DCMUN IX Conference Issue Day 2

DAY 2 DCMUN IX

CONTENTS The Earth's Carbon Footprint is too Big Rewriting the Course of Humanity To Be... or Not To Be Should the State Have the Right to Spy on People The Death Penalty

The Earth’s Carbon Footprint: Too Big? Our planet is growing less eco-friendly by the second. There are multiple environmental issues worldwide and only if the world comes together can we conquer them. The temperature is getting hotter and hotter on numerous islands. The Environmental Commission (EC) must improve carbon neutrality because if it is ignored, it will transform life on earth.

People are using too much energy. Let’s see what EC has to say.

Our main issue is improving carbon neutrality.

Greenhouse gases are commonly released into the atmosphere through the ignition of fossil fuels. Due to an increase in the emissions of these gases, global temperatures have gradually risen. These affect climate changes that are likely to change our lives in a few decades. According to a continuous temperature analysis conducted by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GSIS), the average global temperature on earth has increased by about 0.8 degrees Celsius since 1880. That may not seem like much but a continuous increase like that could have an alarming effect. Global warming has many other consequences apart from a slight increase in temperature and season shifting. These temperature changes cause polar ice caps to melt and the amount of water on our planet to expand. According to the National Geographic, satellite measures have shown that the global mean sea levels have risen by 10 to 20cm over the past century.

Climate plays an important role in ecosystems and as an indicator for countries to be able to work around them. The main cause of climate change has been attributed to the burning of fossil fuels which release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In addition, modern agriculture and deforestation have contributed towards an increase in the earth’s temperature and towards greenhouse gases. The concentration of CO2 was at 300 parts per million in 1900, yet in the last century it has risen to 400 parts per million.

The impacts of the rising carbon levels have caused minor increases in the earth’s temperature, and have had a substantial impact. In this century, the average temperature is set to rise by almost ten times the amount in the last century.

The second biggest problem is finding a way to make renewable energy. Since approximately 1850, worldwide use of fossil fuels has increased to dominate energy supply. This has lead to a rapid growth of carbon dioxide. We have to come up with innovative steps to solve this problem. The theoretical potential of renewable energy is significant, however there are large barriers related to increasing its production. An important aspect is the fact that energy production based on fossil fuel sources is always cheaper than renewable energy, based on the present technology and framework.

By Maseeha Seedat (Year 7)

Rewriting the Course of Humanity Genetic engineering may seem like a new-fangled science that our tech-savvy world will accept. It is so, in agriculture and medical research, to modify perfectly edible fruits and vegetables and cure diseases, but when it comes to modifying the human genome, many turn the idea down. In fact, genetic modification of the human genome is prohibited legally in more than 40 countries worldwide. Why? Many global citizens fear this takes out the ingenuity of the human race, as through genetic modification, we can install any features we like into a new human being, for the “perfect� human race, as Adolf Hitler once dreamed of in World War II. And as we know, what makes us human, and not robots, is that some ti0me in our life, it is guaranteed we will make a mistake. These ethical and social issues behind genetic modification are what cause the bans, problems and restrictions.

However, several countries have recently been breaking promises made through treaties that prevent human genome modification. Even though China is under a ban of doing so with guidelines, it has shocked the world with rumours that it has been teaming up with the USA, which is not ruled under any legislative body that prevents human gene modification, to modify human embryos, using a simple, cheap, yet effective gene editing tool called Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR). In fact, China was the first country officially reported doing this in April 2015, at the Sun Yat-sen University, where researchers used CRISPR to edit a gene linked with the blood disease beta thalassemia, which causes lack of oxygen in the blood.Using non-viable human embryos, the experiments were largely fruitless, but over time, these gene-editing tools have been refined, so genes can be inserted and deleted easier

than ever, while still staying inexpensive. CRISPR is the latest, simplest and least expensive genetic modification tool. Originally identified in small bacterial organisms, which use it for defense against foreign DNA from viruses, it deactivates targeted genes to theoretically insert a new one in its place. ZFNs (Zinc-Finger Nucleases) and TALENs (Transcription Activator- like Nucleases) also work in a similar way.

be used as a weapon, as other technological advances have been used in the past , to create a “perfect� human army or human race, very similar to robots but with a bit more life in them. So, one possible solution is enforcing strict regulations by worldwide legislative bodies which include severe judicial punishment for the misuse of human genome modification. This is just one, out of many solutions, to this intriguing issue on advancement of human genetic modification research.

The real problem, however, lies with the strong disagreement of other countries on this issue. Delegates of countries like Canada, Australia and the UK By Mathula Muhandun (Year 8) have outright bans on human genome modification, mainly on the basis that it is unethical and socially disgraceful, and in fact, most citizens of countries like China and the USA think this as well.

So, what can be done to solve the issue?

Well, human germ-line manipulation is not entirely evil. In the USA, there are already signs of a possibility that it might actually cure diseases: genetically engineered growth hormones are being manufactured for children lacking growth hormones. So outright banning of the practice might not be the best idea. However, if genetic modification of the hu- https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0hO-jc7dman genome is allowed without restrictions, it might D6edlJ0N1Izdi1CQTQ/view

To Be... or Not To Be? H

elping smaller nations gain power and preventing further catastrophic wars are two of the many revelations nuclear weapons have brought to humanity. However, within these great strengths lie potential hazards that could destroy our world and the many values our countries have created.

clear bomb on Hiroshima more than 70 years ago, a new side to worldwide conflict began, bringing a direct and constant threat to people in nations throughout the globe. Breeding fear and mistrust, nuclear weapons arguably don’t address any of today’s real global threats such as climate change, poverty, overpopulation and disease. If one nuclear weapon can wipe out an entire country, then imagEver since the first bombs annihilated Hiroshima ine what the remaining 15,000 can do. China’s deland Nagasaki in 1945, nuclear weapons, nuclear egate backed this up by saying, “a sense of insecurity power, and the nuclear fallouts they create have been has crept upon us.” a heated debate topic, making it the perennial issue for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Not only do nuclear weapons bring cultural and soconference room. cietal problems, but an array of environmental issues too. Nuclear weapons are the only mechanisms ever Nuclear fallout from weapons is controlled, geninstalled that have the revolutionary force to destroy erally, because of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation all complex life forms on earth. If nuclear weapons Treaty which makes it particularly challenging for are ever used, we would be risking an agricultural countries to possess nuclear weapons of their own. collapse, widespread famine and death and an Catastrophes do still happen though, at nuclear abrupt drop in global temperatures and rainfall. power plants. When this is the case, the world’s efforts are focused on isolating highly contaminated There is also of course the economic side to look at. areas. These solutions are achieved by establishing To create the first nuclear bomb, tens of billions of and building exclusion zones and by providing the dollars were used and every year one hundred thouaffected people with fallout shelters. Despite being sand billion dollars are used to maintain and modshort term solutions, these will be discussed and ernize nuclear weapons. Why should we waste all analyzed in full detail in the conference room to see of this money when we could be using it on health if they are necessary or not. With such recent events care, education and natural disasters? The Australian like the Fukushima disaster and Chernobyl events delegate agrees that, “the world we are all sharing is still harming the population today, the debate in in a catastrophic state.” the IAEA committee will be heated, with, we hope, exemplary ideas and solutions about weapons and We need only look back on our history to underfallouts alike. stand the damage that is caused by the wrong people being in control of nuclear power. One of the When America dropped that world-changing numany examples of this is the huge nuclear disaster in

Fukushima on March 11 2011. A huge earthquake and a following tsunami triggered the uncontrollable release of radioactive material, radioactive steam, fires, explosions and hundreds of thousands of litres of contaminated water. This meant that the area was, is, and will be, for at least another 50 years inhospitable and very dangerous.

weapons is probably that the technology exists and it is impossible to uninvent it so there is at least a risk that some nations might threaten international peace with unregulated nuclear weapons.

We might agree therefore that is is necessary for some nations, bound by strict treaties and military agreements, to have nuclear weapons in order to act The effects of nuclear fallouts can be devastating to as deterrents against the possibility of such a threat. the human race and plant life. They bring vomiting, But of course any nation could claim that this very diarrhea, fever and eventually death. In addition, the reason – unregulated nuclear weapons – is why they recovery processes can take up to several years and need to develop their own nuclear weapon deterrent. the massive firestorms can wipe out plant forms en- From a more cynical side , it is also a widely-held tirely. Cancer has affected many survivors of nuclear view that having nuclear weapons enhances world weapons and their relatives – generations of people status and affords increased influence through being from Nagasaki and Hiroshima will have birth depermanent members of international organisations fects. More than 70 years down the line, the cancer such as the UN’s Security Council. Again, this of legacy of Chernobyl still lives on. course, might also be encouragement for any nation to attempt to develop them.

On the flip side of this argument, nuclear weapons may come across as threatening, but hidden beneath DCMUN 2016 was very memorable, with the conlies great potential and powers in aiding humanity. ference room of IAEA being full of intelligent discussions and heated debate. We believe that nuclear Nuclear weapons states claim they have the right to weapons have the power to both help, and harm maintain their weapons of mass destruction (WMD) humanity. We hope dearly that the former is the case programme as it allows them to initiate and engage in our future. with other states with their ambition of disarmament control and regulation, and to act as international deterrent. The strongest argument for nuclear By Georgie Harris and Elena Stafrace (Year 8)

SHOULD A STATE HAVE THE RIGHT TO SPY ON PEOPLE Spying has been around since the start of written history, found in everything from Ancient Egyptian texts to old Indian and Chinese manuscripts. To this day, it is viewed as one of the most powerful, seasoned and effective political and military practices.

From scriptural times to present day, nations have utilised spying to its most, in the war zone and in national crises and problems.

Spying is a type of intelligence collection directed by people, states or organisation that involves going through private or classified information without authorisation, in order to accomplish a specific goal. When done without the consent of the owner/ holder of information, it is often punishable by law.

However, in 2013, a series of shocking exposures led by Edward Snowden revealed that the American government was continuously spying on people by collecting and recording the phone records of millions of Americans. He went on to divulge more and more classified secrets about illegal acts of espionage by the American government, causing disbelief and outrage all around the globe and turning this topic into one of the most heated controversies of 2013. Yet in this increasingly dodgy world, such acts are not uncommon. Evidence of illegal spying and espionage has already been document against over three quarters of the countries in the world. Some believe that this practice is mandatory for the safety of a nation as it has uncovered several crimes and helped save lives in the past. Others hold the unwavering opinion that all humans should have a right to privacy, no matter what. The question remains: can an individual’s entitlement to privacy exist together with a government’s duties of maintaining peace in their country?

strong as its people.” The greatness and strength of a nation is interconnected with the happiness and satisfaction of its citizens, and we must keep them in mind when making a decision of any sort. If states are legally entitled to spy on their citizens, how can its citizens still retain some level of freedom and independence?

Firstly, the governments must be prepared to acknowledge their acts of digital infringement and espionage. They cannot continue to go on misleading their citizens, especially now that the truth has come to light. Secondly, governments should guarantee the citizens’ rights to privacy by ensuring that truths, which may be damaging personally but are not damaging the state, are held in due regard: safely and securely. This is what most people are afraid of: they need to be reassured that their personal information is in safe hands. If a government has access to their private information, it must handle it wisely and responsibly. We must make sure that the practice of spying and espionage does not further hurt the worldwide peace it is attempting to promote.

The UN Human Rights Council was quick to take part in this matter, coming up with a number of possible solutions. They agree that espionage is an important and irreplaceable method in keeping a country safe and peaceful, but, regardless, it is important to keep human rights in mind. As U.S President, Barack Obama, once said, “Our country is only as

By Aayami Jaguri (Year 8)

The Death Penalty The death penalty, otherwise known as capital punishment, is (at least in 38 states in America) defined as “the punishment of execution, ordered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime; first degree murder, murder with special circumstances (such as intentional, multiple, involved with another crime, with guns, of a police officer, or a repeat offence), and rape with additional bodily harm, and the federal crime of treason”. 141 countries have already banned the death penalty. However, many countries, including superpowers such as the United States of America, still enforce the death penalty in some states.

The second resolution - which is for the use of the death penalty - came up for debate. Operative clauses were read out by the delegate representative of the United States of America. But it proved not to be simple and straightforward. The resolution explores the specifics of how the death penalty will affect criminals and the law system and how it will prevail. It generally covered the following: that all countries should only use capital punishment when the convicted is definitely guilty and sufficient evidence has been provided; that records should be kept up to date; that the death penalty is carried out as humanely as possible; and that the criminal is mentally stable at the time of the committed crime.

floor, they came to the conclusion that amendments were welcome. As amendments were passed to the chair, one was accepted to be shared with the rest of the room.

The amendment changed a specific clause; clause four, sub-clause ‘C’ to be converted from “Requests that all states that still maintain the death penalty to: give freedom of choice of method of execution” to his preferred “Requests that all states that still maintain the death penalty to: change the method of execution depending on the type of crime committed by the criminal”. After offering this amendment, other representatives spoke for or against and asked “points of information” to clarify any doubts on the subject.

After a long session of questions and many responses back and forth, the delegates concluded that the amendment was irrelevant and voted against it being added into the resolution, specifically because the examples brought to support the amendment were weak and had no foundation. In the end, the committee accepted various other amendments and passed the resolution.

By Zaina Shouman

After the operative clauses were presented and laid out for the other delegates to discuss and debate, the delegate of Qatar came to the stand to support the resolution offered. His focus was to seek clarification Capital Offence Legal Definition at http://lawdictionso that the resolution is of the highest standard. Af- ary.sovets.com/f/capital_offense [Accessed on 4 Nov ter the delegates discussed and debated ideas on the 2016]

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