Topic: Protecting Humanitarian Workers in Conflict Zones
Country: Thailand
Delegate Name: Xiaohong Tan
School: Fishers High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Thailand position papers GLIMUN 2011 committees
Thailand strongly believes that the protection for humanitarian workers is important and believes the UN has not emphasized this point across the nations thoroughly.
Humanitarian workers are given legal protection by the UN, however the term “legal” does not have much effect if cases involving death of humanitarian workers are increasing over the years. The nation of Thailand have not been having problems with humanitarian workers, but rather give them all the protection our nation can give because Thailand is in needs of the help and products the humanitarian workers provide to our people who are in conflict zones. Due to the recent the flood, neighboring states such as Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, China, and New Zealand have been sending aid to our nation. It is unreal for the People of Thailand to attack humanitarian workers who are giving them the necessary supplies to survive. For example, Red Cross workers have passed out 122,000 family kits to people who have lost their homes during the disaster. The People of Thailand view the protection of humanitarian workers as an important issue because humanitarian workers are the people, who save others’ lives during times of crisis. The Nation of Thailand have always accepted the help of humanitarian workers and urges other nations to have full acceptance as well because it is ridiculous for a nation to not accept help when it needs to. Thailand believes that the protection of humanitarian workers in conflict zones need to be reinstate across the nations as they are valuable resources.
The country of Thailand does not have major conflicts with the humanitarian workers in the past therefore there is no previous background information on how Thailand has handled the problem. However, Thailand would strongly state that protection for humanitarian workers in necessary, and it has to be taken seriously in every nation. The people of Thailand accept the help from NGO because the government of Thailand cannot at once give full relief help when a disaster hits. Thailand believes that NGO has established its important role across the nations today because of the different natural disasters that had taken place recently, such as the earthquake in Japan and Turkey, flood in Thailand, etc. Humanitarian workers are the backbone of NGO, and Thailand will disgrace those countries that use violence against humanitarian workers in conflict zones. Also, humanitarian workers are given full legal rights which are laid out in the Geneva Convention of 1949 and the Protocol in 1977. UN’s Security Council had urged people to protect humanitarian workers and view the attackers as war crime. The people of Thailand support this point because humanitarian workers are protected by the UN and the nations where they belong.
Thailand believes that all nations need to come together to readdress the legal rights of humanitarian workers and form an organization that its main goal is to protect the safety of the workers. Staff should be given special trainings on how to defend themselves. Also, UN needs to break down groups that intentionally use violence on humanitarian workers if they notice such things in the beginning. Lastly, Thailand urges the nations to take this problem seriously because humanitarian workers are valuable.
####Work Cited####
Fernandez, Celine. “Foreign Aid Starts to Flow Into Thailand.” The Wall Street Journal. 27 October 2011. Print.
“Safety and Security of Humanitarian Workers.” Foreign Affair and International Trade Canada. 24 October 2011. Web. 6 November 2011.
