Topic: Reducing the use of Indiscriminate Weapons in Conflict
Country: Somalia
Delegate Name: Sophia Papp
School: Royal Oak High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Somalia position papers GLIMUN 2016 committees
Somalia has suffered the loss of thousands of lives annually, recently due to the terrorist group Al Shabaab, an ally of Al Qaeda mainly located in Somalia. Not only have Somali citizens been killed and injured, but journalists, travelers, foreign politicians, and neighboring countries have been targeted as well. The use of most of Al Shabaab’s weapons are not currently prohibited by a treaty, but have still harmed civilians even when targeting government and fighting for control, making them indiscriminate. Al Shabaab has also been known to use cluster bombs and chemical IEDs, which have been deemed indiscriminate and therefore illegal by the UN. Somalia combats terrorist groups alongside the UN and neighboring countries with discriminate weapons and is not responsible for any civilian deaths in this battle.
This state of constant violence and the lack of national progression towards development that follows has lead to Somalia having the highest mortality rate in the world for children under four years (UN Interagency Group for Child Mortality Estimation). The amount of lives lost and citizens displaced are too heavy a burden for the world, pushing for the use of indiscriminate weapons in conflict to be eliminated. The most efficient path to protecting civilian lives we can take is the total eradication of the production of all indiscriminate weapons and the destruction of the weapon stockpiles. If a country is not allowed to use a certain indiscriminate weapon, what good is it to keep them? Doing so only causes global tension as the possibility of their use remains. Increase of global efforts to seize terrorist weapons with the purpose of harming civilians should be made, but the most effective way to prevent civilian death by terrorists is to fully diminish their power. To do so, Somalia calls for global military assistance from developed and neighboring countries in combating these groups. Lastly, clearer regulations on who is considered a civilian and what specifically makes a weapon indiscriminate will be helpful steps towards our goal.
Somalia looks forward to preventing civilian deaths in conflict globally by enforcing the elimination of indiscriminate weapons.
