The General Assembly Plenary

The General Assembly Plenary had a really tough job to tackle. Our two issues dealt with (1) International Cooperation on Humanitarian Assistance in the Field of Natural Disasters, from Relief to Development and (2) Peace, Security and Reunification on the Korean Peninsula. So bascally, (1) dealing with natural disasters and their effects and (2) the issue of Korean relations with the international committee.

Given that Niger ranks among the poorest countries in the world and is slammed with severe droughts for part of the year and sever flooding for other parts of the year, in addition to grappling with regional warfare, the first topic was of great significance. As the delegate from Niger, I had to focus attention on preventative measures, rather than being simply reactionary, because in Niger there is no doubt the natural disasters will occur, just lack of resources to deal with the threat before it happens.

The issue of Korean relations is also pertinent as Niger has strong trade lines with its supply of uranium to Korea. Though this relationship walks a fine line, it is well-known and shapes Niger's view of the Korean conflict.

We passed four resolutions altogether, three on the first topic, one on the second.

The first resolution dealt with upholding sovereignty of nations while allowing regional bodies to deal with disaster relief with international aid as a supplement; it also focused on taking a global initiative with challenges posed by climate change. The resolution passed with 62 in favor, 14 opposed, and 20 abstaining (Niger was in favor).

The second resolution dealt with focusing on non-monetary aid as a larger part of the international response. The resolution passed with 59 in favor, 4 opposing, and 9 abstaining (Niger was opposed as the resolution posed a threat to the monetary-based aid that it is so reliant upon).

The third resolution dealt with creating a merit-based distribution method for aid, tracking who was consistently working with disaster relief. The resolution passed with 51 in favor, 6 opposing, and 16 abstaining (Niger was in favor).

The fourth resolution was connected to the second topic and dealt with calling on both the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) to stay a part of the Six-Party talks for peace and urged more dialogue and diplomacy. The resolution passed with 44 in favor, 21 opposed, and 18 abstaining (Niger was in favor).

The work of the General Assembly Plenary was rapped up on Monday night since, unlike the other committees our students were in, once the resolution is passed in the Plenary, it's adopted without further vote.

The resolutions took a good forever-and-a-day to pass, with never a dull moment, so getting four passed was a pretty impressive feat!


photo: The delegate from Nigeria and myself, representing Niger; technically, we are not supposed to get along, but we remained 'diplomatically courteous' :)