Topic: Reducing Violence Associated with Conflict Minerals
Country: Cameroon
Delegate Name: Rebecca Kost
School: Williamston High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Cameroon position papers GLIMUN 2011 committees
As a nation with considerable natural resources, particularly in the form of minerals, Cameroon cannot fully support extensiveregulation of these minerals. Regulating mineral production and sale worldwideis not a responsibility of the United Nations, and would prove to be counterproductive in regions of the world.
Cameroon has struggled economically in the past, but is now experiencing renewed hopefor a more prosperous future due to the mining of various minerals including goldand nickel. For a nation that has struggled with considerable poverty in the past, these economic developments are exciting. It is an infringement upon freetrade and national sovereignty for the United Nations to intentionally alter the supply or demand of a nations' exports.
Still, Cameroon recognizes a need to end violence throughout the world, andacknowledges that conflict minerals play an important role in civil wars. It should be noted though that conflict minerals are the by product of instability,and not the cause. The United Nations should offer aid to unstable nations to help defeat the problem at its root. In combating poverty early on, it stands to reason that instability could be headed off before resulting in widespread conflict.
Ultimately, the United Nations' response to conflict minerals cannot infringe upon the producer’s national sovereignty, as would happen with increased regulation. By “educating” nations on the dangers of providing a demand for the goods of some nations, many other states will suffer as well, resulting in more instability in the future. A stigma towards the exports of all African nations would develop easily, as well as decreased profitability for all nations if greater regulations were imposed.
