Special Political and Decolonization

In response to Belgium, who stated that they did not understand the purpose of economic stimulus, France would like to remind them that many of the minorities’ biggest complaint is that they are at an economic advantage to the Han majority. This grievance is often true, and France has expressed its support of microfinance and “development with identity” as a means to solve this problem. If our committee can increase the economic capacity of the ethnic minorities, we can resolve inequality and better their socio-economic status.
France would also like to remind Belgium that their solution to create “equality between working minorities and majorities” is already addressed in the Chinese constitution. It is not our place as the United Nations to intervene in China’s sovereign affairs. We must therefore take non-invasive approaches that would be agreeable to China’s government, which we have formerly suggested and will continue to propose in committee.

Ethnic Minorities- France’s Response to Ireland
France is in agreement with some of Ireland’s solution ideas, but is concerned about their proposed implementation. France is glad that Ireland is in support of our proposed micro-financing initiatives, but would like to affirm that these solutions are not indirect, rather they are not invasive. Indirect solutions to this problem should not be our primary concern, but we must implement initiatives like microfinance, which directly help the minorities through economic aid.
Although ethnic tensions have always existed in what is today China, France would like to remind Ireland, and the rest of committee, that the current problems center on an economic inequality that developed after 1978, with the economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping. Therefore, we can assess these causes to solve current inequalities between ethnic minorities and their Han counterparts. Regarding Ireland’s ideas of autonomy, France is confused as to their objective because the five Autonomous Regions already enjoy considerably autonomy under the amendments to the Law on Regional Autonomy of 1984 that the Chinese government enacted in February 2001. Historically in China, liberalized conditions have increased nationalistic aspirations. This is the opposite of what we are trying to achieve; we must empower these minorities and improve their socioeconomic status while promoting unity with China (a requirement of China for any type of international involvement within their country).
France hopes to work with other EU Nations and nations beyond our own regional bloc in developing a thorough solution to the problems ethnic minorities constantly face.

Ethnic Minorities- France’s Response to Kuwait
In regard to Kuwait’s proposals, France is glad you support similar initiatives to our own policy and suggestions. However, we are confused on Kuwait’s proposals for innovation and dialogues and have a lot of questions about these proposals regarding their implementation, specifically what type of initiatives consider to be “innovation” and how the dialogues would be facilitated: what parties would be involved, who would mediate them, and how frequently would they take place? These ideas seem like they have potential, and France is looking forward to seeing a more finalized and detailed proposal

Dear Delegates,

For the presentation of resolutions, it would be great if you could please bring USB Flash drives to committee. We as chairs will not be providing them for you, so if you have them, please make sure that you bring them for the conference. Thanks!

-Your SPD Chairs

Dear Delegates,

In an effort to keep our conference as “Green” as possible, it is highly suggested that instead of bringing plastic water bottles to committee for refreshments that you bring along a refillable canteen. If you do not have a refillable bottle, BMUN will be selling them for $10 for you to purchase. However, it is highly suggested that you bring along your own canteen. It is going to be an amazing weekend, but let’s keep it “green” as we are having a great time!

-Ginny Sklar

Vice Chair

Kuwait agrees with France when they say that we need to have a focus when aiding ethnic minorities in China, and that we need to do it in a way that doesn’t benefit just a pocket of ethnic minorities but actually addresses ethnic minorities as a whole and genuinely helps them. Existing solutions that have been previously shown to work can be of great help in aiding the ethnic minorities, but innovation should also be considered. The world is continually advancing, and as that advancement continues, new ideas and new solutions become reality, and Kuwait feels that a combination of proven and tried solutions, as well as new innovative ideas that have a great chance of success, can most definitively solve the problem and help ethnic minorities in China.

Kuwait also agrees with Ireland that we must take China’s sovereignty and policy into consideration when proposing solutions and dealing with the topic. As we have stated before, Kuwait strongly respects China’s sovereignty, but an issue remains nonetheless, and action must be taken and more can be done to help ethnic minorities in China. Kuwait agrees with Ireland on the point that helping them economically will help them overall, as an income gap has heavily contributed to tensions between ethnic minorities and the Han Chinese. Kuwait also feels that there must be a dialogue between the involved parties so that everyone knows how the other parties feel regarding the topic. Every party must understand what is going on and face the facts of the topic; it is through the facts and history that the topic can be fully understood and the best solutions can arise to help ethnic minorities in China.

As usual, thank you for all the help you’ve proved so far. Looking at the blog, I feel that this committee is going to be a good one from the amount of debate already going on.

Kuwait disagrees with Belgium when they say that the topic at hand is minority rights in China. The topic is ethnic minorities in China, and that includes not only minority rights but also ways of helping them raise themselves from poverty and making them more capable and able to fight oppression. One of the primary reasons that ethnic minorities in China are disadvantaged is because there is an income gap between them and the Han Chinese. This has caused tensions to flare and riots to occur as the ethnic minorities perceive the Han Chinese as getting wealthy while they are not.

Organizations like the World Bank have done much to help ethnic minorities in China, and there is room for them and other international agencies and bodies to help ethnic minorities in different facets, so as to lessen tension between them and the Han Chinese and the Chinese government. The poverty alleviation efforts of the World Bank should not be discounted; there work has and can greatly help ethnic minorities. The UNDP also undertook efforts in a four-year project, running from 2006-2010, to reduce poverty for ethnic minorities in China, and Kuwait fully supports these efforts and believes that these international efforts are on the right-track.

Kuwait also disagrees on Belgium’s point that China cannot help ethnic minorities in their own nation. China has done so already with their develop the West strategy and other programs they have implemented, and Kuwait feels that if China wants to assist their ethnic minorities, they are able to do so. Kuwait fully respects the sovereignty of China, but Kuwait feels that more can be done to help the ethnic minorities.

We will not be allowing laptops to be used within the committee.  If you would like to use a laptop to work on a resolution, you will need to leave the committee room.  Additionally, there will be no texting or use of mp3 devices.

-Patrick

France would first like to reply to the assertion by Czech Republic that the area should remain a “no-man’s-land” for the sake of preserving the environmental stability of the region. France believes that leaving the region unresolved territorially will only add to the “Cold War” between the Arctic nations.  This does not mean that we support the immediate drilling of the region, but that it is best to settle the delimitation to prevent political conflict. France believes the best way to solve such a dispute is by referring it to the International Court of Justices to set delimitation lines, a common task at the Hague used to solve many other maritime delimitation cases. This is the most legal and clearly followed approach in a conflict over maritime disputes such as this.

While it has been brought up that the United States (among other nations) has not ratified the UNCLOS, this does not stop the ICJ from settling the matter. Because the United States accepts the jurisdiction of the Court, the decision of the court will still apply to it, whether or not it has ratified the Law of the Sea. France agrees with Czech Republic that it is best for the United States to join the UNCLOS, for not only the technological benefits in Article 144 but most importantly, the legal protection it would get would include sovereign rights and jurisdiction in offshore zones, the freedom of maneuver and action for its military forces and it would receive other benefits such as protection of economic, environmental, and maritime research interests at sea. The United States is working to ratify the Law of the Seas, and we must continue to support them to do so; however, we should mind that our priority in this debate is to settle the territoriality of the Arctic, and the means to doing so lies in the utilization of the legal operatives of this document.

On the topic of technological transfer, France believes that a great deal of research and study of the continental shelf and seafloor is necessary before any oil drilling or economic development occurs in the North Pole. While each nation is developing its own technology, research, and claims on the region, it is necessary for this individual research to occur at an international level. France believes that the international community should utilize organization such as the Integrated Oil Drilling Program that study and explore regions of the continental shelf for data collection and the development of technology. It is necessary for the international community to regulate the management of global resources through a multilateral approach in data collection and scientific analysis and development.  Finally, it is wise to look upon the settlement of other unexplored regions, such as the South Pole, such as the Madrid Protocol, in finding a reasonable solution to the so-called “land grab” for the Arctic’s resources.

Although the Chinese economy as a whole has flourished in recent
years, France is alarmed that the disproportionate economic
development could lead to catastrophic consequences as it often has in
the past. The disproportional development of certain Chinese regions
is an emerging trend that started in 1978 (with the transition from a
command economy to a market economy) and has continued to date. Also,
one of the minorities’ largest complaints coming from the western and
inland regions is that they are at an economic disadvantage to the
well developed Chinese Eastern Seaboard. Therefore, we must consider
China’s history and our past failed attempts when we are proposing
solutions.
Many delegates are ignoring the internal policies that China has
already implemented in attempt to solve this inequality. We must
observe their Great Western Development Strategy of 2000, which
focuses on the infrastructure development, ecological protection,
attracting foreign investment, and other development strategies, and
suggest solutions to complement and better these noble goals.
Development with identity is critical in this regard. Because it
stresses using markers and indicators (of measuring economic growth)
relevant to the ethnic minorities, this strategy is superior in
maintaining their cultural identity than initiatives currently in
place by the Chinese government. By using this strategy and other that
compliment and better the Western Development Strategy, France hopes
to improve the lives of ethnic minorities.
We do not need to reinvent the wheel while solving this problem.
France would like to implement existing organizations and programs
that have proven effective in other countries (in similar stages of
development to China) and observe strategies that have been proven
effective and inadequate throughout history. Development with identity
and microfinance, as we earlier proposed, are methods that France
hopes will help these neglected regions. These methods are not
invasive on China’s sovereignty and would therefore be acceptable to
China. We should not reinvent the wheel in our solution to this issue;
we merely need to oil the spokes and roll the wheels to China.

Russia strongly believes that a nation’s top priority must be to think of its people and their future. Russia strongly urges other countries to follow its lead and make sure the future of their nation has something to look forward to. Russia strongly feels that Global Warming is indeed a terrible conflict, however with the melting ice in the Arctic, shipping channels for transporting oil and gas will be opened up. The Arctic region contains an extreme strategic significance for Russia and it will provide the nation’s people with a sense of security as they enter a new decade.

Russia would like to stress the fact that the Arctic holds gas, oil, diamonds, gold, tin, manganese, nickel, lead, and platinum. All these resources can play a key part in the development of technology, science, and energy. Russia would also like to remind everyone of the obvious demand for oil, which is rising, while the actual resource is slowly dwindling. It is fairly evident that we are competing in a race against time, and we must take action soon before we lose our chance. Russia encourages other nations to think of ways their people can benefit.

Kuwait disagrees with the statement that we should regard the North Pole as a “no-mans-land.” Regions of the Arctic are already legitimately in the Exclusive Economic Zones, guaranteed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, of Canada, Denmark, Russia, Norway, and the United States (upon ratification of UNCLOS). In addition, there are already three ports set up in the Arctic and there are various groups of indigenous people who live in the Arctic.  The North Pole is far from being a no-mans-land.