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Interpol

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Charla inaugural
Por: Sofía Mongui Cardona

 

Dictated by: Mariana Estrada Henao

Redaction by: Sofía Monguí Cardona

 

The conference was dictated by former secretary general and alumni Mariana Estrada. She gave the delegates key concepts and information that they will require to use on their debates, such as the legal divisions bodies of water have and the division of water inside a nation’s legislation (Internal waters territorial waters, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone), while aso explaining how to operate according to those in different situations.

Another topic discussed were free maritime spaces, which refers to the high seas. The common heritage of mankind, a zone beyond any national jurisdiction. The lecturer explained the debates that have aroused around what to do when piracy is committed in these zones and guided the delegates on which concepts were essential when talking about it.

Law of the sea, was composed of passage, legal regime and some exceptions such as straits which were talked about to complement previous concepts. Then maintenance of peace and security was talked about taking into account the bases established by UNCLOS.

Finally, criminal justice for maritime crimes was discussed. Here the importance of Customary International Law was highlighted, as the national law, international law and its treaties and conventions (with that respective order of importance) are all derived from customary international law. Also, articles 100, 104, 105 and 107 of UNCLOS about piracy were analyzed in depth in order to apply them as interpol. 

Session 1

Speaker’s list

  • South Africa: Highlights the way piracy has affected the international community. Encourage the rest of delegations to take action and not only search for a solution but work on the development.

  • South Africa: SMIP an organization for criminal justice work with international ncb’s. Ask for a preview of the delegations issues

  • China: The loss of the economy’s stability due to piracy. Offers assist ships and makes a call to see the issues as an urgent matter. 

  • China: 14 years ago China has been in constant operations to aid ships from piracy through the People's liberation army. 

  • Somalia: States that even though countries have come up with solutions these countries barely have resources to take these plans into action.

  • President Miguel Ochoa: Presents the crisis and asks delegates to act upon it. A class-L oil cargo ship named Ever Lissome went missing from the coast of Somalia. The 27 crew members from the UK, USA and Somalia are also missing along with 30n million dollars worth of goods. The Somali government has asked the International Police to help them find the pirates responsible for the crime. 

  • United States: The delegation is doing their best to stop these crimes. Shows support for the Somalia and UK delegations.

  • South Africa: Introduces the impacts the pandemic left on the issue. Implements a plan of discussion graphically. 

  • United Kingdom: Expresses its concern that it would like to invite african nations with mediterranean borders to let the UK put troops to control the problem. 

  • Zimbabwe: Highlights not only economic goods are lost, but also human lives.

  • Somalia: Explains the economical situation of the country and its barriers. 

  • French Republic: Structural damages are the ones creating the crisis. 

  • Singapore: Agrees with the French Republic and offers their support

  • Botswana. The Strait of Malacca should have more control. 

  • India: Says that Somalia is allowing piracy and it suffers from corruption worsening the crisis. 

  • Spain: Is willing to offer aid to whichever country needs it. Wants to find a solution that includes all.

  • French Republic: Offers solutions for the root of the problem such as offering employment and education.

  • Somalia: Shows image of legal maritime routes and the zones of pirate activity. Proposes solutions to the crisis such as finding the lost civilians. Expresses the difficulty the country has had due to lack of resources

  • Somalia: Recognizes French Republic’s suggestion of education as a way to tackle the problem in the long term, however the country asks for short term solutions as the matter is urgent.

  • United States: Says that Zimbabwe, South Africa and India don't give viable and coherent solutions for the issue in somalia

  • Brazil: In favor of the delegations of Germany and China. Proposes that monetary resources be given to Somalia with the help of more developed countries.

  • Canada: Believes that military action from developed countries should not be enforced in these territories as it instaurates a new way of colonialism. 

  • India: States that military actions in the long term have greater spending than the actual piracy itself and asks for economically viable solutions.

  • Singapore: Proposes a system similar to the European Union’s program to protect vessels as it has been proved to be efficient.

  • Brazil: Asks delegations such as the USA and the UK to care about the issue.

  • South Africa: Shows a mind map which explains “What we have to attack” analyzing the situation from the root. State action is taken without violating Somalia’s sovereignty. The delegations must work together to fight poor governance.

  • Zimbabwe: Shows the vicious cycle of piracy through a graph. Explaining the reasons why piracy occurs, how it happens and the consequences it brings

  • India: The country has been sending military to the Gulf of Aden since 2008 and asks other countries for help to find the lost ship.

  • Tanzania: Uses article 100 UNCLOS as a base to propose military and humanitarian aid solutions.

  • China: States the safety of the navy and the protection of the economy is the problem, not their internal motives. 

  • China: Proposes the use of blue notices, yellow notices and red notices to start communicating clearly and take legal action. 

  • South Africa: Cites article 101 and 105, to work with ncb across the world to find the lost ship, protect the maritime environment. The delegation asks for support for their previous actions. 

Session 2

Speaker’s list

  • South Africa: Introduces key concepts for the crisis resolution: the Djibouti code of conduct, the UNCLOS and international NCB’s. 

  • United States: Believes that nations like China and India are more invested in their economic interests rather than rescuing the vessel.

  • Botswana: Proposes to create an international plan to prevent future issues from happening, and if they do happen, to have a structured way to act efficiently.

  • President Samuel Osorio: Presents the crisis. Some of the delegations sent help. Somalia gave notices asking for help which were ineffective due to the lack of resources. They found out the ship went North or East. Evidence was found however the measures taken are still insufficient.

  • China: States that they will act soon and asks other delegations to join.

  • United Kingdom: Questions China on why it has taken a long time for them to act.  

  • China: Explain there was lack of information that made it more difficult to act

  • Somalia: Proposes to unify resources as an international community for a more effective investigation. 

  • United States: Vessels from different countries can unite to wider the search range,

  • Spain: Atlanta Operation. Fast action needs to be taken, so the country proposes nearby countries to act immediately.

  • United Kingdom: Proposes that the investigation focuses on the Arabian sea, which is most likely where the vessel can be found, asking India to take immediate action in their territory. 

  • China: Says that for an actual conclusive investigation there needs to be enough information. The delegation is sorry for not acting as fast as it should have. 

  • China: The delegation ask for a 10 minute lobby time

  • Somalia: The delegation asked for another 10 minutes of lobby time

  • Somalia: The delegation points out that even if the mission was ineffective, there was important information obtained. 

  • French Republic and South Africa: Joined intervention to propose an action plan. Any ship that isn't reported will become a suspect study. Identify the possible routes the ship could take in order to monitor them. Regulate superspeedways, the strait of Malacca and the strait of Singapore. The delegation states it is a realistic plan taking into account the INTERPOL’s resources available. Finally the delegations displayed a map taken from the model’s guide, showing the possible routes.

  • United Kingdom: The objective of the UK’s boats located in the superspeedways of Singapore, as has agreed between both delegations, is to prevent hijacking.

  • French Republic: The delegation makes a call of attention to the other delegations to join the plan proposed along with the delegation of South Africa. 

  • India: The delegation believes that UNCLOS doesn't work along anti piracy operations, as the convention was composed back in 1982 making it outdated. The delegation thinks the committee should act on a renewed and modern convention.

  • Botswana: The delegation proposes the search of the ship in the Indian ocean should be divided into different areas for each delegation to search. 

  • South Africa: The delegation along with the delegation of France will send the committee a presentation with the structured plan showing viable solutions. 

  • United Kingdom: Proposes to delegate a specific task force for every ship instead of contracting private enterprises to protect the ships. Private companies cannot assure the safety of the cargo. 

  • South Africa and French Republic: The delegations make a clear overview on their plan to find the Evergreen cargo ship. Offer to start negotiations. The UK will provide 22 vessels and the French Republic will provide 84 vessels in addition to 10 submarines. 

Session 3

Speaker’s list

  • United Kingdom: The delegation is in favor of applying previously established laws, not creating new ones as it is not the INTERPOL’s job to create new maritime rules. The delegation asked other delegations to abstain themselves from losing the focus onto another topic

  • South Africa: Will be working directly with NCB’s located in the middle east and the mediterranean to track suspicious activity in the Gulf of Aden. It is a program that will run as long as these crimes exist. 

  • China: Has identified a common objective which is to protect these zones from piracy. The delegation agrees and joins South Africa and France’s proposal.

  • United Kingdom: Questions the plans proposed by South Africa and France, under the argument that a treaty would make the matter more complicated.

  • Botswana: Explains the importance of education when detangling the root of the problem. Demands social security and employment to develop and avoid future piracies that spite out of necessity. 

  • President Miguel Ochoa: Introduces the crisis. 30 hours have passed since the hijacking of the ship. The NCB’s of different countries united to monitor a specific zone with 30 vessels. The international police was able to find the Ever Lissome on the coast of Eyl. However, 26 crew members were found dead and the 30 million dollars were already lost. Only the captain remained with a message from the pirates. 

  • India: Recognizes the efforts made to find the ship. The delegation volunteers to help Somalia to encourage Law enforcement to solve the problem from the inside 

  • Germany: The delegation recognizes that INTERPOL did not act as it should have. Delegations have to make decisions faster.   

  • French Republic: The measures taken were effective as the ship was found, however it was not on time and the plan has to be applied faster on future occasions. 

  • United States: Grieves the loss of its citizens. Insists on finding the pirates responsible for the crime, spreading awareness to people about the issue. 

  • Zimbabwe: Proposes a trifocal solution which compiles the different solutions given during the committee. The delegation uses a venn diagram to explain the topic. The plan is supported by the delegation of the USA and Spain.

  • India: Proposes that the committee works along with Somalia to also prosecute the pirates on land. 

  • United Kingdom: States that INTERPOL is supposed to be impartial and should not get further involved.

  • China: Highlights the importance of acting before an issue starts. Have contingency plans ready to control catastrophic events before they get out of hand. 

  • Somalia: Decided to put up a purple notice and a blue notice to keep working on the problem.

  • South Africa: Proposes a plan for justice based on the INTERPOL’s range of action. 

  • Tanzania: Delegation believes action should be taken as soon as possible. Also reminds the committee that the international police is exclusively for regulating the international community.

  • Canada: Action against piracy should be constant and not only when attacks occur.

  • China and Germany: Highlights that solutions are given, though they need to be organized.

Summary day 1

The committee was able to resolve the crisis though it was not on time. When the committee was finally able to take action and found the boat the 30 million dollars were gone and 26 of the 27 sailors were already dead. The delegates need to take action faster and cooperate between each other. If the delegates had cooperated sooner the crew members would have still been alive. Despite that, in the end international police came up with two contingency plans. One proposed by the French Republic in alliance with the Republic of South Africa which included actions to tangle the crisis in the stages of before, during and after. The second concrete solution was proposed by the Republic of Zimbabwe which was based on a trifocal point of view, taking into account different essential areas to gain information and resolve the problem. Overall the delegates had a satisfactory performance, had a fluent oratory and had critical ideas when it came to finding solutions, but they need to work more united in order to come up with solutions faster so they can resolve a problem as soon as possible to achieve better results. 

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