Topic: Conflict Commodities
Country: Unknown
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Unknown position papers GLIMUN 2007 committees
Conflict Commodities can be defined as resources that are used to fund conflicts. They can also be defined as the subject of dispute between two countries. The problem of conflict commodities is one that is primarily limited to the African continent, but can involve entities all over the world. Profits from the sales of conflict commodities fund the purchase of weapons, soldiers, and support. The most common conflict commodities are diamonds, and have figured prominently in many recent African conflicts, namely in the Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone. Other commodities that can be classified as conflict commodities are cocoa, gold, lumber and other valuable natural resources.
Conflict commodities is a problem that involves all levels of social class. Conflict commodities are usually exploited in this manner: The two conflicting sides harvest the commodities by forced labor. Then, the respective factions sell or exchange the commodities to anyone willing to trade with them. The situation is a win-win situation for the buyer and the seller. The buyer receives the product at a cheap and available rate and the seller uses the money from the sale of the commodities to buy whatever it is needed for their cause. It is this attractive trade-off that makes the problem of conflict commodities so common.
India, as a nation, is not involved too greatly in the field of conflict commodities. Despite that, we would still be willing to contribute to this topic in any way possible to resolve the problem at hand. We would like to see those that knowingly participate in the sale and purchase of conflict commodities be severely punished.
