Topic: Protecting Humanitarian Workers in Conflict Zones
Country: Chile
Delegate Name: Dakota Anderson
School: Mattawan High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Chile position papers GLIMUN 2011 committees
With an increase of 350 percent in kidnappings since 2006, and an exponentially inclining rate of attacks on humanitarian workers in war zones such as Somalia, Afghanistan, and Sudan, it has become clear that steps need to be taken by the world to correct these issues. The biggest increase in attacks have been found to contain mostly NGO's, or non governmental organizations. Of these, national staff and truck drivers are seen to have the biggest rise in attacks. So far, the International Committee of the Red Cross is the only organization that has been found to have a decrease in humanitarian violence. Fully aware of this fact, Chili wishes to side with them while finding a solution to this issue.
Humanitarian violence creates a very fearful presence in the minds of relief workers. Chile realizes that with this fear, it is possible that relief may stop coming all together to these countries, leaving them stranded, and in need of supplies. Chile feels that this is an issue that is too hard to overcome with just one countries help, and that many countries need to stand together to aid this situation. Being close allies with the United States, Chile feels that it is intolerable to have attacks on the general welfare of people willing to help, and deems it necessary to change the way that supplies and other aid is transported and distributed to other countries.
Chile's view on the solution to this issue lies in the statistics of the International Committee of the Red Cross's tactics. Over the years, they're number of attacks on humanitarian workers has decreased instead of increasing, like all of the other organizations. This lies in the fact that they have taken all of their man power and supplies and spread them out, so that less people are in more areas. This way, there isn't just one large target to attack, and it makes it seem as if the compound is less worth attacking. By using the United Nation's funds, soldiers could be sent to protect the smaller groups, and help transport supplies.
