Historical General Assembly, 1992

Dear Delegates,

It is my greatest pleasure to welcome you to the Historical General Assembly at Harvard National Model United Nations 2010. My name is David Pickerell and I will be your committee director during the weekend you will spend later next year in Boston. Your time here will be amazing and you will meet delegates from many different backgrounds and from all across the globe. I am originally from Hong Kong myself (the best city in the world!), and have participated in Model United Nations conferences since back in high school, although the main conference back home was much smaller and comprised of only a single General Assembly with no other committees. My primary interests are in business and possibly finance, but I will probably look to be concentrating in either Government or Social Studies when I declare my major in the upcoming fall. Other than MUN, I am passionate about debating and hiking, having climbed some of the tallest mountains in Southeast Asia, Japan and Taiwan; culminating in my attempted climb of Kilimanjaro. In my spare time I enjoy playing tennis and squash.

At Harvard, I am a rising sophomore in the majestic Eliot House. Most of my time goes into serving as a teacher with the Harvard High School Studies Program, attending Institute of Politics talks and playing with the glorious Harvard Rugby Football Club. I am also involved in the high school MUN conference held just prior to HNMUN, where I serve as the Director of NGO’s.

The topics this year both take place in 1992. The committee will have to decide which topic seems to be more pressing or would benefit from UN intervention: the build up to the Bosnian War or the Somali Civil War. While both topics are intricate and complex, I look forwards to the proposed solutions that the committee will come up with. Dealing with such issues is no simple task – the amount of knowledge needed is vast and there are many facets that one has to deal with in forging a successful solution. I look forwards to meeting you all and working with you, and don’t hesitate to contact me should you have any questions prior to the conference!

Sincerely,

David Pickerell
Director, Historical General Assembly, 1992
Harvard National Model United Nations 2011

Topic Area A: Growing Tensions in the Balkans

The Bosnian War was an armed conflict that occurred between March 1992 and November 1995. Bosnia-Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia on the 3^rd of March 1992, and this was opposed by many Serbs in the Yugoslav government. The war that resulted from this disagreement was bloody and brutal, with civilian casualties extremely high. Many civilians were killed or expelled from their homes in order to create areas of ethnic homogeny, leading to what many people describe as ethnic cleansing. Both NATO and the United Nations were heavily criticized for their role (or lack thereof) in the process. The UN was involved in negotiating certain cease-fires, and even attempted to stop the war with their devised Vance-Owen Peace Plan, however, all of these measures were ultimately unsuccessful. Recently, the US Congress declared that the acts perpetuated in the war “meet the terms defining genocide”, and since then many prominent individuals involved in the war have been convicted of war crimes.

This Historical General Assembly brings us back to 1992, right at the start of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s declaration of independence and with violence just beginning to arise. What will the UN do to handle this scenario differently this time? We now have the value of hindsight to fall back upon, and we can learn a lot from the complex scenario as it unfolds in committee. Although it might seem futile as we cannot do anything to change the actual events that occurred in the past, we can learn important and valuable lessons, and hopefully by educating ourselves about the topic, we will be more aware and hopefully similar events will be prevented from occurring in the future.

Topic Area B: Civil War in Somalia

At the same time in 1992, the Somali Civil War was just starting to escalate. Following the ousting of Siad Barre from power in 1991, a counter-revolution sprung up against the rebel forces with the goal of reinstating Siad Barre back into power. This was followed by a portion of Somalia called Somaliland declaring itself independent in order to try and protect itself from all the violence. In 1992, the UN acted by passing UN Security Council Resolutions 733 and 746, which led to the introduction of humanitarian and relief forces. Following this, UN peacekeeping forces entered the conflict with the goal of protecting civilians and helping to establish peace in the area. Sporadic fighting broke out between the peacekeepers and rebel forces, resulting in the deaths of several peacekeeping troops (this incident was later referred to as Black Hawk Down) and the eventual evacuation of UN forces in 1995, despite the fact that order in Somalia had not been created.

This Historical General Assembly brings us back to 1992, just before the passing of the UN resolutions. With the fighting in Somalia just beginning to escalate, and civilian casualties starting to mount, what will you as a delegate do to try and intervene and solve the problem? We now have the ability to look at the resolutions passed and the actions taken by the UN, and from this hopefully a more successful resolution can be passed which will restore peace to the area.