Topic: Drug Cartels and Organized Crime
Country: France
Delegate Name: Conrad Elliott
School: Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All France position papers GLIMUN 2015 committees
Respecting the boundaries posed by every country's innate national sovereignty is the largest barrier that prevents the international community from uniting against organized crime such as the proliferation of drugs and opiates worldwide. The point of contention is whether or not drug cartels within regions like Mexico and the Philippines can be dealt with even when omitting the use of force. Unfortunately, the nature of these groups of people is one of unbridled violence in order to get their way. In the case of Mexico specifically, drug cartels are responsible for much of the destruction and human suffering that can be seen in towns closely bordering the United States, as well as the tens of thousands of deaths and kidnappings brought alongside that violence.
The recruitment strategy of these groups is one of manipulation, with many of its members originating from a life of poverty and general abuse. Additionally, cartels are known for padding their numbers by kidnapping the younger population and persuading them into joining for a life of reasonable wealth, and if they deny, they are killed.
In regions around Mexico, the bigger cartels such as the Sinaloa and Los Zetas are simply outside the law. They've grown to the point where they are their own organization acting within the boundaries of a government that lacks the means to enforce. Actions could be made to stop such criminal activity, but the likelihood that it would be done without use of force is incredibly low. Arresting members of a large cartel simply aggravates the rest of the criminal population, and it is far too inefficient considering the rate of recruitment among many organizations.
The best the security council can do is enforce all recognized countries that are experiencing narcotic trafficking to regulate their borders and trade ports to the best of their abilities, slowing international drug trade and isolating their area of operations. Only once the veins are severed can the heart of drug-related criminal activity be stopped, and it will never reach this point if the international community reaches common ground, and the countries where cartels are based give organizations against criminal activity legal permission to operate within their borders with the intent of stopping the source.
It's not a solid plan by any means, which is why the country of France is more than open to ideas and, more importantly, effective compromise.
The obvious goal would be to carry out operations that refrain from using force, but based upon the nature of drug cartels, France believes such a goal could never be reached totally.
