Topic:
Country: Central African Republic
Delegate Name: Hayden Natinsky
A peaceful protest is a way for citizens to express their opinions to an organization or government when nothing else works. It is an integral part of many governments worldwide, but the line between riots and protests has become thin in recent years. Though there have been successful riots in history, including the Boston tea party, stonewall riots, and more, they often pose a bigger threat to citizens in modern times. Which often causes countries to favor peaceful protests over riots.
The Central African Republic believes in the importance of peaceful protests. Still, there will be restrictions if the protests threaten national security, safety, health, and ethnic and the rights and freedoms of others as stated in the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. A charter that was created in 1983 and The Central African Republic follows.
We also believe that if protests turn violent, government or military intervention should keep the public safe. We also understand that intervention can turn violent, and we believe that firearms should only be used if officers’ or citizens’ lives are endangered. One of the elements that The Central African Republic would like to see discussed is how countries prevent protests from turning violent. When the protests against George Floyd’s death were happening in the United States, it was found that many protests turned violent because of police involvement. One way to prevent violent protests could be training government and military in how to handle protests or deescalate. Though not every country may have the resources to stop these violent protests, is there a way to deploy support for those countries, and are they well-versed in de-escalating violence or protecting citizens properly? The United Nations peacekeepers have been helping The Central African Republic for years to try and help deescalate violence, but we believe we should reevaluate how effective these keepers are. There has been a history of failing to keep citizens safe. We think we should make sure these keepers know how to keep citizens safe properly.
A resolution that would allow for proper government intervention would allow this important government to continue without fear of citizens being killed or injured. The Central African Republic looks forward to working with other countries to create a helpful resolution.
