Tension, determination! This is the Security Council

By Filippos Gortzis and Konstantinos Zarzavatsakis

First day in the Security Council and the standards are already high. The delegates strongly support their opinion with powerful speeches. We should mention the most distinguished ones, the delegate of Greenpeace, the delegate of France and the delegate of Togo. The delegates were so eager to start that they immediately asked to move to informal debate (lobbying).

The topic they decided to debate dealt with preserving the natural resources of Antarctica, and ensuring that the region would be used only for scientific research but certainly not for military purposes. After 50 minutes of lobbying, which included an extension of time as well, it ended up with the delegates forming strong and powerful alliances, such as China along with Togo and Pakistan.

Tention captured at the Security Council

Some very interesting clauses were introduced turning the debate into a heated discussion. Portugal, as the main submitter, suggested a clause which condemned the use of the Antarctic region for military purposes and weaponry tests. The clause represented most of the countries’ positions so the case ended with 9 votes in favor, 3 against and 1 abstain. Moving on to the second clause, the tensions got higher leading to a veto made by the U.S.A. Simultaneously, the delegate of Greenpeace, totally opposing the topic, influenced the other delegations against voting in favor of the clause. The clause was rejected. Last but not least, Portugal submitted another clause, supporting the eco-friendly exploitation of the natural resources of the continent. This case found France totally against it, while China and its allies voted for it. The voting procedure ended up with the clause being turned down. We are looking forward to tomorrow’s committee session, which is expected to be far more interesting.