Progress at a standstill in SPECPOL
by Nadav Neuman for Al Jazeera
In the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (SPECPOL),
there is much talk and many good points are being made, but not much action is being
taken. Various nations keep making arguments regarding the impact of illicit
arms trading. Other nations, argue that the impact, while important is not what
the committee needs to be talking about. What needs to be talked about is the
solution to the issue of illicit arms trading.
Illicit arms trading is forbidden by law. It is the trading of
small arms and light weapons (SALW). SALW are infantry weapons that an
individual can carry on their person.
The United States’ continued support of Israel and Egypt in war
and their assistance in terms of providing them with weapons leads to illicit
arms trading. So-called terrorist organizations acquire these weapons through
the abandoned weapon sites of Israel and Egypt. In addition, during the Arab
Spring, in nations such as Syria, Lybia and Egypt, rebel fighters gained
weapons in the same ways as some terrorist groups do. The political and
militaristic conflicts between the West and the Middle East initiate the
acquiring of weapons by groups who are not authorized to have these weapons.
The delegation of Tunisia had an interesting stance on this
issue. The delegate stated: “with the help of able-bodied countries, they can
help less able countries to create a stable government which can then help to
create a better education for the people so that they can maintain a stable
government and control the trading of arms.” This goes along with the old
proverb that “if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day but if you teach
a man to fish you feed him for a lifetime.” While, Tunisia departed slightly from
the main topic at hand, they provided an interesting solution for non-stable
countries to control the importing of arms into their country. Going along with
this, is border patrol. Border patrol is a prevalent issue in this topic.
Making it more difficult to transport arms across borders will limit the amount
of illicit arms trading that will happen.
SPECPOL will look to increase the effectiveness of their talks as
they go into the second day of their dialogue.
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