Topic: Dealing with Civil and Political Unrest
Country: Israel
Delegate Name: Jonathan Pearcy
School: Forest Hills Central High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Israel position papers GLIMUN 2014 committees
Israel has seen and felt the effects of civil unrest, and knows how quickly this unrest can turn to violence. Peaceful protest quickly gives way to armed revolt, and this process can easily destabilize a country; however, there is often a grey area in these conflicts, where neither side is obviously right. In these cases, choosing the wrong side, or any side, can be disastrous, and can seem as though the international community is condoning whatever that side does. The United Nations cannot choose sides in these kinds of conflicts, as, no matter the outcome, they will have angered part of the population.
The United Nations should not interfere with a country's internal affairs simply for having civil unrest. This goes against the charter of the United Nations, which, under Article 2, states,
“Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter.”
Unless the unrest begins to affect countries other than that of which it originated in, the United Nations has no reason to intervene, and should let it take its course.
Unless this unrest has a serious risk of spilling out of its borders and destabilizing nearby countries, the United Nations should not intervene. If the conflict does begin to spill over its own borders, military aid should be offered to its neighboring countries. This military aid should only be used to contain the conflict, not to interfere with it. Any military force sent into an unstable area should be made up of soldiers from countries isolated from the dispute.
Israel expects strong opposition to these ideas from countries with large amounts of civil unrest, who want military or other support from the United Nations. However, Israel expects more stable and established countries to support them.
