Topic: Reducing Violence Associated with Conflict Minerals
Country: Argentina
Delegate Name: Tracy Scherdt
School: Ann Arbor Community High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Argentina position papers GLIMUN 2011 committees
Conflict minerals, or conflict resources, are natural resources that are mined and traded in conditions of conflict, human rights abuses, and violations of international humanitarian law. The danger of conflict minerals is that they are scarce and in high demand. These minerals, subsequently, are valued by groups exploiting the mining and trading of such minerals because of the significant margin of profit that is gained. These groups frequently leave villages devastated and abuse the human rights of the citizens of the regions they occupy. Forced labor, sexual violence, civil wars, children soldiers, and devastated and famished villages are some of the tragic consequences of violence surrounding the exploitation of conflict minerals. Often the funding for these militia groups during wartime or conflict is through the mining and trading of minerals such as diamonds (“blood diamonds”), gold, coltan, cassiterite, wolframite, and others.
One important thing to conceptualize is that these minerals are in demand, and therefore surrounded by conflict, because first world countries use them with frequency incomparable to other countries of the world. These minerals show up in many common electronic devices. One solution that has been suggested is to educate the countries most frequently purchasing conflict minerals on the consequences of buying them from uncertified mining locations. The Kimberley Process (KP) was introduced in January 2003 to serve the purpose of reducing conflict around diamond trading, specifically, by verifying and certifying the origin of diamonds being traded. The Kimberley Process is backed by both the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Argentina, however, is not one of the 75 governments participating in the KP. Because of this, Argentina does not have much to say on suggestions of how to be more effective in the education of the international community to reduce demand for conflict minerals, but Argentina's allies who participate in the KP would suggest an expansion of the KP is in order and non-compliance by countries with violence associated with conflict minerals needs to be reconsidered.
Though Argentina mines gold and other minerals prone to conflict, there has been no recent violence surrounding this economic process. Some of Argentina's allies do, however, have major conflict which brings importance to the issue for Argentina and maintaining these relationships. Bolivia has had smuggling conflicts over gas and oil and Venezuela is one of the countries most looked at by the KP organization. The vast majority of Venezuela's diamonds have been smuggled out instead of certified by the KP because the conflict around these diamonds would not allow for a legitimate verification of the origin.
In the past, Argentina's peacekeeping efforts have helped to establish it's reputation as a "come-back" country, per sé. After it's Dirty War, Argentina made deliberate efforts to teach about and reduce noncompliance of international humanitarian law. Because of it's past peacekeeping operations, Argentina is versed and will be ready to take the same approach to the situations in regions with conflict minerals, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone, where peacekeeping operations are already in effect.
Argentina hopes that through contributions from all willing and able member states of the UN, peacekeeping efforts can begin to take effect and help stabilize the situations in zones of conflict mineral violence. Argentina suggests that like the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), countries that are able send humanitarian aid while others contribute forces to keep the peace and stabilize the situation, while protecting the citizens of the occupied villages and mining communities. Argentina will be likely to send police personnel and/or military personnel, as they did in MINUSTAH. Argentina calls for a greater effort from the UN as a body instead of individual members in order for peacekeeping to be undertaken more effectively.
