Topic:
Country: Thailand
Delegate Name: Kierstin Morley
The United Nation heavily opposes the use of indiscriminate weapons due to its high civilian casualty count and incompatibility with international humanitarian law. The UN has supported regulations on indiscriminate weapons evident in the 1997 Ottawa treaty which bans the use of stockpiling, producing and transfer of anti-personnel landmines. The UN has also endorsed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2008 which prohibits cluster bombs. The utilization of Indiscriminate weapons results in lasting effects such as unexploded ordnance and toxic remnants that may affect civilians for decades, as well as immediate civilian casualties.
In the past, the Kingdom of Thailand has operated with landmines in order to quell conflicts on the borders, specifically during the Cold war and the Cambodian Civil war. Thailand implemented the use of landmines on the Cambodian-Thai border in response to Cambodian conflicts, resulting in long term consequences through contaminated land on the border and risk to local populations.
In recent years however, Thailand has begun the demining of contaminated land, especially across the Cambodian-Thai border in areas such as Myanmanr and Laos. By 2023 Thailand cleared crucial portions of contaminated land, but continues to clear more land. Thailand cooperates with organizations like NGO’s in order to further the demining of tainted land, as well as participate in the ASEAN efforts to lessen the use of indiscriminate weapons. Thailand is an active party in the Ottawa convention and its goal for global disarmament of indiscriminate weapons, the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the Biological Weapons Convention adhering to global bans on stockpiling such weapons. In addition, Thailand has fostered programs such as the TMAC (Thailand Mine Action Center) which educates at-risk communities concerning mine clearance and provides victim assistance by providing rehabilitation and medical aid.
Thailand approaches the vital discussion of indiscriminate weapons with an urgency for adherence to international humanitarian law and protection of civilians from both immediate and long term repercussions caused by the employment of indiscriminate weapons. Thailand advocates for further protection of civilians through continued regulation on the use of indiscriminate weapons and maintaining present regulations seen in the Ottawa treaty.
