THE TIMESWhen French troops withdraw

from Mali, United Nations peace-keepers might replace them.

The Security Council South dis-cussed the option Friday during a meeting on what actions could be taken in West Africa, specifically in Mali.

Northern Mali has been torn apart by war since last year when secular and Islamist rebels invad-ed the region. French armed forc-es were deployed to the region last month, at the request of the Malian government.

France has since said that it will pull out its troops from the area be-ginning in early March.

“France right now is looking to transfer the military forces in Mali to UN peacekeeping control,” the delegate from France said. “Right now, there’s around 4,000 French troops in Mali. France is looking to transfer the peacekeeping op-eration there to 8,000 blue-hatted troops by April.”

In addition to setting up a peace-keeping force, the resolution, which is largely expected to pass, will set up humanitarian support and long-term aid meant to quell political violence in the region.

Beyond the borders of Mali, the council discussed general instabil-ity in West Africa and how it affects surrounding countries. Of particu-lar interest to the United Kingdom was the increased threat of terror-

ism .“The whole area of West Africa

is a haven for terrorist activity, and we would like to see some sort of permanent resolution on that is-sue,” the delegate from the UK said.

The ongoing violence in Mali has raised concerns over several human rights violations, including allegations of executions and con-scription of child soldiers by rebel forces.

Amnesty International declared the conflict to be the worst human rights situation in Mali in more than 50 years.

A number of Islamist rebel groups in the area have damaged or destroyed a number of historical sites in northern Mali, particularly in the city of Timbuktu.

The issue of environmental de-terioration in the area was also dis-cussed at the meeting. The United States wanted to see actions tak-en against corporations operating without environmental regulations.

“The United States believes that the amount of excavation and use of the resources in the region and the pollution that often follows causes the friction and displace-ment for people and that creates the conflict that we see,” the del-egate from the US said.

Although the council largely agreed upon several issues re-garding the region, they had not

MMUN World News & ReportVOLUME VII ISSUE 4 MMUN.ORG Saturday, February 22, 2013

In the NewsElections have curious

candidate names GAUHATI, India — The tiny

state of Meghalaya has a fascina-tion with interesting names and Saturday’s election for the state assembly prove it.

Contestants running include Frankenstein Momin, Jhim Carter Sangma, Field Marshal Mawphni-ang and Romeo Rani.

Last but not least is Adolf Hitler, who has won three elections to state assembly with little contro-versy despite being named after the dictator.

Dead mice cure for snake problem in Guam

ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam — Scientists have found a cure for the brown tree snake problem in the US territory.

The solution to the infestation is to drop dead mice laced with painkillers onto Anderson Air Force base, which is surrounded by heavy foliage.

The drop is set for April or May, and the hope is that they can stop the snakes before they reach Hawaii.

Pistorius released on bailPRETORIA, South Africa – Os-

car Pistorius, the Olympic athlete known as the blade runner, was released on bail Friday.

Pistorius has been charged with pre-mediated murder in the Valen-tine’s Day death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. His attorneys say Pistorius thought a burglar was in his apartment when he fired through the bathroom door several times.

Auction for famous statue falls short

NEW YORK – Bidders passed on an early, smaller version of the world-famous statue of the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima.

The work had been expected to go for $1.8 million but the three bidders stopped at $950,000, not reaching the minimum sale price, according to an Associated Press report.

US deploys troops to Niger with drones

WASHINGTON – Troops have been deployed to Niger to set up a drone base for surveillance mis-sions, according to the Associated Press.

The American troops will assist the French, who have been fight-ing Islamic militants in neighbor-ing Mali by providing intelligence, an anonymous source told the AP.

Chili finger woman arrested again

SAN JOSE, Calif. – The woman convicted of pretending to find a severed finger in a bowl of Wendy’s chili has been arrested again, police said.

Anna Ayala, 47, was arrested Thursday after telling officers that her son, Guadalupe Reyes, had been shot in the ankle by two people. According to news reports, she later admitted that Reyes shot himself.

Reyes, 26, has been charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

— Articles “In the News” section are actual news stories.

Refugees may get identity cardsOver discrimination concerns, program expansion passes

EL UNIVERSALConcerns about infringing on

national sovereignty led to the re-moval of provisions that were seen as providing a path to citizenship for refugees, but they weren’t enough to block support for United Nations-issued identity cards.

The proposals were part of a draft resolution ultimately passed by the UN Economic and Social Committee, which called for the UN High Commission on Refugees to coordinate additional assistance countries hosting refugees.

Initially, the proposal called for the extension of legal status to ref-ugees by host nations, but some delegates worried this violated on national sovereignty.

“It is the belief of the Philippines that state sovereignty is important above all,” the delegate from the Philippines said.

This position was echoed by a number of delegates.

“Japan is deeply concerned with UN attempts to subvert the sover-eignty of nations,” the Japanese delegate said.

Despite concerns about national sovereignty, another element of the resolution, recommending that the UNHCR continue its practice of issuing ID cards to refugees, passed over the objections of a number of delegations.

The UNHCR currently issues biometric ID cards with fingerprints and biographical data to refugees in a number of countries, including Bangladesh, Senegal and India.

Several delegations called for amendments requiring the assent of the host nation before such a

program could be instituted, but these efforts failed.

Concerns about ID cards often reflect ongoing national debates within individual UN member states.

While the citizens of around 100 countries carry national IDs with-out comment, some countries like

the United States have refrained from issuing them.

Such cards could become “a system of internal passports that would significantly diminish the freedom and privacy of law-abiding citizens,” according to the American Civil Liberties Union’s website.

Some delegates voiced ad-ditional concerns about ID cards facilitating discriminatory policies due to the inclusion of biographical data, which wasn’t defined in the resolution.

In an interview, Japan expressed concern that ID cards could be

AP/HEATHER STROJEKThe delegate from the United Kingdom converses with her fellow delegates Friday afternoon during ECO-SOC committee.

Peacekeepers may replace French Mali requests aid as French withdraw

AP/HEATHER STROJEKDelegates vote during General Assembly during plenary committee Friday afternoon.

See Refugee, Page 2A

See Mali, Page 2A

ITAR TASSThe General Assembly’s ple-

nary session opened with a firm commitment to upholding its hu-manitarian ideals by adopting three resolutions aimed at helping vulnerable populations.

During plenary session, the delegates from the General As-sembly’s First, Second, Third and Sixth committees come together to review the resolutions created by these bodies. Approval during this session means they have been formally adopted by the General Assembly.

During its first two sessions Fri-day, the assembly adopted one resolution from the Sixth Commit-tee addressing the plight of state-less persons and two from the Third Committee strengthening

the UN’s commitment to universal human rights.

The Sixth Committee was charged with discussing the is-sue of stateless persons and the responsibility of international orga-nizations.

The resolution reviewed dur-ing plenary focuses on those who have been left stateless by the col-lapse or replacement of their state and aims to reduce their numbers by encouraging nations in which they reside to grant them citizen-ship and integrate them into the nation’s society.

It passed 55-1 with six absten-tions after being amended several times. The amendments adjusted the language of the resolution to better clarify the intention of the

Committee: Grant citizenship to refugees

See Plenary, Page 2A

used by host governments to tar-get specific populations based on ethnicity and religion.

Such discriminatory practices are not uncommon in countries with large, long-term refugee popu-lations.

For example, Myanmar requires ID cards that list the religion and ethnicity of the bearer.

A recent report by Human Rights Watch alleges that this information is used to deny government ser-vices to members of the Rohingya and other ethnic and religious mi-norities.

Religious and ethnic classifica-tions that appeared on IDs were in-strumental in at least two historical genocides.

Nazi Germany began requiring the “J-stamp,” a bright red stamp of the letter J, on the identity cards of German Jews in July 1938, a few months before initiating overtly violent discrimination. The use of these stamps preceded the familiar yellow cloth Star of David badges, which all Jews were eventually re-quired to wear.

Ethnic classifications on Rwan-dan identification cards were in-troduced by the Belgian colonial government and were retained af-ter independence. Some argue it

contributed to the development of distinct Tutsi and Hutu identities.

Once the 1994 genocide began, cards that designated the holders as Tutsi spelled a death sentence at Hutu roadblocks.

“No other factor was more sig-nificant in facilitating the speed and magnitude of the 100 days of mass killing in Rwanda,” according to a 2001 paper written by Jim Fussell of Prevent Genocide International for the Yale University Genocide Studies Program.

Even if ethnicity is not indicated, other pieces of information may provide clues about an individual’s ethnic identity.

“A person’s group affiliation can sometimes be extrapolated from characteristics such as fam-ily name, place of birth, place of residence or the person’s face in a photograph,” Fussell said.

In the case of IDs issued by the UNHCR, a “potential for abuse” was recognized by the delegate from France.

However, most delegates lauded the resolution, which called for the “establishment of a more transpar-ent and flexible humanitarian aid system, including the development of refugee population identification systems.”

“You can’t always get everything you want, and that’s not a bad thing,” the delegate from India said.

2A l Saturday, February 22, 2013 l MMUN World News & Report

passed a resolution by the end of the day Friday due to the scope of the discussions.

“We really haven’t seen a whole lot of problems,” the delegate from the UK said. “There’s been a lot of delegating and working out the fine print. There’s a lot to cover in the area because there’s a lot that con-tributes to the conflict.”

The council considered the pos-sibility of setting up sub-regional

organizations meant to monitor the West African region and intervene during humanitarian crises.

The delegate from Russia said his country supported the resolu-tion, citing the Malian government’s plea for assistance from the UN.

“We have to do something in re-gards with the African Union, and the African Union has to be a part of this,” he said. “The economic com-munity of West African states have to be innately involved in this pro-cess so that we have all the right indicators saying that we can do something.”

AP/HEATHER STROJEKDelegates work together during Security Council South Friday after-noon.

Security Council orders withdrawal of Armenia

EL UNIVERSALThe Security Council North took a

hard line on the Armenian occupa-tion of the Azerbaijani territory with a resolution that “demands the immedi-ate, complete and unconditional with-drawal of all Armenian forces from all occupied territories.”

The resolution, which was passed Friday by unanimous consent, rep-resents a significant stiffening of the UN position on the occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The UN General Assembly, Secu-rity Council and Secretary-General have all called for the withdrawal of Armenian forces but never before with such forceful language.

Armenia has occupied most of the region as well as 9 percent of the rest of Azerbaijani territory since the final phases of the Nagorno-Karabakh War of 1988-94.

As a result of the war, the region included a substantial prewar ethnic Azeri population, which is the domi-nant ethnic majority in Azerbaijan. But now the area is inhabited almost ex-clusively by ethnic Armenians.

The war, which displaced an es-timated 230,000 Armenians and 800,000 Azeris, ended with a cease-fire brokered by Russia.

Both sides have violated the cease-fire with sniping and occasional artil-lery barrages.

Ongoing attempts by the Organiza-tion for Security and Co-operation in Europe to resolve the conflict with a negotiated peace have failed.

The Azerbaijani government has expressed distrust towards the process which is overseen by the OSCE’s Minsk Group because it is chaired by France, Russia and the United States – nations with signifi-cant populations of ethnic Armenians.

Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azer-baijan, has repeatedly called for the removal of Armenian forces. In doing so, he has expressed a willingness to resort to force.

Azerbaijan’s seat as a non-perma-nent member of the Security Council provided an opportunity to forcefully bring this issue forward.

Armenia does not currently hold a seat on the Security Council.

Few delegates in the Security Council saw the resolution as some-thing likely to create a precedent that could be applied to other disputed ter-ritories.

In particular, members of the Secu-rity Council made strong distinctions between the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and that in Jammu and Kashmir, which are both territories in dispute.

China characterized the disputed

frontier between China and India as a peaceful one.

“The Armenians are attacking,” the Chinese delegate said, when explain-ing how the situation in the Himalayas differs from that the Caucasus.

She added that the sovereignty is-sues are clear in the case of Nago-rno-Karabakh.

However, China acknowledged the danger posed by tensions between India and Pakistan, which both claim Jammu and Kashmir.

“They have a very adversarial re-lationship that could spill into a larger conflict,” China said.

“We have the right to protect our independence, territory and sov-ereignty,” the Indian delegate said, maintaining that Jammu and Kashmir are an integral part of India.

“There’s a threat that’s very pres-ent,” the Pakistani delegate said.

Several delegates acknowledged that the military power of India and Pakistan, both of which currently hold non-permanent seats on the Security Council, also plays a role in the unwill-ingness of the council to apply similar pressure in the case of Kashmir.

“Both countries have nuclear weapons, which creates a deadlock,” the French delegate said.

The Russian delegate agreed that the possession of nuclear weapons changes the equation. He added that

Russia remains firmly against nuclear proliferation.

Delegates were equally firm when ruling out the possibility that the reso-lution could be used as a precedent for other conflicts, particularly those involving permanent members of the Security Council – known collectively as the P5.

“I think there’s a P5 opt-out on that one,” said the Chinese delegate when questioned about the possibility that the resolution could be used as a precedent to demand the withdrawal of Russian military forces from the South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions of Georgia.

Despite the lack of involvement by the Armenian government or UN del-egation in the resolution, the Russian delegate characterized it as a “demo-cratic peace solution.”

In explaining Russia’s decision to side so forcefully with Azerbaijan on this issue, he expressed a “vested in-terest” in regional stability.

Armenia and Russia have a num-ber of long-standing military agree-ments, which include the posting of Russian troops on Armenian soil.

“We hope so,” the Russian delegate said when questioned about the likeli-hood that Armenia would be willing to continue hosting Russian radar instal-lations, which are currently integrated into the Russian air defense network.

AP/HEATHER STROJEKDelegates work with the chair during Security Council North Friday afternoon

resolution while preserving state sovereignty.

The assembly also approved resolutions submitted by the Third Committee, which deals with social, humanitarian and cultural issues and was charged with discussing issues of social development and

unilateral coercive measures.Both resolutions aim to address

issues of human rights by encour-aging adherence to the Univer-sal Declaration of Human Rights, using the International Criminal Court to punish human rights vio-lators, and encouraging of inclu-sive policies of education and pro-tection for women, minorities and the disabled.

While numerous amendments

were proposed – one resolution garnered thirteen amendments, all of which were adopted – they made relatively minor changes.

The amendments were devel-oped over the course of the plena-ry session in order to build greater consensus and smooth out issues that were raised.

One passed 40-13 with nine ab-stentions and another passed with a vote of 38-3 with 19 abstentions.

ASSOCIATED PRESSST. LOUIS – A group of primary

school teachers will receive the $300 plus raised at the Midwest Model United Nations delegate dance Friday evening.

The teachers, of Makeni, Sier-ra Leone, plan to use the money they raise through Kiva to invest in things they normally wouldn’t have been able to invest in on their sala-ries alone, including buying house-building materials, buying plots of land and paying the school fees for their children.

Abu, the leader of the group, has been a teacher for 17 years.

The 42-year-old is married with six children. He plans to buy housing

materials like iron corrugated zinc, sand, nails and cement for the construction of a house.

As of 9 a.m. today, the group had reached 50 percent of the $5,950 they hope to raise, not in-cluding MMUN’s donations.

Kiva is a nonprofit that works to facilitate small loans with people in a variety of developing countries.

This is the second year profits from the delegate dance has gone to Kiva loans.

The hope is that through these loans, small businesses can get the initial capital they need to be- come sustainable.

Delegates choose school teachers to receive donations

RefugeeContinued from page 1A

MaliContinued from page 1A

PlenaryContinued from page 1A

Kiva WebsitePictured are some of the primary school teachers from Makeni , Sierra Leone