10 COMMITTEE
Security Council Lobbies for Resolution
by jessi koo The Security Council (SC) has always been unique in that it is much smaller than most committees and allows certain countries to use veto power to strike down a clause or resolution that goes against a particular issue. The SC has no main submitter but a group of co-submitters; thus, lobbying is extremely important since delegates can contribute several ideas and submit them as a whole. SC delegates lobbied on three different issues: the reform of the SC with special emphasis on the admission of new permanent members, the situation in Northern Uganda and other areas affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army, and political reconstruction of the Somalia government. With regards to the reform of the SC, Tae Hoon Kim, the delegate of Mexico questioned the delegate of the United States and the delegate of France on their opinions about
restricting their veto power. who discussed the situation in “Since the five permanent Uganda had several solutions members can use the veto about achieving harmonyin power, they might abuse their Uganda and assisting refugees power and serve the coun- and citizens. try’s interest instead of the international interest. ,” said Tae Hoon. Leon Jun, delegate of the United States, wanted to create a balance in the council by having one permanent member and two nonpermaBy wINSTON YOO nent members for a successful vote, “Funding isn’t a whereas, Jenna Kwon, the del- problem in this council so we egate of France, was willing to should focus on humanitarian make more compromises. issues such as providing medi“We are willing to make cal and psychological attention compromises that are strong to the people,” said. Annette enough,” said Jenna. “Instead Wu, delegate of Lebanon. of restricting the veto power, Michelle Meltke, the delmaybe there should be more egate of Uganda also empower for African countries.” phasized the need to take Though the issue of the the future into consideration veto power remains to be through asking a more sophisconversed further, delegates ticated country or organiza-
tion to help Uganda maintain stability and security. “Since Uganda is involved in a civil war and doesn’t have a stable government, there needs to be an organization such as the UN to help the government stay peaceful,” said Michelle. As for the issue regarding the reconstruction of the Somalia government delegates found the need to request for the establishment of weapons transactions and more border patrols so that weapons don’t enter Somalia and reach the Islamic Fundamentalist Alliance (IFA). Tom Kim, delegate of the Russian Federation, expressed his opinion on the overall ambiance of the SC conference.“ The environment is friendly and the delegates are working together effectively, coming up with resolutions that I’m sure will be debated fiercely.”
GA adopts different methods of aiD By JOHN KIM
In their opening speeches, delegates of the General Assembly (GA) expressed their ambitions and the issues they will be focusing on throughout the conference, which include promoting Information and Communication Technology (ITCs) in the context of mitigating poverty, alleviating the debt crisis in developing countries, and developing a guideline for member states to agree on a balanced Intellectual Property (IP) system. The GA especially focused on discussing measures to alleviate the economic crises many third world nations suffer from today. Delegates were divided on whether to use ITCs or debt relief programs to promote economic growth. Those who encouraged the use of ITCs based their sup-
port on the claim that ITCs reach out to lower class citizens by giving them better access to knowledge necessary for productive job development. Justin Kang, the delegate of Estonia, strongly advocated the use of ITCs for relief, asserting that they were crucial for increasing public awareness and encouraging national unity. “The ITCs [will be helpful] because they close the gap between the rich and poor and aid communication among citizens,” he said. On the other hand, Matt Kuritar, the delegate of the Republic of Korea, concentrated on providing debt relief measures to resolve economic problems in third world countries. His stance was supported by Siri McFarland, the delegate of Rwanda, who gathered a
By AMY CHOI
group of delegates who were willing to co-submit a resolution promoting such measures. “If Rwanda gets this resolution to pass, it will not only be helping itself, but also other countries faced with similar situations,” said Siri. “There will no longer be a debt problem in so many countries.” Whether the delegates will ultimately choose to adopt
ITCs or debt relief to resolve the economic crisis still remains up in the air. Delegates looked forward to the upcoming debates and hoped to agree on a possible solution to aid developing nations suffering from poverty today. “We expect a lively debate since the two resolutions already introduced have lots of potential,” said Minchul Cho, the delegate of Sudan. “There are split opinions on two resolutions that almost pose the same purpose. Tomorrow will be a successful conference.”