Bucharest International Student Model United Nations 2018
Bucharest, Romania
Study Guide
Security Council
Topic Area:Open Agenda
Table of Contents
1. Welcoming Letter
2. The Security Council
3. The situation in Greater Sahel and Lake Chad Basin
4. Senkaku Islands
5. The situation in Yemen
6. Kurdistan
7. The situation in the Arctic
8. The situation in Iran
9. DPRK
10. The situation in Afghanistan
11. Bibliography
1. Welcoming Letter
Esteemed Ambassadors,
It our sincere pleasure to welcome you to Bucharest International Student Model United Nations 2018 and especially to the Security Council. It is our honour to preside over the Security Council and have you as Ambassadors. We are looking forward to meet you and start debating on some of the most flaming issues of international security.
Below you will find a brief analysis of the topics that are going to be discussed in the Council. However, in order to be fully prepared and ready for the conference you may not study only the following analysis. Your presence in the conference and your performance in the Council shall be a product of your own research and your own effort.
Our expectations of you are quite high, as the demanding issues below indicate the fact that they need to be taken under serious consideration, therefore proper preparation is deemed necessary. So, without further ado, get ready for an exceptional experience, suit up and prepare yourself for BISMUN 2018 is on!
Warmest regards,
The Board of the Security Council
2. The Security Council
The United Nations Conference on International Organization, held in San Francisco on 26 June 1945 concluded with the signing of The Charter of the United Nations, which came into force on 24 October 1945.[1] The Charter of the United Nations established six main organs of the United Nations, among of which, the Security Council.[2]
Based on the UN Charter’s Article 24, paragraph 1, “in order to ensure prompt and effective action by the United Nations, its Members confer on the Security Council primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, and agree that in carrying out its duties under this responsibility the Security Council acts on their behalf.”[3] In other words, the primary responsibility of the UN Security Council is to ensure the implementation of the first purpose of the United Nations, which is “to maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace”.[4]
To maintain international peace and security, the Security Council has a certain mandate.
Firstly, “when a complaint concerning a threat to peace is brought before it, the Council’s first action is usually to recommend that the parties try to reach agreement by peaceful means. The Council may: set forth principles for such an agreement, undertake investigation and mediation, in some cases, dispatch a mission, appoint special envoys, or request the Secretary-General to use his good offices to achieve a pacific settlement of the dispute.”[5]
Secondly, “when a dispute leads to hostilities, the Council’s primary concern is to bring them to an end as soon as possible. In that case, the Council may: issue ceasefire directives that can help prevent an escalation of the conflict;, dispatch military observers or a peacekeeping force to help reduce tensions, separate opposing forces and establish a calm in which peaceful settlements may be sought.”[6]
Also, “the Council may opt for enforcement measures, including: economic sanctions, arms embargoes, financial penalties and restrictions, and travel bans, severance of diplomatic relations, blockade, or even collective military action.”[7]
With regards to the UN Security Council’s Composition, it is composed of 15 Members.[8] There are five permanent members, which are: China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States.[9] The ten non-permanent members, that are elected for a two-year term by the General Assembly, are: Bolivia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Senegal, Sweden, Ukraine and Uruguay.[10]
Each member of the Security Council has one vote.[11] A very important factor in the voting procedure of the Security Council is the “veto power” that is granted to the 5 permanent members of the Council “because of their key roles in the establishment of the United Nations, and the fact that they would continue to play important roles in the maintenance of international peace and security. [...] It was agreed by the drafters that if any one of the five permanent members cast a negative vote in the 15-member Security Council, the resolution or decision would not be approved. [...] If a permanent member does not fully agree with a proposed resolution but does notwish to cast a veto, it may choose to abstain, thus allowing the resolution to be adopted if it obtains the required number of nine favourable votes.”[12]
3. The situation in Greater Sahel and Lake Chad Basin
The area of the Greater Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin have endured overlapping conflicts that lead to massive human suffering and migration of more than 4.2 million people[13]. There are many different players that act in the region, among of which jihadis, armed groups and criminal networks that seek power in an impoverished region, where the governmental power is limited.[14]
“In 2016, jihadis based in Central Sahel launched deadly attacks in western Niger, Burkina Faso, and Côte d’Ivoire, underscoring the region’s vulnerability. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and al-Mourabitoun remain active while a new group claiming affiliation to the Islamic State is developing. All appear likely to continue attacks targeting civilians, as well as national and international forces. Mali is the U.N.’s most dangerous peacekeeping mission, with 70 personnel killed by “malicious acts” since 2013.”[15]
“Mali could face a major crisis this year, as implementation of the 2015 Bamako peace agreement threatens to stall. The recent fracturing of the main rebel alliance in the north, the Coordination of Azawad Movements, has contributed to a proliferation of armed groups, and violence has spread to central Mali.” [16]
Algeria, an important broker of stability in the region, has a key role to play as the deal’s chief mediator, along with the African Union.[17]
According to the United Nations Development Program, “on May 2016, the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (USCFR) organized a briefing session on the situation in the Sahel region of Africa.
During the session UNDP stressed the need for broad, concerted action to confront violent extremism and bring development solutions to the region affected by the Boko Haram insurgency that originated in Nigeria’s north-east seven years ago.
It identified an “arc of instability” that stretches across the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and the Lake Chad Basin.”[18]
To sum up, Sahel region is suffering from abject poverty, fast population growth, climate change, recurrent food and nutrition crises, armed conflicts and violence - some issues that undermine the lives and the future of the millions of families there.[19]
In 2009, a new jihadist group emerged in the region northeast of Nigeria, Boko Haram. The violent conflict that started there spread into Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Benin, in the Lake Chad Basin, spreading killings and destruction - a fact that alarmed the security forces of the region and has host thousands of lives and forced other to flee their homes.[20] People there are living in conflict-affected areas, where it is hard to get the aid they need, resulting to people being in the blink of starvation.[21]
Aljazeera stated that “the situation remains extremely fragile, particularly in Nigeria where 400,000 people could be living in famine-like conditions, and without urgent funding and access to these populations, we could see the situation worsen. [...] There are serious allegations of sexual abuse, forced disappearance and arbitrary detention. [..] In northeast Nigeria, almost one in three women report having experienced sexual violence committed by Boko Haram, security forces and armed groups during the conflict, while violence against men and boys is also prevalent with many men and boys having been killed, detained or are otherwise unaccounted for.”[22]
4. Senkaku Islands
Throughout the years, a lot of turbulence have shaken the Sino-Japanese relations, even though they have been merely based on the development of healthy ties, while the countries have commenced mutual cooperation in numerous areas, including boosting global trade and Asia's economic activities.[23] For the past years, though, the ties between the two countries have been threatened because of a territorial dispute over a group of islands, known in Japan as the Senkaku islands and in China as the Diaoyu islands. The dispute is about five uninhabited islands and three rocks in the East China Sea. They have a total area of about 7 sq km and lie north-east of Taiwan, east of the Chinese mainland and south-west of Japan's southernmost prefecture, Okinawa[24]. The importance of those islands lies on the shipping lanes, the rich fishing grounds and the potential oil and gas reserves. They are also in a significant position from a strategic point of view causing a rising competition between the US and China for military primacy in the Asia-Pacific region.
- Timeline of events:
-In 1884 Japan discovers the islands as terra nullius, meaning that they didn’t belong to anyone previously.
-In 1895 the islands are getting annexed by Japan after China was defeated and weakened in a brief war with Japan, where Taiwan was also seized as war spoils.
-In 1896 a Japanese national named Tatsushiro Koga, leased the Senkaku islands from the Japanese Government for 30 years, whereas later, in 1930 purchased the islands from them and the subsequent owner was his son
-The Koga family’s last employees left during the second world war. Upon Japan’s defeat in 1945 control was obtained by the Americans, who have used the islands as a region for bombing practices.
-In 1972, at the end of the American occupation, the Japanese government resumed responsibility for the Senkakus.
-Following the publication of a UN report locating deposits of oil and gas nearby, the first objection of Japanese ownership rises from Chinese officials[25].
- Block Positions:
- China
As far as China’s perspective is concerned, the basis of their claim is the history. They claim that the islands have been part of its territory since ancient times, serving as important fishing grounds administered by the province of Taiwan[26]. They, also, claim that its nationals discovered the islands and its sovereignty over them remained uncontested over many hundreds of years. More specifically, they refer to the mid-16th century, “when the Ming dynasty established a coastal defense system against the then active Japanese pirates or smugglers (wako in Japanese). The documents and maps concerning this system included the Diaoyu Islands within the coastal defense area of China;”[27]
- Japan
From a Japanese point of view, the claims are based in more modern rules, such as international law and territory acquisition.Thus, Japan officials claim that they have surveyed the islands for more than 10 years in the 19th Century and determined that they were uninhabited. That is why, on 14 January of 1895 Japan erected a sovereignty and formally incorporated the islands into Japanese territory. “After World War Two, Japan renounced claims to a number of territories and islands including Taiwan in the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco. These islands, however, came under US trusteeship and were returned to Japan in 1971 under the Okinawa reversion deal.
Japan says China raised no objections to the San Francisco deal. And it says that it is only since the 1970s, when the issue of oil resources in the area emerged, that Chinese and Taiwanese authorities began pressing their claims.”[28]
- USA
“The US and Japan forged a security alliance in the wake of World War II and formalised it in 1960. Under the deal, the US is given military bases in Japan in return for its promise to defend Japan in the event of an attack.
This means if conflict were to erupt between China and Japan, Japan would expect US military back-up. US President Barack Obama has confirmed that the security pact applies to the islands - but has also warned that escalation of the current row would harm all sides.”[29]
- Impact on security relations between China and Japan
“The Senkaku/Diaoyu islands have been shaping security relations between China and Japan since 1970, disrupting the entire region of the East China Sea. For Japan, Senkaku is a guarantor of control and sovereignty. For China, the Diaoyu are a witness of defeat and humiliation. But for both players, the islands are a point of geostrategic and economic interest, an objective of utmost importance. The disagreements concerning the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands demonstrate a sustained struggle for power, initiated by antagonistic ideologies and offensive behaviour.”[30]
5. The situation in Yemen
The roots of the instability and insecurity of the situation in Yemen has its roots back in 2011, when the country’s authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, handed over power to Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi[31], as he was forced to resign as part of the political revolution of the Arab Spring. The new president of Yemen had “to deal with a variety of problems, including attacks by al-Qaeda, a separatist movement in the south, the continuing loyalty of many military officers to Mr Saleh, as well as corruption, unemployment and food insecurity.”[32]
The Houthi movement considered the whole situation an advantage for their uprising and that led them to take over the northern heartland of Saada province and neighbouring areas, while in January 2015, they also took over Sana’a.[33] Later, the Houthis and security forces that were loyal to former President, Mr Saleh, attempted to take control of the whole Yemen - an action that forced Mr Hadi to flee abroad in March 2015.[34]
More than that, due to the fact that the Houthis are believed to be receiving military support from Iran, this created an uprising in the region, causing air campaigns to take place led by Saudi Arabia -against the Houthis- and other mostly Sunni Arab States, such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal and Sudan - with the logistical and intelligence aid from the United States, the United Kingdom and France.[35],[36]
Also, “Jihadist militants from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and rival affiliates of so-called Islamic State (IS) have meanwhile taken advantage of the chaos by seizing territory in the south and continuing to carry out deadly attacks, notably in government-controlled Aden.”[37]
Having said all the aforementioned, the areas of control in Yemen are:
[38]
The country is experiencing a “humanitarian catastrophe”, as stated by a UN aid official in August 2015.[39] The humanitarian crisis taking place in Yemen could be summarized, but not limited, in the following points:
❖“The UN says more than 7,600 people - mostly civilians - have been killed and close to 42,000 others injured since the conflict between forces loyal to exiled President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and those allied to the Houthi rebel movement escalated in March 2015.”[40]
❖“Fighting on the ground and air strikes on rebel-held areas by a Saudi-led coalition backed by the US and UK have displaced more than three million people.”[41]
❖“Seven million people do not know where their next meal might come from.”[42]
❖“People have been forced to rely on untreated water supplies and unprotected wells, placing them at risk of life-threatening illnesses. An outbreak of cholera and acute watery diarrhoea was declared in October. As of March 2017, a total of 22,181 suspected cases of cholera and 103 associated deaths had been reported.”[43]
❖“Yemenis are struggling to survive as fuel, food and medical supplies are critically low due to the closure of land, sea and air routes.”[44]
6. The issue of Kurdistan
The Kurdish population is a people, which lives and has moved to many places, considered mainly as a diasporic people. The main countries of residence are: Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. The social and political situation, the enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms vary, based on the place of residence, the legal framework of each country and the governmental decisions, which are implemented in each country. However, if we would have to “categorise” the levels of human rights’ enjoyment by the Kurds, we would consider the situation in Iraq the more favourable one, with Turkey being in the bottom. The Kurdistan Question is one of Turkey's most important problems, not just for the obvious reasons. Apart from the thousands of human losses on both sides, this is an issue with wider political, social and economic implications, which extensions have a directly affect even on the international relations of Turkey.
“The main hindrance to the formation of ‘Kurdistan’, literally meaning Land of the Kurds, lies in the fact that the Kurds have internal divisions which often come in way to unify them. They lack any single unified language (spoken or written). Even on the grounds of religion, they do not comprise of a homogeneous category. The majority of the Kurds are Sunni however; one can also find Kurds who are Alevis, Shi’a or Christians. The Kurdish ‘nation’ also would include smaller sects such as the Yazidis, as well as Christian minorities like the Assyrian and the Syrian Orthodox. The area comprising Kurdistan includes approximately parts of eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, north-western Iran and northern Syria inhabited mainly by Kurds. The permanent Iraqi constitution in Article 113 states, ‘This Constitution shall approbate the region of Kurdistan and its existing regional and federal authorities, at the time this constitution comes into force. This Constitution shall approbate the region of Kurdistan and its existing regional and federal authorities, at the time this constitution comes into force.’[3], hence making it an official-political statement in recognizing the autonomous federal entity of the Kurds and granting it an official recognition internationally.”[45]