Chairs:
Head Chair: Jakob Usandivaras
Vice Chairs: Felipe Trojman & Lorenzo Perrotti
Head Chair: Jakob Usandivaras
Vice Chairs: Felipe Trojman & Lorenzo Perrotti
Committee Description:
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is primarily responsible for maintaining international peace and security. It is at the forefront of any bilateral crisis that threatens regional stability and security ideally through dialogue or by the deployment of UN peace operations when necessary. The UN was built from the ashes of WW2 and the SC was one of the founding committees to ensure such a cataclysmic event would not repeat itself. In order to amend the structure of the failed League of Nations, this committee provides only certain influential nations (P-5 nations) with veto power, allowing them to effectively reject a resolution (unless the UNGA overrides it). In essence, this committee is the centerpiece of the UN with the aim of upholding eternal and universal peace in our politically volatile world.
|
Study Guide
|
Topic 1: Addressing the Myanmar conflict and the legitimacy of the coup d'état
Myanmar, located in South-East Asia, has a population of around 54 million people, with a variety of different ethnic groups like Buddhism and Rohingya muslims. Myanmar gained independence from Britain in 1948 and it was ruled by the military from 1962 until 2011 when a new government began preparing to reestablish civilian rule and democracy. However, the military is in power once again in the country after a coup d'etat on the 1st of February 2021, and it declared a state of emergency so it can then organize a ‘free and fair’ election. The armed forces seized power shortly after the elections held where Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD (National League for Democracy) party won the election as they claimed it was a fraud due to supposed irregularities. Since the coup d'etat, the military commander in chief Min Aung Hlaing has seized control and is the leader of the country. On 16 November 2021 the military charged 16 people, including Aung San Suu Kyi, over alleged “election fraud and lawless actions”, despite no evidence was shown yet, and monitors who observed the polls claimed the election was free and fair. The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported that the 16 people violated several electoral laws, including over military polling booths, placing people’s names who “had no right to cast votes” on the ballot and advance voting for people aged more than 60. The Assistance Association for Political prisoners (AAPP) have confirmed that, as of May 2022, 1835 people have been killed since when the military seized control of Myanmar. Currently, there are 1.2 million refugees and asylum seekers from Myanmar in neighboring countries such as Bangladesh. It is estimated that due to the military coup, Myanmar could lose around $3.5 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI), which consequently would decrease its Gross National Product (GNP).
Topic 2: Discussing the Ethiopian Civil War and its International Effects
The Tigray war officially began on November 3 in 2020, in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. The conflict is a civil war that involves the Tigray Defence Forces fighting against the National Defence Force. The National Defence Force has the aid of the federal and regional police, gendarmerie forces from Amhara and Afar, and finally the Eritrean Defence Forces. In 2019, Prime Minister of Ethiopia made a decision to separate the nation from ethnic federalism and nationalist policies by merging the ethnic and region based constituent parties of the nation. Being the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, the EPRDF, and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. The Tigray party had dominated Ethiopian politics for almost 3 decades, and for that refused to join the Prime Minister’s new Prosperity party. The TPLF then declared the election which brought Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed to be illegitimate due to postponement brought on by the pandemic, and a month later in September 2020, against the federal government’s wishes, the elections for the new leader of the TPLF were carried out. Following this political turmoil the first act of war occured on the third of November in 2020, when Tigrayan security forces attacked ENDF headquarters in the Tigray region. Ever since then the country has been in a state of war, and mass extrajudicial killings of civilians have occured. The UN needs to intervene as 10,000 people have already died, war rape is a daily occurence due to the conflict, and the nation is broken. Furthermore, 500,000 people’s lives have been taken as an indirect result of the war.
Myanmar, located in South-East Asia, has a population of around 54 million people, with a variety of different ethnic groups like Buddhism and Rohingya muslims. Myanmar gained independence from Britain in 1948 and it was ruled by the military from 1962 until 2011 when a new government began preparing to reestablish civilian rule and democracy. However, the military is in power once again in the country after a coup d'etat on the 1st of February 2021, and it declared a state of emergency so it can then organize a ‘free and fair’ election. The armed forces seized power shortly after the elections held where Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD (National League for Democracy) party won the election as they claimed it was a fraud due to supposed irregularities. Since the coup d'etat, the military commander in chief Min Aung Hlaing has seized control and is the leader of the country. On 16 November 2021 the military charged 16 people, including Aung San Suu Kyi, over alleged “election fraud and lawless actions”, despite no evidence was shown yet, and monitors who observed the polls claimed the election was free and fair. The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported that the 16 people violated several electoral laws, including over military polling booths, placing people’s names who “had no right to cast votes” on the ballot and advance voting for people aged more than 60. The Assistance Association for Political prisoners (AAPP) have confirmed that, as of May 2022, 1835 people have been killed since when the military seized control of Myanmar. Currently, there are 1.2 million refugees and asylum seekers from Myanmar in neighboring countries such as Bangladesh. It is estimated that due to the military coup, Myanmar could lose around $3.5 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI), which consequently would decrease its Gross National Product (GNP).
Topic 2: Discussing the Ethiopian Civil War and its International Effects
The Tigray war officially began on November 3 in 2020, in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. The conflict is a civil war that involves the Tigray Defence Forces fighting against the National Defence Force. The National Defence Force has the aid of the federal and regional police, gendarmerie forces from Amhara and Afar, and finally the Eritrean Defence Forces. In 2019, Prime Minister of Ethiopia made a decision to separate the nation from ethnic federalism and nationalist policies by merging the ethnic and region based constituent parties of the nation. Being the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, the EPRDF, and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. The Tigray party had dominated Ethiopian politics for almost 3 decades, and for that refused to join the Prime Minister’s new Prosperity party. The TPLF then declared the election which brought Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed to be illegitimate due to postponement brought on by the pandemic, and a month later in September 2020, against the federal government’s wishes, the elections for the new leader of the TPLF were carried out. Following this political turmoil the first act of war occured on the third of November in 2020, when Tigrayan security forces attacked ENDF headquarters in the Tigray region. Ever since then the country has been in a state of war, and mass extrajudicial killings of civilians have occured. The UN needs to intervene as 10,000 people have already died, war rape is a daily occurence due to the conflict, and the nation is broken. Furthermore, 500,000 people’s lives have been taken as an indirect result of the war.