United?

South African Press Association

United Nations (New York)

GA1 have been meeting for the last day and a half now to discuss the issue of trying to reduce stockpiles of weapons, however a committee that should be divided is somewhat united on trying to reduce stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, in particular the middle east. With Iran trying to take the moral high ground, the US and Israel on the brink of war, and Belgium trying to create a new body to work alongside the IAEA, this committee has been struggling to stay on message.

At the beginning of the day, Belgium proposed a working paper which assisted with the creation of a new body to look at nuclear power and stockpiling which would have more ability to maintain controls than the IAEA. However, this working paper was quickly washed aside as it was pointed out by SAPA that the IAEA’s main advantage is that countries have the choice and their sovereignty respected in the IAEA.

The UK and Iran both submitted papers. Iran aimed to create an information sharing zone between a number of Arab nations. This should be cautiously placed in. Firstly, having more countries reduces the power that nuclear weapons have, and this will disadvantage Iran. Secondly, this will create a two tier system in the middle east, similar to what currently happens, but this will be too localised and create further problems. The UK paper has been described as mere puffery, with many clauses being too general and will not be respected. However, it is expected that the UK’s paper will become a draft resolution.

The United States also made a working paper, but aimed to remove Israel from the chamber. This was seen by SAPA, with the US categorically denying the existence of such a document. This clearly demonstrates that this committee is not united, and all nations need to start coming together to be truly together.