SheffMUN 2013
DISEC Committee
Study Guide
DISEC Committee Study Guide
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Table of Contents
Introduction of the Chairs ................................................................................................................................ 3
Chairs’ Forward and Committee Introduction .............................................................................................. 6
Introduction to DISEC ............................................................................................................................... 7
DISEC at SheffMUN 2013 .......................................................................................................................... 7
Topic One: The legalities and role of drones in modern warfare ..................................................................... 9
Background Information .............................................................................................................................. 9
Current Day Situation ................................................................................................................................. 12
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................... 14
Suggested Readings .................................................................................................................................... 15
Topic Two: Creation of international measures to prevent the acquisition of chemical weapons by non-state
actors’ ............................................................................................................................................................ 16
Background Information ............................................................................................................................ 16
Current Day Situation ................................................................................................................................. 17
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................... 18
Suggested Readings .................................................................................................................................... 19
General Links of Potential Use ....................................................................................................................... 20
DISEC Committee Study Guide
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Introduction of the Chairs
Head Chair – Joe Farrell
After having the great privilege of being the Deputy Chair of the ECOFIN committee at SheffMUN 2012, I
am honoured to be head chair of the DISEC committee for SheffMUN 2013.
I am a fifth year Pharmacy student at the University of Bradford, with a special interest in the areas of
Antimicrobial and Oncology Pharmacy. Outside of Pharmacy, I have a keen interest in the stock market,
politics and diplomacy as well as American football, playing gold and horse riding.
In terms of MUN experience, I am the President of the Bradford Model United Nations society (BraMUN)
for the year 2013 – 2014 and held the positions of Vice-President and Treasurer in the previous year. I also
represented Peru on the ECOFIN committee at LIMUN 2012 and Moldova on the SOCHUM committee at
LIMUN 2013.
I look forward to meeting you all and following some intense and exciting debate.
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Assistant Chair – Scott Raven
My Name is Scott Raven, and I study International Relations at the University of Lincoln. My main areas of
study are Human Rights and African Politics.
Last year I studied Politics in Pennsylvania, USA, and had the pleasure to participate in the National MUN in
Washington D.C.
I have attended a range of different MUNs over the past 3 years, acting as a delegate, chair, or director. I
am Secretary-General and founder of Lincoln’s MUN programme (LINCMUN) and I hope to host our first
event next year.
I hope to use both my degree and my experience in MUN to work in the diplomatic service.
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Assistant Chair – Juliette Devillard
Hello everyone!
My name is Juliette, I am a 2nd year student on UCL’s Arts & Sciences (BASc) degree, and I will be one of
your assistant chairs for SheffMUN’s DISEC committee.
Having only been a MUNner for one year, my MUN experience is characterised by intensity rather than
length. In the short space of time since I joined this glorious group of addicts I’ve somehow managed to
attend four UK-based conferences (winning an award in each), teach MUN as an extracurricular in London-
based state schools, and more recently, become one of my society’s Training Officers for 2013-2014.
The highlight of my year so far: Interning at the United Nations Geneva Office for two weeks this summer.
I look forward to seeing you all soon for a fun weekend of debating!
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Chairs’ Forward and Committee Introduction
Dear Delegates,
It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to DISEC at SheffMUN 2013.
Now in its second session, SheffMUN 2013 promises to be an unforgettable conference, with delegates
attending from across Europe and throughout the world for three-days of debate, negotiation and
socialising.
The theme for this year’s conference is ‘Empowerment Through Education’ and this will be evident
throughout the weekend and in the speeches of the guest speakers. In support of this theme, SheffMUN
2013 has been granted High Patronage by the European Parliament and has been endorsed by the Prime
Minster of the United Kingdom and the Department for International Development. It is hoped that
through a medium of discussion, debate and negotiation, SheffMUN 2013 will bring a widespread global
issue to the forefront; emphasising the key role education has in developing the global community and in
resolving disharmony. As your committee chairs, we hope that you will join the Secretariat and ourselves,
in advocating for a world in which an accessible and affordable education is open to all.
We look forward to DISEC delegates showing their support through the production of high quality
resolutions built on heated discussion, engaging debate and negotiation on the topics in question.
The chairs would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate each and every one of you for securing a
seat in the DISEC committee. DISEC committee are among the most heavily subscribed at Model United
Nations conferences; it is indeed a prestigious and well-respected committee, especially due to the high-
profile topics that fall within its mandate.
The rest of this study guide details a basic introduction to DISEC, the committee at SheffMUN 2013, some
useful links for research and of course, the introductions to the topics that we have timetabled for the
weekend. We hope you find the study guide useful and the topics of the utmost importance and interest.
We wish you the very best of luck with your research and look forward to meeting you in November, both
in committee and at the socials.
Yours faithfully,
The Chairs of the Disarmament and International Security (DISEC) committee at SheffMUN 2013.
DISEC Committee Study Guide
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Introduction to DISEC
DISEC is the first committee of the General Assembly (GA) of the
United Nations and is dedicated to matters of ‘Disarmament and International Security’. The mandate of
the committee is laid down in the charter of the United Nations and deals with “disarmament, global
challenges and threats to peace that affect the international community and seeks out solutions to the
challenges in the international security regime”.
All matters of disarmament and international security, that fall within the scope of the Charter, or those
matters that are of relevance to the powers and functions of all other UN organs can be brought before
DISEC. Nonetheless, the main matters discussed at DISEC sessions relate to: the general principles of
cooperation in the maintenance of international peace and security; the principles governing disarmament
and the regulation of armaments; and the promotion of cooperative arrangements and measures aimed at
strengthening stability through lower levels of armaments.
As directed by the charter, all member states and observers of the United Nations sit on the committee,
and have an equal vote: unlike the Security Council, there is no member rotation; no veto powers and
resolutions pass by simple majority.
It should be noted that DISEC does not have the power to impose sanctions, authorize armed intervention
or pass binding resolutions. DISEC can however submit recommendations to the Security Council and to the
UN Secretariat on such matters. Interestingly, DISEC has also played an essential role in laying the
foundations of both the Chemical Weapons Convention (1992) and the Non-proliferation Treaty (1968),
among other key treaties and conventions.
Finally, DISEC convenes every October, following the conclusion of the General Assembly General Debate,
for a four-to-five week session.
DISEC at SheffMUN 2013
The first committee of the General Assembly, the Disarmament and International Security committee
(DISEC), has been convened to discuss the following topic areas following the conclusion of the General
Assembly General Debate:
Topic A: ‘The legalities and role of drones in modern warfare’.
Topic B: 'Creation of international measures to prevent the acquisition of chemical weapons by non-state
actors'.
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At SheffMUN 2013, delegates are expected to write a position paper
on each topic, outlining the policy of the state they are representing
and how they shall set about representing the interests of their state
in committee on each topic area. These position papers must be
submitted to the Chairs via email. Only delegates who meet this deadline will be considered for the
committee awards available. Please submit position papers to: [email protected]
Please note, that this address is the correspondence address for the DISEC chairs; if any delegates feel that
they will have issues in meeting the position paper deadline, or for any questions regarding the committee
and/or conference, delegates should direct emails to this address.
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Topic One: The legalities and role
of drones in modern warfare
Background Information
Drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), are aircraft with no pilots on board whose movements are
controlled by computers within the aircraft, or a pilot in another location. The earliest attempts at
developing these kinds of technologies can be traced back to WWI and reconnaissance UAVs were first
used during the Vietnam War, the emergence of armed or military
drones is much more recent.
Officially referred to as Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs), the
use and development of drones with attack capacities increased
dramatically after the 9/11 attacks, with the US making them a weapon
of choice in the War on Terror. One report about their use in Pakistan,
called Living under Drones, has estimated that amongst the 2,562-
3,325 people killed by drones, up to 800 were civilian, and as few as
2% of those killed were high level dangerous targets.
It is statistics like these that have lead to the high criticism of these
forms of technologies and an evaluation of their benefits and
downfalls relative to the current alternatives. The high civilian
casualties and concerns that the use of drones desensitizes to killing
are some of the points often voiced by their opponents. Advocates of their use however counter these
arguments with the economic one that drones are more cost-effective than other aircrafts, and most
importantly, they also remove the risk to the life of the pilot.
Many countries have manufactured drones, although most still only possess very basic models and use
them purely for reconnaissance. Currently, it is estimated that the US currently has some 7,000 UAVs,
An aerial surveillance drone
A predator drone firing a missile
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making them the world’s largest producer and most frequent user of
drones. While the exact numbers of aircraft possessed by other
countries is not certain, Israel, India and Turkey are thought to be
some of the countries possessing the next biggest arsenals, with
other military drone users also including the UK, France, Germany and Italy. Iran and Pakistan have also
recently claimed success in developing such technologies. A full list of countries possessing lethal and non-
lethal drones can be found in the table on the following page:
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In possession of
lethal drones In possession of non-lethal drones
United States Slovakia Canada Mexico
United Arab Emirates Ukraine Colombia Peru
Iran Romania Chile Brazil
China Greece Argentina South Africa
Sweden Croatia Jordan Tunisia
Taiwan Indonesia Norway Finland
Germany Australia Latvia Belarus
Pakistan Malaysia Netherlands Belgium
Saudi Arabia New Zealand Switzerland Portugal
Israel Philippines Spain Slovenia
Russia Armenia Czech Republic Austria
United Kingdom Japan Hungary Poland
Italy Thailand Bulgaria Serbia
India Turkey
France
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Current Day Situation
While drones have been widely condemned and are viewed predominantly negatively by most of the
world’s population, recent reports have brought to light some counterarguments that could justify their
use. Firstly, it would appear that, contrary to popular belief, the use of remotely operated drones to carry
out strikes against human targets does not induce desensitisation. On the contrary, remote drone
operators tend to experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at the same, if not higher, rates than
forces actually on the ground. Furthermore, while rates of civilian casualties are high, comparing these to
those incurred by more traditional methods of warfare can help to put this in perspective. The Al-Firdos
bunker airstrike that occurred in the 1991 Gulf War, for example, killed up to 400 civilians; roughly half of
the total number of civilians estimated to have been killed by US drone strikes across a period of eight
years.
Drones are sometimes criticised as being counter productive. For instance due to the risk of attacks
damaging relations between the country carrying it out, and that being subjected to it. Drone strikes are
also thought to increase popular discontent within the target country, leading to greater animosity being
felt towards the country carrying out the attacks, the government of that country which either allowed
them to happen or was unable to prevent them, but also unintentionally increasing support for the
targeted militant organisations; the “accidental guerrilla” phenomenon. Targeting individuals on another
country’s soil without formally declaring war also poses legal and moral complications, and it is still unclear
whether the use of drones violates international law governing these matters. The secretive nature of most
programmes, the fact that they are sometimes even chaperoned by civilian rather than military intelligence
agencies, and the lack of a clear system of accountability both on the internal and international stage are all
problems that still need to be tackled.
The development of Lethal Autonomous Robots (LARs), which could
choose and execute their own targets without human input, raises
further concerns both in terms of accountability and legal and
ethical matters. The regulations and issues surrounding the
development of LARs was consequently addressed in the report by
the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary executions released in April 2013. Within the report, an
appeal was made for governments to temporarily halt the
production and development of such technology until an adequate
system of legal accountability is devised, calling also for the
establishment of a high level panel on LARs to create international policies on the issue.
Navi Pillay at the Human Rights Council
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Further condemnations include that of United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay in her opening statement
for the 20th session of the Human Rights Council. In her statement, Mrs. Pillay expressed serious concern
over the recurring use of drones in targeted attacks, in particular due to the uncertainty that targets were
actually combatants and involved in hostilities. Pakistan's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Zamir Akram,
has also called for international legal action against the "totally counterproductive attacks" conducted by
the US within his country.
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Bibliography
The Atlantic: ‘Drones: Actually the Most Humane Form of Warfare Ever’.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/08/drones-actually-the-most-humane-
form-of-warfare-ever/278746/
Foreign Policy Magazine: ‘A Liberal Case for Drones’.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/05/14/a_liberal_case_for_drones
The Economist: ‘The debate over drones’.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/lexington/2013/02/john-brennan
Human Rights Watch: ‘Arms: New Campaign to Stop Killer Robots’.
http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/04/23/arms-new-campaign-stop-killer-robots
The Guardian: ‘Drones by country: who has all the UAVs?’.
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/aug/03/drone-stocks-by-country
The Nation: ‘A Brief History of Drones’. http://www.thenation.com/article/166124/brief-history-
drones#
Wikipedia: ‘Unmanned Aerial Vehicle’. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_aerial_vehicle
Stanford Law School: ‘Living Under Drones: Death, Injury and Trauma to Civilians from US Drone
Practices in Pakistan’. http://www.livingunderdrones.org/
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Wikipedia: ‘Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles’.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_combat_air_vehicle
RefWorld: ‘Human Rights Council: Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary executions’. http://www.refworld.org/docid/51a747c54.html
The Guardian: ‘Drone attacks in Pakistan mapped’.
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2012/aug/02/drone-attacks-pakistan-
map
Images:
http://dronewars.net/aboutdrone/
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/feb/02/surveillance-drone-industy-pr-effort
http://www.un.org/News/dh/photos/large/2012/July/520960-navipillay.jpg
Suggested Readings
Articles above, especially:
RefWorld: ‘Human Rights Council: Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary executions’. http://www.refworld.org/docid/51a747c54.html
The International Business Times: ‘Drones: Which Countries Have Them For Surveillance And
Military Operations? (MAP)’. http://www.ibtimes.com/drones-which-countries-have-them-
surveillance-military-operations-map-1264271
DISEC Committee Study Guide
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Topic Two: Creation of
international measures to
prevent the acquisition of chemical weapons by
non-state actors’
Background Information
The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is an agreement between nation states which prohibits the
development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer or use of chemical weapons, and
generally aims to eliminate all use of this category of weapon. Currently, the CWC has not been ratified by
Israel or Myanmar, and has been neither signed nor ratified by Angola, Egypt, North Korea, South Sudan,
and Syria. However, it must be noted that Syria has taken recent and positive steps toward chemical
weapon disarmament. Verification regimes are in place to ensure harmful chemicals are not being used for
prohibited purposes, and states member to the agreement have the right to request inspections of other
member states in regards to chemical misuse at anytime.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) promotes and verifies the adherence to
the CWC. Recently they achieved the 2013 Nobel Prize for Peace for their work in disarming Syria’s
chemical weapon arsenal. The OPCW typically oversee operational chemical weapons destruction facilities
in Russia and the United States, as well as conducting frequent industry inspections throughout all states
member to the CWC agreement. The OPCW is not an agency of the United Nations, but cooperates fully on
policy and practical issues.
The most recent facts and figures show that out of the member states that have declared ownership of
chemical weapons (Albania, India, Iraq, Libya, Russia, USA, and an undisclosed state), only Albania, India,
and the undisclosed state have completed destruction of their chemical arsenal. It is highly suspected that
the undisclosed state is South Korea, but experts have not verified this. As of September 2013, 81.71% of
the world’s declared stockpile of chemical agents has been verifiably destroyed. However, only 57.32% of
the declared chemical munitions and containers have been verifiably destroyed. The OPCW verifies that the
destruction process is irreversible.
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Russia, USA, Libya, and Iraq are yet to complete 100% destruction of
their chemical weapons. The destruction deadline for Russia, USA,
and Libya was the 29th April 2012, whereas Iraq has no current
deadline and has failed to destroy any chemical weapons since joining
the CWC.
Current Day Situation
Despite shortcomings with these states, the OPCW has performed well, but it can be argued the CWC is still
not comprehensive enough. The CWC agreement only includes assistance in response to a “method of
warfare…by another country”, and there is risk of non-party states acquiring chemical weapons from
destabilized regions and failed states. Factions and rebel groups who are unaligned with states are capable
of acquiring and using chemical weapons, and they have recently believed to have done so (more historic
cases also include the sarin attacks in Matsumoto in 1994 and the Tokyo subway attack in 1995 by the Aum
Shinrikyu doomsday cult).
In July 2013, Russia provided the United Nations with a report blaming Syrian rebels for the Aleppo sarin
attack of March 2013. Sources from the US Department of Justice have also reported that Al Qaeda is
running a chemical weapons program in Somalia, which has been linked to the recent use of sarin in Syria.
Recent negotiations at the UN Security Council regarding the current situation in Syria have reached an
Impasse, but the stalemate may have bought enough time for the problem to resolve itself. Now the Assad
regime has begun to destroy their chemical weapon arsenal, talks of US intervention have stagnated, but
the question on everyone’s minds at the moment is whether the rebels are using chemical weapons, and
how the world will respond to this.
Experts believe the next logical step is to implement an internationally accepted method of dealing with
non-state actors and dealing with attacks perpetrated by them. However, scholars of international law are
yet to conclude the best way to prevent and prosecute non-state actors.
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Bibliography
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW): ‘Convention on the Prohibition of the
Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction (Chemical Weapons Convention)’.
http://www.opcw.org/chemical-weapons-convention/
The OPCW: ‘Our Work’. http://www.opcw.org/our-work/
The OPCW: ‘Non-Member States’. http://www.opcw.org/about-opcw/non-member-states/
The OPCW: ‘Demilitarisation’. http://www.opcw.org/our-work/demilitarisation/
Wikipedia: ‘Chemical Weapons Convention’.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_Weapons_Convention#cite_note-20
McClatchyDC: ‘Russia gave UN 100-page report in July blaming Syrian rebels for Aleppo sarin attack’.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/09/05/201268/russia-releases-100-page-report.html
The OPCW: ‘Brief History of Chemical Weapons Use’. http://www.opcw.org/about-chemical-
weapons/history-of-cw-use/
The OPCW: ‘Requests for Assistance’. http://www.opcw.org/our-work/assistance-and-
protection/assistance-against-chemical-weapons/requests-for-assistance/
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Suggested Readings
Articles above, especially:
United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs: ‘Chemical Weapons’.
http://www.un.org/disarmament/WMD/Chemical/
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW): ‘About the OPCW’.
http://www.opcw.org/about-opcw/
McClatchyDC: ‘Russia gave UN 100-page report in July blaming Syrian rebels for Aleppo sarin attack’.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/09/05/201268/russia-releases-100-page-report.html
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General Links of Potential Use
The United Nations (UN): ‘General Assembly Of The United Nations – Disarmament and International
Security’. http://www.un.org/en/ga/first/
The UN: ‘Charter of the United Nations’. http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/index.shtml
SheffMUN 2013: ‘Committees’. http://una-uos.co.uk/sheffmun/2013-conference/committees
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): ‘The World Factbook’. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-
world-factbook/
The UN: ‘The UN News Centre’. http://www.un.org/news/
NB: Delegates should consult the relevant official agency and national ministries websites of the state they
are representing, as a priority in their research.
