Action in the Committees

Delegates in all five committees debated the issues throughout the morning and afternoon.

In the Security Council there was spirited discussion on Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. Peru argued against Iran. Peru thought that because Iran’s history has not been a peaceful one, Iran should not be allowed to develop its nuclear program. Russia highlighted the need to deal with this issue in a peaceful way.

The marine and coastal ecosystem was one of two topics debated in the Environment Committee. The delegates from the USA argued that many companies would be forced to close and jobs would be lost if strict policies were imposed. Many other delegations argued against the Americans saying that polluting the marine and coastal ecosystem would result in many serious problems and that marine life should be protected.

The new committee this year, Peace Building, discussed the security of Haiti. The delegates from Russia thought that democratic elections should be held in Haiti, while other delegates pointed out that the lack of education of the Haitian people makes change in the country difficult.

One of the issues debated in the Human Rights committee was capital punishment. Several delegates argued that if governments decide to kill a guilty person, then it would be better to kill the person using an injection knowing that it would be quick and painless. One delegate said: “We prefer to kill a guilty person rather than letting them go around freely killing other innocent people.”

The ECOSOC committee debated the equality of women in the world. China and the Netherlands put forward the following resolution: “Requests the creation of institutes and campaigns held by women so that people can realize equality exists between both genders.” Another delegation pointed out there was a problem in that the increasing social advancement of women might create a misconception. One delegate said that the resolution was dangerous because in the future women might slowly have more power than men.

-Juwana Abu Shal and Sally Yeyha