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Special CommissionThe issue of setting clear protocols and conventions of war with regard to;

a) Nuclear Weaponsb) Alliance Structures c) Bio-weaponsd) Chemical Weaponse) Hostagesf) Refugeesg) Civilians and collateral damageh) Use of incendiary weapons and shrapnel that maim

opponents soldiers permanently By: Vedant Aryan Khaitan & Kyrillos Helmy

The committee shall be a futuristic council of defence ministers on the brink of World War 3 on July 3rd 2050. So delegates need not focus on this background paper much as policy statements will only occupy a limited period of time in commission; instead it will be a crisis committee with updates. This is just for delegates to know how they will act in a war situation and what they can do and cannot do. There will be veto powers (the P5 countries) and clauses not resolutions. The weapons in 2050 will be the same as in 2018; so delegates cannot invent new items and alliances can change but major policy must remain the same as in 2018. Also, personal pronouns will be allowed; and delegates must know the names of their defense ministers or equivalent. However, these policy statements will be set in today’s time (2018) and no reference must be made to World War III in 2050. We hope all delegates enjoy this commission...

1. Abstract

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This background paper shall address the issue of the protocols and convention of warfare,

looking into different examples and situations where there is contention about the clear pathway

of war. Preventing warfare remains a key aspect of this organisation’s functioning, but there is a

need to define rules for warfare in order to lower the collateral damage and the effect on civilians

so as to create a more stable world leading to conflicts being resolved faster and more efficiently.

2. Introduction of the Issue

The issue of setting clear protocols is an issue to reach a comprehensive policy for warfare so as

to fully determine what cannot and what can be done in a war so as to minimise the impact of

any conflict on humanity. This issue is mainly about the different aspects of war that are under

contention for not being fully legal or humane.

3. Glossary of the Issue

a) Geneva Conventions- A series of treaties on the treatment of civilians, prisoners of war

(POWs) and soldiers who are otherwise rendered hors de combat (French, literally

"outside the fight"), with the purpose of providing minimum protections, standards of

humane treatment, and fundamental guarantees of respect to these individuals.

b) Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons- Also known as the Non-

Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to

prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation

in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear

disarmament.

c) International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)- An international organization that seeks

to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military

purpose, including nuclear weapons.

d) Alliance Structures- A formal agreement or treaty between two or more nations to

cooperate for specific purposes.

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e) Nuclear Weapons- A weapon based on the principles of atomic physics and radioactive

fission, etc.; that can cause widespread destruction.

f) Red Cross- An international organization formed in consequence of the Geneva

Convention of 1864, to care for the sick and wounded in war, secure neutrality of nurses,

hospitals, etc., and help relieve suffering caused by floods, fires, and other calamities.

g) International Human Law- A set of rules which seek, for humanitarian reasons, to limit

the effects of armed conflict.

h) Biological Weapons- Weapons that include any microbe (such as bacteria, viruses, or

fungi) that can be used to kill or injure people.

4. History of the Issue

Geneva Convention

The Geneva Conventions is a body of Public International Law,

also known as the Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflicts, whose

purpose is to provide minimum protections, standards of humane

treatment, and fundamental guarantees of respect to individuals

who become victims of armed conflicts. The first convention was

initiated by what is now the International Committee for the Red

Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC). This convention produced a

treaty designed to protect wounded and sick soldiers during

wartime. The Swiss Government agreed to hold the Conventions

in Geneva, and a few years later, a similar agreement to protect

shipwrecked soldiers was produced. In 1949, after World War II, two new Conventions were

added, and all four were ratified by a number of countries. The 1949 versions of the

Conventions, along with two additional Protocols (1977), are in force today. The original Geneva

Convention was adopted in 1864 to establish the red cross emblem signifying neutral status and

protection of medical services and volunteers. Other emblems were later recognized, and the

Geneva Conventions of 1949, the main topic of this article, confirmed them all.

Timeline:

❖ October 26-29, 1863: International conference is held in Geneva to discuss the laws of war.

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❖ October 18, 1907: A Second International Peace Conference at The Hague is convened, which

establishes several other conventions.

❖ June 17, 1925: Another conference in Geneva establishes the Protocol for the prohibition of the

use of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare.

❖ July 27, 1929: A major diplomatic conference is held in Geneva, which establishes the

Convention relative to the treatment of Prisoners of War.

❖ October 1946: In the wake of the precedent set by Nuremberg, an international congress is

convened in Paris calling for the adoption of an international criminal code prohibiting crimes

against humanity and the prompt establishment of an International Criminal Court (ICC).

❖ June 17, 1998: Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court is finalized and

adopted.

Nuclear Weapons

From the beginning of the nuclear age, and the use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and

Nagasaki in 1945, it has been apparent that the development of nuclear capabilities by States

could enable them to divert technology and materials for weapons purposes. Thus the problem of

preventing such diversions became a central issue in discussions on peaceful uses of nuclear

energy. In December 1953, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his “Atoms for Peace”

proposal, presented to the eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly, and urged that

an international organization be established to disseminate peaceful nuclear technology, while

guarding against development of weapons capabilities in additional countries. His proposal

resulted in 1957 in the establishment of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which

was charged with the dual responsibility of promotion and control of nuclear technology.

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Today, the NPT is a worldwide treaty that bans all members except the United Kingdom, China,

France, Russia, and the United States from having nuclear weapons and commits those five

states to eventually eliminating their atomic arsenals. The 187 states that subscribe to the NPT

include all significant states of concern with the exception of India, Israel, Pakistan, and—

arguably—North Korea. North Korea, although initially acceding to the treaty on December 12,

1985, withdrew from it in January 2003, blaming US aggression for its decision. In defiance of

the international community, which has imposed heavy sanctions on North Korea for its illicit

behavior, the country has continued to escalate its weapons of mass destruction (WMD)

activities.

Alliance Systems

Alliances are possibly the best known cause of World War I. An alliance is a formal political,

military or economic agreement between two or more nations. Military alliances usually contain

promises that in the event of war or aggression, one signatory nation will support the others. The

terms of this support is outlined in the alliance document. It can range from financial or logistic

backing, like the supply of materials or weapons, to military mobilisation and a declaration of

war. Alliances may also contain economic elements, such as trade agreements, investment or

loans. During the 19th and early 20th centuries European nations formed, annulled and

restructured alliances on a regular basis. By 1914, the Great Powers of Europe had shuffled

themselves into two alliance blocs. The existence of these two opposing blocs meant that war

between two nations might mean war between them all. An additional factor in the outbreak of

World War I were small but significant changes to European alliances, in the years prior to 1914.

A clause inserted into the Dual

Alliance in 1910, for example,

required Germany to directly

intervene if Austro-Hungary was

ever attacked by Russia. These

modifications strengthened and

militarised alliances and increased

the likelihood of war.

Bio-weapons

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During the past century, more than 500 million people died of infectious diseases. Several tens of

thousands of these deaths were due to the deliberate release of pathogens or toxins, mostly by the

Japanese during their attacks on China during the Second World War. Two international treaties

outlawed biological weapons in 1925 and 1972, but they have largely failed to stop countries

from conducting offensive weapons research and large-scale production of biological weapons.

And as our knowledge of the biology of disease-causing agents—viruses, bacteria and toxins—

increases, it is legitimate to fear that modified pathogens could constitute devastating agents for

biological warfare.

Chemical Weapons

Although chemicals had been used as tools of war for thousands of years—e.g. poisoned arrows,

boiling tar, arsenic smoke and noxious fumes,

etc.—modern chemical warfare has its genesis

on the battlefields of World War I. During

World War I, chlorine and phosgene gases were

released from canisters on the battlefield and

dispersed by the wind. These chemicals were

manufactured in large quantities by the turn of

the century and were deployed as weapons

during the protracted period of trench warfare.

The first large-scale attack with chlorine gas

occurred 22 April 1915 at Ieper in Belgium. The use of several different types of chemical

weapons, including mustard gas (yperite), resulted in 90,000 deaths and over one million

casualties during the war. Those injured in chemical warfare suffered from the effects for the rest

of their lives; thus the events at Ieper during World War I scarred a generation. By the end of

World War I, 124,000 tonnes of chemical agent had been expended. The means of delivery for

chemical agent evolved over the first half of the twentieth century, increasing these weapons’

already frightening capacity to kill and maim through the development of chemical munitions in

the form of artillery shells, mortar projectiles, aerial bombs, spray tanks and landmines.

Hostages

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A hostage is a person or entity which is held by one of two belligerent parties to the other or

seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against war.

However, in contemporary usage, it means someone who is seized by a criminal abductor in

order to compel another party such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government to

act, or refrain from acting, in a particular way, often under threat of serious physical harm to the

hostage(s) after expiration of an ultimatum. Taking hostages is today considered a crime or an

act of terrorism; the use of the word in this sense of abductee became current only in the 1970s.

The criminal activity is known as kidnapping. An acute situation where hostages are kept in a

building or a vehicle that has been taken over by armed terrorists or common criminals is often

called a hostage crisis.

Refugees

The world is witnessing the highest levels of

displacement on record. An unprecedented 65.6

million people around the world have been forced

from home by conflict and persecution at the end

of 2016. Among them are nearly 22.5 million

refugees, over half of whom are under the age of

18. There are also 10 million stateless people,

who have been denied a nationality and access to

basic rights such as education, healthcare,

employment and freedom of movement. People fleeing persecution and conflict have been

granted asylum in foreign lands for thousands of years. The UN agency that helps refugees is

UNHCR (also known as the UN Refugee Agency), which emerged in the wake of World War II

to help Europeans displaced by that conflict.

5. Relevant International Action

● A/RES/66/33 (2011)

● A/RES/61/70 (2006)

● A/RES/56/24 (2001)

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● A/67/468 (2012)

● A/69/499 (2014)

6. Current Situation

The threat of war is at an all time high as tensions between the United States and North Korea

are constantly rising. North Korea, having withdrawn from the Non-Proliferation Treaty in

January 2003, began operating its nuclear facilities and other nations have followed in DPRK’s

footsteps leading the world to a more confrontative state with the likelihood of nuclear world war

3 in 20-30 years at best.

7. References + Additional Sources

◆ http://www.un.org/en/conf/npt/2015/pdf/background%20info.pdf

◆ https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2003_12/Bunn

◆ http://www.nti.org/learn/countries/north-korea/

◆ https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/dprkchron

◆ https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/nuclear/npt/

◆ http://alphahistory.com/worldwar1/alliances/

◆ https://www.icrc.org/eng/war-and-law/treaties-customary-law/geneva-conventions/

overview-geneva-conventions.htm

◆ https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/geneva_conventions