Topic: Dealing with Civil and Political Unrest
Country: Italy
Delegate Name: Serin Joice
School: Forest Hills Eastern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Italy position papers GLIMUN 2014 committees
Civil and political unrest has become and continues to be a historical and current international issue that affects a broad range of nations. Even though the UN makes efforts to clear the conflicts, they can’t find a clear distinction between right and wrong, due to the opposing views of the interested parties. Often times the resolutions result in a nationwide call for peace or use of military tactics to control the situation. The largest outpouring of civil unrest in recent years; the Arab Spring, which began on December 18th, 2010 and spread throughout Arab League and its surroundings, resulted in the international Special Political and Decolonization committee not knowing the next order of action. The UN eventually ended up passing a series of resolutions that were implied to specific situations in each country and established a “no fly zone” and authorized a “all means necessary” to protect the civilians.The UN can push for a democracy, but it would discriminate against other parties or groups. The current issue of ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, emerged from the Syrian conflict between the Sunni people and Shi’a people. Another issue is the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, which started with anti-government protests and the resignation of the Ukrainian president early 2014. One of the key figures of the war, is Russian president Putin, who is suspected of funding and aiding the rebels, even to the extreme of sending Russian soldiers across the border to fight with their side. Political and civil unrest issues happen often worldwide, and there are certain protocols as to how to handle such conflicts and when the UN is needed to intervene.
Italy has a democratic form of government since the conclusion of World War 2. Emphasizing labor and social issues as a focal point of Italian government, Italy has been recognized to have an international reputation for social peace. Police enforcement also plays a key role in Italy’s government, national police are given power to enforce rules and keep the public under control. This allows for civil and political unrest to be controlled, but if police force is abused, the public is protected by provisions of the law. Italy has made efforts to associate with labor unions, this has resulted in less frequent and less disruptive strikes and protests. Almost all organized public protests have been carefully managed, and are announced well in advance. While Italy has a number of national governments, only rarely has regime change resulted in violent civil unrest, they are able to preserve the unity and peace in their country.
On the topic of how the UN should intervene in other countries for civil and political unrest, it should be a well thought out approach that would best handle the situation. As seen in democratic Italy, a communication between the government and the public can lead to compromises that reduce the civil and political unrest. If the political or civil conflict reaches a level of harming other countries or a large amount of people, then UN military action may need to be enforced. Otherwise, many conflicts can be solved through peaceful protests and a compromise between the government and the public. If the conflict surpasses a level that the local government can’t control, then international involvement is required to stop the conflict from expanding. If a country refuses international efforts to intervene, then the country has made a decision to deal with the situation on their own and are trusting that they can handle the situation. If the conflict begins to affect other countries and becomes into a worldwide problem, then the UN has to intervene. Currently, the UN deals with peacekeeping issues by trying all means to solve the situation with the least amount of military involvement. But, even in situations like the Ukraine/Russia conflict, military involvement is necessary to preserve peace and ensure that the conflict doesn’t expand to affect a broader range of countries. Depending on the conflict and how the countries involved want to take action, the UN can either intervene or not intervene as long as the conflict doesn’t expand or cause chaos.
