study guide for zurich model united nations-5 · 2020-05-14 · zurich’model’united’nations...

Zurich Model United Nations

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Study Guide – ZuMUN 2016 of 13

Special Political and Decolonization Committee (SPECPOL)

Study Guide for Zurich Model United Nations

Written by Syed Ahmed Shah

April 14th to 17th 2016

Zurich, Switzerland


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Contents: Welcome from the committee Chairs………………………………………………………Page: 3

Topic A: Consequences of arbitrary borders

• Committee Background................................................................................................ Page: 4 • Brief Insight about Arbitrary Borders............................................................................Page: 4 • Contemporary issues arising as a consequence............................................................Page: 6 • Attempts to restructure................................................................................................Page: 7 • Modern World Challenges.............................................................................................Page: 7 • Bibliography and Suggested further readings...............................................................Page: 9

Topic B: Action against landmines

• Brief Insight about Landmines………………………………………………………………………………….Page: 10 • Past attempts by international community to regulate/ban landmines......................Page: 10 • Timeline of important events.......................................................................................Page: 11 • Contemporary Issues....................................................................................................Page: 12 • The UN mine action gateway.......................................................................................Page: 12 • Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Page: 13


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Welcome from the committee Chairs

Dear Delegates,

On behalf of the entire secretariat of Zurich Model United Nations we would like to welcome you to the SPECPOL committee here at the second annual Zurich Model United Nations conference. We, Syed and Jasurbek will be chairing this year’s SPECPOL committee and we are really excited to meeting you all in April.

I (Syed) am currently a final year law student in England and my primary focus is on Public International Law and International Human rights. I have been participating in Model UN conferences since 2008 and since I have participated in over 18 Model UN conferences including Harvard Model United Nations and University of Oxford International Model United Nations.

Jasurbek, your co-‐chair, is from Uzbekistan. Currently, he is studying in his final year for a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Tashkent. He has participated in numerous MUNs and international youth conferences around the world.

This study guide is a comprehensive guide to the topics however, we highly recommend that you use this guide as a starting point but not the end point. We have also attached further reading lists which we thought might be useful for you to read. Position papers are due on 10th April and please make sure that you don’t miss this deadline.

If you have any query or need help with your research then please do not hesitate to contact us and we aim to respond you back as soon as possible. Best of luck with your research!


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Topic A:

Consequences of arbitrary borders

Committee Background:

Special Political and Decolonization committee (SPECPOL) is the fourth committee of the United Nations General Assembly and it was created under the United Nations charter in 1993. SPECPOL is a combination of special political committee and decolonization committee. It deals with a variety of subjects which include those related to decolonization, Palestinian refugees and human rights, peacekeeping, mine action, outer space, public information, atomic radiation and University for Peace.

We would highly recommend you to watch a live telecast of their sessions on UN Web TV as it will give you a gist as to how parliamentary procedures and diplomacy work in real life.

Brief Insight about Arbitrary Borders:

Over the past decades we have witnessed numerous conflicts as a consequence of arbitrary borders, especially across the Middle East and Africa. From invisible and impossible-‐to-‐monitor Saharan borders to the unmanageable diversity of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s population, arbitrary borders and fragmented nationhood of many African countries are features of numerous contemporary conflicts and other problems, from West African drug-‐trafficking to minority rights. Modern African states, like all countries, face many and varied problems. Among them a number are related to the challenges of building an inclusive and legitimate nation-‐state, including: armed violence by non-‐state, often ethno-‐national groups, such as the Tuaregs in Mali; separatism, for example in South Sudan; communal tensions and ethicized national politics, as have been witnessed in Kenya or Côte d’Ivoire; minority marginalization, experienced by the San in Botswana, among others; and deep interconnections with destabilizing communal tensions in neighboring states, as are currently seen in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ethno-‐national attachment is by no means unique to Africa or a full explanation for all these problems, but it is a dynamic, which takes a part in shaping many. Seemingly arbitrary national borders and fractured nation building are challenges for many states, from the Balkans to the Middle East to South Asia and elsewhere. It is frequently, though, and perhaps more than any other region, the source of many tensions in Africa.


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Imperial administrations drew, at least theoretically, inflexible and enforceable borders on the African map, notably at the infamous 1884-‐1885 Berlin Conference (also known as Congo Conference). This later left many post-‐independence governments with the massive task of styling nations out of the diverse peoples living within their inherited state, rather than the other way around. There is an element of arbitrariness, or political decision, in any border, but some bear more relation to practiced, locally relevant frontiers than others.

Benedict Anderson argued in his famous work “Imagined Communities” that nations are imagined. That is not to say that they are not important or genuine, but that they are a social construction which must be perceived to exist by those within a nation, as “the fellow members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion”. Thus, “communities are to be distinguished, not by their falsity or genuineness, but the style in which they are imagined”, and, it can be added, the extent to which they are effectively imagined among a population.

The nation-‐state model has shaped modern formal international relations, and indeed this is where the UN’s structure finds its basis. This somewhat dogmatic model, along with governments’ fears for national cohesion, has made the international community paranoid about changes to international borders. It is no coincidence that several of the states, which oppose the recognition of Kosovo as independent have their own secessionist claims, including Spain, Russia, China, Cyprus and India. The result has been, with the significant exception of the USSR’s dissolution, an international map that has been surprisingly static, historically speaking, since the end of the colonial period.


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Source: voxeu.org

Contemporary issues arising as a consequence:

There are undoubtedly many citizens of African countries who identify strongly with their nation-‐state. Difficult borders and often fragile nationhood, though, are still significant factors in the background to problems faced by many modern African states, including inter-‐ethnic and transnational conflict, high sensitivity to political or communal instability in nearby states, heavily ethicized politics, trafficking, and vulnerable minority rights.

In the case of the Bakassi peninsula, for example, following the gradual but shaky implementation of a 2002 ICJ decision that it belonged to Cameroon rather than Nigeria, its inhabitants were potentially left with the choice between losing their nationality or their ancestral home. The area has been a point of serious tension between the two neighbors, effectively arising from conflicting claims based in different colonial-‐era treaties. Until this handover, it was ruled by Nigeria, and the peninsula’s inhabitants largely consider themselves Nigerian; with the Nigerian government’s seemingly sudden willingness to relinquish Bakassi, some suspect that economic motives have overridden national solidarity, particularly as there has been suspicion that the government is less inclined to defend the lands of a minority. Umo Nakanda, a spokesman for the Bakassi People’s General Assembly, claimed: “We have seen that the overriding interest was solely economic rather than human interest.” To some extent this feels as if territory here is still being carved up along borders decided by distant


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central governments rather than local inhabitants, and episodes such as this surely undermine the development of a strong nation-‐state.

There are also innumerable cases of ethno-‐national or pseudo-‐national groups which now exist across borders, from Somalis, Nuba, and Tuaregs to Bushmen, Hutu, and Fula; some groups indeed feel divided, and some with nomadic lifestyles are cut off from areas they traditionally visited. States have thus been presented with the task of successfully including the different groups into a nation-‐state, which often now by necessity cannot define itself simply ethnically or linguistically; a challenge which interestingly several Western states have had to meet over the last half a century, with immigration and increasingly diverse populations. The ethicized nature of politics in many African countries is testament to the difficulty of this task, but the resulting division also shows its necessity.

Attempts to restructure

Several states have had success in attempting to work with a diverse population to build an inclusive nation, such as Singapore, Switzerland, or India. Unquestionably, problems are still to be faced, especially in massive India, but certain intelligent policies, including minority quotas and linguistic federalism, have gone some way to forging a citizenry, which identifies as ‘Indian’. It is definitely a work in progress, but it is a sincere attempt to overcome ethnic polarization; this remains a challenge in many societies worldwide, where groups clamor for separatism and an alteration to sacrosanct national borders, from the ever-‐simmering tension in Northern Ireland to the stubbornly murderous approach of Khartoum towards the people of what has now become South Sudan.

Modern World Challenges

A massive challenge to national administration is the plethora of languages in many countries. In 2008, 279 languages were spoken among Cameroon’s 18,467,692 inhabitants; in Chad, 132 languages were used among 10,111,337 inhabitants; the Republic of Congo had 62 languages for 3,903,318 inhabitants; and in the Central African Republic, 69 languages were spoken among a population of 4,434,873. This gives a combined average of just 68,113 speakers per language for these countries; such linguistic diversity has led many sub-‐Saharan states to pragmatically choose non-‐indigenous Lingua Francas as national and administrative languages, leaving them without one distinctive, ‘home-‐grown’ language to use as an easy marker to reinforce national identity.

A case, which could be drawn on for inspiration, is India’s linguistic federalism model, where devolution to federal states is implemented, to an extent, on the basis of regional languages. This has the dual purposes of making the huge country more manageable and government institutions more


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locally relevant and accessible to those who speak vernacular languages. While never perfect, and less capable of incorporating small minority languages, this model provides a creative method to address the problem of political access for diverse groups.


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Bibliography: • (Pinpointpolitics.co.uk, 2016) <http://pinpointpolitics.co.uk/national-‐borders-‐african-‐problems-‐from-‐

a-‐european-‐construct/> accessed 9 March 2016 • 'UN General Assembly -‐ Fourth Committee -‐ Special Political And Decolonization' (Un.org, 2016)

<http://www.un.org/en/ga/fourth/> accessed 9 March 2016. • 'The Big Questions In Geography -‐ Cutter -‐ 2004 -‐ The Professional Geographer -‐ Wiley Online Library'

(Onlinelibrary.wiley.com, 2016) <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/0033-‐0124.00332/citedby> accessed 9 March 2016.

• 'The African Experience' (Google Books, 2016) <https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=FPYoCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=arbitrary+borders&ots=HeDDXyT_QW&sig=w29TNYnWuPU_p84kLkCxGo-‐atSg#v=onepage&q=arbitrary%20borders&f=false> accessed 9 March 2016.

• P. Englebert, S. Tarango and M. Carter, 'Dismemberment And Suffocation: A Contribution To The Debate On African Boundaries' (2002) 35 Comparative Political Studies.

Suggested further reading: • 'The African Experience' (Google Books, 2016)

<https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=FPYoCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=arbitrary+borders&ots=HeDDXyT_QW&sig=w29TNYnWuPU_p84kLkCxGo-‐

• 'Why Border Lines Drawn With A Ruler In WW1 Still Rock The Middle East -‐ BBC News' (BBC News, 2016) <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-‐middle-‐east-‐25299553> accessed 9 March 2016.

• Deutsche (www.dw.com), 'Sykes-‐Picot Drew Middle East's Arbitrary Borders | Middle East | DW.COM | 25.06.2014' (DW.COM, 2016) <http://www.dw.com/en/sykes-‐picot-‐drew-‐middle-‐easts-‐arbitrary-‐borders/a-‐17734768> accessed 9 March 2016.

• Bernhard Zand, 'Century Of Violence: What World War I Did To The Middle East -‐ SPIEGEL ONLINE' (SPIEGEL ONLINE, 2014) <http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/world-‐war-‐i-‐led-‐to-‐a-‐century-‐of-‐violence-‐in-‐the-‐middle-‐east-‐a-‐946052.html> accessed 9 March 2016.


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Topic B: Action against Landmines

Brief Insight about Landmines:

Every day, people die or lose limbs from stepping on a landmine. Mostly in countries at peace -‐ and the majority of victims are civilians. Armies use mines for two purposes: on the one hand side they enable to channel or slow enemy troops by creating barriers, on the other hand side they can be used to prevent an enemy from accessing a certain territory when active defence isn’t possible or too costly. The cruel feature of landmines however is their persistence. Landmines remain in the ground and explosive long after the conflict which sowed them had ended. The term landmine originates in the ancient military practice of digging mines under enemy lines and detonate them in order to bury ones foe. The Anti-‐personnel Landmine Convention, or the Mine Ban Convention, addresses this scourge. It bans the stockpiling, transfer and use of anti-‐personnel landmines, requires countries to clear them on their territory, while prescribing States in a position to do so to assist affected countries. Landmines come in two varieties: anti-‐personnel and anti-‐vehicle mines. Both have caused great suffering in the past decades. Anti-‐personnel landmines are prohibited under the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-‐Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction or Mine Ban Convention (also known as Ottawa Convention), adopted in 1997. More than 150 countries have joined this treaty. Its positive impact includes a marked reduction of casualties, an increased number of mine-‐free States, destroyed stockpiles and improved assistance to victims. The Convention doesn’t cover the use of anti-‐vehicle and anti-‐tank mines however.

Past attempts by international community to regulate/ban landmines:

In the 1980s, the use of anti-‐personnel landmines was regulated under the CCW treaty. But many countries wanted a complete ban. The ensuing Mine Ban Convention has been joined by three-‐quarters of the world's countries. Since its inception more than a decade ago, it has led to a virtual halt in global production of anti-‐personnel mines, and a drastic reduction in their deployment. More than 40 million stockpiled mines have been destroyed, and assistance has been provided to survivors and populations living in the affected areas. Vast numbers of mined and suspected hazardous areas have been declared free of landmines and released for productive use. As a result of these efforts, the number of casualties has sharply declined. Other welcome trends include: increases in national capacity to manage complex mine action programmes; the great progress in framing victim assistance in the wider context of disability; and the development of improved risk-‐reduction tools.


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The Mine Ban Convention has been a central framework for States in conducting mine action activities that led to all these remarkable achievements.

However many countries have not signed the Mine ban treaty, among them besides states like Myanmar, the United Arab Emirates, Cuba, India, Israel and Iran are unfortunately also more than half of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, namely Russia, China and the USA. Russia believes that mines are still strategically useful and necessary for military operations. Moreover it expressed concerns about its financial ability to destroy its large stockpile of anti-‐personnel mines. China was most heavily opposed to the Ottawa Convention. Not only did it not sign the final treaty, it also didn’t even take part in any of the treaty negotiations. On the one hand side the country is one of the world’s biggest producer of mines and on the other hand side deems anti-‐personnel mines still necessary. It could only sign the treaty if alternative weaponry was to be developed. However China ratified the CCW in 1982. The USA claims that landmines aren’t inhumane because of their destructive potential but rather due to their persistence. Therefore the US only use mines which self-‐destruct after merely two days. Since such mines, according to the USA, aren’t more cruel than any other weapon, a complete ban of mines is the wrong approach.

The most recent action taken by SPECPOL has been the formulation of Draft Resolution A/C.4/68/L.9 about assistance in mine clearance and the removing of mines.

Timeline of important events:

1939-‐1945 First extensive use of landmines in World War II.

1977 Geneva Convention prohibits targeting of civilians by indiscriminate weapons during war

1980 The Convention on Conventional Weapons limits the use of landmines

1991 ICBL (International Campaign to Ban Landmines) is founded

1995 Belgium is the first country to pass a law against anti-‐personnel mines

1997 Anti-‐Personnel Mine Ban Convention (Ottawa Convention)

1998 Anti-‐Personnel Mine Ban Convention comes into effect

1999 Anti-‐Personnel Mine Ban Convention is binding international law

2003 First deadlines for stockpile destruction set by all signatory states with stockpiles


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Contemporary Issues:

over 10 million stockpiled mines await destruction. Massive tracts of land are still infested and thus too dangerous for productive use. Tens of thousands of victims and their families have not yet received adequate support. The presence of mines continues to impede social and economic development. Mine action is not just about landmines. In many countries, unexploded ordnance, or UXO, poses an even greater threat to people's safety. UXO comprises bombs, mortars, grenades, missiles or other devices that fail to detonate as designed but remain volatile and can kill if touched or moved. Some of the main sources of UXO are cluster bombs. Today, mine-‐action programmes typically address problems of landmines, UXO and "explosive remnants of war," which includes UXO and "abandoned ordnance," or weapons and remnant Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) left behind by armed forces when they leave an area.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) is extremely concerned about the latest reports from our colleagues at Human Rights Watch that confirm even more antipersonnel landmines have been used in Libya during the recent conflict. In a press release issued on Tuesday 21 June 2011 Human Rights Watch said their teams had discovered more than 150 newly-‐laid landmines in the Nafusa Mountains, close to the Tunisian border.

Libyan rebels found and removed more than 150 of these antipersonnel landmines, the Brazilian-‐made T-‐AB-‐1, which government forces had placed north of Zintan in the Nafusa Mountains. This disturbing discovery comes as hundreds of governmental delegates and experts in mine action from international and non-‐governmental organizations convene in Geneva for a series of vital meetings to encourage further universalization and implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty.

The three countries which are most affected by landmines are Afghanistan, Angola and Cambodia, where each year 22’000 people (in the three countries combined) die due to landmine accidents. But landmines are a problem in many areas on all continents, but especially in Africa. But landmine action shows success stories as well. During the last six years Nicaragua, Nepal, Burundi, the Republic of Congo, Denmark, Gambia, Guinea-‐Bissau, Uganda and Jordan have declared themselves landmine-‐free.

THE UN MINE ACTION GATEWAY:

This is considered as one of the major cooperation between UN departments to ban the use of land mines. I have attached the link to a recent published report which is worth reading.


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Bibliography: • Mineaction.org. (2016). UN Mine Action Gateway. [online] Available at: http://www.mineaction.org/

[Accessed 22 Mar. 2016]. • International Committee of the Red Cross. (2014). Anti-‐personnel landmines. [online] Available at:

https://www.icrc.org/en/war-‐and-‐law/weapons/anti-‐personnel-‐landmines [Accessed 22 Mar. 2016]. • Banminesusa.org. (2016). News. [online] Available at: http://www.banminesusa.org/ [Accessed 22

Mar. 2016]. • Un.org. (2016). United Nations Disarmament -‐ Landmines. [online] Available at:

http://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/landmines/ [Accessed 22 Mar. 2016]. • Icbl.org. (2016). ICBL-‐ International Campaign to Ban Landmines | ICBL. [online] Available at:

http://www.icbl.org/en-‐gb/home.aspx [Accessed 22 Mar. 2016]. • Armstrong, James and Pike, Sophie: Study Guide: Special and Political Committee, NottsMUN 2014,

7th Edition, Nottingham, 2014.

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