June 7, 2012 THE TORCH ISSUE TWO

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“Perhaps not all love is

lost!”

The Delegate of Brazil

SPECPOL: Hope for Palestine after Protracted Struggle

By Foo Wen Yan & Song Yin Yin

The committee session got off to a shaky start as delegates could not reconcile two draft resolutions. Debate focused on the minor details of the first resolution, leaving little time for the second resolution. While many objections were raised, delegates failed to resolve the differences between the two resolutions. Emotions were heightened as the delegate of Libya criticized both resolutions for not admitting Palestine immediately, only to be told that she was “not being constructive” and should draft her own resolution.

As a deadlock ensured, the delegate of Brazil declared that he had “given up all hope” and drafted a new resolution with the DPRK. With the debate dragging on, delegates urged the quick passing of the new resolution, which was deemed as “short, simple and concise” and struck a reasonable compromise between the different factions. Several amendments and a preamble were

added in response US objections and a threat to veto the resolution. Finally, the resolution was passed with a palpable sense of relief.

SPECPOL Found Guilty of Analogy Abuse

By Foo Wen Yan & Song Yin Yin

After lunch, the SPECPOL committee proceeded to the topic of the economic colonization (EC) of the less developed countries. Countries such as USA, China, Comoros and Brazil stated their differing stances on the issue. USA endorsed activities which encouraged economic liberalization while China believed that her relationship with the African nations was beneficial to the nations as well. In contrast, Comoros and Brazil expressed their strong opposition against EC, with Brazil continuing with his analogy of the farmer Carlos, saying that “Farmers like Carlos are losing out!” During the debate on the nature and forms of EC, Morocco adopted the classic analogy of teaching a man to fish to describe the nature of EC. Later, Brazil identified a means of EC, the loans, which led to the loss of lands from farmers when they are not able to pay back, referring to China as a source of such loans. However, China retorted that the loans were not enforced upon the farmers and, that “It takes two to tango, or in Brazil’s case, samba.”

Although Chairs repeatedly urged delegates to “stop abusing analogies”, delegates certainly

felt otherwise.

Publication of SMUN 2012 Friday, 8 June 2012 Issue No. 3 http://www.singaporemun.org/publications/

“Perhaps not all love is

lost!”

- Delegate of Brazil

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Bleak Outlook for the UNSC By Theron Muk

Discussion regarding the escalation of tensions between Iran

and Israel continued on Thursday morning. Time was

running out!

Left: Sneaky delegate on FB

The US insisted on the inclusion of a time limit in the

resolution as the issue had to be solved quickly, seeing that

oil prices had reached an all-time high; which was strongly

supported by Indonesia. However, the delegate from India urged the US to “stop the

fearmongering”, and the Russians hammered in the final nail in the coffin when they declared

that they would veto any resolution which included a time limit.

Voting then commenced on the resolution. All seemed well until the US proposed a review

of the clause which stated that Israel's attack on Iran was unlawful. As the clause had

already been passed, the US could not exercise its veto. Things took a turn for the worse

when the US threatened to veto the entire resolution if the clause was passed. In the interest

of passing the resolution, the Chair suspended the rules of procedure and allowed the US to

change its vote. The resolution was finally passed, much to the relief of the UNSC.

Formal proceedings continued with the discussion of naval

expansion. While most member states expressed concern over

the detrimental effects of naval expansion, they maintained that

it was every country’s sovereign rate to dictate the pace and

extent of its naval expansion. The Philippines expressed worry

at China’s rapid naval expansion, but the delegates of China

assured the council that its expansion was “purely for self-defense

needs”. The UK also suggested that expansion could provide

more opportunities for multilateral cooperation to combat

piracy and promote peace.

The issue of the Arctic Circle was brought up as several

members expressed interest in gaining access to the Arctic

trade routes. A substantial number of countries felt the need to secure their economic

interests in the Arctic, for fear of losing out to other member states. The French delegate then

proposed that it times of such crisis and conflict, and due to the “wet nature of the Arctic

region, penetration of the region required hard, fast and rapid action by the UNSC to reach a climax”.

Proceedings dragged on. It was evident that the UNSC was getting nowhere in the

discussion, and the meeting was then adjourned for the day.

UNHRC: Brokeback Mountain Unbroken

By Tan Jing Yi & Wang Xiao Lin

The proceedings of the third day kickstarted with the rejection of two draft resolutions for

“Your guys have been

doing shit over there

that’s not legal! You just

shoot people!”

- Indonesia to China

“…penetration of the

region required hard, fast

and rapid action by the

UNSC to reach a climax”

June 7, 2012 THE TORCH ISSUE TWO

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the crisis in Iran. Nonetheless, the presentation of the draft resolution 1.3 proposed by the delegate of Brazil sparked off a heated debate. With a total of 26 votes for this draft resolution, the resolution was passed, therefore settling the human rights aspect of the Iranian crisis to the satisfaction of most parties involved. Subsequently, the committee shifted focus back to the discussion of LGBT rights. Halfway through, the delegate of North Korea announced that she was “ashamed” to be part of a council which was debating what to do with “people who are genetically different”. Lending support to this view was the Saudi Arabian delegate, who pointed out aptly that there was a need to “keep the world populated” and homosexuals are unable to contribute to this cause. However, when the World Bank delegate took the stage, she suggested that instead of debating and discussing about the rights of the LGBT community and punishing them in accordance to cultural and religious norms in certain countries, it might be a better idea to offer them therapy to change their sexual orientation. Following lunch, a vote was held to pass the clauses raised by the council. Ultimately, with a dead tie at 15-15, the UNHRC failed to pass a resolution regarding the rights of the LGBT community. The council moved on to the topic of internally displaced Sri Lankans and a speech by the delegate of North Korea on “giving more freedom” to the IDPs in Sri Lanka drew laughter from the assembly for the absurdity of its irony. During the unmoderated caucus which took place afterwards, the delegate of Denmark found himself on the receiving end of a substantial amount of female attention for the aesthetically pleasing nature of his features.

Mission (finally) Accomplished for ECOSOC

By Song Qiao Hui

Although the Iranian crisis weighed heavily on the delegates’ mind, things began to take a turn for the better as a draft resolution to resolve the crisis was proposed. Yet lights threatened to go off again, as debate grew heated after USA proposed that non-oil producing nations offer their goods to oil producing countries at a reduced price. Thailand pointed out that increased oil prices fed the crisis, and the proposed amendment would only cause a great loss to non- oil producing countries. Coupled with the USA and Brazil’s opposition to Free Trade Agreements, the heat was on to pass the resolution. Finally, the resolution passed unanimously. The elated chair then proceeded to grant a five minute celebration, punched the air in triumph. "Passed," He cried, "we’re okay!" Oh look, the lights are back on.

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ECOSOC Returns to Greener Pastures By Song Qiao Hui

Following lunch, delegates returned to the topic of the green economies. With another

resolution (2.2) introduced to replace the existing draft resolution 2.1, delegates raced to

prove the worth of each resolution. A

war of words ensued with the

delegate of Sweden describing draft

resolution 2.1 as a "spongebob

resolution", and the delegate of Greece

rebutting that draft resolution 2.2 was

just as riddled with flaws.

Discussions seem to have stagnated

after much debate on the feasibility of

feeding genetically modified grass to

cows, and whether countries should

donate 0.001% their GDP to an

environmental fund progress. The

stagnation was aptly summed up by

the delegate of Saudi Arabia, who

was “literally speechless that this…[was]

taking so long". Following which, the council finally decided to close debate, divide the

resolutions, and vote singly on each clause. With this the Council got back on track, passing

the resolution with a round of applause.

UNDP’s slow progress By Angela Verita Lin and Zhao Yi Jin

The UNDP was able to narrowly pass a resolution dealing with the aftermath of the Iranian

Crisis. Of notable mention was the acronym-wealthy Central African Republic (CAR)

delegation, who proposed three programs- the Nuclear Immediate Strategies for Sanitation

(NISSAN), the HONorable Development Aid (HONDA), and the Assistance and United

Development Initiative (AUDI).

The council returned to the topic of democratic governance and aid, and it was only after a prolonged stalemate within the council that a resolution was proposed. The resolution focused on trying to adhere to the UN charter of not coercing nations into adopting liberal democratic values in exchange for aid. Although, the delegations sponsoring the resolution have repeatedly affirmed their belief that democratic rule is the most suitable method of governance in an increasingly technologically progressive and liberal age, they have opted to persuade non-democratic nations of the outweighing benefits of adopting a liberal democracy rather than demanding coherence to this ideology with their aid held as hostage.

June 7, 2012 THE TORCH ISSUE TWO

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Upon further inspection however, the resolution was found lacking by the delegates of Afghanistan and Iceland, who described it as “perambulatory”, perhaps as a result of the delegations’ desire to appease all the parties involved. A motion to expedite and close debate was called upon by some of the delegates in the council. Many delegates pointed out that a second resolution was in the making, similar in nature to the first and also having made the effort to include the interests of those in the first resolution. Progress was frustratingly slow as the house was clearly divided and remained unwilling to vote for the first resolution or to introduce a second resolution. This resulted in some unhappiness within the house in which debate was suspended in order to allow the other blocs more time to negotiate and craft the second resolution.

Sluggish Day for OIC By Chua Hou Zheng

Thursday saw the OIC stumble its way through the crisis resolution, with several highly contentious clauses needing to be ironed out. For instance, the OIC proposed to send an international delegation to Iran to conduct a "fact-finding mission" in order to publish an internal report, but the OIC could not agree on which countries should form this delegation. Eventually, it was decided that this delegation should consist of delegates from Indonesia, Turkey, Albania, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Nigeria, achieving a consensus to pass the resolution. With the crisis over, the issue of Islamophobia resurfaced. Ideas on how to close the divide between Islam and the West were discussed during the moderated informal consultations. These include media censorship, education and economic integration. But soon the debate seemed to be stagnating, causing the Chair to recommend an unmoderated informal consultation for delegates to draft a resolution. A large part of the afternoon was thus dedicated to resolution-drafting during unmoderated informal consultations, where the OIC broke into small groups to draw up clauses tackling different aspects of Islamophobia. However, when the OIC reconvened, the Chair, clearly dissatisfied with the sluggishness of the OIC, described the delegates as "deafeningly silent”. Considering the snail-like pace of progress in the OIC, it will have its hands full for Friday’s session.

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June 7, 2012 THE TORCH ISSUE TWO

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