Topic: Open Topic
Country: Chile
Delegate Name: Harrison Watson
School: Flint Southwestern Classical Academy
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Chile position papers GLIMUN 2014 committees
The Veto power enjoyed by the five victors of World War Two has become a source of conflict in the Security Council. Many nations feel that the veto power is an unfair advantage, and it makes the five nations with the veto able to unfairly evade and suppress international criminal charges as well as constructive resolutions that counter their interests. The most powerful nations in the world have no fair system of checks and balances on which they can be made equal to the rest of the Security Council. Creating a more inclusive Security Council, free of the hurdle that the veto often presents is the vision of Chile.
Cases such as the Crimean conflict are impossible to tackle when the perpetrators of these actions, such as Russia, are involved. In the cases of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide or ethnic cleansing, the use of a veto can cripple the Security Council’s ability to resolve issues. In putting that kind of power into the hands of the victors, we adopt a very archaic mentality that assumes that a victor will always be in the right, and forget that the veto can be abused, especially in this ever growing international community. The concerns of any group that are brought before the Security Council are at the mercy of a variety of conflicting ideals at times, and it leads to a deconstructive environment where the wills of one nation can be imposed onto others, through the use of veto. A resolution aimed at true reform won’t grant a veto to any nation, it would encourage nations to abstain from using the veto, or simply abolish it, and give more inclusive membership to nations, in order to ensure a more inclusive and constructive environment. The veto can be replaced with a rationale of quorum that can be used in decisions of paramount import. Barring the abolition of the veto, the power of the veto should be decreased and easier to circumvent in the end, along with a more inclusive system of representation.
