What are repercussions the international community should impose for nations using force and military to claim the South China Sea? 2. Whose claims to the South China Sea are most logical? 3. What role should the international community take in monitoring the region? 4. How has piracy affected the conflict? 5. What are the economic costs of the fighting over this region? Further Reading http://news.usni.org/2012/06/20/south-china-sea-history-armed-conflict http://www.globaltimes.cn/specialcoverage/southchinaseaconflict.aspx
http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/node/1260 Child Suicide Bombing Introduction Child Suicide Bombing is when children are trained to execute suicide suicide missions that not only kill themselves, but those around them. These children are taught to strap bombs to themselves, and detonate them in a populated area or in an enemy region. This exploitation of children endangers their welfare and safety, as it has killed hundreds of children, and plagued many others with post traumatic stress disorder. Many extremist Islamic groups such as the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and Hamas originally used their adult members to conduct these suicide missions but soon many of these extremist groups have transitioned into using children. Because a majority of the families in the region are impoverished and are Muslims, they are easily persuaded by these Islamic extremist groups, who become a source of food, money, and religious guidance. These groups can easily influence the children to carry out the suicide missions, and law enforcers do not suspect the children as much as the adult members. As more children are being employed by these extremist groups, many children as well as innocent civilians are killed in these suicide attacks and the international community must intervene to protect the welfare of the the hundreds of children in the Middle East. History In 1996, when the Taliban took over the government of Afghanistan, they left the capital city of Kabul in ruins, as well as the infrastructure of Afghanistan in ruins. Because the Taliban
ran a strict Islamic republic, there was not a focus on schools that provided children with maths and sciences but on madrassas, schools that teach the Islamic religion. These schools are not only in Afghanistan, but are abundant in many Islamic nations such as Iraq, and Pakistan. While these schools are abundant in the country, the government now condemns these schools because they believe that they are teaching increasingly extremist values. As hatred grew against the United States and Israel, the belief of Wahhabism spread throughout extremist groups as well as through the citizens of these nations. According to Us. Gov, this is a sect of Sunni Islam that literally interprets the Koran in the belief that all non- Muslims are sinners and enemies. Wahhabism was originally associated with the Saudi Arabian royal family, but this belief has spread throughout the Middle East. Extremist groups have used it as justification to practice violence against the people of their own nation, as well as people of other nations. According to Us.gov, this sect believes that they are the only true Muslims, and that they must engage in jihad, or wage war against all non-believers. The Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as Al Qaeda began to increasingly train their own adult members to conduct suicide missions, convincing them that they would arrive in heaven, and that they were serving their religion. These same tactics used on adults would soon be used on children to persuade them to fill out these same missions. The Commission of Human Rights created the Convention of the Rights of the Child, in which the four main principles were the right to life, survival and development, nondiscrimination, devotion to the best interests of the child, and respect to the views of the child. In 1990, there was also a world summit specifically dedicated to promoting the well-being of children.
Current Situation After 2005, the use of child suicide bombers began to become an increasingly serious problem within the international community, when these groups began to increasingly use children for these suicide missions. Children are easier to persuade and are not thought of as threats in the high-security areas the Taliban targets. The Taliban has been traveling to many madrassas in Afghanistan and Pakistan, offering the children a chance to learn an advanced level of Islamic education. These children are separated from their families and learn to trust and eventually want to impress their teachers at the Taliban madrassas. The UN reports that there are many of these madrassas around the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Taliban teaches the children how to use a variety of weapons, such as machine guns, rocket launchers, grenades and bombs. They also teach these children their beliefs of Wahhabism to justify any violence against their enemies. According to CNN, the Taliban has forced children to do menial tasks, has beaten them, and sometimes sexually assaulted them. While the Taliban has publicly condemned any use of children in suicide bombing, their actions have contradicted this statement multiple times. These madrassas that are used by these extremist groups have been condemned by the Afghanistan government, and other Islamic nations. These governments believe that these madrassas have adopted extremist teachings, and are trying to combat these extremist groups in the hope aiding these children. According to the NGO Safe World for Women, President Hamid Karzai made a statement saying these groups were opressors of Islam and children, and that children should not be used as attackers. The police and Afghan intelligence agencies have been working to try and capture and save these children suicide bombers. According to the Tribune, in early 2012, Afghan police were able to save 41 children, ages ranging from 6 to 11, from
carrying out suicide missions. One tactic that the government has been using is highly publicizing children saved from these missions so that they can turn the Afghan people against the Taliban and other extremist groups. In 2011, six boys saved from the suicide missions were put in front of multiple photographers, journalists, and cameramen, according to Safe World for Women. The extremist groups use a variety of different way to persuade the child to carry out a suicide mission. Some children knowingly carry out the suicide mission for the promises of martyrdom and heaven. Others believe that through their belief of Islam, they will remain unharmed while their targets will be killed if they have an amulet from the Koran. Some children are not even aware that they are wearing a bomb, and believe that a toy will come out. Because the Taliban recruits many children under the age of ten, it becomes easy for them to persuade these children to carry out these missions. According to the UN Office of Special Representative, 66 cases of recruitment of boys as young as 8 were carried out in Afghanistan. While it is difficult to know the exact age range that the Taliban recruit from, some children are known to be recruited at the young age of five. According to the UN Office of the Special Representatives, these suicide missions have resulted in 110 child causalities in 2012, in Afghanistan alone. The Taliban has been successful in recruiting a large number of children because of the impoverished situation that many of the families are living in the Middle East. Many families believe in the use of child suicide bombers, and have recently been encouraging their children to work for the Taliban in the name of Islam. Because the Taliban is working under the ideology of Islam, they can more easily get the support of the families in Pakistan and Afghanistan. They appeal to the families' devotion to Islam by by telling them that Americans are burning the
Koran, and that many people are abandoning Islam. Some of these family members are already part of the Taliban movement, and terrorism becomes part of the family ideals. Because 38 percent of people in Afghanistan are under the poverty line and 72 percent of people are illiterate, many of the families cannot provide for their own children. The Taliban offers these families vital resources, such as food and water, in exchange for the enrollment of their children in the Taliban school, and are able to collect a large number of recruits that way. Sometimes the Taliban even offers to buy the children, for 7,000 to 14,000 dollars, which is an enormous amount of money compared to their monthly income. In other areas where the Taliban has more power, families are either forced to pay a tax, sometimes double the annual income, or give a child to the Taliban. Child suicide bombing does not only hurt the children of these nations but the civilians around them. It has been found that an average of 28 people are killed with every suicide bombing. This has contributed to the increase of poor orphans in these nations. These children usually have no support system, and become easy targets for the Taliban, as they promise food to them, or are able to kidnap them. The UN has reported that in 2012, there were 18 incidents of kidnapping that involved 67 boys in Afghanistan. Many of these children don't want to carry out these missions but are forced by the Taliban, by repeatedly telling these children that they will arrive in heaven when they do. many of these suicide missions are not completed, due to bomb complications, miscommunications, or swift action by the US and Afghanistan armies. These children are then relocated to prisons throughout Afghanistan and Pakistan mixed in with children that have done petty crimes, or with adults that have also tried suicidal missions, or have committed other crimes. Many of the children caught have the mentality that they will still complete their
missions after their release. While some families are happy that their children are still living, others are disappointed that their children have failed, reassure them they have another chance, or urge them to try again. Those who do not want to carry out these missions have to stay in hiding, in fear of being found again by the Taliban. While the government has been generous in giving these children pardons for their crimes, a growing problem is that there are very little rehabilitation programs that undo the teachings and effects that the Taliban have imposed on these children. There are a growing number of these de-radicalization programs, which have worked to combat the trauma the children have faced, as well as to teach them not to use violence against these people. According to NPR, these children have been thoroughly brainwashed by the Taliban and other extremist groups, and sometimes requires multiple years of the de-radicalization programs. According to the UNODC, these rehabilitation centers are facing an overcrowding crises, as the facilities are unable to compensate for a growing number of children. The Kabul Rehabilitation Center, for example, is currently housing 136 more children that was their given capacity. According to CNN, there is only one organization in Afghanistan solely dedicated to rehabilitating these traumatized children. Ban Ki Moon has addressed the Security Council about the growing number of suicide bombers, and urging all nations to stop exploiting these children in 2008. Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, has released many press statements regarding this topic, including one in February of 2010 where, while she condemned the use of child suicide bombers, she admitted the difficulty of combating the issue, seeing as it is increasingly difficult to access these children. While the UN has written many reports on the status of these children in these countries, and has urged the governments of countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan to aid these children, there has been
no other major effort to stop these extremist groups. The UN also has had great difficulty in tracking these children who are recruited by the Taliban, so it has been difficult for them to aid these many children. Questions to Consider 1. How can the UN gain access to these children in order to give better aid? 2. Who is responsible for rehabilitating these children? 3. How can the UN aid families in keeping their children safe? 4. How can the UN combat the Taliban without infringing on national sovereignty? Further Reading http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/03/afghanistan-child-suicide-bombers http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/27/world/asia/pakistan-anti-taliban http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/indoctrinating-children-the-making-of-pakistan%e2%80%99ssuicide-bombers http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/08/31/afghanistan-taliban-should-stop-using-children-suicidebombers Illegal Arms Trade in West Africa Introduction The transference of these weapons fuels violence and wars in West Africa and depending on the number of weapons transferred, can have detrimental effects. Arms illegally traded range
from machetes to tanks to machine guns to explosives. Often the illegal trade of weapons occurs between governments. However, weapons can fall into the hands of terrorist or rebel groups, posing threats to all governments and citizens of the country that the weapons are in or to any country or group of people the weapon holders dislike. According to the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs, the illegal arms trade has almost become as large as the legal arms trade, as it has become a billion dollar market. Many of these illegal arms traded in West Africa are small arms. The UN has defined small arms as man-made portable lethal weapon that expels or launches, is designed to expel or launch, or may be readily converted or may be readily converted to expel or launch a shot, bullet, or projectile, by the action of an explosive, which includes grenades, light machine guns, revolvers, hand guns, and rifles. These small arms are common in illicit trading because they are small and easily transported, are light as well as cheap, are durable very easily hidden, and dangerously lethal. Because of these features, governments are often times unable to manage and track these small arms. Often times these small arms get into these black markets through theft from people or from various shipments, reselling of small arms, or distribution. This ready availability of these small arms have been the cause of the violence that has ravaged many of these West African countries. History After many African countries claimed independence after World War II, many were left without stable government or infrastructure. There were increasing fights over power and resources, and this led to many conflicts and wars. Many countries within West Africa, such as Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Mali, and Liberia, have been ravaged by many civil wars and conflicts.
This type of environment, in which war is prevalent, has made these West African countries a prime area for local black markets to sell small arms illegally. Many of these groups fighting for power are the people fueling the illicit arms trade. For example, These large quantity of small arms proliferated in West Africa when the United States and the Soviet Union began sending large numbers of small arms into different African countries during the Cold War. Even though the Cold War eventually ended in the late 1900s, these small arms still remained in these countries, and have been one of the causes of the violence going on in these countries. After a conflict has occurred, many times small arms have been stored in weapon stockpiles. These are where surplus small arms and ammunition are stored in a government facility during the time of peace. These stockpiles are often under-employed and ill-managed, as the government does not provide the proper security for these facilities. The Small Arms Survey has found that fewer than half African countries have policies in place for these stockpiles. Often times, the African governments have not provided the proper facilities for these stockpiles, and allowed many people to steal from these weapons. This lack of government management of these stockpiles sometimes lead to the increasing instability of these facilities. According to the Institution for Security Studies, in 2002, 1000 people would be killed from a stockpile explosion, due to the neglect of this stockpile. Because of the lack of government and infrastructure in many of these West African countries, the large majority of their populations became ravaged with poverty. According to the UN Economic Commision on Africa, many of these countries had an instable government and the prevalence of violence caused a lack of income and resources for these people. Often times with civil wars and gangs prevalent through these nations, civilians have bought illicit arms as
well for protection. West Africa lack of government and violence has caused for there to be a very large illicit arms market within their nation. Current Situation While the governments within West Africa has improved, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to curb this issue. Governments have taken the right path by creating strict systems that monitor African manufactured guns, but there are an increasing number of illegal manufacturers in Africa. One study that the arms produced from the illegal manufacturers in Ghana alone is 200,000 annually. The government also does not have efficient marking laws, so it is difficult to trace a gun back to the manufacture. While there are more law enforcers and peacekeepers within these nation, there still is a large black market within West Africa. Many times gangs and crime groups within these nations ambush these law enforcers in order to acquire more weapons. This was the case in when Sierra Leone rebels ambushed Guinean peacekeepers in 2000, and were able to steal 550 weapons, ranging from machine guns to rifles as well as two tons of ammunition. Other times many law enforcers are corrupt themselves and participate in the illicit trade of these weapons. According to Human Rights Watch, West Africa's law enforcers are known to be the some of the most corrupt around the globe. For example, within Liberia law enforcers were known to collect some of these small arms in order to increase their authority and abuse within Liberian communities. These small arms are not only proliferated within one nation, but are traded throughout the region. Because the lack of border patrol that many of these countries have, many small arms are easily able to cross borders, for example Liberian rebels are known to repeatedly cross the border into the Ivory Coast in hopes of trading their weapons for other goods. This is also done
by many rebels from the Ivory Coast, who trade guns in Mali and Ghana for other goods. Because of the lack of equipment and staff at these borders, the small arms can easily be proliferated into the entire region. Small arms are not only proliferated over land, but through waterways as well, especially through the Niger River, a main waterway in West Africa. While there is already an abundance of small arms that already reside in West Africa, developed nations are also contributing to the problem by bringing in more of these small arms. Many countries, such as China, Russia, Ukraine, and Israel, have been found to be selling to West Africa's clandestine market. According to the Global Post, the arms from these countries have been going to many of the militia and rebel groups that fuel human rights abuses and civil wars in West Africa. According to the African Analyst, in 2000, a Ukranian arms dealer was found to have sold arms illegally to those living in Liberia. Because much of West Africa's waters are not monitored, small arms companies are easily able to send their vessels to these countries to sell their small arms. Because the legal small arms markets are declining where the market was previously a large component of the companies' revenues these small arms companies are looking to West Africa as a way to supplant the demand that they are losing. In February 2013, Nigerian officials found a Russian vessel that had 32 rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition, without any of the proper paperwork. This just highlights one instance in which developed nations are exploiting the unstable situation in West Africa for their own economic benefit. This illicit trade has affected many different aspects of West African society. Guns have become a normal aspect in West African society, are seen as a symbol of respect, power, and social status. This prevalence of these arms have led to hundreds of thousands of deaths of both armed and unarmed persons. The Small Arms Survey Research Group estimates that these arms
are responsible for 60 to 90 percent of all conflict deaths, and they also cause maiming, torture, and rape. Because of the abundance of these small arms, this has increased the number of child soldiers in the area as well. These small arms have also led to environmental degradation, as because of the increasing availability of arms and violence, and decreasing availability of food and resources, more people have become dependent on hunting animals that are living the sanctuaries throughout the region. The UN has had a conference on Illicit Arms Trafficking in 2001 that spoke about the impacts that illicit arms trading had on international peace and prosperity, and ended in the formation of the Programme of Action, which bound member states to take responsibility for these small arms. There is the organization International Action Network on Small Arms, an NGO which has made global awareness campaign about the illicit trade of arms. There are also many NGOs that are dedicated to stopping illicit trade, such as the Small Arms Working Group (SAWG) who has pushed many international corporations to create more regulated and responsible policies. There is Saferworld International Alert, which is a grassroots NGO that assesses national policies within European countries and provides assessments that would provide more regulated policies. Questions to Consider 1. How can small arms be tracked more efficiently? 2. How can border control be used as a tool in eradicating illicit arms trade? 3. How can the illicit arms trade between West Africa and developed nations become more transparent? 4. How and where should small arms be stored?
Further Reading http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/h-research_notes/sas-research-note-33.pdf http://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/salw/ http://www.un.org/news/press/docs/2006/dc3032.doc.htm http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/mobilising-against-the-illicit-armstrade-20120702-21cna.html