Sunday 21 February 2010
SOCHUM - Sunday
DISEC - Sunday Morning
Enough is Enough
Saturday 20 February 2010
UNHRC- Day One.
DISEC - Saturday Afternoon
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By Alex Webb
A draft resolution sponsored by six states including Russia, Israel, Yemen and the Cote d'Ivoire was discussed this afternoon. Earlier in the day, a resolution was voted down which, whilst calling for the establishment of working groups to encourage disarmament of small groups, rather hazily encouraged greater “transparency in [the] international trade of small arms”. Curiously, this failed resolution also recommended the providing of incentives for armed groups to “give away” their weapons voluntarily. Hopefully this was not intended to direct arms to less fortunate militant groups.
The draft resolution tabled later in the afternoon, which amongst its signatories also counted Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Liberia and Lebanon (whose presence caused some merriment) as well as three others, sought to encourage member states to fight against terrorism, whilst recommending an increase in the remit of the Office of Disarmament (ODA). It suggested the fostering of financial aid for those in need of it in, and an augmentation of trade controls. The signatories and sponsors each expressed individually their support for the motion, with India, a signatory, commending the presence of both “a carrot and a stick”. New Zealand, a non-signatory, was also eager to point out the strength of the resolution.
Despite Kuwait's reservations about a failure to incorporate the terms of other treaties, there was otherwise a remarkable consensus across the Middle East in support of the draft resolution, with Israel aligning itself with other nations in the region. Other nations did express doubt about the motivations behind the resolution, with Indonesia in particular lambasting Russia for encouraging restrictions on small arms whilst benefiting economically from the trade in other defence munitions. Voting will conclude on the draft resolution tomorrow morning.
World Trade Organization (WTO) Saturday Session
By Alex Webb
Two working papers have been discussed today at the WTO, both promoting the formation of new INGOs. The Egyptian delegate proposed a plan whose key tenet was the creation of new regional trade bodies, intended to encourage intra-regional trade, whilst Vietnam and India advocated a consultative body comprising neutral experts. This latter paper proved contentious, with a number of delegates posing questions about the nature of neutrality, and Ghana and Brazil expressing their favour for experts to hail from member states. In opposition to the Egyptian delegate's working paper, the Canadian delegate failed to ingratiate himself with the chairs, declaring that “This working paper is a little bit like Dutch girls: they look nice from afar, but once you get into them...”. The assistant director is a Dutchwoman.
It was agreed at the beginning of the last session of the day that a merging of the two working papers would be discussed.
UN Environmental program (UNED) 1st committee
The necessity of taking measures against climate change was underlined by the delegates. The vast majority of the delegates agreed that the existing measures are insufficient. As the Russian Federation's delegate claimed, it is our responsibility to act, adding that Russia is the ‘champion’ among countries fighting against climate change. A different perspective was expressed by the Belgian delegate, who suggested that the existing resolution system should be reformed and a new general body should be created. Furthermore, he added that the European Union is the only international organization which has acted and we expect more organizations to follow this example. A similar opinion was presented by the Italian delegate, who agreed with Belgium and noted that it is time to create international rules, as there is not an international organization which can take as yet take the necessary measures. The lack of limitations and the improvement of the existing institutions were underlined by the US and the UK delegates, who sought to oppose the suggestion made by the Russian and the North Korean delegates for the creation of an international environmental court. By the end of the committee there had been no clear decision whether a new international court should be created or not .