UNHSC 29th June 2014

Issue 3

Journalist Nikita Biswal opines on legal questions in the Afghanistan theatre.

the USA recognized the crisis as an ‘armed conflict’ and al-so established that the state-less actors of Al-Qaeda can-not be labelled and offered the treatment of Prisoners of War giving the justification backbone with Article 4A of the Geneva Convention. The delegate of the Russian Federation presented to Council a series of directives from the US Department of Defence which defined con-textual law allowing Interna-tional Humanitarian Law to constitute a major part of the war of law. The complemen-tary Army Regulation also cited the need for the US Ar-my to collaborate with the Geneva Conventions at all times. To this the German ambassador retorted saying that a nation’s recognition of a situation as an armed con-flict is the major precursor to determine the nature of such documentation. But as the debate is ap-proached with increasing scepticism, much contention still rests on the nexus of the debate as to whether or not the situation in Afghanistan is an international armed conflict. With a realistic out-

look, the council tries to comprehensively analyse the complexities of international legal doctrine, aimed at providing a utilitarian pro-logue to the law that shall decree coming activity in Af-ghanistan.

In light of the recent Ameri-can retaliatory response measures, the council recog-nized the need to determine the legal maxim which shall govern the situation in Af-ghanistan. In that vein, dis-cussion opened on the legali-ty of the US led program in Afghanistan under both in-ternational and domestic law. Amidst the interplay of solic-ited law, India voiced its the-matic stance and stated that the situation should not be subjected to International Humanitarian Law. On the contrary, the delegate of Ger-many utilised the US Military Code, which defines acts of terrorism and corresponding response measures, to estab-lish that there exists a clear distinction between the appli-cation of Geneva Conven-tions and domestic law in this respect. The delegate of

UNGA 29th June 2014

Issue 3

Establishing (or at least trying) an ideal world – Urvi Sikri reports from the General Assembly Special Emergency Session.

As today’s committee pro-gressed, the delegates dis-cussed the impacts of the Ca-nals nationalisation. The del-egate of Albania declared the nationalisation to be valid; El Salvador granted the nation-alisation to be legitimate, but questioned the repercussions of the act. The delegate of Laos reasoned and cited the example of the Indian rail-ways – Just as the Indian railways were founded and developed hugely by the Brit-ish government in the pre-independence era, Suez Canal was developed by the West-ern Powers. However, the railways were taken over by the Indian government after independence and the British government didn’t rise to reap its benefits, hence their demand for a stake in the Suez Canal is not justified. The committee moved to-wards discussing the legal as-pects of the nationalisation. The delegate of Ceylon as-serted that as the Suez lies certainly within Egyptian ter-ritory, the nationalisation is justified. The delegate re-ferred to the International Court of Justice, which com-pletely recognises the right to

nationalisation. The delegate of Western Germany called the nationalisation illegal, as he felt that it was the “acquisition of someone else’s property”. Denationalising the canal was seen as an option by many delegates present in the com-mittee. However, the eco-nomic repercussions of dena-tionalisation needed to be considered. As the committee reached to a close, the dele-gates scrambled for peace, to establish a perfect nonpareil world, free from fear and hate.

“This world is ours; we must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate and instead be a proud confedera-tion of mutual trust and re-spect.” President Eisenhow-er’s words were repeated by the delegate of USA, at the time when the world seemed to be on the brink of another great war. As the US navy moved its Fifth Fleet into position in the Persian Gulf, USA declared that it would provide naval support to Is-rael in their fight against Egypt.

UNCTAD 29th June 2014

Issue 3

ATTEMPTS TO RESOLVE THE ‘ TILL NOW’ UNRESOLVABLE

Anahita Prasad observes the discussion pertaining to the resolutions introduced to resolve the matter of perpetual stagnation in development.

particular, stresses on the el-evation of African nations simply because they lag in areas such as GDP, per capi-tal income and standard of living. It was also stated that since African nations have a signif-icant supply of diamonds, an increase in its trade would create larger opportunities for economic growth. The delegate of Saudi Arabia, however, stands cynical of the consequences of increase in this trade: unsure if it would lead to economic de-velopment or just aggravate the poverty and exploitation. The delegate of the United Kingdom, contradicting the delegate of India, clearly stated its full support for the development of said nations. With approximately 0.7% of its national income going into aid for African nations, coun-tries like South Africa are receiving as much as 19 mil-lion pounds from the United Kingdom alone. Once United Kingdom’s stance in the mat-ter was clearly put, certain nations took slight offence to its implication that it was not

only the strongest supporter, but also the only supporter. A heated debate continues to resolve the perpetual stagna-tion these nations have fallen into and possibilities that are yet to be pursued.

Sudan opens debate for easi-ly one of the most economi-cally significant conferences in history, and the attention is on the elevation of devel-oping nations, namely those of Africa. The delegate of India gets the flow going by stating the various flaws that stand out in the current conditions of developing nations and the lack of support that said na-tions receive. The voting rights of nations in the mone-tary fund, for instance, are based upon the economic po-sition of a nation. This, along with the insignificant scope for expansion from the pri-mary to the secondary prod-ucts for developing nations due to the prominence of de-veloped nations, has conse-quented in the stagnation of growth of states. France, in

ISI 289h June 2014

Issue 3

When a simple flight (albeit a hijacked one) transit wreaked havoc- Surbhi Sachdeva reports.

each and every prospect at hand, relentlessly debating whether Amritsar was a viable refueling location. Consequen-tially, the plane crossed over Amritsar due to the ISI’s failure to exhibit decisiveness in time. Eventually, the stagnated dis-cussion was forcefully pushed forward and the plane landed in Lahore. Executional errors were seen when the ISI’s directive in-structed the operatives to fatal-ly wound two hostage passen-gers in order to have an apro-pos decoy to land in Lahore due to a medical emergency. But owing to a postponement in de-cision-making, the resultant sce-nario witnessed the two bleed-ing to death in the flight itself. Officials were now frantic, with tension thick in the air. The Di-rector General emphatically stressed upon how integral it was for negotiations to fall through at any cost. Thereinaf-ter, the major contention fell on the degree of practicality of landing the plane in Central China. Two chief directives (with sig-nificantly different plans of ac-tion) were devised by the Rep-resentative of Taliban and the Liason Officer, respectively. The two were extensively debat-ed, creating a deep bilateral di-

vide in the stances of the offic-ers. The paucity of time was yet again sidelined, and the conven-tion transcended from healthy debate to futile argument.

While the seized plane was air-borne and bound vaguely west-ward, chaos unfurled at the con-gregation of the ISI officials in their safe haven of a meeting spot. After an eavesdropping stewardess made a statement alleging Pakistan’s involvement in the operation, India retaliat-ed in more than just words. Vajpayee asserted that India would not tolerate such outra-geousness and had ‘aptly re-sponded by deploying 30,000 troops along the Line of Con-trol’. Other than bearing the brunt of maneuvering the IC 814, the ISI now had additional pressure in the form of issuing an interna-tional clarification refuting Pa-kistan’s involvement in the op-eration. Though the ultimate destination was fixated upon Kabul, the future of the flight seemed like an abyss of ambigu-ity. Refusing to stumble upon a haphazard decision, the commit-tee decided to tirelessly dissect

UNHCR 29th June 2014

Issue 3

DRIVING TO STABILITY Aayushi Mehrish reports from the UNHCR.

ized many Non-State Actors. Many countries were content with the signing of the Day-ton Agreement but believed that implementations of the agreement and policies need-ed to be revisited. The Bosni-an delegation looked opened to reparation and was grate-ful to the other UN Members for their aid in times of cha-os and crisis. They were con-cerned about the innocent civilians and were eager to open talks on minority re-turns and voluntary reloca-tion and suggested programs to recover from the destruc-tive trail of war by introduc-ing plans to recover economi-cally and rebuild infrastruc-ture of sorts. Japan suggest-ed the creation of a database to make transitions of sorts easier and to minimalize the separations of civilians from their families. The committee was soon disturbed with speeches from the General Assembly due to technical problems. The ambassadors of Sudan insisted that the UN recognize the absence of in-ternational bodies for inter-nally displaced persons. Many countries suggested that the refugees be informed

about where they’re being shifted to in times of crisis, Republic of Saudi Arabia to name one. The committee soon got somewhat repetitive or maybe just united in their ways of thinking suggesting similar solutions for the mil-lions of civilians caught be-tween a rock and a hard place. The ambassador of Turkey suggested that refu-gees moved to ‘Third world countries’ since some coun-tries won’t provide asylum to them, but what they really meant was sending them third party countries making

The second day proceeded with the delegates of USA delivering a speech where they stated that the world has two choices “Witness the murder of thousands or fight for the rights based on basic UN principles.” France pro-posed a moderated caucus to discuss the implementation of the Dayton Agreement. The agreement mandated a wide range of international organizations to monitor, oversee, and implement com-ponents of the agreement. The NATO-led Implementa-tion Force was responsible for implementing military as-pects of the agreement. The delegation of Uruguay did not agree with France and said that the Dayton Agreement lacks major provisions and has shortcomings. A Slovaki-an delegate mentioned that the Dayton Agreement legal-

UEFA 29th June 2014

Issue 3

Svaraj reports from the Historic Session of the UEFA 2005 Crisis Committee

and Everton getting to play in the UEFA cup, as it be-lieves that Liverpool should be allowed to defend their title at the expense of a “smaller” club. It also empha-sized the inability of The Football Association of han-dling this situation, whereas a similar situation was suc-cessfully handled by the Roy-al Spanish Football Federa-tion in the year 2000. “Have you heard about the ship Titanic? The situation of Liverpool is just like that of the ship. Strong and virtually indestructible, but in the end, it was destined to crash into an iceberg, that iceberg is revolution.” The representa-tive of the Hungarian Foot-ball Association was quoted as saying. The representative was not in favour of Liver-pool qualifying for the UCL. The debate that followed caused a rumble between the delegates of the Hellenic Football Association and the Football Association, leading to personal attacks, thus bringing down the morale of the committee. The representative of the Portuguese Football Federa-tion stated that the Liverpool

fans protesting against the decision was not fair for Everton as Everton have a smaller fan base and there-fore, they did not have the same ability to protest against some unfavourable decisions. He further empha-sised that this would lead to massive riots and protests by football fans across the world, leading to the possibil-ity of all the clubs getting a chance to play in the UCL, be they deserving or not. Even though almost 90% of the committee seemed to be in favour of Everton qualify-ing for the UCL and Liver-pool not getting to defend their title, so as to maintain diplomacy and the fair-play that the sport is known for.

In the season of 2004-2005 , Liverpool did not qualify to play in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) for the season of 2005-2006 as they did not finish in one of the top four positions in the English League. This is the basis of some very fruitful debate in the committee room. The committee moved into a moderated caucus to question the eligibility of Liverpool playing in the UCL. The Russian Football Feder-ation (RFF) was in favor of Liverpool playing in the UCL

THE PERIODIC MUN TABLE 29th June 2014

Issue 3

The periodic MUN table is a tabular arrangement of the chemical elements found in an MUN. 1. Hydrogen- Hegemony over a state Hydrogen is the lightest element in the periodic table. If you want to suspend human rights, embargo China, or invade Switzerland, you can (well, fictionally). You choose what your country does, and the power you hold is amazing. Russia can revert back to Communism, only to have the rest of their debate chamber (including the USA) follow suit. The possibili-ties are endless. Enjoy the power—and because it’s fictional, it makes you see the light hearted side of world affairs. 2. Helium- Head Delegate Helium has the valance of zero which means it will not easily combine with other elements. Head delegates are equally hard to please, with their no non-sense and perfectionist ap-proach. 3. Lithium- Lobby Being an alkali metal, Lithium is intensively reactive- it can react with water! Equally though not as violently, do the various lobbies in an MUN argue to further their interests! 4. Boron- Background Guide People take boron supplements as medicines. Delegates use background guides as their start-ing reference. 5. Carbon- Chair Carbon has an ability to form more compounds than all other elements combined. The chair of any committee has the ability to attract all delegates towards him/her. 6. Nitrogen- Note Writing Nitrogen is used in making fertilisers. And as we can see notes in a committee can often turn quite ‘explosive’, changing the course of the committee. Note passing can be the most entertaining aspect of committee- from the absurd ‘What are your county’s immigration laws like? I would really like to gain entry there?’ to the world changing ones like ‘If we don’t get lunch in another 15 minutes, the Holy See will have to embrace Islam’, notes are both hilari-ous and ground breaking! 7. Oxygen- Operative clause Elemental oxygen readily forms compounds with most elements. Isn’t each resolution just a list of demands of all delegates supporting it? 8. Fluorine- Formal Debate Fluorine is a highly reactive and electronegative element. In any MUN, formal debate can often trigger quite a reaction!

Back To The Future 29th June 2014

Issue 3

TISMUN’14 is a historically themed MUN hence in honor of that we shall look back at those good ol’ days when things were much simpler. In 1992 movies like Aladdin, Home Alone 2, Batman Returns, Honey, I Blew Up The Kid, Reservoir Dogs were released. The music industry was under the reign of now considered legendary icons like Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Whitney Hou-ston, Madonna who were just starting to write history and Sir-Mix-A-Lot re-leased their Baby Got Back. In the Technology domain Windows 3.1 and Mi-crosoft Works was released by Microsoft, Telecom enterprise AT & T released video telephone for $1,499, The first Nicotine patch was just introduced to help stop smoking and curb causalities, Nasa’s Space Shuttle Endeavour made a successful maiden voyage. In world affairs, The Yugoslavian war was going on and Mike Tyson was found guilty for rape. Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Fos-ter won an Oscar for Silence of The Lambs. And now we get back to present day where legends like Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston are no more. And the rest are well past their prime. Windows are currently on 8.1 OS. Video Calling is soon becoming a thing of the past with holographic technology emerging. Nicotine patches are ancient now with E-cigarettes the hot talk of the town. NASA is now in process of selection of volunteers for the Mars pro-gram. Bosnia and Herzegovina were currently participating in the World Cup putting up arguably their best performance. And Mike Tyson is back from Re-hab and is a kind of cult icon. A lot has changed from 1992 but there’s still a long way to go. Specially the society needs some serious conditioning even if the their technologies are evolving and hopefully we’re on path to that.

Products that need to become Ubiquitous in MUN conferences 29th June 2014

Issue 3

1. A Megaphone (Inversely Proportional to Decibel Level) It is a fact well established that the unmoderated caucus is a savage face of the otherwise diplomatic session, scaling somewhere between a fish market and a live Lok Sabha session. Introducing the equalizing megaphone! Come the unmod, and the loud delegates that feel the urge to hurl their voices will be toned down while the meek ones will get a chance to FI-NALLY put their point across. 2. Selfie Station Having a hard time bunking committee to click and upload selfies to Instagram with hashtags like #mun #suitedup #nofilter #formals or perhaps the more apropos #omgwaitwhatcountryamI? #lolwhoevencares ? A spin-off of the photo booth, this station will include perfect lighting along with a stand to hold your phone, allowing you to angle the front camera to capture the perfect bundle of pixels. Also, free hashtag generator! Be warned, it’s often known to compulsively suggest #aren’tyouheretodebate or #gobeproductiveinstead. And no, the machine’s not stuck. Sigh. 3. The Awesome Tie Dispenser Male delegates aren’t exactly known to have the widest variety of choices when it comes to formals. Their attire’s whole colour spectrum comprises of shades of white, black and grey. Now, we’ve all spotted one, want one or own one. Yes, that beautiful piece of cloth around your collar the eccentric print of which adds life to the otherwise drab business suit. With variations ranging from Bart Simpson to the Beatles to various other pop culture references; feel free to pick and choose. 4. Suicide Pills for the GA logistic Not encouraging self-harm here, but the mammoth task of passing chits in a committee as intimidatingly populated and overactive as a General Assembly is bound to make anyone re-consider their choice to continue living. The underappreciated logistic, who runs around for seven hours with more chits than his/her hands are capable of holding, is perhaps more dis-tressed than even the under-researched delegate. So here, pop some and avoid the drama. Forever. Alternatively, and more optimistically, we could consider providing Segways to the conference staff so they can whoosh around the hall around and save time. Noise and budget problems you said? Don’t unmods and social nights already induce both?

AC Milan vs. Liverpool F.C. – Were they walking together?

29th June 2014

Issue 3

AC Milan, one of the best teams of all time, find themselves stuck in a match fixing scandal. Seems unlikely, right? I’m afraid not, for the greatest must also fall, and when they do, it’s shameful. Sponsored by the online betting website; bwin.com, AC Milan can easily be accused of throwing matches for large sums of money. A football match, let alone a Champions League finale, is religion to most football fanatics. And this specific match between Liverpool F.C. and AC Milan was one for the history books with Liverpool scoring three goals in thirty minutes and coming back from 3-0 down and ultimately winning the match on penalties. That was a moment of great sadness for all AC Milan supporters. But what greater sadness than the news of your favourite team throwing away the finals for money? Nothing, proba-bly. Although the validity of the match being fixed has never been proved, the signs all point towards the same conclusion. Although Liverpool FC are very talented and have full capability to comeback from a lost match, but there is no reason to not doubt the legitimacy of the comeback; was it really all about skill? The irregular betting patterns say differently. Up till half-time, all the odds were in favour of AC Milan, therefore, to play it safe, people would have bet on AC Milan, even though the profit was more if they bet on Liverpool. All the profits go to Bwin.com, which is a sponsor of AC Milan, thus forcing them to lose the match. But up till the point that some legal documentation is provided, it will remain an abyss of maybes.