sydmun2014

29.11.14 | Source:Pravda.SydMUN

Source: Pravda.SydMUN

Regarding the internal criticisms of the Security Council, Pravda was able to secure the delegate for the Russian Federation for an interview regarding the tense situation:

Q: Moving on to matters of international security then Mr Ambassador. It appears that over the last 24 hours the Security Council has effectively ceased effective operation, with a now standing commitment by the People’s Republic of China to block all Council resolutions until such time as a new resolution is passed on the CA069 issue. How serious is this matter?

A:  Obviously it is a matter of great international importance. The Security Council is the lynchpin of the entire international collective security structure. If the present state of paralysis persists, one imagines the consequences will be dire.

Q: Western Sources have already condemned the Chinese move, Ambassador Aaron Payne stating outright that Presindent Xi Jinping’s statement on the matter is “ridiculous and unacceptable” a brazen departure from diplomatic norms. Is the People’s Republic misusing its power in this instance?

A: It was interesting to hear Ambassador Payne attack China for its determination to make use of the Veto on a vital matter. The United States for example, has used that same power to block more resolutions on the matter of Israel than China has during its entire time on the Security Council. It also demonstrates a mindset that may explain why China felt obliged to take these actions in the first place.

Q: And why might that be?

A: I will not undertake to speak as a representative of the People’s Republic of China. They are a distinct, proud sovereign nation with great bonds to the Russian Federation, but friends do not put words into each other’s mouths, unless one party is the US State Department and the other is the European Union I suppose.

What I will say is that, as the Russian Foreign Ministry and President Putin have stated several times before, there is a deep double standard at the heart of the foreign policies of certain countries, and that double standard is dangerous.

Q: Would you care to clarify?

A:  I think it operates in a twofold manner.

Firstly, it manifests in the belief that International Institutions, such as the United Nations Security Council, should serve primarily as mechanisms to justify interventionist or self-interested Western Foreign Policy. Ambassador Payne’s statement highlights this, showing a sense of anger at the fact that the Council may not appropriately position itself to support State Department Policy.

Whenever the council has dared to stray into matter close to United States Interests, as it often has in the case of Israel, the United States has felt no compunction in drawing on its veto authority to block that particular action.  They do this while condemning far more restrained and infrequent actions by Russia or the People’s Republic of China.

This is an insulting and unsustainable practice. Russia and China won their seats on the Security Council, as did the United States, by virtue of their sacrifices during the Second World War.  The Soviet Union and China together lost anywhere between 32 and 48 million dead during that conflict. Perhaps the United States considers the blood of its own several hundred times more valuable than that of Chinese or Soviet citizens, how else could they maintain such a self-righteous stance.

Q: To be fair Ambassador, The United States is not famed for having an education system that is particularly capable when it comes to foreign history.

A: My understanding is that Ambassador Payne was educated in Australia, I doubt there can be a real question of ignorance, except perhaps on the legality of seeking asylum under International Law.

Q: In any case Ambassador, you said there was a second issue here?

A: Yes, and it relates directly to this crisis.

You will recall that this is not the first time that an aircraft has been downed over the territory of another.

In 2010, a Polish Air-Force Tu-154M crashed on Russian territory, killing, among others, Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski. Russia cooperated fully with Polish authorities during the investigation, handing over data recorders, bringing in Polish experts and conducting every witness interview jointly. Poland assumed sole responsibility for recovering sensitive Government materials from the aircraft. Rather than being applauded, Russia was the victim of immense pressure from European and trans-Atlantic powers to do ever more.

When MH17 was downed in July, there was furor. The Australian Government called for an armed international presence to take control of the site and planned to send hundreds of armed officials to the site. Malaysian, Dutch, Australian and numerous other actors demanded not just access but full control over the investigation. Remember, most of these countries merely had citizens aboard. They claimed that there could be no impartial investigation by the forces then occupying the site and voiced concerns that evidence would be removed.

Eventually an agreement was reached within the Security Council whereby international investigators as well as teams from the aggrieved parties would be allowed to the crash site to undertake the investigation and that they would be provided with the flight data recorders (as they subsequently were).

Even this was not enough, even before the investigation had concluded the Prime Minister of Australia outright accused Russia of the crime of shooting down the airliner and threatened physical violence against President Putin.

Keep all that in mind for a moment.

Now turn to today.

A Chinese airlines plane, carrying primarily Chinese persons, including high ranking bureaucrats likely to be in possession of just the same kind of sensitive material involved in the 2010 crash, has been downed over a territory known to be occupied by militants that may or may not be receiving Government cooperation. China requested that, as part of the UN resolution on the matter, the site be secured by international forces and Chinese investigators allowed in, precisely the same provisions called for by the Australians and West in relation to MH17. They were laughed off on the floor of the Security Council.

Instead, a toothless resolution, complete with drafting errors and a lack of evident care was rammed through the Security Council, a resolution which has allowed a Pakistani investigation to continue, one which the Chinese may rightly fear is subject to dangerous conflicts of interest.

Given the situation, that is a woefully inadequate and utterly hypocritical approach which has left us in the present situation of rising tension in the region and a paralysed Security Council.

Q: Ambassador, it seems strange that all this could have occurred without their matters being raised in the council.

A: Unfortunately, the President foreclosed debate on the resolution before Russia was afforded a chance to speak on the matter.

Q: Might that have anything to do with the fact that Australia presently holds the presidency of the Security Council?

A: I would never engage in such impolitic speculation.

Q: Where to now for the Security Council then Ambassador?

A: I fear the present issue may be hard to get past. The crash site may soon be altered so far as to make a genuine investigation difficult. Even with that being so, there exists an opportunity for the West to demonstrate a willingness to regard China as an equal and its citizens as human beings equally deserving of justice as their own. I feel a new, comprehensive resolution would go a long way towards calming tensions.

Q: And if they do not?

A: That is a matter for the People’s Republic of China, but I will go so far as to say that terrorism is an international issue which requires a collective response.

The Security Council is bound to address threats to international peace and security. If the Security Council cannot react to this aircraft downing in a fair and effective manner, then I fear for its ability to defend international peace and security anywhere, under any circumstances.

I pray Ambassador Payne and my fellow delegates remember that.

Q: Thank you for your time, Mr. Ambassador.

A: My pleasure.

WIKILEAKS BREAKING:

There are unconfirmed reports that France has detained and tortured 8 Iranian citizens on suspicions of terrorism. It is believed by the French authorities that these persons were conspiring to engage in terrorism through bombing a number of high-level tourist areas across Paris. The Iranian citizens were arrested in the earlier this week when French authorities found evidence of the plot. Since then the prisoners were insistent of their innocence and subsequently were subject to numerous forms of torture including burning, electrocution and withholding of necessities such as food and water.

The Third General Assembly of the United Nations is meeting this weekend to discuss the question of upholding human rights and fundamental freedoms for prisoners.

The German position on imprisonment for lesser crimes is a program of rehabilitation. Ashley A’Vard, German delegate to 3GA, stressed the importance of rehabilitation: “The point of imprisonment is to deter acts of crime and prevent recidivism. If we focus on retribution rather than healing, we cannot move forward as a society. Only backwards.”

In a press conference today, the United States representative acknowledged the importance of considering rehabilitation.

Author: Jessica Korte, Deutsche Welle

In a recent interview with the BBC, Sope Agbejule, delegate for the United Kingdom on the World Health Organization shared insight into the Ebola Crisis and the WHO discussions this weekend.

“Infection rates are reducing in Liberia, they are reducing in Guinea but they are not reducing in Sierra Leone, we need to ask ourselves why that is. The purpose of the WHO is the mitigation and potential eradication of communicable and non-communicable diseases. Education has its place disseminating information is also very important but we cannot, we cannot forget our central purpose which is to manage, reduce and eventually defeat the outbreak. The reason that infection rates reduced in the Liberia and Guinea is because the US moved rapidly into affected areas, their response was robust and targeted.

We need to reduce infection rates, if we can’t achieve that then all the efforts we are discussing today will be in vain and we’ll gather here in six months’ time to create a new plan because the old one didn’t work

Rather than creating a completely new plan we should seek to properly enforce the old one. We need to look at what we’ve done, we need to ask ourselves what have we done, what do we intend to do, can we achieve that with the resources we have, if not, if not what resources do we need.”

BBC Kate Roskvist

29.11.14 | Source:Pravda.SydMUN

The Security Council passed a resolution regarding a crisis situation in record time yesterday, concerning the recent shooting of Air China Flight 69. This resolution has been met with much controversy regarding the processes leading to its passing.

The flight, heading to Dubai, was shot down over North Waziristan, killing 289 passengers on board. Both US and UK intelligence have found North Waziristan to be in possession of surface to air missiles, provided by the Pakistani military.

The resolution essentially supports and mandates independent investigations supported by international bodies, calling for complete access to the crash site, and demands complete accountability for any actors found liable.

However, the passing of this resolution has been met with much internal criticism. The resolution passed last afternoon by the Security Council bears a striking resemblance to the resolution passed on the similar real-life situation of flight MH17. In a leak of the draft resolution proposed by the delegate for the US, certain unchanged phrases directly reference Ukraine, which has nothing to do with the topic at hand and suggests direct plagiarism of previously passed draft resolutions regarding the MH17 crisis.

Source: @PRAVDA_SydMUN14

This draft resolution was allowed to be entertained by the chair, despite evidence suggesting direct plagiarism. Furthermore, by the chair’s discretion, China’s veto power was effectively removed, a move which has been met with much criticism, particularly regarding its legality. This allowed for a resolution to the severe detriment for China pass without opposition. The resolution was “steamrolled” through the Security Council. China has now threatened to veto all further resolutions until the CA069 issue is revisited.