COMMITTEE: POLITICAL
QUESTION OF: MEASURES TO FIGHT
TERRORISM IN LEDC’S
By:Victor Huang (Chair)
INTRODUCTION
 Terrorism has always been a prevalent problem throughout the world today. The
infamous September 11th bombings was orchestrated by the Al-Qaeda terrorist
group, and in retaliation the United States spearheaded a “Global War on Terrorism”,
which aimed to eliminate the Al-Qaeda organization as well as other terrorist
organizations. Most of these terrorist organizations reside in LEDCs (Less
Economically Developed Countries), because many of these terrorist groups have
religious motivations and many LEDCs share the same strong religious tie. So some
LEDCs harbor and sometimes even outright support these terrorist groups, or in
some extreme cases, the terrorist groups themselves are in control of the actual
nation itself, or part of it. For example, Hamas, an organization classified as a
terrorist organization by the US, NATO, EU, Canada, and Japan, is currently
controlling the Gaza strip area of the Palestinian territories. The presence of Hamas
in the Gaza strip has further intensified already existing political and physical
conflicts between Israel and the multiple Israeli authorities in Gaza, and has caused
much unneeded conflict. Terrorism should not be tolerated, and in order to someday
make the UN goal of World Peace a reality, terrorism must be eliminated.
GLOSSARY/KEY TERMS
 LEDCs: Less Economically Developed Countries. A
more formal term used by officials/MUN-delegates
to refer to countries which have less economic
resources, less economic wealth as a nation, and
generally worse standards of life than moredeveloped nations like the USA or Great Britain.
The flag of Syria, a famous example of a LEDC
 NATO: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization with
28 member nations, and intergovernmental military
alliance that uses a system of collective defense
where its member states agree in mutual defense in
response to an attack from any other party. NATO
has is a large military power that has assisted
militarily in many past conflicts, such as the
Afghanistan war, protecting maritime traffic from
Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, and the 2011
intervention in Libya. Notable member nations of
NATO include the USA, Canada, Portugal, UK,
France, Russia
Flag of NATO
GLOSSARY (CONT.)
 EU: An economic and political union of 27
member states that are mostly located within
Europe. Notable members include the UK,
Germany, Greece, Spain, Portugal, France.
Flag of EU
 Gaza Strip: An area of Palestinian territory that
has been under Hamas control since 2007.
Originally under control of the Palestinian
National Authority (Now the State of Palestine),
Hamas gained control of it after the Hamas
political party won the Palestinian legislative
elections of 2006.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION (PT .1)
 The most interesting problem about the topic of
eliminating terrorism is that throughout the
international community, there exists no legally binding,
criminal law definition of it. As a result, some nations
have different definitions of terrorism which could help
them harbor terrorists, since the nations themselves
could have a very vague law regarding terrorism, and
then interpret it the way they wish. Since their law
defining terrorism could be very vague, it would allow
them much leeway to create loopholes in which they
could then use to justify harboring organizations that
are deemed terrorists by other nations. Although the
colloquial use of terrorism refers to “the systematic use
of terror especially as a means of coercion”, and that is
what most people understand terrorism to be, the lack
of a binding legal definition severely hampers the
process of eliminating terrorists throughout the world,
not just in LEDCs.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION (PT. 2)
In 2011, there have been over 10,000 terrorist attacks throughout the world, affecting
nearly 45,000 victims in 70 countries and resulting in over 12,500 deaths worldwide.
Islamic Sunni extremists accounted for the largest number of attacks and fatalities. More
than 5,700 attacks were attributed to Sunni extremists, and the extremists accounted
for about 56% of all attacks and about 70% of all fatalities. Among the Sunni extremists,
Al Qaeda and its affiliates were responsible for about 700 attacks that resulted in
almost 2000 deaths, while the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan instrumented over 800
attacks that resulted in nearly 1900 deaths. And this is only in 2011 alone. In 2010, there
were over 11,000 terrorist attacks worldwide, and in 2009, nearly 11,000 terrorist
attacks. Even though recently there has been a slight decrease in the number of
terrorist attacks reported, terrorists are still very much at large and a prevalent
problem for the international community today.
UN INVOLVEMENT
Some measures the UN has taken to counteract terrorism would include the UN
Global Counter Terrorism Strategy. This counter-terrorism strategy is in the form
of a resolution, and was adopted by the General Assembly (GA) on September 8th
2006. Within the Strategy itself it contains measures to address the conditions that
lead to the spread of terrorism, measures to prevent and combat terrorism, and
measures to help nations combat and prevent terrorism and ensure that human
rights are always respected during this fight against terrorism. Also, the Security
Council has enacted sanctions against States that the UN considers to have ties
with terrorist organizations, such as Libya (1992), Sudan (1996), the Taliban (1999)
and Al Qaeda (2000). In addition, after the September 11th attacks, the Security
Council established a Counter-Terrorism Committee which comprised all
members of the Security Council, under resolution 1373.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
The UN Security Council emphasizes the need to address the conditions that
lead to the spread of terrorism.
Sustained international efforts to increase dialogue and broaden understanding
amongst differing religions and cultures in order to prevent terrorism that
targets a specific religion or culture would also be a viable step towards
eliminating terrorism.
The lack of an internationally recognized and legally binding criminal definition
for the term “terrorism” is an issue that is also should be addressed as a
solution.
Delegates should also address what incentives nations have to harbor terrorist
organizations, and see if there are any other alternative incentives to offer to
these governments to deter them from harboring terrorist organizations. (i.e.
if a nation harbors a terrorist organization because their financial position
renders them unable to fund a standing army from scratch, additional funding
could be given to said nation to deter them from continuing to assist the
terrorist organization
MAJOR TERRORIST GROUPS IN LEDCS (P. 1)
 Al-Qaeda – An Islamic militant organization founded by Osama Bin
Laden that is recognized as a terrorist state by many nations and
organizations, like the UN Security Council, the USA, EU, and NATO. It
operates as a network that has a multinational stateless army, and a
radical Sunni Muslim movement. Al Qaeda currently operates/has
bases in Mali, Iraq,Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and other Middle-Eastern
nations.
The Taliban – an Islamic fundamentalist political movement in
Afghanistan. From 1996 – 2001 the Taliban ruled Afghanistan as the
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, but after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 the
Taliban was overthrown by the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.
It is currently an insurgency movement that fights against the
American backed Karzai administration of Afghanistan and the
International Security Assistance force, led by NATO. The Taliban
currently operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
MAJOR TERRORIST GROUPS IN LEDCS (P. 2)
Hamas – An Islamic militant organization that is
recognized as a terrorist organization by numerous
nations throughout the world. One of their chief goals is
to liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation, or in plainer
terms, wipe the only completely Jewish state (Israel) off
the face of the Earth with possibly violent means. Hamas
currently operates in the Gaza strip area.
Hezbollah – A Shi’a Islamic militant group that and political
party. Iran and Syria both give political and financial support
to Hezbollah, and US, the UK, Canada, and Israel all classify
Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. One of the goals of
Hezbollah is the destruction of the Israeli state, similar to
many other Islamic organizations within the Gaza Strip area.
Hezbollah primarily operates within Lebanon and in June 13,
2011, Hezbollah became officially part of the Lebanese
government.
TIMELINE:
RECENT RESOLUTIONS PERTAINING TO TERRORISM
 December 14th 2012 – Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism:
http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/67/99
 December 19th 2011 – Protection of human rights and fundamental
freedoms while countering terrorism:
http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/66/171
 December 2nd 2011 – Measures to prevent terrorists from acquiring
weapons of mass destruction:
http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/66/50
 January 14th 2010 – Institutionalization of the Counter-Terrorism
Implementation Task Force:
http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/64/235
BIBLIOGRAPHY
 https://www.cia.gov/news-information/cia-the-war-on-
terrorism/index.html
 http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2011/195555.htm
 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terrorism
http://www.un.org/terrorism/instruments.shtml
 http://www.un.org/terrorism/resolutions.shtml
 http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2010/170266.htm
 http://www.un.org/terrorism/securitycouncil.shtml