Delegate: Stefan Yong (Catholic Junior College) Country: The Netherlands Topic 1: Religious Extremism The Universal Declaration

of Human Rights states that all persons have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. In many states today, however, this ideal has not been reached. The disregard of this fundamental right has brought about much human suffering and significant threats to international security. Pervasive religious intolerance afflicts many states, inhibiting progress towards harmony and equality for all individuals. The Netherlands believes that this persistent intolerance is the root cause of the threat of religious extremism worldwide. Though its population has become increasingly secular in recent years, religious diversity in the Netherlands continues. The Netherlands therefore acknowledges that religious intolerance is an issue that it should face at a national level. At the same time, it believes that it is also the duty of the international community to pursue the goal of global religious harmony and the tolerance of all religions. The Netherlands pledged its commitment to this goal in the adoption of the Declaration on Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief in 1981, where it resolved, along with many other nations, to combat religious intolerance and discrimination, using all necessary measures, including constitutional and legislative means. In the twenty-first century, new forms of religious extremism necessitate that nations adapt to these threats and respond accordingly to eliminate all forms of intolerance and religious violence. In this regard, the interests of the Netherlands are congruent to those of the international community. The goals of religious tolerance and harmony must be pursued through the use of education and dialogue. The Netherlands believes that the former measure is especially pertinent to youth. Children should be taught, from an early age, of the importance of tolerance and respect for all individuals regardless of their religion or beliefs, so as to reduce the issue of religious intolerance among future generations. The international community should recognise that education should be applied to all levels of societies, as misunderstandings that breed religious intolerance may be similarly pervasive. The Netherlands will also push for increased international and inter-religious dialogue, as a critical way to reduce inter-religious tensions and to foster mutual respect, knowledge and tolerance. The Netherlands believes that this measure, if sustained, can be a sustainable solution to eliminate hostility based on religion. The Netherlands acknowledges the significant progress made in these key areas by intergovernmental bodies such as the Alliance of Civilisations initiative, in facilitating contributions of many UN Member States and other UN entities to intercultural dialogue. The Netherlands affirms its support for this initiative and praises its dedication to the implementation of the aforementioned Declaration. To this end, the Netherlands urges all states to reaffirm the common objective of the international community in eliminating religious intolerance, and encourages states and non-governmental

organisations to make use of the Alliance of Civilisations initiative as a platform to take decisive steps towards greater religious harmony and tolerance. As an active and responsible member of the UN, the Netherlands urges all states to commit to a greater international consensus with regards to religious intolerance, through active contributions to the dual measures of education and dialogue, so that all religions may be freely practiced and harmoniously co-existent.

Delegate: Stefan Yong (Catholic Junior College) Country: The Netherlands Topic 2: Arms race in the developing regions The Netherlands considers the issue of the arms race in developing regions to be a serious threat to international security and stability, as well as a major barrier to international development as a common goal for all nations. The arms race is contrary to the foreign policy aims of the Netherlands, and should be slowed at halted with all possible expediency by the international community. A small number of developing nations have built themselves up militarily, with high levels of arms imports and high proportions of GDP spend on the armed forces, but have done so at the cost of socio-economic development. Many developing nations with such large military spending budgets score poorly in terms of Human Development Index (HDI). The Netherlands considers this to be an unacceptable trade-off and calls on all developing states to spend responsibly on their militaries. Though military spending may be a defensive priority for some of these states, it cannot be a priority that supersedes the welfare of the people of the state, or the development and security of the international community. The Netherlands sees itself as capably leading by example in practicing responsible military spending. While it ranks 19th in the worlds nations in terms of amount of military expenditure, it ranks 7th in terms of HDI. Hence it can be seen that military spending did not come at the expense of national socio-economic development. Furthermore, while the Netherlands spends 1.5% of its GDP on its military, it also allocates a comparable 0.7% of its GNI to its Netherlands Development Cooperation initiative, which gives these funds to poor countries in the Netherlands effort to encourage growth in developing nations. In addition, as it is a regular contributor to numerous UN peacekeeping forces, such as the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and the multinational force in Iraq, the Netherlands clearly also uses its military spending to further the goal of international security. It is critical that UN Member States reach a similar degree of responsibility in military spending. The Netherlands urges developing nations to reaffirm the commitment of state governments to the welfare of their people, and to therefore create conditions necessary for economic growth and social progress, such as stable political institutions, especially if these nations do not face direct security threats. The Netherlands also urges developed nations to renew commitment to improve the socioeconomic conditions of developing countries, through aid and bilateral assistance. The Netherlands further urges power developed nations to consider the political and economic stability of a state as a prerequisite to the sale of dangerous arms, so that these arms may not be misused by unstable governments. The Netherlands calls for an international consensus to develop an international investigative body to ensure responsibility and transparency in military spending worldwide. This body would work in conjunction with the Conference on Disarmament, with a greater focus on socio-economic as opposed to political issues, to combat the threat to international security posed by the arms race by asserting multilateral pressure on developing nations to reduce irresponsible military spending. As an inverse relationship between military spending and socio-economic development is often

observed in developing regions, it is hoped that this will have the result of encouraging international development in the developing world.