Topic: 2024-The Situation in Guyana
Country: Afghanistan
Delegate Name: Cosmo Steffke
Cosmo Steffke
The Roeper School
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
Special Political Committee (SPECPOL)
Currently, Guyana and Venezuela’s conflict over the Essequibo region which has escalated in recent months is approaching a boiling point and needs to be addressed. Even though the International Court of Justice has declared its ruling and issued Venezuela a warning not to escalate the situation further, the amount of natural resources has driven Venezuela to continue claiming it as its own. A referendum was “claimed” to be completed amongst their citizens (which international analysts and media contest the validity of) and the law claiming the Essequibo region has been formally submitted to the Supreme Court.
There are reported concerns with the Maduro regime and possible government corruption. Various U.S. agencies such as the GAO have reported that Venezuela has direct ties to various illicit finance, such as illicitly mined gold, drug trafficking, and more. This level of corruption is concerning to the international community as a whole, and raises questions on the overarching motives behind this conflict, and how this conflict will play out.
As the tensions increase between both nations, the delegation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan would like to recognize that if military buildup and foreign involvement continue to build, the conflict will reach a breaking point. Both countries are not willing to lay down arms to the other region, and military expansion/attacks near the region have been seen in the form of runways being built, militarisation of nearby borders, and troop building. This conflict needs to be solved peacefully and without further escalation, with special attention being directed to fairness for both countries.
Considering that the Essequibo region contains large amounts of natural resources that contribute significantly to Guyana’s economy and is currently recognized as Guyana’s territory, and also that many Venezuelan nationals live in the Essequibo region and Venezuela does have some claims to the region, many possible solutions involve peaceful sharing of resources between the two countries. Some possible solutions include joint development of the area, where the two countries can jointly explore the area and split profits as regulated, and resource management by a third party, where both countries are guaranteed to get an even split of resources and profits without worries of conflict, and many more. The delegation of Afghanistan would finally like to implore the need for security buildup in conflict regions, as even though the ICJ has reached a conclusion and both countries have tried to solve this diplomatically, conflict has only continued to surmount.
Sources
https://www.gao.gov/blog/venezuelas-political-unrest-has-made-drug-trafficking-money-laundering-and-other-crimes-easier
https://country.eiu.com/guyana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Venezuelan_referendum
https://www.icj-cij.org/node/203344
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-07/lula-reluctantly-adopts-mediator-role-in-venezuela-guyana-crisis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guyana%E2%80%93Venezuela_crisis_(2023%E2%80%93present)#Guyanese_helicopter_crash
