Topic: UN's Role of Addressing Sectarian and Ethnic Conflict within a Nation
Country: Mexico
Delegate Name: Zeky Nadji
School: Traverse City West High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Mexico position papers GLIMUN 2008 committees
The topic of sectarian conflicts has concerned us for many years. The sectarian violence in Mexico like the fighting between the Zapatista and the wealthier parts of Mexico has been going on for the past 6 years. The cause is the “oppression” of the Mexican nationals for at least for 70 years and indigenous people for the last 500 years. The Zapatistas think the cause of this is the wealthy who were doing the oppressing. So these end up with things like the killings and assassinations of political figures like Interior Minister Juan Camilo Maurino on November 5th 2008 as he was flying over Mexico City when his plane suddenly burst into flames and crashed in the city’s financial district. It is thought that the cause of the accident was from the group the Zapatistas. Religious, social and economic divisions have been made worse by the armed Zapatista rebellion, with the violence claiming about 300 lives and destroying communities.
The Zapatista group is mostly in a very poor part of southern Mexico and is fighting against the higher group (the rich and state of Chiapas) of people in the social ladder until their part of Mexico is helped by the wealthier groups or by the government.
The problem of sectarian and ethnic conflicts is not only based in Mexico it is a worldwide problem. It is hard to say exactly how many of these ethnic struggles are taking place but it thought to be that 47 countries are involved in violent ethnic conflicts. I think that the U.N should get the following help to solve ethnic conflicts throughout the world:
1. Military support from allies (like Israel and the U.S).
2. Financial support from allies.
3. Reconstruction support from allies after the fighting stops.
