The Commune

The CommuneResolving, Reaffirming, Reassuring Day 1: Issue 2

UNGA UNSC ECOSOC

Page 2 - International Politics over

The Hague Code of Conduct

Page 3 - Flaws within the Hague Code

Page 4 - Palestine- The Unfortunate Deserver

Page 5 - Satiating the Middle East calls for more

than a UN voting : Security Council

Page 6 - Insignificant issues shouldn’t blot out the

important ones at the United Nations

Page 7 - Need to Share Technologies between

Developed and Developing nations : ECOSOC

The CommuneResolving, Reaffirming, Reassuring

It’s a universally acknowledged

derivation from theories of In-

ternational Politics that Power and

omnipotence in the International

space is what every country strives

for. And the skirmishes between

different power blocs of the

World over array of issues

are no exception to the

above mentioned concept.

The recent prevue of this

hoary conflict was noticed in

the discussion of U.N’s Gen-

eral Assembly over the issue


against Ballistic Missiles con-

ducted on September 27,

2012.

Russia once again alleged

United States of America of not

following the HCOC and urged to

dismantle her Nuclear Power

plants. The age-old rivalry got

fuelled by the cross comments

of United States of America quan-

tifying that Russia has factories of

Ballistic Missiles still operational.

Countries like Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea and Iran once

again refused to agree to the texts

of HCOC dubbing it to be a western

tool of asserting hegemony over

the rest of the World. Iran also put

s o m e

serious

accusa-

tions on

America

blaming

her of

export-

ing Nu-

clear weapon and Ballistic tech-

nologies to U.K. and Israel.

Support of Greece to America

came to much of U.S.A’s surprise

when Greece praised U.S.A and

NATO countries for their effective

mechanism to keep the technology

undisclosed. While Egypt stated

that former Soviet countries and

Arab world are most prone regions

against Ballistic Missile attacks Iran

held NATO countries responsible

for passing on the technologies to

countries like Japan and Israel.

Democratic People’s Republic of

Korea sent a stout message to the

western blocs by repudiating to

abide by the texts of HCOC and

averring that “whenever there is

threat to the integrity our country

we will indulge in the creation of

Nuclear weapons”. DPRK also

urged countries of Eastern world

not to trust statements made by

any Western countries. Interest-

ingly Israel has refrained itself from

making any serious allegations

against any country over HCOC and

urged the global community to

work together for International

peace and stick to the

HCOC.

Even during the discussion

of flaws in the HCOC coun-

tries only justified their

stance and criticized their

rivals according to their In-

ternational Policies. How-

ever a common point to

which almost every coun-

try settled to was the HCOC

mechanism needs to be

overhauled and more

countries should be made to fol-

low it (India, Pakistan, Korea

being the main focus) and the

technology must not pass over

to the Terrorist organization.

An international platform like the

U.N must witness discussion on a

serious issue like HCOC which in

turn concerns the International

peace not ridden by the self-inter-

ests of countries.

More than extenuating own For-

eign policies countries should work

together to concoct a mechanism

which can curb the proliferation of

deadly war artilleries such as Bal-

listic Missile and should focus on

making treaties like HCOC more ac-

ceptable and effective.

Prashant Jha, Reporter,

General Assembly

Karan Chadha, Photographer UNGA

International Politics over


“Whenever there is threat to the in-

tegrity our country we will indulge in

the creation of Nuclear weapons” -

North Korea


The treaty that attempts to contain the prolifera-

tion of ballistic missiles, namely The Hague Code

of Conduct has several aspects within itself that mis-

fire it’s very objective.

First of all focussing on the non-cooperation and fre-

quent violation of the treaty by the present signato-

ries that sum up to 134 countries, as pointed out by

the delegate of Sudan.

The United States of America, one of the first signa-

tories, is said to have fallen short in its adherence by

supplying nuclear weaponry across its border to coun-

tries such as Israel. However, the delegate of USA

made clear that those were 'placed' in the aforemen-

tioned country that is in a constant state of threat,

only in a bid to aid its defence mechanism.

Further, the mere 'placement' led to the possibility of

a cyber-attack due to malfunctioning of the network.

Additionally, as observed by the delegate of Ireland,

a simple 'placement' of nukes in other countries can

also make them more prone to getting stolen; a pos-

sible acquisition by terror outfits.

The fact that most of the prominent countries in pos-

session of nukes or the ones which are under way of

developing them did not sign the treaty proved to be

one of the reasons for its inefficiency. Iran, one of the

non-signatories, defended its stance by calling the

treaty an 'instrument' of the Western developed na-

tions to keep tabs on the proliferation of the same in

weaker countries such as its own.

It is necessary to mention that the clauses of the

treaty are not legally-binding to its members however,

since it is so politically it makes them liable to stick to

their foreign policy regarding the proposed Code of

Conduct.

Chile emphasised on the need for absence of bias

among signatories as it reflected its stance suggesting

more flexibility and transparency in the framework.

Defensive Germany stated that although the system

is voluntary yet the decisions are taken consensually

as subscribed states are always willing to meet regu-

larly.

Conclusively the treaty has been stated as a treaty of

‘understanding’ if not of a legal contract as it is capa-

ble of guiding nations how they can, to the best of

their abilities, contain the

proliferation of nuclear

weapons, particularly the

ballistic missiles.

Anushri Saxena, Reporter,

General Assembly

Karan Chadha,

Photographer

Flaws within the Hague Code

UNGA

Delegate of Iran addressing his stance at the

General Assembly


The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been going on

since the early 20th century, and even after re-

peated efforts from the UN as well as both states no

concrete solution has been reached so far. Attempts

were made by both the sides to arrive at a two state

solution- involving creation of an independent Pales-

tinian and Jewish state.

However, as correctly pointed out by Palestinian del-

egate, the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West

Bank (which is not under Israeli control) led the Pales-

tinians to believe that Israel

does not want a peaceful

agreement. The delegate of

Palestine stated that Pales-

tinians refugees have never

seen the face of the dis-

puted land, since there was

no Israeli state; just one

Palestine state. To this Is-

rael said that this is because the Palestinian people

have actually forced the Israeli out of their land, so

that Israel is now not ready to agree with any kind of

negotiation. Where the fact is that the Committee has

already declared Israeli claim over west bank as ille-

gal. Israel stated that West Bank is not an occupied

territory altogether, the Jewish citizen of Israel have

voluntarily chose to settle there. Further, although the

west bank is not an Israeli territory that area does not

have politically defined borders therefore Israelis have

the right to settle there.

Azerbaijan and Syria supported Palestine with their

point that Israel has suffered a lot in 1975 in the hands

of the West, but that does not justify the suffering

that is being inflicted on to Palestine.

Also the Geneva Convention clearly declared Israeli

settlement over west bank as illegal, then why are the

Israelis still there? Besides, the Palestinians are not

only thrown out of their land but also they are sub-

jected to violence and military oppression. The mili-

tary is continuously arresting and subjugating

innocent women and children.

United Kingdom had to say that a positive and plausi-

ble agreement can be reached between Israel and

Palestine. The two states can work on that, what we

want from the international community is to assist

them, provide more funds to them, and make sure

that there agreement is implemented smoothly. Sec-

ondly the illegal settlements should be stopped which

is the only way of establishing peace in the Middle

East.

China said that the committee must realize that Pales-

tinian government should be recognized internation-

ally by the UN and that Israeli government which is

the direct party to the dispute should recognize Pales-

tinian authority as a sovereign state to do which sim-

ple short term measure is not enough, there is a

direct necessity that steps like complete removal of

military by the Israeli government from Palestinian

territory, which will remove economic blockage that

is being faced by the Palestinians.

Aishwarya Chaurasia, Reporter, Security Council

Paritosh Anand, Photographer

Palestine- The Unfortunate Deserver

UNSC


Vehemently denying the status of West Bank as an

“occupied territory”, Israel referred to the United

States of America vs. Nicaragua ruling by the Interna-

tional Court of Justice, “True occupation happens only

when occupation is done by sovereign powers.”

Asserting that since there is a sovereignty vacuum in

West Bank as the last sovereign government in the

area was the Ot-

toman Empire,

West Bank cannot

be treated as an

occupied territory.

The settlements in

the region, though

approved by the

Israeli government

have not been

populated due to

it deporting parts

of its own popula-

tion, but by the

movement of peo-

ple on their own

free will. Israel fur-

ther stressed that

there will be no

withdrawal of

troops from West

Bank region in

order to prevent

collateral damage in the region and it shall continue

to follow the boundaries demarcated by the IDF (as

specified in the 1982 Amendment of the Israeli Con-

stitution) which Palestinian President, Mahmoud

Abbas, had acknowledged.

United States came out in support of Israel indicating

that the conflict in the Middle-East has seen Israel

both as a victim and an oppressor. USA claimed that

the State of Israel is open to right to self-defence- to

protect its citizens from the rockets attacks by Hamas.

Hamas has been recognised as a terrorist organisation

by 62 countries including USA, Israel, Canada, and the

EU. United States further urged Palestine Liberation

Organisation (PLO) to encourage Hamas to accept Is-

rael as a state in order to resolve the conflict.

In order to take the peace talks forward, Israel de-

manded the complete demilitarization of Palestine

and the disbanding of Hamas. It staunchly opposed

the recognition of Palestine as a State as it would lead

to an increase in terrorist threats

that would attack the sovereignty of

Israel as did the massacre of the Is-

raeli Olympic team during Black Sep-

tember. It emphasised on the fact

that Palestine has rejected a chance

of statehood in 1947 and now Pales-

tine has preconditioned their state-

hood with the destruction of Israel.

It also denied the Right of Return of

the Palestinian refugees as it takes

place only between two states, and

Palestine has not been recognised as

a State. Israel reiterated that the day

Palestine gains control over all of its

territories from Hamas, Israel shall

be open to statehood talks.

Lastly, the members of the Security

Council came to the consensus that

more than a UN voting is required to

solve the conflict in the Middle East.

They affirmed that Israel has a right

to protect its sovereignty and its citi-

zens however some of its actions regarding settle-

ments in these “occupied territories” like economic

blockades and control of maritime trade are unjusti-

fied. They urged both

Palestine and Israel that

pre-conditions be removed

before coming into peace

talks.

Geetika Nagpal, Reporter,

Security Council

Paritosh Anand,

Photographer

Satiating the Middle East calls for more than a

UN voting : Security Council

UNSC


One thing that creates a great conflict between na-

tions negotiating in the UN is the fact that they

are in different stages of development. When this is

taken along with the internal challenges that a coun-

try may be facing, it is no wonder that there is such

diversity in the interests and goals of nations. For ex-

ample, we may contrast the interests of the histori-

cally prosperous western world with those of

less-developed countries: The LDCs and some African

nations. All nations agree that natural disasters, ter-

rorism and political unrest disrupt the functioning of

governments and thence the world economy.

The agenda at hand is a very crucial topic for these

developing nations because some of them are already

dealing with the effects of internal strife. Issues like

cyber terrorism, which nations like USA, China may be

eager to discuss have less relevance for a country

which is still struggling to quell starvation and poverty.

Terrorism and political unrest can destabilize the gov-

ernments, while natural disasters can put a strain on

already limited resources.

These problems become

greater for a developing

nation in the throes of

globalization when trying

to integrate itself into the

world economy.

In today’s session of the

ECOSOC, the most impor-

tant thing discussed was the approach of each nation

to the agenda. Many delegates had to clarify their

country’s position in the cases when it seemed a past

example contradicted their declared stance. Often

one country was asked to provide proof of misde-

meanors of another. There was much discussion on

possible solutions. Many countries supported re-

search and development of new technologies, provi-

sion of scientific knowledge required for warning

systems and prediction of disasters.

These nations can argue that they need the support

of developed countries to survive. The idea of “com-

mon but differentiated responsibilities” is quite rele-

vant here. On the other hand, developed countries

may argue that they are still reeling under the burden

of crises like the sub-prime crisis in US and the current

Eurozone crisis. A final point of contention is free

trade vs. protectionist policies.

As a final point it must be asked: Of those countries

which did not participate in the discussion, who will

support the LDCs and who will support the developed

nations? Their decision could well decide the life of

millions of people.It will require mutual faith and co-

operation between nations to change things, just as

it takes a group of committed citizens to bring change

in society.

Charumati Haran, Reporter, ECOSOC

Tanmay Chakraborty, Photographer

Insignificant issues shouldn’t blot out the

important ones at the United Nations

ECOSOC


After the era of imperialism and colonialism, the

world had a choice to make between two systems

namely Capitalism and Socialism supporters of which

ought to prove their method was better than the oth-

ers. Blocks were made accordingly and today also this

rivalry stays even in discussing aspects like problems

in economy and society of the world.

At day one of the Economic and Social Council, devel-

oping countries were swift to point out the flaws of

the policies of developed countries in providing aid,

sharing technology and making policies for their own

personal political gains. The Russian federation voiced

its opinion about natural disasters being

out of control of man and not millions,

not billions but trillions of U.S. dollars

were already put to use to sustain such

uncontrollable forces. The Delegate also

made a point even developed countries

like Japan with all its financial and tech-

nological might could not predict the ad-

vancement of tsunami to its shores.

Delegates of countries having rich in-

volvement in the debates like Portugal

and Australia stressed on the advance-

ment of technology from developed

countries to developing or less devel-

oped nations of the world and Canada

asked the countries to work on those

strategies already developed stating its own policy on

disaster management.

Russian Federation proposed a theory of not provid-

ing "direct cash aid" but to provide employment op-

portunities so that the domestic economy can

have its revival.

China, India and the Russian Federation blamed

the governments of USA, UK and France for the

political unrest in Middle Eastern nations lead-

ing to devastating effects on its trade and econ-

omy with other countries. The Russian

Government went to the extent of calling the

United States of America’s government greedy

for oil reserves in the Middle East. Thereby, hint-

ing the involvement

of western powers in

destabilization of

these established

governments.

Dhruv Sood,

Reporter, ECOSOC

Tanmay Chakraborty,

Photographer

Need to Share Technologies between Developed and

Developing nations : ECOSOC

ECOSOC

The Commune

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