MUN Briefing Paper
Taking a bite: Standing by w hile annexation occurs.
Welcome to the George Watson’s College Model United Nations Conference
2017! As both Secretary General and Chair of the Security Council I am twice as
excited as usual. This is my third time chairing at the conference and I will be
doing it alongside Deputy Secretary General Tom Maling and it is rather special
as it is our 10 Year Anniversary of GWCMUN. I hope you are as excited as we
are and that you will put as much as you are able to into this conference to
make it our most successful one to date! I look forward to meeting you all and
wish you well in the meantime.
Annexation
The unilateral act by which territory is taken by one country or state from
another. The word ‘annexation’ can be replaced by perhaps more positive
sounding labels such as ‘political union’ or ‘reunification’. However, the
implications of the word ‘annexation’ are that the area and population being
annexed are weaker and that there is some form of coercion involved.
The Anschluss, the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938 is a famous
historical example.
Other m ore recent exam ples
Chinese annexation of Tibet in 1950.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army moved across the border into Tibet in
order to ‘neutralize the smaller, Tibetan army and induce the Tibetan
government to negotiate. El Salvador sponsored a complaint to the UN on behalf
of the Tibetan government but India and the UK prevented it from being
debated. In Beijing (then known as Peking) on 23 May 1951, representatives
were forced to sign the 17 Point Agreement under which China promised to allow
Tibet to reform at its own pace and Tibet would remain self-governing in internal
affairs and retain religious freedom. Tibet would become part of China. This
‘peaceful liberation’ would help bring development to a backward, poverty
stricken region. Self-government continued until a failed revolt in Tibet when the
Dalai Lama left and a Chinese clampdown ensued.
Tibet’s appeals for help from the UN were largely ignored as in the early 1950s,
world attention was focused on the Korean War. Later on, vetoes by the Soviet
Union (the modern day Russian federation) blocked any intervention and the fact
that Tibet had not joined the UN.
East Tim or
Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975. It was annexed and became known as
Timor Timur. Indonesia regarded it as the country’s 27th province but this was
never recognised by the UN. T
Immediately after the invasion the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution
that "strongly deplored" the invasion, demanding that Jakarta withdraw troops
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"without delay" and allow the inhabitants of the island to exercise their right
to self-determination.
For the next twenty-four years Indonesia controlled East Timor and during this
time more than 200,00 Timorese reportedly died. Resistance to Indonesian rule
remained strong with a prolonged guerrilla campaign against the Indonesian
occupation. In 1996 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to two men from East
Timor, Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and José Ramos-Horta, for their ongoing
efforts to peacefully end the occupation.
The Asian economic crisis of 1997 had a disastrous effect on Indonesia and East
Timor and the President of Indonesia resigned. His successor agreed to hold a
referendum on East Timor’s independence. In that referendum held in 1999
under a UN-sponsored agreement between the two sides, the people of East
Timor rejected the offer of autonomy within Indonesia. East Timor achieved
independence in 2002 and is now officially known as Timor-Leste.
Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights
The Golan Heights is a rocky plateau between Syria and Israel
Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the closing stages of the 1967 SixDay War. Most of the Syrian Arab inhabitants fled the area during the conflict
and the region came under Israeli military control. Almost immediately Israel
began to settle the Golan.
Syria tried to retake the Golan Heights during the 1973 Middle East war but
failed. Both countries signed an armistice in 1974 and a UN observer force has
been in place on the ceasefire line since 1974.
Israel unilaterally annexed the Golan Heights in 1981. The move was not
recognised internationally.
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There are more than 30 Jewish settlements on the heights, with an estimated
20,000 settlers. There are some 20,000 Syrians in the area.
The Golan Heights are strategically important to Israel as they are only 40 miles
away from Damascus and provide a protective barrier from its old enemy Syria.
The land is fertile and provides a third of Israel’s water supply.
There have been a number of attempts at peace deals between Israel and Syria
over the Golan Heights. However, the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011 has
halted progress. Syrian fighting reached the Golan ceasefire lines in 2013, when
Israel returned fire after rebel shells landed in Golan. Israeli and Syrian Army
troops exchanged fire across their lines in May.
Kuw ait
Iraq under Saddam Hussein, invaded and annexed Kuwait in August 1990.
Hussein's justifications were that Kuwaiti territory was in fact an Iraqi province,
and that annexation was retaliation for the "economic warfare" Kuwait had
waged through slant drilling into Iraq's oil supplies. The Kuwaiti monarchy was
deposed after the annexation, and an Iraqi governor installed.
United States president George H. W. Bush condemned Iraq's actions, and
moved to drive out Iraqi forces. Authorized by the UN Security Council, an
American-led coalition of 34 nations fought the First Gulf War to reinstate the
Kuwaiti Emir. Iraq's invasion and annexation was deemed illegal and Kuwait
remains an independent nation today.
The Russian Federation’s annexation of the Crim ea from Ukraine
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Ukraine gained its independence from the Soviet Union after the fall of
Communism in 1991. However, the country was divided with the western part of
the country holding a long-standing hope to one day become part of the EU
whilst the eastern and southern areas looked to Russia for leadership.
Crimea is a peninsula stretching out from the south of Ukraine. It became part of
the Ukraine in 1954 but the majority of the people living there view themselves
as Russians and Russian fleet is based in the port of Sevastopol.
After internal unrest in Ukraine, the Russian Federation annexed most of
the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014, describing it as a ‘reunification’. This
annexation was confirmed by a referendum held in Crimea where around 95%
voted for Crimea to become part of the Russian Federation. This result and the
annexation was declared invalid by the USA and the EU and sanctions were
enforced against Crimea and the Russian Federation. The United Nations General
Assembly adopted a non-binding resolution, which declared the Crimean
referendum and subsequent status change invalid, by a vote of 100 to 11, with
58 abstentions and 24 absent.
Questions the Security Council w ill need to consider in light of these
exam ples of annexation.
The role that the United Nations has played and should be prepared
to play in cases of annexation.
A number of current members of the Security Council are directly involved in
these disputes. For example, the Russian Federation and Ukraine in the case of
Crimea. Both these countries are currently members of the Security Council.
Has the United Nations’ reputation been dam aged or underm ined by
its handling of recent cases of annexation?
W hat can the United Nations learn from this and how can it prepare
for the future?
One of the main issues has been the perceived impassivity of the UN and
countries throughout the world. The UN’s only action against the Crimea incident
was to not recognise the change in Crimea's status, however there was no
participation by the UN to help prevent civilians in a capacity that made a
difference. There are little to no protection of civilians in the contested area,
especially when there has been military involvement from the two countries that
are trying to declare the land as their own, this can lead to casualties which the
UN has the opportunity to stop.
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W hat role should the United Nations be prepared to play in the
afterm ath of annexation?
Another issue is the aid that should be provided in case of damage to property in
the section of the country that conflict is occurring as well as issues of violence
and what the UN and other countries can do to participate in the protection of
civilians in the area.
The debate in this committee should be centred around the protection and
prevention of harm to civilians in cases of annexation, as well as measures to
guarantee that any annexation is done within international law and can be
regarded as reasonable.
I am incredibly excited to be able to see how you would combat this rather
interesting and difficult issue. Below are some links to help you research but I
would definitely recommend looking at the above situations and email me with a
50 word Position Paper by Friday 24 February. My email address is
[email protected], if you have any questions feel free to contact me if not I
look forward to seeing you in March!
To find out m ore about this issue
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14724842
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27308526
W here Can I Find Inform ation About M y Country?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/default.stm
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html
http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld
W here Can I Find Inform ation About G lobal Issues?
http://www.newint.org/
http://www.idebate.org/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/ http://www.amnesty.org.uk/
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