Seeds of Peace

We, the Committee on Safety and Security, having been given the task of defining the concept of safety and security in the world's fight to uproot terror and hatred are outlining the following ideas and plans. The right to feel no threat, whether it be mental or physical, while carrying out the everyday functions of life is one right that all people are entitled to as humans. This committee has been presented with the arduous task of exploring the reasons that the citizens of the world have not been given the rights they justly deserve. We submit that terror, foreign aggression, discrimination and occupation are among the main causes for the lack of security. This committee will take the aforementioned points and delve into them further, explaining the causes and attempting to introduce some substantive solutions to the problem. Occupation: A controlling of a people and their ways of life by military force, in order to be the superior and dominant power and control the economic resources, trade and claim lands of other people for the benefit of the occupier. When a nation is under occupation, its stability and tranquility becomes corrupted, it lacks the ability to defend itself against any threat to its civilians because they do not have the means to defend themselves while they are under the rule of the occupation, nor do they have the ability to develop their own security forces or systems and therefore the civilians are open to any external threat. The nation occupied will be in such a deep condition of depression from the occupation that it reaches a point of indifference towards developing their own systems, which also is another motivation for terrorism. However, through doing this act, which was originally created to preserve the security and safety of the occupying side, it results in the complete opposite, through creating hatred, depression, and a need for revenge, thus leading to self destruction to the occupier. Within the occupied community terrorists will appear and will commit terrorist acts against the occupying nation, which will result in fear, and instability within the occupying government. Terrorism: Terrorism, defined as violence against innocents with a goal of instilling fear in a general population, and is a formidable challenge to global security. Terrorism in all countries and societies proves to have a strong connection to an overwhelming feeling of frustration and hopelessness. The main causes of terrorism are economic disparity, authoritarian regimes, domination by a foreign power, and lack of education. The feeling of frustration due to poverty does not have to be explained or clarified, for it is an obvious and thus expected reaction. When economic disparity also exists, the frustration is magnified. This is true of economic disparity and relative poverty between countries on the international level, but even more so between social classes or individuals on the national level. The lack of democracy and self-determination of government in non-developed and developing countries is caused by the fall of regimes of an extremist nature. This problem results in dissatisfaction and anxiety among peoples and nations and also fosters radicalism and fundamentalism because of the nonexistence of a national identity. Lack of nationalistic self-determination, whether through unequal representation of a minority population or through occupation by a foreign power, is a major cause of terrorism world-wide. Minority populations who are treated as unequal citizens develop resentment towards their government and are more likely to turn to terror as a way to force their government to listen. Occupation, through violent suppression and denial of a national identity, breeds intense resistance and hatred towards the occupying power. Occupied nations, often denied such basic rights as protection of citizens, become dangerous environments for the development of young minds and ideals. These young people, educated in the reality of occupation, often turn to terrorism as a way to end the repression of their brethren. When any or all of the three causes listed above exist, additional forces develop, making more appealing the promise of results achieved through terrorism. The absence of education often leads people to resort to terrorism. Radical leaders are able to manipulate people's thoughts in places where a lack of education is prevalent. Critical thinking and peaceful resolutions are an essential part of, and are requirements in order for the people of a nation to help shape the policy of that nation. Without it, a charismatic leader can promise the fulfillment of peoples' goals, through the manipulation and misinterpretation of religious texts and history. Often people cling to these misinterpretations, again out of desperation, and also out of an inability to challenge these viewpoints. Terrorism presents a pressing global issue. Fueling conflict between nations, terrorism challenges global stability. These attacks weaken the economies of targeted nations and cause fear-induced legislation, such as more restrictive immigration policies and closed borders. The devastating impact, both psychologically and physically, on citizens and victims, illustrates the true goal of terrorism: to induce fear. This perversion of man's power threatens the citizens of every nation. Terrorism causes hatred and often violence towards whole populations equated with offenders. The immense threat of terrorism must be eradicated. Discrimination: Every human being has the inherent right to feel secure and safe without the fear of discrimination; this, being a major motivator of social conflicts throughout history, continues to threaten the present generations in the first years of the twenty-first century. Human nature has the tendency to see the other side as the enemy and discriminate against the minority group to gain the feeling of power, safety and security. Discrimination derives from the prejudiced, hateful, and often violent acts towards a group of people by another group who deem themselves to be superior. Discrimination can be caused by the differences and gaps in religion, language, culture or race between certain groups of people. Those differences, which come out of the history or the background of the continuing conflict, can also be caused by the separation of a group from the others in the present time. Discrimination is basically seen among uneducated populations because when one is ignorant to one's surroundings, one tends to separate one's self from them and create rifts. People, being blinded by false generalizations and stereotypes of the other side, begin to hate each other. Hatred is the root of violence, and introduces fear into communities. As soon as the seeds of hatred get into the hearts of thousands, the safety and security of people is threatened by uncontrollable acts of violence from the powerful majority. Discrimination not only endangers the physical state of a population but also threatens the emotional safety of individuals. Oppression against the different minorities is a result of the generalization among the people who have never gotten the chance to see or know each other. Joining the separate sides of youth under the roof of a common educational curriculum and designing programs, such as summer camps or youth organizations that unify the different sides of a community, will help to eliminate the discrimination by breaking down standing stereotypes and prejudices. That is why we, as the safety and security committee believe in integrating an education system that fights against ignorance and that supports the personal relationships among the young people. Only by this way, the coming generations and the leaders of the future will get to know each other and halt the discrimination that dominates our world with its violent claws. Foreign Aggression: We define foreign aggression as a threat coming from an outside power that has the ability to cause destabilization among a people. Foreign aggression can be divided up into three categories: physical/military, psychological and economical. The existence of a nation's aggressive policy, which is implemented by the use of physical/ military aggression infringes on people's right to safety and security. If a country feels a threat from another country it has the obligation to protect itself militarily, however the danger resulting from such actions is the escalation of violence between the countries. Measures must be taken in order to deter these escalations from taking place and prevent the eruption of a war. In a situation when two nations feel a threat from one another, the first step to prevent violence should be bilateral talks between the two sides. In the event of failure of the talks, a third and neutral party should be introduced in its capacity as a mediator. Peace keepers should be introduced only as a final solution to prevent the outbreak of war. A timeline for political negotiations and solutions to the military threat should be set. Globalization results in the direct and indirect connection and interdependency in the economies of different nations. A whole nation maybe menaced both militarily and economically by another nation(s) that possess greater military power and might be at the same time financially superior. As a result to the military aggression, the nation is obliged to buy more military equipment and technology. In the case of financial threat, a country should try to improve, advance and multiply its resources (and consequently income) in order to achieve its economic independence, thus limiting the effect that the foreign aggressor has on the country. An individual may be threatened and fear the aggressive stance of a foreign country, something that may result in the loss of a person's mental and/or physical well-being. Foreign aggression may have great psychological impact on a nation through restricting some of the basic human rights and most essentially; the freedom of speech, the right to a nationality and freedom of religion. Conclusion: In recent times past, the concepts which are outlined above have been brought to the fore front. These four issues are not to be looked upon lightly because they are of utmost importance. Being these are issues that are difficult to address the solutions offered will not be easy to implement. Concerning the subject of discrimination, this committee has found that there are no easy answers. There are however many feasible solutions that can be brought to the table. School programs can bring students together to try and gain understanding. While we are aware this will not eradicate the problem completely it has been proven that these programs work in an effective manner. Establishing a rigorous program of education that all students must undergo is a solution that we feel is effective. This program that we suggest should begin at an early age and continue into the higher institutions of learning. While we are aware that these solutions might lean towards the idealistic side this committee has come to the conclusion that there is no simple way to fix the problem aside from education and exposure at an early age. Before we can take up the fight against terror we must first have a clear definition of terror from the United Nations. The debate to define terrorism has raged for decades. Once a clear definition has been established, the following solutions will be feasible. There must be more of an effort by school systems throughout the world to educate people to understand others' religions since one of the main causes of terrorism is a lack of understanding. Resolutions passed by international bodies must be implemented fully to halt support for terrorist organizations. Occupation, another challenger of global security, is something that affects every nation. One way to end the occupation of certain regions would be to have neutral nations serve as mediators. Currently, many nations assisting in the mediation of occupied territories have a personal interest in these regions which affect their neutrality. The occupying nation must withdraw from the occupied territory, as deemed by international law. Once the occupied nation has regained sovereignty, it must work to gain economic stability, restore order, and gain the confidence of the people under its control. One cause of hatred and terror in this world lies in the military aggression of nations towards each other to obtain territory. These problems can be prevented through international observers and peacekeepers. The relations between the warring sides must be closely monitored, not only on the battlefield, but also in the diplomatic and humanitarian arenas. Although implication of the aforementioned ideals and principles seems nearly impossible, therein lies the struggle that the world is facing to rid itself of hatred and terrorism. It is our hope that these suggestions will be a starting point for what will be the long road to a safe and secure world. Statement of the Committee on Declaration of Principles Statement of the Committee on Media Statement of the Committee on Education Statement of the Committee on Religion Statement of the Committee on Economic Disparity Statement of the Committee on Principles of Governing Statement of the Committee on Popular Culture To return to the Main Conference page, please click here.