Topic: Situation in the Middle East
Country: Ukraine
Delegate Name: Clayton deJong
School: East Grand Rapids High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Ukraine position papers GLIMUN 2016 committees
It is without a doubt that terrorism in the Middle East is one of the gravest issues facing this council. Ukraine is determined to work with its allies in NATO, the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the EU to successfully solve this issue while preventing further Russian aggression and recklessness in the Middle East and Eastern European Regions. Ukrainian president Poroshenko has stated, “These days aggressors are landing in hundreds in Syria, inspiring more violence in the Middle East and provoking ever growing exodus of people.” It is the duty of the Security Council to promote peace, and Ukraine is fully committed to achieving this goal.
First, it is essential that the UN fulfill its duties to global citizens across the Middle East in order to achieve the goals set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Charter. As Ukraine has supported the Security Council’s resolutions on providing aid to Middle Eastern civilians such as 2165, which was renewed by Resolution 2258, both providing aid to civilian victims of the Syrian Civil War. Ukraine approves of both these resolutions, particularly the need for convoys crossing into Syria that assist in the facilitation of the humanitarian aid. While we are aware that these resolutions have since been suspended because of the unpredictable and dangerous nature of the Syrian Civil War, going forward, we must continue these efforts with reinforced protection in the form of the UN convoys that will allow for even more lives to be saved.
Furthermore, Iraqi Civilians are also in perpetual danger, which is why Ukraine approves of Resolution 2299, which extended the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), while emphasizing the importance of efforts to support the country’s stabilization especially in areas threatened by ISIS like the city of Mosul. The ongoing Mosul offensive to remove ISIS from the city has continued to succeed incrementally and should be further supported by the UN. There is a new camp for the over ten thousand displaced women and children from Mosul in the past weeks in Hassan Sham which must be supported by the UN in order to continue the success of the aid. Peshmerga military commanders agree that the city should be back under the Iraqi Government’s control in the next two months. That being said, our humanitarian effort should be more robust than ever in order to protect the human rights of the civilians occupying this region.
However, because these humanitarian aid efforts have come at an increasing financial burden on member states, and since the Ukraine does not have funds to spare when it comes to supporting them, it is also important to consider the contributions that Non-Governmental Organizations could make to this cause. They were not accounted for in either of the two previously mentioned resolutions and since many are charities and do not require funding from the UN, they are a sensible way to contribute to our ongoing efforts in Syria, Libya, Yemen, and elsewhere. These would certainly need to be protected from the terrorists that have previously impeded aid missions, which could be provided in accordance with the methods that Security Council Resolution 2258 sets out.
While it is certain that humanitarian aid needs to be contributed to the civilians caught in the crossfire of this crisis, Ukraine has neither the monetary nor the military resources to provide this. Ukrainian Parliament member Andriy Illienko states, “It is a crime to take refugees from other countries if your own country is at war and struggling with economic crisis. We have to take care of the migrants from Donbas.” However, part of how terrorist groups have remained prominent is the modernization of their recruitment techniques. Part of the attraction of members to ISIS stems from the success that ISIS has had thought the oil trade. Ukraine approves of resolution 2253, which has strengthened UN restrictions on trade with ISIS. Therefore,the economic benefit of joining ISIS will be further weakened. Part of the issue of recruitment that has not been solved yet by the UN is how ISIS uses the internet to gain membership. Today, according to the Pew Research Center there are as many as 90,000-200,000 pro-terrorism social media posts daily. Additionally, investigations have confirmed that ISIS often uses the internet to communicate between its members.
Recently, Ukraine has also experienced cyber-security issues and since then we have taken decisive action to solve these problems. Our government agencies have been subject to anti-government cyber insurgency, so we have created a cyber-security strategy that will, according to our state department, “create conditions for the safe operation of cyberspace for the benefit of [everyone].” This strategy will empower a number of Ukraine’s 100,000 IT experts to join upholding our democratic government’s authority.
This same strategy can be applied to ensuring that ISIS does not take advantage of the internet to strengthen its terrible grip on the institutions and citizens of the Middle East. A cyber security task force composed of the foremost experts from participating UN member nations would come together to monitor ISIS’s activity over the internet across the globe.
