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Dear Delegates,
Greetings and welcome to the Security Council. My name is Graeme Crews, and I will be your chair for what promises to be an amazing World Model United Nations 2012 in Vancouver, Canada. As the most powerful body in the United Nations, you will face issues that necessitate a comprehensive response from the international community.
Briefly, here’s a little information about me. I am a junior at Harvard in Leverett House, concentrating in Social Studies, which is an interesting amalgamation of political science, political theory, sociology, economics, sociology, and all the other social sciences. MUN is one of my primary activities on campus. I chaired the International Criminal Court last year in Singapore at WorldMUN 2011. I directed the Security Council at HNMUN 2011. I am also a member of ICMUN, our traveling Model UN team. I am so involved with Model UN because, like you I am sure, I am interested in international affairs and the intellectual challenge of solving problems in the international community. Moreover, it offers participants the ability to meet people from around the world to learn about what makes us different but, more importantly, what makes us the same. Other than Model UN, I am a member and Treasurer of the Harvard Speech and Parliamentary Debate Society, and I compete in inter-collegiate debate tournaments around the Northeast. I also involved with the Institute of Politics, and I am Assistant Editor of the Harvard Undergraduate Law Review and a volunteer for the Small Claims Advisory Service. Some of my less demanding extracurricular activities include watching the most recent blockbusters and trashy TV and spending time with friends.
The Security Council this year at WorldMUN will face two very significant issues for international peace and security: the drug wars in Mexico and the small arms trade in Africa. Using the study guide and your own research, you will develop comprehensive solutions to these longstanding issues. The international community has been largely silent on these issues; they have never been brought forward in the Security Council. Thus, your will embark on unchartered waters. Embedded in the topics are discussions of geopolitical relations, the intersection of economics and politics, and human rights. I have faith that the days of debate and resolution drafting will be extremely productive and result in a solution to these issues.
WorldMUN is truly the Olympics of the MUN world. For any newcomers, you will get the amazing opportunity of meeting passionate and intelligent students from around the world in a place bursting with culture and sights to see. For any lucky veterans like me, you get to experience this opportunity all over again.
All the best,
Graeme Crews
Chair, Security Council
World Model United Nations 2012
sc@worldmun.org
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Topic A: Mexican Drug Wars
This ongoing conflict is occurring among drug cartels competing for territory and power and the Mexican government forces whose purpose is to stamp out drug trafficking. This conflict constitutes surpasses most metrics for a civil war, with thousands killed yearly since 2007. The fighting began in 1989 with the arrest of Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo who had a near monopoly on the cocaine business in Mexico. Large-scale fighting, however, did not begin until the 2000s. The business model of these cartels is driven by illicit drug sales to the US. To demonstrate this: approximately seventy percent of foreign drugs arriving in the US come from Mexico. The Mexican government launched a campaign to end the drugs wars, with some success, but thousands of civilians as well as journalists and politicians remain at risk. The Security Council will approach this situation from a perspective of not only attempting to alleviate a war that destabilizes Mexico and many Central American states but also question Mexico’s army practices and whether they are legitimate. Human rights violations have been reported throughout the conflict. You will decide if Mexico needs help, censuring, suggestions, or a combination of all three from the international community.
Topic B: Small Arms Sales in Africa
The availability of small arms in Africa may explain the prevalence of conflicts in this perennially unstable continent and the long duration of rebuilding and development after conflicts end. At the very least, reports find that small arms are the major cause of civilian casualties in modern conflicts. It will be your job in the Security Council to determine the truth in this relationship. If you find small arms contribute to the decline of international peace and security, then you will need to determine a solution. Small arms and other conventional arms exports largely are distributed to poor nations like in Africa from rich ones like the five permanent members of the Security Council, which account for eighty-eight percent of the conventional arms exports. The use of these small arms when they fall into the hands of brutal dictators is often widespread human rights violations and indiscriminate killings. Given the persistent instability of sub-Saharan Africa and the new unrest in Northern Africa, this issue is all the more timely. Innovative suggestions on how to control the arms flow will be required in order to solve this problem. The UN General Assembly has already decried the situation, observing that the absence of standards in the import, export, and transfer of conventional arms is “one of the contributory factors to conflict, the displacement of people, crime and terrorism, thereby undermining peace, reconciliation, safety, security, stability and sustainable social and economic development.” Does the Security Council agree? If so, what's to be done?