Topic: Containing and De-Escalating Sectarian Conflict
Country: Bahamas
Delegate Name: Joshua Haugen
School: Mattawan High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Bahamas position papers GLIMUN 2015 committees
The Bahamas has, throughout it’s long and relatively stable life, has not faced sectarian conflict since 1849. However, the Bahamas has observed the impact Sectarian conflict has upon a nation; needless to say, it's harmful. Conflicts of these types attracts the most radical, passionate, and extreme people and, more often than not, causes the most damage and displacement. From Syria to Sudan, countries are literally torn apart by these types of violent acts. The Bahamas seeks to institute policies which ensures two critical things: stability and economic freedom. It is by crafting and creating U.N. policies around these items that true and lasting reform will be created, and sectarian conflict will start to be solved.
The Bahamas first would ask all delegates to consider what the causes sectarian conflict. One cause that the Bahamas believes is one of the most critical is representation. People tend to lash out and fight back against governments when they feel their voice isn’t being accurately heard. Governments, the world over, often side, both intentionally and unintentionally, with one political, ethnic, or religious position over another, which leads to one group feeling they are misunderstood, and the current administration of a state is untrustable. When they feel a government is untrustable, they often join groups which seek to undermine established states. These groups vary, but most intrinsically come with extremism and radicalism. These are the type of groups that work to cause sectarianism and violence; while their reasoning might be perfectly valid to them, it still brings the consequences of division among people and violence. Another critical part which the Bahamas feels is worth noting is economic prosperity. To see this, the Bahamas asks all to consider the rise and influence of anarchism in Spain during the early 1900’s. During this time, two items pushed anarcho-syndicalists to begin to gain traction in the country: one was representation, as discussed previously, and another was economic hardship. When the people of Spain began to feel the weight of the recession and economic turmoil of the 1920’s, they began looking for a group of people to blame and punish. When the people eventually focused their blame on corporations and governments, they took to the streets and began large-scale protests, with some anarchist groups even fighting. When the government utilized violence as a means to quell this matter, the people began responding with more and more members and fury. By 1936, a full scale revolution had taken place. As can be seen with this instance, economic hardship is part of the reason these sects begin to rise up and take power.
With these examples, the Bahamas feels strongly a policy of crafting stability in states and economic freedom is best for the international community. To do this, the Bahamas proposes many things. For one, the Bahamas proposes the creation of a special U.N. Tribunal to help sort out conflicts between citizens of a certain sect and another sect or the government. This solution would increase communication between sects, and begin to lead to a better understanding of the other side. Another solution which the Bahamas seeks to have instituted is support for established states through heightened loans provided by the IMF. When a country is in economic turmoil, sectarianism tends to rise; thus, by having the IMF grant loans in exchange for more economically neoliberal policies and better representation, lower-income and less stable countries will be able to quell sectarianism with greater ease. This in turn helps support established states, support the political transparency and representation of a state, and the people as a whole. It is through these proposed solutions and others cultivated by this committee that the Bahamas feels this problem can begin to gain a solution.
