Topic: Countering the Threat Posed by Improvised Explosive Devices
Country: Australia
Delegate Name: Anish Premkumar
School: Forest Hills Eastern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Australia position papers GLIMUN 2017 committees
The use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), must be controlled as soon as possible in order to preserve the lives of innocent people accross the world. In 1996, the Convention on the Certain Conventional Weapons banned the use of IEDs. However, in 2007 IEDs were used against United States invasion forces in Afghanistan. By the end of the year they had become responsible for approximately 63% of deaths in Iraq. According to the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA), the use of IEDs did not begin with the Iraq War. They have been used in warfare since the invention of explosives. Terrorism campaigns throughout history have relied on IEDs, and the Global War on Terrorism began with two IEDs flown into the World Trade Center, which was the second attempt to bring down those buildings with IEDs. Also, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has recenty developed new forms of IEDs that can be launched from rifles or dropped from an aerial drone. This growing problem can kill hundreds of thousands of innocent, civilan lives. Due to this, Australia has a strong opinion against the use of illegal IEDs and is attempting to help the situation in the Middle East and Asia today.
Though Australia signed the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) on April 8, 1982; Australia had countless attacks involving the use of illegal IEDs. In December 2016, a Melbourne teenager was sentenced for his role in a disrupted May 2015 plot. According to the National Security of Australia, during the time of his arrest he possessed IED instructions for homemade explosives. Although the IED threat is nationan-wide, it is seen globally as well. Alongside casualties from other nations, 88 Australians were killed, with many more injured, by IED attacks in Bali, Indonesia in October 2002. In addition, since 2001, 14 Australian Defence Force personnel have lost their lives from injuries sustained by IEDs in Afghanistan. Further terrorist plots involving explosives could occur in the future, and there may not be any warning before an attack.
Australia supports strong measures to reduce the availability and use of IEDs, including efforts to restrict the international smuggling and supply of IED components. National Counter Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED) frameworks are effective and should be in use in all countries which have been put into place in Australia since September 2015. According to the National Security of Australia, countries should innovate and invest in technical solutions that neutralise imminent threats or reduce the severity of incidents, for example, through counter-measure systems, and institutionalising C-IED training and awareness across all levels of relevant government agencies. Australia has continued to raise awareness on this important problem by publishing new national IED guidelines for places of mass gatherings. Australia is willing to share these guidelines with other interested countries.
