DISEC Topic A 2016 - Nord Anglia Education
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
THE UNITED NATIONS DISARMAMENT AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY COMMITTEE
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
Committee: The Disarmament and International Security Committee (DISEC) Topic A: Equalizing and Monitoring Military Budgets Within Nations Written by: José Ochoa Muñoz, Juan José Quevedo, Alejandro Varona and Sofia Tamez
I. Committee Background
The Disarmament and International Security Committee, also known as DISEC, was established on October 24, 1945, the same date in which the United Nations Charter was created. The urge for this committee to be created was due to the fact that many damaging and dangerous weapons were found after World War II. Even Though DISEC emerged and was not formally named until the late 1970s, it started as two separate committees; the Atomic Energy Commission and the Commission for Conventional Armaments. The purpose of this committee is to work towards promoting the establishment and maintenance of international peace and security by reducing the creation and access to weapons and firearms. DISEC also works towards encouraging countries to promote safety and gives advice to all nations regarding peace and security.
II. Topic information
A) History of Topic
Each country has a national budget in which it is distributed through all of the different areas of sustainability and development. The military budget is one of the areas that countries invest money in; this one particularly consists of the financial resources that are dedicated to raising and
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
maintaining the armed forces; and other essential materials for defense purposes. Generally, the money dedicated to the military field is used in war which include nuclear weapons and international military assistance. Due to the fact that these resources are very expensive, the money needs to be handled very cautiously, otherwise other areas such as education, health, and transportation will not have the necessary budget to improve.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), in 1967 a project was initiated for military spending to study the development of the worldwide military outlay. This database covers 171 countries and contains data since 1988. This data helps provide the country's priorities, by comparing the spending on the military with other areas such as education or health. This database also allows nations to see if a country is relatively peaceful or not regarding nuclear weapons and military use. To give a rough indication of the relative level of the capability and power of a country’s army, SIPRI measures the money in dollars so as time passes, the statistics remain stable and factors such as inflation, market exchange rates versus purchasing power parity rates, does not affect it.
Over the years, military expenses have increased since a large amount of countries used this to protect their nation from wars. An example is the United States. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the United States between 2001 and 2002 spent $US400 billion, but then in 2003, the country began decreasing its military budget. There are some countries, like Iran, that dedicate 60 percent of their national budget to the military, even though the price of oil (the main source of national income) has diminished. The findings of various studies and statistics concluded
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
that many nations prefer to spend a great amount of money on their military instead of investing in other fields.
Throughout the years, countries have been investing in the military more than ever. Some nations are taking extreme measures to ensure their safety and their ability for self defense. An example is the US, which has invested money into three different wars. The United States is the country that provides most of its national budget to the military. China is the third nation who spends the largest amount of money on its military, even though it is not involved in many conflicts.
According to Reaching Critical Will, “since the end of the Cold War, militarism has been growing in response to an increasingly unstable world, propelling it even further into tension and war.” Countries are investing more in the military, weapons, and war instead of taking care of other important issues that could benefit their citizens, which has become a major concern globally. Reaching Critical Will also stated that “the continued investment in militarism does not make the world safer. Weapons cannot address the main threats people all over the world are facing today, such as natural disasters, increased food prices, and lack of adequate health care, education, and a clean environment.” It is better for countries to pay for 24 years of additional foreign aid to reach SDGs by 2030, or 700 years of the UN regular budget, or 2,928 years of the UN women’s agency; instead of investing in the military. Nations should focus more on the UN goals, which will be more productive in order in achieving a better and safer world, rather than wasting money on the military for unnecessary conflicts and violence.
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
As time has passed, many countries are betting their economy on the military because there have been many conflicts all around the world, and each nation wants to be prepared in case of an attack. Nevertheless, they are not analyzing the situation clearly, since there are other ways that the military budget can be distributed. Like John F. Kennedy said, “mankind must put at end to war before war puts an end to mankind.” Instead of preparing for battle, countries should unite and help each other to achieve a more sustainable world.
B) Current Issues
Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia is ranked as the third country that has spent most of their GDP in defensive tactics. Its currently facing two wars: the fight against the Islamic State (IS) and the intervention in Yemen. This country has spent 25% of its money in the military, which us twice the amount of attention it gives to health and sustainable development. According to Business Insider, Saudi Arabia “has one of the best-funded defence forces in the Middle East.” This expanded military budget has been able to support over its half a million personnel and army troops, as well as its numerous fighter jets.
Turkey: Turkey is the 14th country that spends most of their income on defense. It has spent around $18 billion US dollars. Turkey is currently dealing with one war against Syria. Even though they are
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
just facing one conflict, Syria is currently in a civil war between the government and a multitude of heavily armed terrorist groups. Turkey has to spend 100 thousand US dollars each month for personal protection and military service to protect all areas of the country.
South Korea: South Korea has one of the highest defense budgets in the world, ranking 12th globally in 2012, with a budget of more than $30 billion US dollars. South Korea has been in many wars with their neighbor state, North Korea. Around 57% of the people in the country have been part of wars and, of course, a great part of their economy was spent on food, medical treatment and buying arms for the military. Additionally, South Korea has faced attacks from countries near them, including Russia.
Israel: This year Israel increased the amount of money spent on its armed forces by more than 6%. The Israel Democracy Institute revealed a survey result from April 2015, that states that 41 percent of Jewish-Israeli citizens believed that the military budget was too high. The estimated amount of money that is planned to be spent in 2016 is about $14.9 billion US dollars. Israel has increased their military expenditure due to many riots they have been facing with places near them such as Gaza, Syria, Lebanon and many more.
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
Afghanistan: According to Index Mundi, the value for military expenditure (current LCU) in Afghanistan was over seventy-one billion US dollars as of 2013. Afghanistan is a country that has been and still is in conflicts with many terrorist groups suh as the Taliban. These conflicts may lead to an increase of the military budget in the near future. However, Afghanistan is not only battling external riots, but internal ones as well, with many accusations of corruption against the government, with many people doubting if the money is truly used for its assigned purpose.
Egypt: Since 2011, Egypt has spent $4,285 billion US dollars on army equipment since there have been many attacks in the country from other nations in the Middle East. According to reports made in the country, it has been said that each year Egypt spends 2 million US dollars on soldiers, arms and health treatments. Egypt is now fighting to improve their political system, but since they are facing many external conflicts they have not been able to recover.
Ukraine: Since 2009, Russia has been at war with Ukraine due to political issues and disagreements. According to The International Business Times, Ukraine has been spending $5 million US dollars a day in which the president, Petro Poroshenko, said during a UN speech, “Each day of this war on Donbass cost us about US$5 million that we could have invested into sustainable development”. Ukraine’s military budget has increased by around 30 percent from 2012 until the current day. The country has spent around 200 million euros in the military field.
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
C) UN Action
The United Nations aims to reduce the amount of money spent on the military by stating a limit of $2.7 billion US dollars per military budget. In the past decade, the military expenditures around the world have doubled to US$1.6 trillion. Consequently, this amount dwarfs the goal that was previously established. Less than four percent of the annual military spendings would be enough to achieve the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) which is Sustainable Development. Since the initiation of the UN, this issue has been a huge concern. Nevertheless, the UN has not been able to come up with an agreement to the reduction of military budgets.
The General Assembly (GA) established in 1980 a reporting system named The United Nations Standardized Instrument for Reporting Military Expenditures. The GA recommended all members to annually report to the Secretary-General their military investments in their national currency. The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) has collected information on military expenditures provided by the Member States and published the annual reports to the Secretary-General, since 1981. Now there are 124 states providing reports. Throughout the past decade there has been a remarkable increase regarding the military investments of the nations. The less nations focus on the military, areas such as social, economical and human development will increase.
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
III. Conclusion
To conclude, this problem is not only stopping countries from having wars but also controlling the amount of money spent in the military field. This can be achieved by improving a nation's education system and investing more in social concerns. Countries who are having these issues need to work on their internal problems first before looking at the external. The main reason why countries are investing so much in their army and military is because they give more importance to it than to the nation’s education, which then slows down their development process.
The United States has spent billions of dollars on their military and are still doing so, being a first world nation. A well balanced country is what every nation is trying to achieve, not focusing on the budget. Countries need to split their economy into every needed aspect. Each field is important, if a country spends more money in one area than in others, the country’s economic levels will be unbalanced. The humanitarian needs of a country should come before war expenditures, the DISEC should focus on bringing peace to the world, not war.
IV. Essential Questions
1. Does your country spend a large amount of their budget on the military? 2. Has your country been part of wars in the past 5 years? 3. Has your delegation reduced the military budget during the past 5 years? 4. How does your delegation distribute the national budget?
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
5. Why should your delegation decrease its military budget? 6. Why should nations invest a specific amount of money in the military? 7. Why should a country dedicate a large amount of money to military? 8. Does your delegation invest more money in the military than in education?
V. Resources
"Cost of National Security." National Priorities Project. N.p., n.d. Web. .
“Defense Spending Budget.” Global Fire Power. N.p., n.d. Web. .
"East Ukraine-Russia Conflict: War In Donbass Costing Kiev $5 Million A Day." International Business Times. N.p., 28 Sept. 2015. .
Ghasseminejad, Saeed. "Iran's Military Budget Is Going to Get a Huge Boost from the Nuclear Deal." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 30 Oct. 2015. Web. 23 Feb. 2016. .
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
"Israel's Defence Spending Locker Hurt." The Economist. N.p., n.d. Web. .
"Military Spending." Critical Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. .
"Monitoring Military Expenditures." Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. .
“TRANSPARENCY IN MILITARY EXPENDITURES.” UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2016. .
"Trends in U.S. Military Spending." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, n.d. .
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
THE UNITED NATIONS DISARMAMENT AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY COMMITTEE
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
Committee: The Disarmament and International Security Committee (DISEC) Topic A: Equalizing and Monitoring Military Budgets Within Nations Written by: José Ochoa Muñoz, Juan José Quevedo, Alejandro Varona and Sofia Tamez
I. Committee Background
The Disarmament and International Security Committee, also known as DISEC, was established on October 24, 1945, the same date in which the United Nations Charter was created. The urge for this committee to be created was due to the fact that many damaging and dangerous weapons were found after World War II. Even Though DISEC emerged and was not formally named until the late 1970s, it started as two separate committees; the Atomic Energy Commission and the Commission for Conventional Armaments. The purpose of this committee is to work towards promoting the establishment and maintenance of international peace and security by reducing the creation and access to weapons and firearms. DISEC also works towards encouraging countries to promote safety and gives advice to all nations regarding peace and security.
II. Topic information
A) History of Topic
Each country has a national budget in which it is distributed through all of the different areas of sustainability and development. The military budget is one of the areas that countries invest money in; this one particularly consists of the financial resources that are dedicated to raising and
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
maintaining the armed forces; and other essential materials for defense purposes. Generally, the money dedicated to the military field is used in war which include nuclear weapons and international military assistance. Due to the fact that these resources are very expensive, the money needs to be handled very cautiously, otherwise other areas such as education, health, and transportation will not have the necessary budget to improve.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), in 1967 a project was initiated for military spending to study the development of the worldwide military outlay. This database covers 171 countries and contains data since 1988. This data helps provide the country's priorities, by comparing the spending on the military with other areas such as education or health. This database also allows nations to see if a country is relatively peaceful or not regarding nuclear weapons and military use. To give a rough indication of the relative level of the capability and power of a country’s army, SIPRI measures the money in dollars so as time passes, the statistics remain stable and factors such as inflation, market exchange rates versus purchasing power parity rates, does not affect it.
Over the years, military expenses have increased since a large amount of countries used this to protect their nation from wars. An example is the United States. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the United States between 2001 and 2002 spent $US400 billion, but then in 2003, the country began decreasing its military budget. There are some countries, like Iran, that dedicate 60 percent of their national budget to the military, even though the price of oil (the main source of national income) has diminished. The findings of various studies and statistics concluded
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
that many nations prefer to spend a great amount of money on their military instead of investing in other fields.
Throughout the years, countries have been investing in the military more than ever. Some nations are taking extreme measures to ensure their safety and their ability for self defense. An example is the US, which has invested money into three different wars. The United States is the country that provides most of its national budget to the military. China is the third nation who spends the largest amount of money on its military, even though it is not involved in many conflicts.
According to Reaching Critical Will, “since the end of the Cold War, militarism has been growing in response to an increasingly unstable world, propelling it even further into tension and war.” Countries are investing more in the military, weapons, and war instead of taking care of other important issues that could benefit their citizens, which has become a major concern globally. Reaching Critical Will also stated that “the continued investment in militarism does not make the world safer. Weapons cannot address the main threats people all over the world are facing today, such as natural disasters, increased food prices, and lack of adequate health care, education, and a clean environment.” It is better for countries to pay for 24 years of additional foreign aid to reach SDGs by 2030, or 700 years of the UN regular budget, or 2,928 years of the UN women’s agency; instead of investing in the military. Nations should focus more on the UN goals, which will be more productive in order in achieving a better and safer world, rather than wasting money on the military for unnecessary conflicts and violence.
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
As time has passed, many countries are betting their economy on the military because there have been many conflicts all around the world, and each nation wants to be prepared in case of an attack. Nevertheless, they are not analyzing the situation clearly, since there are other ways that the military budget can be distributed. Like John F. Kennedy said, “mankind must put at end to war before war puts an end to mankind.” Instead of preparing for battle, countries should unite and help each other to achieve a more sustainable world.
B) Current Issues
Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia is ranked as the third country that has spent most of their GDP in defensive tactics. Its currently facing two wars: the fight against the Islamic State (IS) and the intervention in Yemen. This country has spent 25% of its money in the military, which us twice the amount of attention it gives to health and sustainable development. According to Business Insider, Saudi Arabia “has one of the best-funded defence forces in the Middle East.” This expanded military budget has been able to support over its half a million personnel and army troops, as well as its numerous fighter jets.
Turkey: Turkey is the 14th country that spends most of their income on defense. It has spent around $18 billion US dollars. Turkey is currently dealing with one war against Syria. Even though they are
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
just facing one conflict, Syria is currently in a civil war between the government and a multitude of heavily armed terrorist groups. Turkey has to spend 100 thousand US dollars each month for personal protection and military service to protect all areas of the country.
South Korea: South Korea has one of the highest defense budgets in the world, ranking 12th globally in 2012, with a budget of more than $30 billion US dollars. South Korea has been in many wars with their neighbor state, North Korea. Around 57% of the people in the country have been part of wars and, of course, a great part of their economy was spent on food, medical treatment and buying arms for the military. Additionally, South Korea has faced attacks from countries near them, including Russia.
Israel: This year Israel increased the amount of money spent on its armed forces by more than 6%. The Israel Democracy Institute revealed a survey result from April 2015, that states that 41 percent of Jewish-Israeli citizens believed that the military budget was too high. The estimated amount of money that is planned to be spent in 2016 is about $14.9 billion US dollars. Israel has increased their military expenditure due to many riots they have been facing with places near them such as Gaza, Syria, Lebanon and many more.
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
Afghanistan: According to Index Mundi, the value for military expenditure (current LCU) in Afghanistan was over seventy-one billion US dollars as of 2013. Afghanistan is a country that has been and still is in conflicts with many terrorist groups suh as the Taliban. These conflicts may lead to an increase of the military budget in the near future. However, Afghanistan is not only battling external riots, but internal ones as well, with many accusations of corruption against the government, with many people doubting if the money is truly used for its assigned purpose.
Egypt: Since 2011, Egypt has spent $4,285 billion US dollars on army equipment since there have been many attacks in the country from other nations in the Middle East. According to reports made in the country, it has been said that each year Egypt spends 2 million US dollars on soldiers, arms and health treatments. Egypt is now fighting to improve their political system, but since they are facing many external conflicts they have not been able to recover.
Ukraine: Since 2009, Russia has been at war with Ukraine due to political issues and disagreements. According to The International Business Times, Ukraine has been spending $5 million US dollars a day in which the president, Petro Poroshenko, said during a UN speech, “Each day of this war on Donbass cost us about US$5 million that we could have invested into sustainable development”. Ukraine’s military budget has increased by around 30 percent from 2012 until the current day. The country has spent around 200 million euros in the military field.
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
C) UN Action
The United Nations aims to reduce the amount of money spent on the military by stating a limit of $2.7 billion US dollars per military budget. In the past decade, the military expenditures around the world have doubled to US$1.6 trillion. Consequently, this amount dwarfs the goal that was previously established. Less than four percent of the annual military spendings would be enough to achieve the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) which is Sustainable Development. Since the initiation of the UN, this issue has been a huge concern. Nevertheless, the UN has not been able to come up with an agreement to the reduction of military budgets.
The General Assembly (GA) established in 1980 a reporting system named The United Nations Standardized Instrument for Reporting Military Expenditures. The GA recommended all members to annually report to the Secretary-General their military investments in their national currency. The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) has collected information on military expenditures provided by the Member States and published the annual reports to the Secretary-General, since 1981. Now there are 124 states providing reports. Throughout the past decade there has been a remarkable increase regarding the military investments of the nations. The less nations focus on the military, areas such as social, economical and human development will increase.
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
III. Conclusion
To conclude, this problem is not only stopping countries from having wars but also controlling the amount of money spent in the military field. This can be achieved by improving a nation's education system and investing more in social concerns. Countries who are having these issues need to work on their internal problems first before looking at the external. The main reason why countries are investing so much in their army and military is because they give more importance to it than to the nation’s education, which then slows down their development process.
The United States has spent billions of dollars on their military and are still doing so, being a first world nation. A well balanced country is what every nation is trying to achieve, not focusing on the budget. Countries need to split their economy into every needed aspect. Each field is important, if a country spends more money in one area than in others, the country’s economic levels will be unbalanced. The humanitarian needs of a country should come before war expenditures, the DISEC should focus on bringing peace to the world, not war.
IV. Essential Questions
1. Does your country spend a large amount of their budget on the military? 2. Has your country been part of wars in the past 5 years? 3. Has your delegation reduced the military budget during the past 5 years? 4. How does your delegation distribute the national budget?
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
5. Why should your delegation decrease its military budget? 6. Why should nations invest a specific amount of money in the military? 7. Why should a country dedicate a large amount of money to military? 8. Does your delegation invest more money in the military than in education?
V. Resources
"Cost of National Security." National Priorities Project. N.p., n.d. Web. .
“Defense Spending Budget.” Global Fire Power. N.p., n.d. Web. .
"East Ukraine-Russia Conflict: War In Donbass Costing Kiev $5 Million A Day." International Business Times. N.p., 28 Sept. 2015. .
Ghasseminejad, Saeed. "Iran's Military Budget Is Going to Get a Huge Boost from the Nuclear Deal." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 30 Oct. 2015. Web. 23 Feb. 2016. .
ISRMUN 2016
“Embracing our diversity is the first step to unity.”
"Israel's Defence Spending Locker Hurt." The Economist. N.p., n.d. Web. .
"Military Spending." Critical Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. .
"Monitoring Military Expenditures." Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. .
“TRANSPARENCY IN MILITARY EXPENDITURES.” UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2016. .
"Trends in U.S. Military Spending." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, n.d. .
