Madame/Mr. Chair, Fellow Delegates, and distinguished guests:
The United States of America holds great honor in being able to participate in todays conference. As a long standing member of the organization we are assembled within here, the United States holds the United Nations as an esteemed international forum that promotes conversation, debate, collaboration, and progress throughout the international community. In the next few days of deliberation, we look forward to making great progress on the issues presented to us in this Security Council.
Concerning the first issue we face today, that of nuclear non-proliferation, coupled with regulation of energy and uranium mining and enriching, the United States takes a strong stance. As the only nation to have used a nuclear warhead thus far, and as a global non-proliferation advocacy leader, our nation feels that debate and agreement on this topic is essential to global security. We feel that the spread of nuclear weaponry across the globe is unnecessary and detrimental to humanity. As the president of our nation, Barrack Obama, states, "the greatest threat to U.S. and global security is... nuclear terrorism by violent extremists and nuclear proliferation to an increasing number of states”1. President Obama clarifies that, “for the first time, preventing nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism is now at the top of America’s nuclear agenda”1. Our new focus on non-proliferation highlights the importance of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which will undoubtedly be a focal point of debate during this conference. The United States continues to pledge it’s full support to the NPT, and we believe the treaty is of utmost importance in the battle to secure the globe. In his statement on our Nuclear Posture Review, president Obama asserts, “we are further emphasizing the importance of nations meeting their NPT and nuclear non-proliferation obligations through our declaratory policy”1. Our nation has recently declared that it will not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states that are party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and in compliance with their nuclear nonproliferation obligations1.
Regarding specific nations, our Nuclear Posture Review Report of April, 2010, asserts that the United States is seeking to reverse the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran, and that we have demonstrated that we are prepared to engage multilaterally with these states to arrive at negotiated solutions that provide for their integration with the international community, while verifiably confirming they are not pursuing nuclear weapons capabilities2. By isolating those nations who pursue nuclear weapon capability, we are ensuring that they recognize that said pursuit will not make them more secure. As you can see, the United States is committed and assertive when it comes to non-proliferation.
When debating about Nuclear non-proliferation, there are some key factors we must consider: global energy regulations and the regulation of uranium mining and enrichment. As a nation who has begun the quest for non-dependence on oil, The United States feels that nuclear energy is an appropriate and useful energy source that will allow the globe to transition to alternative energy sources. We do, however, see a few problems with the use of nuclear energy throughout the globe. A select few nations in the international community have recently sparked concern from the United States and our allies regarding their enrichment of uranium for the alleged use of peaceful energy creation. A prime example of this, one that the international community hears about constantly, is Iran. Iran has consistently assured us that their nuclear program, which their government has been very secretive about, is solely aimed at creating nuclear energy to provide electricity to their nation. Unfortunately, Iran also consistently denies the international community access to it’s nuclear program, which births suspicion. The International Atomic Energy Agency, after a rare allowance of visit to Iran, recently reported that Iran has begun enriching uranium to around twenty percent, which is a frightening amount more than the three and a half percent required to fuel nuclear power plants and create electricity3. The New York Times reports that Iran recently announced that it will move its production of highly enriched uranium to a heavily defended military site3. The IAEA asserts that due to Tehran’s selective cooperation with the agency, many questions remain to be answered, and it cannot assure the international community that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful3.
It is instances like Iran that make the United States very concerned regarding energy regulation and uranium enrichment and mining. Therefore, we promote debate on this issue, and hope that the nations assembled here today can come to an agreement regarding how the international community can and will deal with dangerous enrichment of uranium. The United States does propose that we take a strong stance against nuclear proliferation and dangerous and unnecessary uranium enrichment, and hopes that we can pass a resolution that puts heavy limitations on uranium enrichment in order to promote global safety.
1.
Lee, Jesse. "Fulfilling a Promise from Prague." The White House. 6 Apr. 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2011. <http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/04/06/fulfilling-a-promise-prague>.
2.
United States. Department of Defense. Nuclear Posture Review Report. Apr. 2010. Web. 28 Oct. 2011.
3.
"Tehran's Ambitions." New York Times. 16 Sept. 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2011.
The United States holds a strong stance on international arms trafficking. In July of 2011 the United States of America created the Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime. It is designed to target transnational organized crime, and explains, “This strategy is organized around a single, unifying principle: to build, balance, and integrate the tools of American power to combat transnational organized crime and related threats to our national security and to urge our partners to do the same” 2.
Transnational organized crime refers to those self-perpetuating associations of individuals who operate internationally for the purpose of obtaining power, influence, monetary and/or commercial gains, wholly or in part by illegal means. The crimes they commit also vary.2 The U.S. realizes that transnational organized crime, as well as illegal arms trafficking as a significant threat to the modern world1. “While this Strategy is intended to assist the United States Government in combating transnational crime, it also serves as an invitation for enhanced international cooperation. We encourage our partners and allies to echo the commitment we have made here and join in building a new framework for international cooperation to protect all our citizens from the violence, harm, and exploitation wrought by transnational organized crime.”2
The Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime has 5 major parts.2
- Protect Americans and our partners from the harm, violence, and exploitation of transnational criminal networks.
- Help partner countries strengthen governance and transparency, break the corruptive power of transnational criminal networks, and sever state-crime alliances.
- Break the economic power of transnational criminal networks and protect strategic markets and the U.S. financial system from TOC penetration and abuse.
- Defeat transnational criminal networks that pose the greatest threat to national security, by targeting their infrastructures, depriving them of their enabling means, and preventing the criminal facilitation of terrorist activities
- Build international consensus, multilateral cooperation, and public-private partnerships to defeat transnational organized crime.
The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), its three supplementary protocols against trafficking in persons, migrant smuggling, and illicit trafficking in firearms, and the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). The United States strongly supports the framework provided by these instruments, especially with regard to prosecuting and investigating transnational crime and corruption, engaging in mutual legal assistance, and supplementing bilateral extradition treaties.2
The U.S. is already taking steps in combating illegal arms trafficking. We propose that other countries adopt the Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime. It focuses only on illegal arms trade, but other similar issues.
1.
Kerlikowske, Gil R. "Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime: Converging Threats in the 21st Century." The White House. 25 July 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2011. http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/07/25/drug-trafficking-and-organized-crime-converging-threats-21st-century
2.
United States. Executive Office of the President. Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime Addressing Converging Threats to National Security. Washington, D.C.: Executive Office of the President, 2011. Print. http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/Strategy_to_Combat_Transnational_Organized_Crime_July_2011.pdf
The United States has long been a global leader in the fight against terrorism, and having been the victim of a devastating terrorist attack by the terrorist group al Qaeda on September 11, 2001, we feel very strongly the third topic we will discuss during this conference, which is terrorism, how to define it, and how nations ought to react to it.
Terrorism is one of the most universal and dangerous threats the international community faces today. As we have witnessed through recent events in India, Afghanistan, Moscow, and even in the United States, the global community has yet to adequately address the threat of terrorism, and the United States hopes to lay some major groundwork for this battle at this conference. Today, we face the challenge of defining terrorism and determining appropriate reactions from the global community. The U.S. State Department provides an explanation of a terrorist organization by example of the Al Qaeda networks, stating, “The network has many of the characteristics of a ‘globalized insurgency’, and employs subversion, sabotage, open warfare and, of course, terrorism. It seeks weapons of mass destruction or other means to inflict massive damage on the broader international system”1. We feel that this is a great start to a globally accepted definition to terrorism, and hope that these types of examples can be refined to suit the international community.
Concerning how nations react to terrorist attacks and plots, the United States feels that the international community must be firm in their anti-terrorism policies, and plots and attacks must not go overlooked under any circumstances.
1.
"The Terrorist Enemy." U.S. Department of State. Web. 31 Oct. 2011. <http://www.state.gov/s/ct/enemy/index.htm>.
The United States Delegation is honored to be present, and looks forward to this conference. We hope this congregation will hold valuable, productive debate and aim to add as much to the conversation as we have to offer.
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