The Legal Committee Reports!

Delegates!


You may be wondering just what is going on in the halls of the United Nations these days. If you aren’t, you should be. Luckily for you, your EXTREME ACTION NEWS TEAM is always eager to update you on the relevant (and often not-so-relevant) goings-on at the UN and around the world!

As I reviewed the most recent happenings of the UN, wondering, “Gee, what would the delegates really like to hear about?”, one headline caught my eye. It caught my eye because a) It involved a report of the Sixth Committee (the ÜBER-EXCITING LEGAL COMMITTEE- why do all the best committees die in HSMUN?), and b) it just might relate to one of the topics being debated at HSMUN this year. So, here’s a quick look at some of what’s being talked about at the UN right now:

First, quickly peruse this resolution (you can just start at page 3 and skim until page 6):

http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N10/547/97/PDF/N1054797.pdf?OpenElement

Now, let me summarize what this resolution is all about (and I may or may not quote from UN news releases). Like all resolutions, it seems, it starts with a bajillion clauses in the preamble, basically all just saying:

• Terrorism is bad. (As your SC dais has already mentioned, the real question is not what terrorism is, or if it is based. The question is what to do about it.)

• Terrorism is really bad.

• We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it again: BOO TERRORISM!

• States must work together to combat terrorism.

That last point is what’s really the basis for the ‘meat’ of this resolution, if we can ever say that a UN resolution has meat to it. If there is anything to be done about the many heinous manifestations of terrorism, it will be done only if there is cooperation in the international community. What needs to be done? Well, points that are particularly relevant to the SC topic of debate this year include:

• International, regional and subregional organizations, and Nation States, need to implement the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, and be party to relevant treaties and protocols combating terrorism.

• States must intensify, where appropriate, the exchange of information on facts related to terrorism in order to avoid the dissemination of inaccurate or unverified information.

• All are called upon to cooperate with and support other States in prosecuting perpetrators of terrorist acts, and are urged to cooperate with the Secretary-General, intergovernmental organizations and one another to ensure that technical and other expert advice be provided to those States requiring and requesting assistance to accomplish the above.

So there it is: the General Assembly’s (or, at least, Legal Committee’s) disposition when it comes to terrorism, and, especially, when it comes to terrorism that crosses borders. Now your work begins: how does your country (yes, this involved foreign policy research) relate to these calls from the GA? What might be sacrificed by cooperating so closely with other governments? What stands to be gained? What can your country feasibly accomplish in the fight against terrorism? What do you lack yet?

So, to work! Research! Write! Have fun! (or we’ll send you back to where you were- unemployed, in Greenland.)