Mazapan School Model UN
Simulation
Background Guide
Legal Committee
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Dear Delegates,
Greetings! My name is Abigail Reyes and currently a senior at Mazapan school and my co-chair is Ciria Vallecillo currently a sophomore; we are looking forward to this year conference. It’s a pleasure for us, to have you as delegates as the legal committee. We are are thrilled to get to know each one of you on this MUN simulation 2019!
We encourage you all to participate as much as possible in order to have a memorable debate. It is now your duty to investigate and land on logical resolutions that create a legal framework for automated weapon systems and the use of mass surveillance as means of intelligent gatherings and the limits of personal freedom. We advise you to read the following guide to have a clear idea of this year conference. We hope you enjoy this to the fullest and good luck!
Mazapan Model United Nations Simulation 2 Table of Contents
Legal Committee 0
Introduction 4 Mission Statement 4
Overview of Topics 5 Creating a legal framework on the use of automated weapon systems (unmanned military drones) 5 Analyzing the use of mass surveillance as a means of intelligence gathering and the limits on personal freedom 6
Topic A: Creating a legal framework on the use of automated weapon systems (unmanned military drones) 7 Introduction 7 Importance 9 History of the Issue 10 Bloc Positions 11 Sources 12
Topic B: Analyzing the use of mass surveillance as a means of intelligence gathering and the limits on personal freedom 13 Introduction 13 Importance 14 History of the Issue 15 Bloc Positions 16 Sources 17
When Writing a Position Paper… 19
Bibliography 20
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Introduction
UNLV
The United Nations Legal Committee is part of the United Nations General Assembly and works as the sixth and final committee, ergo, it has universal membership and all member States that do not have an observer status may take action in it. While the General
Assembly diversifies on a varied amalgam of topics regarding law, the Legal Committee’s objective is to “encourage the progressive development of international law and its codification”, thus, it reserves the right to address any issue regarding international legal frameworks, legal language within documents, as well as international terrorism. Just as the other five committees that comprise the General Assembly, the Legal Committee seeks the creation of new treaties for its subsequent adoption, signature, ratification, and accession.
Mission Statement
Your committee chairs have decided that as delegates of the Legal Committee you need to follow certain requirements such as: coming up with logical and reasonable solutions for the respective issues. Keep in mind that this an MUN simulation and you are representing a country, not an individual opinion.Your resolutions need to be relevant to the conference’s theme, which is to “break barriers”.
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Overview of Topics
Creating a legal framework on the use of automated weapon systems (unmanned military drones)
Unmanned military drones, also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), are advanced military weaponry that fall in the category of robot drones and aircrafts. They are controlled either by a pilot or work through autonomous control following a pre-programmed mission codification. Their uses include: aerial striking through the carrying and dropping of bombs and aerial surveillance of both national and international territory. UAVs create a constant conflict among nations, for there does not exist a legal framework that effectively addresses when and how should they be used. In the case of military attacks, UAVs provide a secure way for the offending nation to perform aerial strikes upon the other nation’s land without the risk of losing one of their men in the case of the presence of anti-aircraft warfare.
Many times the aircraft releases its attacks upon unsuspecting civilians. This effective and unsuspecting aircraft represents a threat to international peace. However, drones and UAVs propose many ways for social development in remote places of the globe and offers the possibility for suffering communities to finally receive aid.
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Analyzing the use of mass surveillance as a means of intelligence gathering and the limits on personal freedom Personal freedom is defined as “going and coming, equality before the courts, security of private property, freedom of opinion and its expression, and freedom of conscience subject to the rights of others and of the public.” Privacy is a fundamental human right granted by the
UN Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights. Violation of privacy has become one of the most important human rights issues in the modern age. The evolution of technology and the capacity it has earned to inspect and spread, information of individuals has created an issue surrounding mass surveillance.
Therefore the object of this committee is to come to a consensus about the intelligence gathering and limits of personal freedom.
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Topic A: Creating a legal framework on the use of automated weapon systems (unmanned military drones)
Introduction In a world where it is of uttermost importance to preserve international relationships and worldwide peace for the sake of human progress, the presence of advanced military weaponry such as UAVs/ robot drones for military and surveillance purposes proposes a threat for international and homeland security alike. Countries such as the U.S., the U.K.,
Israel, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey and Azerbaijan are the most notable countries. For what is known that these eight nations have been involved in operations incorporating the use of drones. The Damadola 2006 airstrike, the Miranshah 2008 airstrike, the Makin 2009 airstrike and Datta Khel 2011 airstrike, all performed by the CIA against Pakistan, are perhaps the most notable drone airstrikes leaving a total of 157 deaths in the middle east.
However, it is estimated that between 2,515- 4,026 people have been killed in total in
Pakistan alone, with 424-969 being civilians. The number of deaths in Yemen oscillate around 1,315-1,702 and in Afghanistan it goes around 3,429-4,728 civilians. These airstrikes sparked the public debate over the existence of drones and opened up discussion in the
United Nations regarding the usage of the aircrafts. However the U.S. is not alone in the drone airstrikes, as it has been recognized that the U..K. back in 2015 dropped an airstrike on
Syria and has been dropping on Iraq, Yemen, and Somalia. Israel in May 2018 dropped tear gas at protesters in Gaza from drones, while the government of Azerbaijan dropped airstrikes in Armenia. Meanwhile, China has surpassed the U.S. in terms of drone development and the
Mazapan Model United Nations Simulation 8 nations do not seem to intend to stop in the near future, while Israel is becoming key in the drone market as technology companies are known to be selling to foreign governments.
Nonetheless, while drones and UAVs do propose a threat, the promises they present for social development and foreign help provide a good argument to support the use of the aircrafts. Christopher Fabian, the principal advisor of innovation at UNICEF, admitted: “The promise of drones is really tremendous”, for drones can carry supplies to regions unreachable due to damaged infrastructure, drones can overfly zones where natural disasters have occurred in order to gather image and data to detect the affected regions, and finally drones can extend WiFi signals to refugee camps and schools that do not have access to the internet.
These benefits would open doors for communities in remote parts of the globe that would now be able to receive aid thanks to the available technology of drones. However, Fabian recognizes the possible threats the technology proposes and was quick to explain that
“hardware itself does not violates human rights. It is the people behind the hardware, [we need to] make sure that any technology we bring in or work on falls within the framing of rights-based documents”. Considering the possible and existing threats, the infinite possibilities and promises, and the fact that drones are a very much new technology, the dialogue for drone and UAVs regulations is open for any nation and organization to speak up and offer possible solutions that would contribute to a brighter future.
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Importance
It is of great significance to address the problem as effectively and as quickly as possible, for even though the drone and UAVs problematic is fairly recent, society has already been able to catch a glimpse of the damages this unregulated advanced weaponry may cause to our world. Not addressing this problem effectively would lead to a sure-fire catastrophe between occidental and oriental nations, as well as oriental versus oriental nations, as the drone airstrikes would get increasingly recurrent, leading to a great amount of casualties, many of which would be civilian casualties. Not addressing the problem right now would lead to the drone market currently being dominated by the U.S., China and Israel to extend to the point of creating overpowered weapons which could cause mass destruction, just as it happened with nuclear armament decades ago. However, completely preventing the effective development of drones would be a waste of the potential this technology has to help communities. Finally, in the worst case scenario, as in any problem that involves international military force, the lack of a solution would lead to a global war.
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History of the Issue
1849- Austria sends first unmanned aerial vehicle to attack venice, with 200 incendiary balloons
Early 1900s- Dayton-Wright Airplane Company invents first pilotless aerial torpedo that would explode at a given time
1935- First remote-piloted vehicle is invented
1951-1955- First jet engine remote-piloted drones become adopted by European and U.S. governments
1964- USS Maddox incident that worsened Vietnam war causes U.S. to use UAVs for the first time in war
1973- First flight of the Tadiran Mastiff developed by Israel, considered by many the first modern military drone
2002- First use of a drone for a target killing, by CIA
2006-2011- Four airstrikes on Pakistan executed by the CIA begin to gain public's attention on drone airstrikes
2013- At least 50 countries have used or are in possession of a UAV for military purposes
2015- First dialogue to discuss the regulation and disarmament of drones and UAVs at the
2015-2017 Between 2015 and 2017, there were about 10 instances of American troops and local training partners being attacked in Niger.
2016-Kurdish forces shot down a small drone in northern Iraq, an unidentified "off the shelf" drone that exploded and killed two fighters when pulled apart for examination.
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United Nations appears in the General Assembly’s first committee DISEC
2018- Drone attack (attempt) against Nicolas Maduro (current president of Venezuela)
Bloc Positions
The United States of America
The United States is already developing intelligent drones that can eliminate targets without human manipulation. In the past few years, The United States (one of the major countries that have spent the most in military drones.) have bombed Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen. Russia was running airstrikes in Syria and The United States was one of the countries that interfered.
China
At an outstanding pace, China is assuming command in the race for artificial intelligence. China is one of the biggest exporters of unmanned military drones. China is prepared to use all the military means at its disposal to dissuade coastal states like the
Philippines and Vietnam from answering the Chinese claim to their territory. For example, last year China publicly warned Vietnam that they needed to stop gas drilling in
China-claimed territory or it would attack the bases and stop the drilling by force. (use of drones). These kind of threats contribute to one of the tensest theatres of international relations in the world. Creating a problem among nations..Beijing stated that they were going to become the world’s leader of central intelligence.
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In Venezuela,
President Nicolás Maduro was intended to be attacked by two armed military drone, while giving a speech during a military parade in Caracas.(August 4) The president escaped likely unharmed, but there is a potential threat from armed drones outside warzone. One of the drones exploded in the mid air and the other armed drone crashed into a building.
President Maduro accused the government of Mexico, Colombia and Chile as “terrorist” that tried to kill him. Maduro showed a video of a venezuelan man that is identified as Henry
Beth Rivas, clarifying that he participated in the drone attack. He stated that he was instructed by a plotter after the attack to seek refugee at a Chilean embassy in Caracas and then smuggled through Colombian and Mexican embassy. However the Chilean embassy was closed and the plan didn’t worked.
Sources
➢ Drones and Aerial Surveillance Considerations for Legislatures
➢ The Criminal Use of Drones
➢ Australian Outlook on China's use of drones
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Topic B:Analyzing the Use of Mass Surveillance as a Means of Intelligence Gathering and the Limits on Personal Freedom
Introduction
Mass surveillance is linked to the government observing us through the internet and other media. There is not an established law under the issue of mass surveillance in numerous countries. Mass surveillance has been used as a routine collection of data about individuals with the purpose of regulating, managing or influencing what they do in the future. This is our understanding of surveillance. This enables us to question this impact on transparency, access to services, freedoms and social justice. The data the governments are holding could bring different consequences since personal data can travel international boundaries. This may also come into a violation of privacy and other human rights stated by the UN
Declaration of Human Rights. These methods of mass surveillance for intelligent gathering has crossed the border between security and invasion of privacy. This perspective has caused large debates of the right balance between security and privacy. Considering all these consequences, any nation is open to try and find a possible solution for this issue.
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Importance
The importance of addressing this issue is that mass surveillance is affecting societies and individuals. It is shown that individuals alter their behaviour when they are constantly reminded that they are being observed by the government. Participants who support mass surveillance conquer their rebellious opinions. Government and corporations desire mass surveillance since the possibility of monitoring individuals changes the collective behavior creating fear and conformity. Another negative effect is the gathering of data to create individual profiles. Law enforcement agencies collect surveillance data to create profiles predicting the future behaviour of individuals based on their actions of the past. These presumptions are called Crime Predicting softwares, which have targeted poor and minority communities around the world. Also, the use of metadata to get insights of people's behaviour is likely to be used for abuse, especially since this data gathering is beyond our control.
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History of the Issue
1988- Margaret Newsham revealed the ECHELON network, one of the first surveillance programs. The ECHELON network was operated by the 5 signatory nations of the USUK
Security Agreement (Five Eyes).
2001- The BBC reported that ECHELON was capable of monitoring up to 90% of all internet traffic by the late 1990s.
2001- William Binney and colleagues publicly condemned the NSA for spying on U.S. citizens in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks
2001- The MI5 began collecting telephone communications data in the UK
2003- Hanwang Technology was forced to rethink its fingerprint-recognition technology when the Sars epidemic left people in China terrified of physical contact.
2006- Edward Snowden was hired by the CIA and is granted access to top secret information
2010- The North Korean government purchased about 100,000 closed-circuit television cameras
2014- The Chinese government is introducing a “social credit system” the idea is that people will be scored based on past behaviour.
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Bloc Positions
China
The chinese government has stated that by 2020 their national surveillance video networks will be “omnipresent, fully networked, always working and fully controllable”, according to an official paper released in 2015. The name of this government project is xueliang, or “sharp eyes”,which used to be a communist slogan demanding neighbours spying on neighbours. The cheetah mobile is a chinese company that has applied the usage of facial recognition in their smartphones, and their multiple commercial applications have facilitated the usage of facial recognition. Residents of the chinese nation are unwilling to document their lives due to the consequences that they might suffer.
In North Korea,
North Korean computers are runned by the “Red Star” operating system which was developed by the Korea Computer Center from Linux open-source coding. This system provides the usual tools like browser, email, a calendar and time zone settings. This system contains a reboot cycle which will activate if there is any kind of attempt to change the core functions or trying to disable the virus checkers. It also uses trace viewers that screenshoot the displays shown in the monitors. It is designed to get information easier for local authorities who are not expert programmers. "In North Korea cell phones and intranet-enabled devices are on balance pro-surveillance and control," said Kretchun, who has been studying North Korea's relationship to the Internet for years.
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In The United States of America,
Surveillance is used to collect data on non US individuals and US servers. The data is collected by companies like Google, Facebook, and Yahoo. These programs use the section
702’ to justify the violation they are commiting. The section states that: any foreign person located outside the United States could be subjected to surveillance if the government thinks that surveillance would acquire “foreign intelligence information” — which here means information about a foreign power or territory that “relates to the national defense or the security [or] the conduct of the foreign affairs of the United States.” The American internet services to continue gathering any data on personal information with no limit for the
American intelligence agency databases.
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Sources
➢ Inside China's Surveillance State
➢ North Korea steps up surveillance of citizens with 16,000 CCTV cameras
➢ The spying game: when has espionage changed the course of history?
➢ The Hidden History of Mass Surveillance
➢ Report ties cyberattacks on U.S. computers to Chinese military
➢ Cyber Security Awareness Month: Privacy and Security Must Go Together
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When Writing a Position Paper…
Your position paper requires a single-spaced page or pages for each topic area. Remember to include your country’s national interests, national policies, and your potential resolution. Though your potential resolutions include your personal opinion, it is an opinion that should be based upon your country’s national interests and national policies. For a more detailed explanation, refer to the 2019 MMUNS website under Delegate Information and Position Paper Guidelines. Good luck!
If you have any questions or concerns, do not doubt to contact us! Submit your position papers to these addresses: [email protected] & [email protected]
Word bank
Crime predicting Softwares: The usage of mathematical, predictive and analytical techniques in law enforcement to identify potential criminal activity. ... The technology has been described in the media as a revolutionary innovation capable of "stopping crime before it starts".
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Bibliography
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Sept 30 2018
“Damadola Airstrike”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 10 Aug. 2004. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damadola_airstrike. Retrieved
Sept. 30 2018
“Datta Khel Airstrike”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 10 Aug. 2004. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datta_Khel_airstrike Retrieved
Sept 30 2018
Dearden, Lizzie. “UK Complicit in Killing Civilians and Risks Being Prosecuted over Illegal
Drone Operations, Major Report Suggests.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 16 July 2018, www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/drone-strikes-uk-us-illegal-civilian-deaths-war- crimes-dead-appg-report-a8450206.html.
“FEATURE: Does Drone Technology Hold Promise for the UN? | UN News.” United Nations, United Nations, 6 Sept. 2017, news.un.org/en/story/2017/09/564452-feature-does-drone-technology-hold-promise-un
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Hilton, Daniel. “Drones over Gaza: How Israel Tested Its Latest Technology on Protesters.”
Middle East Eye, 16 May 2018, www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-drones-pose-new-threat-palestinian-protesters-1730935
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Keller, Jared. “An Israeli Contractor Reportedly Sent A Suicide Drone To Bomb Armenian
Troops For Azerbaijan.” Task & Purpose, Task & Purpose, 3 Sept. 2018, taskandpurpose.com/suicide-drone-israel-armenia-azerbaijan/.
“List of Drone Strikes in Afghanistan”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 10 Aug. 2004. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_drone_strikes_in_Afghanistan Retrieved Sept 30 2018
“List of Drone Strikes in Pakistan”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 10 Aug. 2004. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_drone_strikes_in_Pakistan Retrieved Sept. 30 2018
“List of Drone Strikes in Yemen”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 10 Aug. 2004. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_drone_strikes_in_Yemen Retrieved Sept. 30 2018
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“Miramshah Airstrike”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 10 Aug. 2004. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miramshah_airstrike Retrieved
Sept. 30 2018
Ross, Alice. “MPs Call on Theresa May to Release 'Kill List' for UK Drone Strikes.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 23 Feb. 2017, www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/23/mps-theresa-may-release-kill-list-for-uk-drone-stri kes.
Sifton, John. “A Brief History of Drones.” The Nation, 29 June 2015, www.thenation.com/article/brief-history-drones/.
“Unmanned Aerial Vehicle”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 10 Aug. 2004. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_aerial_vehicle#Military. Retrieved Sept. 30 2018
Weinberger, Sharon. “China Has Already Won the Drone Wars.” Foreign Policy, Foreign Policy, 10 May 2018, foreignpolicy.com/2018/05/10/china-trump-middle-east-drone-wars/.
O’brien, Danny. “ Who Speaks for The Billions of Victims of Mass Surveillance? Tech
Companies Could.” October 30, 2017,
.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/10/tech-companies-could-fight-non-us-surveillance
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Wan, William and Ellen Nakashima. “ Report ties cyberattacks on U.S. computers to Chinese military” Feb 19, 2013, washingtonpost.com/world/report-ties-100-plus-cyber-attacks-on-us-computers-to-chinese-m ilitary/2013/02/19/
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Ryall, Julian. “ North Korea steps up surveillance of citizens with 16,000 CCTV cameras”
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