Letter From The Executive Board

Greetings Diplomats,

It is an honour for me to welcome you to the most prestigious council of The United
Nations, The United Nations Security Council. When you walk into this committee you shall
no longer remain a regular MUN-er; here you will be taught about the nuances of Multilateral
Negotiations through a comprehensive analysis of your own daily activities. It is going to be
different than what you’ve been doing in other MUNs so far. Be assured to experience
something unique as the first two days there will be no official committee session. Instead, I
shall be guiding you through the concept of UN and its essence through the Charter of the
UN. In this committee it won’t matter whether you are a first timer or not, what shall matter
is your ability to understand and the urge to learn.

Diplomats, you must realize that awards might be lucrative, but at the same time it is
the experience you gather which shall stay with you forever. On that note, I would like to
take this opportunity to inform you all that there’ll be hierarchy based awards, rather every
delegate who is a part of UNSC will be receiving a Diplomatic Commendation which in the
world of MUNs is regarded as the Best Delegate award. I want you all to come with an open
mind as it very essential for you to be stress free in order to absorb the lessons that we’ll
going through in the course of three days. We will be starting off with the simulation once
we’re done with the training process. Furthermore, I shall be representing Peru as the
presidency of the Council shall lie with Peru in the month of July, which means I’ll be
engaging in negotiations along with the rest of the diplomats while discharging my role
as the President of the Council.

As mentioned, we shall be following the Provisional Procedure which is the actual

procedure followed by the UN Diplomats and in this particular procedure, we must focus on
negotiations rather than debate. The negotiations will be based on compromises made by the
diplomats through which their skills will be tested. In other words, there shall be no place for
things such as roasting, taunting or any sort of blame game.

Remember Delegates, this isn’t a study guide, it is a concept note that will guide you
through the basics of what we will be doing in the course of three days of Goenkan MUN
2019.

Please note that if any one of you have been allocated a country in the recent past, it
stands dissolved as of now. (Yes. That happened.) You need no country allocation or prior
research to participate in this training. (Though a casual glancing through of the attached
documents can be done, if you have time as there will be no pressure!)

Also, at any point of time, if you need any assistance I will be at your disposal, feel
free to contact me.

To conclude, all I would want you to remember is that “The World Can Wait, But UNSC
Cannot!”
Regards,
Arko Jyoti Mitra (+91 9832571148)
President
United Nations Security Council
GMUN 2019
 ABOUT UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL

The Security Council, the United Nations’ principal crisis-management body, is empowered
to impose binding obligations on the 193 UN member states to maintain peace. The council’s
five permanent and ten elected members meet regularly to assess threats to international
security, addressing issues that include civil wars, natural disasters, arms control, and
terrorism. Structurally, the body remains largely unchanged since its founding in 1946,
stirring debate among many members about its efficacy and authority as a mediator on
matters of international security. Syria’s civil war has posed particular challenges to the
Security Council as it has attempted to stabilize the region, curb the use of chemical weapons,
and relieve a mounting humanitarian crisis. Similarly, Russia’s frictions with the United
States and European Union following its annexation of Crimea in early 2014 and North
Korea’s nuclear weapons program have added tensions.

STRUCTURE

The Security Council comprises five permanent members—China, France, Russia, the United
Kingdom, and the United States—collectively known as the P5. Any one of them can veto a
resolution. The council’s ten elected members, which serve two-year, nonconsecutive terms,
are not afforded veto power. The P5’s privileged status has its roots in the United Nations’
founding, in the aftermath of World War II. The United States and Soviet Union were the
outright victors of the war, and, along with the United Kingdom, they shaped the postwar
political order. As their plans for what would become the United Nations took shape, U.S.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt insisted on the inclusion of the Republic of China (Taiwan),
envisioning international security presided over by “four global policemen.” British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill saw in France a European buffer against potential German or
Soviet aggression and so sponsored its bid for restored great-power status.

The members of the P5 have exercised the veto power to varying degrees. Counting the years
when the Soviet Union held its seat, Russia has been the most frequent user of the veto,
blocking more than one hundred resolutions since the council’s founding. The United States
is the second most frequent user of the veto. China’s use of the veto has risen notably in
recent years. In 2014, China joined Russia in vetoing a resolution that would have referred
belligerents in the Syrian civil war, including the individuals in the Bashar al-Assad regime,
to the International Criminal Court. In 2017, China and Russia vetoed another resolution on
Syria, which would have sanctioned entities involved in the production of chemical weapons.
Russia vetoed several other resolutions on Syria later that year and in 2018. Most recently, in
June, the United States vetoed a resolution condemning Israel for Palestinian civilian deaths
during border protests in Gaza.

The council’s presidency rotates on a monthly basis, ensuring some agenda-setting influence
for its ten non-permanent members, which are elected by a two-thirds vote of the UN General
Assembly. The main criterion for eligibility is contribution “to the maintenance of
international peace and security,” often defined by financial or troop contributions to
peacekeeping operations or leadership on matters of regional security likely to appear before
the council.

A secondary consideration, “equitable geographical distribution,” gave rise to the regional

groups used since 1965 in elections: the African Group has three seats; the Asia-Pacific
Group, two; the Eastern European Group, one; the Latin American and Caribbean Group,
two; and the Western European and Others Groups (WEOG), two. Each has its own electoral
norms. An Arab seat alternates between the African and Asian blocs by informal agreement.
Turkey and Israel, which has never served on the council, caucus with WEOG.

Subsidiary organs that support the council’s mission include ad hoc committees on sanctions,
counterterrorism, and nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, as well as the international
criminal tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Within the UN Secretariat, the
Department of Peacekeeping Operations and Department of Field Support manage field
operations. The Peacebuilding Commission, established in 2005 as a repository of
institutional memory and best practices, serves an advisory role.

MANDATE

The UN Charter established six main organs of the United Nations, including the Security
Council. It gives primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security to the
Security Council, which may meet whenever peace is threatened.

According to the Charter, the United Nations has four purposes:

1. To maintain international peace and security;

2. To develop friendly relations among nations;

3. To cooperate in solving international problems and in promoting respect for human

rights;

4. To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations.

All members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security
Council. While other organs of the United Nations make recommendations to member states,
only the Security Council has the power to make decisions that member states are then
obligated to implement under the Charter.
 WHAT IS THE UN CHARTER?

The Charter of the United Nations (also known as the UN Charter) of 1945 is the foundational
treaty of the United Nations, an intergovernmental organization. The UN Charter articulated a
commitment to uphold human rights of citizens and outlined a broad set of principles relating
to achieving ‘higher standards of living’, addressing ‘economic, social, health, and related
problems,’ and ‘universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental
freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.’ As a charter, it is a
constituent treaty, and all members are bound by its articles. Furthermore, Article 103 of the
Charter states that obligations to the United Nations prevail over all other treaty obligations.

The Charter was opened for signature on 26 June 1945 and was signed at the San Francisco
War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, United States, on 26 June 1945,
by 50 of the 51 original member countries (Poland, the other original member, which was not
represented at the conference, signed it two months later). It entered into force on 24 October
1945, after being ratified by the original five permanent members of the United Nations
Security Council—the Republic of China (after 1949, located in Taiwan and was later replaced
by the People's Republic of China), the Provisional Government of the French Republic (later
replaced by the Fourth Republic and then the Fifth Republic), the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (later replaced by the Russian Federation), the United Kingdom, and the United
States—and a majority of the other signatories. In the meantime, the atomic bombings of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki took place on 6 and 9 August, respectively; the introduction of this
new weapon of warfare completely changed the security environment in which the UN Charter
was promulgated. Most countries in the world have now ratified the Charter.

24 October was later declared as United Nations Day by the United Nations General Assembly.

SUMMARY OF ALL THE CHAPTERS OF THE CHARTER

The Charter consists of a preamble and a series of articles grouped into chapters.

The preamble consists of two principal parts. The first part contains a general call for the
maintenance of peace and international security and respect for human rights. The second part
of the preamble is a declaration in a contractual style that the governments of the peoples of
the United Nations have agreed to the Charter and it is the first international document
regarding human rights.

Chapter I sets forth the purposes of the United Nations, including the important provisions of
the maintenance of international peace and security.

Chapter II defines the criteria for membership in the United Nations.

Chapters III–XV, the bulk of the document, describe the organs and institutions of the UN
and their respective powers.
Chapters XVI and Chapter XVII describe arrangements for integrating the UN with
established international law.

Chapters XVIII and Chapter XIX provide for amendment and ratification of the Charter.

The following chapters deal with the enforcement powers of UN

bodies:

Chapter VI describes the Security Council's power to investigate and mediate disputes;

Chapter VII describes the Security Council's power to authorize economic, diplomatic, and
military sanctions, as well as the use of military force, to resolve disputes;

Chapter VIII makes it possible for regional arrangements to maintain peace and security
within their own region;

Chapters IX and Chapter X describe the UN's powers for economic and social cooperation,
and the Economic and Social Council that oversees these powers;

Chapters XII and Chapter XIII describe the Trusteeship Council, which oversaw
decolonization;

Chapters XIV and Chapter XV establish the powers of, respectively, the International Court
of Justice and the United Nations Secretariat.

Chapters XVI through Chapter XIX deal respectively with XVI: miscellaneous provisions,
XVII: transitional security arrangements related to World War II, XVIII: the charter
amendment process, and XIX: ratification of the charter
 PLAN OF ACTION – DAY WISE

Day 1: Knowledge
a. Methodology review, expectation setting, learning outcomes, skill goals etc.
b. Sharing of experiences
c. Group norming
d. Understanding yourself
e. Understanding your system

Day 2: Leadership
a. Understanding basics of bilateral negotiation, and application
b. Understanding the UN and its essence through the Charter of the UN
c. Deeper dive into the UN Security Council, its procedure, its functioning
d. Understanding multilateral outcomes through negotiations framework

Day 3: Action
a. Application through simulation
a.1. Bilateral simulation between IP and UNSC
a.2. Multilateral simulation of UNSC
___________________________________________________________________________

Day 1 is going to be a very relaxing day for you all as I’ve planned out a very interactive
session through which we’ll get to know about each other. Now you might be wondering that
why do we have an entire day just to know each other. Here’s the catch, this entire interaction
is a process of trust building. In MUNs we generally skip this process and in the due course
we don’t remember the people with whom we were in the same room for three long days. So,
that affects the entire process of negotiations. How? Well, lets leave something for the first
day. There will be a series of mind exercises which will prepare you for the next two days.
This will also help you in character building. In other words, the first day will result to an
overall development.
Day 2 is going to be a bit different. Here we will be focusing on the structural and procedural
aspect of United Nations. I’ll be navigating you through all the paths of UNSC and its
functioning. So, Day 2 won’t be that easy, but it’ll definitely a learning experience for all of
us.
Day 3 is the D-DAY where we will be applying all the lessons taught since Day 1. At first
we’ll have a multilateral simulation of UNSC where you’ll be given your allotments and
entire procedure is going to be more or less scripted, so nothing to worry about as you will
not be needing any additional research, just the basics will do and I’ll be guiding through the
entire process.
Now after the multilateral simulation, you’ll be put to a test, where I won’t be guiding you
any longer. By now you must’ve understood that I am talking about the Bilateral Simulation
between IP and UNSC. This is where I along with the IP Head, Mr. Sohom Bose will be
chairing the EMERGENCY BILATERAL MEET and through this we’ll understand whether
these three days were successful or not, I assume it will be successful as I always have
immense faith on my delegates. This meet will not just be interesting but it will involve a
thorough application of all the skills you’ve been able to acquire in the course of the first two
days.
ABOUT THE EMERGENCY BILATERAL MEET
Topic: UNSC has instructed the International Press to seize its operations in Syria
owing to safety concerns. The International Press suspects it to be a strategy by the
Security Council in order to benefit certain member states. Therefore, the IP has
decided to hand over the matter to the International Consortium of Investigative
Journalism and UNSC has agreed to enter into a bilateral talk with the ICIJ in order to
reach to some common ground.
The meeting will be held on 7th of July 2019 and the President of UNSC and the Chief
of Operations of the ICIJ will be presiding over the meeting.
You all know about Syria, right? Well, even if you don’t, that’s not an issue because you can
always learn about it, the internet is a blessing in this regard. I’ll be explaining the entire
situation in Syria before we move into the bilateral meet.
For now, all you need to do is gather information about Syria and the involvement of UNSC
in the situation.
Given below is a brief summary of the same:
What caused the uprising?
While lack of freedoms and economic woes drove resentment of the Syrian government,
the harsh crackdown on protesters inflamed public anger.
 Arab Spring: In 2011, successful uprisings - that became known as the Arab Spring -
toppled Tunisia's and Egypt's presidents. This gave hope to Syrian pro-democracy
activists.
 That March, peaceful protests erupted in Syria as well, after 15 boys were detained
and tortured for writing graffiti in support of the Arab Spring. One of the boys, a 13-
year-old, was killed after having been brutally tortured.
  The Syrian government, led by President Bashar al-Assad, responded to the protests
by killing hundreds of demonstrators and imprisoning many more.
 In July 2011, defectors from the military announced the formation of the Free Syrian
Army, a rebel group aiming to overthrow the government, and Syria began to slide
into civil war.
 While the protests in 2011 were mostly non-sectarian, the armed conflict surfaced
starker sectarian divisions. Most Syrians are Sunni Muslims, but Syria's security
establishment has long been dominated by members of the Alawi sect, of which
Assad is a member.
 In 1982, Bashar's father ordered a military crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in
Hama, killing tens of thousands of people and flattening much of the city.
 Even global warming is said to have played a role in sparking the 2011 uprising.
Severe drought plagued Syria from 2007-10, causing as many as 1.5 million people to
migrate from the countryside into cities, exacerbating poverty and social unrest.
International involvement
Foreign backing and open intervention have played a large role in Syria's civil war.
Russia entered the conflict in 2015 and has been the Assad government's main ally since
then.
 Regional actors: The governments of majority-Shia Iran and Iraq, and Lebanon-
based Hezbollah, have supported Assad, while Sunni-majority countries, including
Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia supported anti-Assad rebels.
 Since 2016, Turkish troops have launched several operations against the Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) near its borders, as well as against
Kurdish groups armed by the United States.
 Anti-ISIL coalition: The US has armed anti-Assad rebel groups and led an
international coalition bombing ISIL targets since 2014.
 Israel carried out air raids inside Syria, reportedly targeting Hezbollah and pro-
government fighters and facilities.
 The first time Syrian air defences shot down an Israeli warplane was in February
2018.

US and Russia
The US has repeatedly stated its opposition to the Assad government backed by Russia
but has not involved itself as deeply.

 Chemical red line: Former US President Barack Obama had warned that the use of
chemical weapons in Syria was a "red line" that would prompt military intervention.
  In April 2017, the US carried its first direct military action against Assad's
forces, launching 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian air force base from which
US officials believe a chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun had been launched.

 One year later, on April 14, despite Russian warnings, the US launched an
attack together with France and the UK, at "chemical weapon sites".

 CIA training: In 2013, the CIA began a covert programme to arm, fund and train
rebel groups opposing Assad, but the programme was later shut down after it was
revealed that the CIA had spent $500m but only trained 60 fighters.

 Russia's campaign: In September 2015, Russia launched a bombing campaign

against what it referred to as "terrorist groups" in Syria, which included ISIL as well
as anti-Assad rebel groups backed by the USA. Russia has also deployed military
advisers to shore up Assad's defences.

 At the UN Security Council, Russia and China have repeatedly vetoed Western-
backed resolutions on Syria.

Peace talks

Peace negotiations have been ongoing between the Syrian government and the opposition
in order to achieve a military ceasefire and political transition in Syria, but the main
sticking point has been the fate of Assad.

 Geneva: The first round of UN-facilitated talks between the Syrian government and
opposition delegates took place in Geneva, Switzerland in June 2012.
 The latest round of talks in December 2017 failed amid a tit-for-tat between the
Syrian government and opposition delegates over statements about the future role of
Assad in a transitional government.
 In 2014 Staffan de Mistura replaced Kofi Annan as the UN special envoy for Syria.
 Astana: In May 2017, Russia, Iran and Turkey called for the setup of four de-
escalation zones in Syria, over which Syrian and Russian fighter jets were not
expected to fly.
 After denouncing plans to partition Syria in March 2018, a follow-up
trilateral summitwas held in Turkey to discuss the way forward.
 Sochi: In January 2018, Russia sponsored talks over the future of Syria in the Black
Sea city of Sochi, but the opposition bloc boycotted the conference, claiming it was an
attempt to undercut the UN effort to broker a deal.

Rebel groups

Since the conflict began, as a Syrian rebellion against the Assad government, many new
rebel groups have joined the fighting in Syria and have frequently fought one another.

 The Free Syrian Army (FSA) is a loose conglomeration of armed brigades formed in
2011 by defectors from the Syrian army and civilians backed by the United States,
Turkey, and several Gulf countries.
  In December 2016, the Syrian army scored its biggest victory against the rebels when
it recaptured the strategic city of Aleppo. Since then, the FSA has controlled limited
areas in northwestern Syria.
 In 2018, Syrian opposition fighters evacuated from the last rebel stronghold near
Damascus. However, backed by Turkey, the FSA took control Afrin, near the Turkey-
Syria border, from Kurdish rebel fighters seeking self-rule.

 ISIL emerged in northern and eastern Syria in 2013 after overrunning large portions
of Iraq. The group quickly gained international notoriety for its brutal executions and
its energetic use of social media to recruit fighters from around the world.
 Other groups fighting in Syria include Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, Iran-backed Hezbollah,
and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) dominated by the Kurdish People's
Protection Units (YPG).

The situation today

Fighting in Syria continues on several fronts:

 Idlib: In February 2018, shelling by Russian and Syrian forces have intensified on
Idlib, especially since fighters from the Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham group shot down a
Russian warplane.

 In April, Russia brokered a deal to evacuate opposition fighters from Eastern

Ghoutain the south to Idlib in the north, Idlib being one of the few strongholds
controlled by opposition fighters.

 The province is strategically important for the Syrian government and Russia for its
proximity to the Russian-operated Syrian Khmeimim airbase.

 Homs: In April, an airbase and other Syrian government facilities in Homs

became again the target of Israeli and US-led air strikes in which UK and French
forces also participated.

 The Syrian army recaptured the city of Homs in 2014, but fighting continues with
rebels in the suburbs between Homs and Hama.

 Afrin: Turkey and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) began in January 2018 a military
operation against US-backed fighters in northwestern Syria, and announced
the capture of Afrin's city centre in March.

 US troops are stationed in nearby Manbij, prompting fears of a US-Turkey

confrontation.
Now that you have the material, it’ll be much more easier for you to build on it!
Best of luck, diplomats. I shall be waiting for you all in the UNSC on 5th of July 2019.
Till then stay healthy and stay safe!