Topic: Ensuring Stability in Kyrgyzstan
Country: Italy
Delegate Name: Adam Mageed
School: Forest Hills Northern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Italy position papers GLIMUN 2010 committees
Where there are cries for help in our world, we as the fortunate superpowers of this Earth must be ready to respond. Recently, rioting and violent revolutionary protests have ravaged the country of Kyrgyzstan. In what began as an anti-government protest in the city of Talas in Northwestern Kyrgyzstan against the established republic under second Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, violence has spread across the nation. The protests that spawned on April 8, 2010 and ousted the government by April 14, 2010, thus establishing Roza Otunbayeva as the interim president of the new transitional government, have officially taken the lives of 88 civilians, leaving more than 1000 wounded. Two months later, on June 11, 2010, another violent episode shook the country, with two rival gangs in the city of Osh, in Southwestern Kyrgyzstan, fighting, which erupted into a massive-scale clash between armed Kyrgyz factions and groups of Uzbek civilians. The unremitting violence continued for four days, when on June 15, interim President Otunbayeva dropped the state of emergency initiated just days before. The aftermath has left 400,000 Uzbeks homeless and starving, with 100,000 of those refugees fleeing to the nearby countries of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. However, violence may resume at any moment, especially with the establishment of a new constitution erecting the first parliamentary democracy in Central Asia on October 10, of which many Uzbeks are critical of because of their abstention or lack of opportunity to vote due to mourning the recent events. The remaining frightened and cynical Uzbeks within the southern region are requesting the United Nations’ help and humanitarian relief to not only alleviate the situation but to also strike a compromise between the two ethnicities.
Although Italy does not share a significant connection with the country of Kygyzstan, it does wish to see peace in the troubled region. The country of Kyrgyzstan is requesting mediation, and the minority Uzbek refugees are in desperate need of food, water, and supplies. Italy is a member of the UN’s World Food Programme, which has instituted its headquarters in Rome, and has contributed more than 55% to the program’s exported humanitarian aid to the country of Kyrgyzstan, with the remaining divided largely among Ireland and Norway. The European Union’s High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton issued Statement A 52/10 on April 8, 2010, that affirms the European Union’s policy of shared compromise through stating a call “to all sides to show continued restraint”, and that “the EU stands ready to provide urgent humanitarian assistance if necessary.”
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged for sustained restraint, and through a spokesperson has acknowledged that “while freedom of assembly is an essential element of any democratic society, the rule of law must be respected.” He has further called for and “urgently appeals for dialogue and calm to avoid further bloodshed.” Thus far, no UN resolutions have been drafted and presented for approval.
The Italian Republic believes that action should be taken in order to settle the animosity between the two warring Uzbek and Kyrgyz ethnicities, and that a resolution of peace and compromise should be sought and enacted. Italy takes no sides and remains absolutely neutral in the conflict, but does wish to provide relief to the hundreds of thousands of impoverished refugees. The country of Kyrgyzstan has been devastated by recent bloody clashes, and the nation is asking for help in order to pursue peace. The Italian Republic stands ready to help ensure this.
