Tunisian Republic

Honorable chair, welcome guests, and fellow delegates, we, the delegation from the Tunisian Republic, feel honored to be a part of this illustrious gathering of the world’s nations. In this body, the greatness of humanity can be brought out and we long to capture the grand history of this institution for the preservation of peace.

Recognizing the founding principles of this great body, we would like to focus this session on discussing the truly international issues of democracy and security, while recognizing that the integrity of all member states is essential to the functional effectiveness of this body. Though we certainly recognize the difficulties currently being experienced in European economies, we believe that such wealthy and advanced countries are capable of stabilising their economies without extensive intervention. We wish the European countries good fortune in stabilizing their economies and attaining continued growth. However, we would encourage all states, including European countries affected by the crisis, to aim for greater collaboration on economic and security issues. After all, that is the great aspiration of this body, that by coming together in pursuit of peace, prosperity, and protection, every nation can be improved.

Naturally, a basic requirement of being able to effectively collaborate on these issues is stable governments who follow the will of the people they represent. Therefore, we are extremely proud of the recent revolution in our country which cast off the yoke of dictatorship and brought us into the modern era of democracy and freedom. Having suffered under a repressive regime for decades, we are excited to finally be able to attain self-governance, especially with the free elections recently held. Though we are certainly excited by the prospect of allowing rights and embracing freedom, any policies for post-revolutionary stabilization must recognize the internal demographics of a country and what citizens demand, according to the universal principles of democracy. In particular, we believe that Western nations should limit their involvement to providing security and support in rejecting dictatorship, but leave the actual governance of the nation to the people in it. As such, no specific policies should be imposed by Western powers, and they should simply aspire to provide material support to the chosen leaders of the people in keeping the peace during the time of transition. The role of this body is not to anoint governments or constitutional styles, but to support nations in stabilizing themselves and protecting their rights. Therefore, we ask that all nations in this body collaborate with post-revolutionary nations to assure economic and military stability.

The additional benefit of stabilizing all nations into free, modern states is that it will counteract the effects of terrorism. Terrorism is one of the greatest threats which the modern world faces, yet it has not received any universal definition. For the purposes of this session, we believe that terrorism reflects concerted attempts to intimidate a people or nation from pursuing positive, progressive policies which contradict the terrorists’ ideologies. Though we recognize that there have certainly been many cases of Islamic extremists committing terrorism, we would like to emphasize that Muslim peoples are most frequently the subject of those attacks. Thus, we feel that any definition of terrorism should focus on treating all terrorist attacks equally with the punishments they deserve, while recognizing that such attacks are most frequently orchestrated by guerrilla groups, not governments. Additionally, we would like to endorse international responses which favor community building and aid. Though terrorist attacks are military in nature, the best responses provide sovereign governments with the economic and political support they need to prevent terrorism in their nations. Indeed, a comprehensive policy on terrorism will include an international task force which provides advice and support to nations in crafting internal anti-terrorism policies. Given our vulnerable position as a post-revolutionary nation balancing the religion of our people with aspirations to democracy, we feel that a fair and equitable definition of and approach to terrorism must be adopted by this body.

Though some nations might feel that private security contractors are a valuable way to address these problems, we always feel that sovereign militaries should always take the primary role in addressing conflicts. They are generally more in tune to the needs and realities of a populace, and thus can more effectively meet the demands of modern warfare. However, the Tunisian Republic believes that this is primarily a domestic matter and will not discourage other nations from employing private contractors to maintain stable democracies. Still, we believe that all nations should ensure, through regulation and permits, that private security contractors operating within their jurisdiction follow the laws of warfare as decided by this body. Thus, through strict regulation, we believe private military contractors should be held to the same high standards as anyone else carrying powerful weapons in conflicts.

We look forward to a successful session, with the hope that through cooperation and respectful dialogue we can achieve a safer, freer world for all of humankind.