PRESENT BUT NOT VOTING

By Noah Arney

Al six AM on o Friduy, where arc yuu must likely going 10 find students'? If you were where I wus. you would 11ndthem in suits and d1·essesand ready In toke on the world, or at least the United Nations. I Sf'>CnlFridny and Sunday this past weekend (Jan I 8, nnd 20'lh) with the Trinily delegation fur the Model United Nations (MUN) al UBC, where they uebated over current events, und hypothetical situations with 148 students representing 51 countries. and the International Criminal Court (TC ).

/\t nine fifteen, I hegan listening to all of the different delegates from the General /\!-.scmbly First Committee (Security and Disurmument) try lo get everyone else lo vote for their preferred topic. The two topics tn he discussed hy the First Committee arc Small Arms Trnde, and the At1til1allis1ic Missiles treaty. After voting, it was decided that the Small Arms Trade will bt: discussed. They continued talking for a while. until a motion for an unmoderated cnucus was pnssed, wht:reupon the different countries got together to discuss tht: topic. I was lucky enough to :.it in on a discussion between several Africun nnd Central American countries. They agreed that !he s111ullarms trade should be limitcll. but couldn't agree on hnw, or whnt Lhc cmpha,is ,hnu\d he. After vi,itin!! the other ses• ,ions. [ stopped 111 ·1).'ain on tlw Fir:-! Co111rni1tcc,and the) WCl'C discussing dcfi nitit\f1s and sul'i1 lil..c. The Pir·,t Conunittec p;1ssed thn.:t resolutiLrns. Two outlining Disnrmrnnent nnd Small Arms. and nnc for Dtsurnwmenl and Anti-Ballistic Missile f)el'ence Systems. Thcy call for the tracking nf nll Small Arm~. nut in the hands of recngniled military fun.;es,and the destruction of all surplus small arms. The ABM resolu• tion didn't actually demand anything, though. it suggested several ways to lessen the fear over this topic.

The second session I visited to was the General Assemhly Third Cum111i11cc (Human Rights). Their first topic was Aids, and how to comhut it. This session had some interesting debates as to the m1a:ri1of giving money without accoun1abili1y. nnd how much should be given to the Aills organizations.

The United KingtJnm (U.K.} offcred much u<lvicc but liule l'inoncial aid, to which the Honourable Delegate from Mali respontled "[f you want tu help. help get these programs off the ground."

bl'nel and Brazil were also leaders in the dis• cus,ion, while the U.S.A. assisted the U.K. tll pul together an alliance of Alrk:nn nations, and lsruel to put together a "Working Paper" or a <lraft of a bill. Turkey and Cuba also fieltled a Working Puper at the same time. neither of which addressed all of the problems. They eventually put together a Resolution outlining ways to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic. and also ways of distributing money to assist countries suffering, and ways to keep dirt:ctor to the U.S.A. and the U.K.. those two countries took over and attempted to fintJ a solution, which was made difficult by Russia not agreeing. The problem was made worse by E-Boli outbreaks in refugee camps in Egypt, and the destruction of three UN Apa1.:hehelit:upters by SPLA forces using weapons bought from Israel. At the time of publishing, the results of this crisis were not known. emphasis on anti terrorist activities. To which Belgium replied "We understand the stress US places on their, I mean our, war on terrorism." Though the Honourable Delegate apologised profusely, it was obvious that it wus nut a slip or the tongue.

CRlSlS IN NATO

1hnsc countries accountable. The also pu1 together an unclenr Resnlutiu11on how to in1.:reascthe standard of living l'n, AfijhHn women.

The St:curity Council. meu11whilc,tJcbatcd thcir topic of "terrorism in the world", until they wcn.: presented with a "L'risis Situation" which was simply a hypo1he1ic(II situation though up by Lhe director of that session. The situation is added to as the days go by, depending on how the delegates react. In this case, Sudan's president was shot by terrorists while negotiating a peace agreement with the SPLA. a "religious" terrorist orgnnizlllion. This was added to as the Security council proved inept against the threat. until the SPLA was committing hunwn rights violations, and Egypt was :.lllacking. Thanks to sorne notes from rhe

The TCC was a new audit.ion to the URC MUN. Although the ICC is not official in the real world. UBC had 24 delegates handle o court case in which the United States and NATO was being tried for war crimes committed Juri ng the Kosovo situuiion. If' the ICC becomes reality. it will have j11risclir; tion over ,ll)y 111tt:rnntiom1Iuffcnce not taken care of by the coun1rie~involveLI. This was spelled out in the Rnme stalutc, hl1\\evcr it has yet to come to he. Al the earliest, it would come into being in April uf this year. For the TCC session. RnJ Janzen, an Australian Lawyer and cxpcrr on the lCC, was a guest speaker and discussed the past of international justice and the LCC.

The ICC was trying the U.S.A. and NATO for two grievances. One, The U.S was accusedof intentional wanton des1ruction in Yugoslavia. ant.I Ko ·ovo. Two, NATO's intentions were not for the good of the pop· ulution of Kosovo. As to grievance one, the Defence argued that it was simply a few mistakes, und loss of civilian life was inci• dental. The Prosecution put up a good argument, however, with saying that unintentional killings are still crimes (negligence) and thal 1he ends do not justify the means. In grievance two, the Defence stated that due to article 30 of the Rurne Statute (which created the ICC) NATO is not liable for unintentional destruction. The Prosecution replied that NATO was inlcntional with the destruction of civilian targets which had no rnilirnry value, and that they violated the Geneva convention by firing on an ambulance. The Judges" final decision was not available at the time or publishing.

Tht! most interesting session for me was however one that was not properly part of the UN. 'l'hcrc was n North Atlantic Council (NAC) ses:--ionfor NATO. Their original topic was on NATO expansion. and who cnuld join. At 10:30, the morning press release came outlining several "currenL events". One or which was the default of Georgia on it's IMF loan pay111ent.This press release wus ignoretl. The US continued lo ~tresstht! military power necessary in countries to be adJcd to NATO and an

As the shades lower and the Doors lock, we arc.: informed of a crisis situation. After Georgia's (on the border between Turkey ond Russia) default, 1he President uf that country fru:ie all personal bank accounts of over $5,000USD ur more. This was greeted by prott:sts and violence. The President instituted Marshal Law, nnd placed his Elite Gu11rdon thl! streets. There was an attempt on the Presidents life, and then a coup, after which the President disappeared into Turkey. Russia began moving in, and "keeping the peace" with everal 'thousand new soldiers. Over the course of this crisis, cries were heard from all delegates of everything from "Mobili:,,c" to "We can handle it".

Several comments were made as to investigations into Russia's interest into this. A Russian delegation came and answered questions pertaining to the situHtion. f,ssentially Russia said that Georgio is autonomous, nnd is a member of the CIS not of NATO, so the NAC ha~ no jurisdii.;tion. I le also infornied rhc N/\C that nny new troop~ in Turl..cy would be con:.1dcrcd to be ii hrn,lllc uc1, anu avoided all further queslltHls. As uf Friday evening. tht! N AC had passed the Draft Resolution (DR) 1.6 stating thnt 1110retroops were to be placi;d nlong the Georgian-Turkish border. however, thei>e wcre Lo be taken from the troops already in Turkey. And. there was also an increase un intelligence gathering around, and in, Georgia. Russia then movetJ nuclear artns into Oeorgin, and moved troops into Kallingrad in eastern Europe which was demilitarized in 1991, and also mobilized it's llcet in the Baltic Sea. ln response, NATO sent ship into the Bailie, and troops to Kallingrad. However, the Russians with· drew, und it became apparent that they were just nexing their muscles in eastern Europe, and this had nothing to do with Georgia. NATO failed to do anything further about Georgia.

By Beth Kelleher

* Resource: Chris Bolster 1999, and Published Cascndc Policy Agreement

Wilh a student population of almost 7000 students from all different walks of life, on 4 campuses, involved in hundreds of different a<.:tivitics, progrnrn , and interests, the role and responsibility of the Cascade - the UCFV Student Newspaper - has grown expo11cn1ially in recent semesters. In an attempt LU represent and report on the issues at the heart of the student body, the Cascade is seeing and ever-increasing need to diversify content and therefore, to interact on a htmds-on, grass roots level with the student budy.

Currently, the Cascade Starr is comprised of 6 swdcnts hired by the Student Union Society, ea<.:hof which is paid an honuraria per issue und is responsible for the layout, production, editing, and written/ photo content of the Cas<.:ode. These positions arc responsible to the Student Union Society. The Cascade also relies 011approximately 12 volunteers who submit artides, graphics, comics, and photography on a regular basis.

Because of tile Ca~cade's direct 1·clationship