Hello Fellow Delegates and Honorable Chair, The Republic of Austria is very pleased to be part of the Security Council, and to be here today. Austria would like to thank everyone for being here and looks forward to a great and productive session.
The Republic of Austria is deeply concerned with the illegal pan-American arms trafficking happening in the world today. As a nation, the Republic of Austria has been involved in countless conferences and has engaged in agreements to combat arms trafficking. The Republic of Austria strongly believes that irresponsible trading in arms has negative impacts on stability, security, and human rights, as well as on international sustainable economic and development policies. The Republic of Austria hopes to end illegal arms trafficking, and wishes to institute greater control over the tracking of legal arms shipments. The Republic of Austria hopes the UN will further strengthen the Arms Trade Treaty, and conduct negotiations to initiate the treaty as a formal document to the UN.
The Republic of Austria is troubled about the number of nuclear weapons existing today, as well as the associated industry of uranium mining. The Republic of Austria wishes to emphasize that nuclear states must further reduce their arsenals and a process must be devised for the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty to be enforced. The Republic of Austria strongly supports the strengthening and further development of the system of international disarmament arms control, and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery. The Republic of Austria hopes for the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) to be entered into force. Also, the Republic of Austria wishes to develop a timeline for the United States, the Russian Federation, and other nuclear powers to reduce and expunge their nuclear arms stockpile. Regarding cluster munitions, the Republic of Austria advocates for an international ban of cluster munitions, which are extremely dangerous weapons to civilians due to their effect on wide areas and the high quantity of unexploded ordnance. Finally, the Republic of Austria seeks to prevent uranium mining and enrichment, as well as plutonium processing for non-peaceful purposes, as defined by the NPT.
The Republic of Austria is cognizant of the current tribulations that exist in the frequent usage of Private Military Contractors, and we are intent on addressing some of the foremost problems through a resolution concentrating on this issue. As a nation, we would like to achieve a resolution similar in spirit to the United Nations Mercenary Convention of December 1989. We are interested in defining what a Private Military Contractor may do before they become a mercenary, as many PMCs are overstepping their boundaries. A mercenary, as defined by the U.N. “is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar rank and functions in the armed forces of that party”. The Republic of Austria hopes to create a resolution that will give Private Military Contractors guidelines on what may or may not be done to assist a country at war.
The Republic of Austria is aware that the United Nations must define terrorism appropriately and encourage the development of efficient and effective responses toward acts of terror. As a nation, we have specifically designed laws for the protection of Austrian citizens. As a nation, we have created prisons specifically for housing Austrian men and women that attend foreign terrorist camps. The Republic of Austria wishes to create a remedy to protect all nations from acts of terrorism. We are interested in ensuring the safety of citizens in all nations; especially nations that are severely afflicted by terrorism. The first major step in doing so will be defining terrorism so that all nations can realize what is and what is not an act of terrorism. We realize that there will be difficulties in defining terrorism, but it will be a key step toward terrorism response. Appropriate terrorism response is also essential for making sure casualties stay at a minimum. The Republic of Austria also believes that attacking the root of the problem will end future acts of terrorism. Nations should also urge countries with terrorist training camps inside their borders to shut said camps down.
Finally, the Republic of Austria acknowledges all of the nations’ participation in this conference. The Republic of Austria cannot stress enough that these issues must be resolved, and hopes for them to be resolved in a clear manner. We look forward to a productive session. Thank you.
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