Committee Information Title: Sixth Committee: Legal Organ: General Assembly Chairs: Aman Puri and Sebastian Negron-Reichard Under-Secretary-General: Michael Mintskovsky Topic A: Diplomatic and Consular Mission Security Topic A Summary: Particularly as of late, threats to diplomatic missions have become a growing worldwide concern. The Middle East in particular is a dangerous place for embassies and diplomatic missions. In early 2015, Yemen marked the third Middle Eastern country from which U.S. diplomats have withdrawn, following Lybia and Syria. Even more recently, missions in Saudi Arabia have faced security concerns, and have closed down for periods of time in response. The security of foreign missions is inevitably tied to legal matters. Specifically, there is gray area when it comes to the responsibilities of a host country versus those of an embassy. According to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, it is the duty of the receiving nation to protect the mission from any intrusion or damage and prevent and disturbance of peace. However, recent events have planted seeds of doubt of the ability of host nations to protect embassies from outside attacks by rogue groups. Although the issue of diplomatic mission security is not without U.N. precedent, those guidelines have proven to do little to stop threats to embassies. Vast political instability in the wake of the Arab Spring, cultural clashes, and other forces have rendered diplomatic and consular mission security a controversial, complex, and prevalent issue. Topic B: War Ethics of Drones Topic B Summary: The exponential growth of technological advances is a double-edged sword. Although serving countless civilian applications, technology has historically been intertwined with war tactics. In the past few decades, the development and use of drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) has become a huge part of the war-related intelligence revolution. In the early 2000s, the U.S. pioneered the use of drones as military weapons (as opposed to just tools for reconnaissance). Drones have effectively evolved into a means of carrying out attacks without risk of directly losing lives, and therefore have transformed the very notion of war. The unmanned drones give an impersonal aspect to war, detaching combat from humanity. When drone strikes define legal strike zones, there is gray area as to what is considered a "legal killing." The traditional notions of battlegrounds tend to fade away. "Drone War" attacks have been responsible for several thousand casualties just in the last five years. Therefore, we must call into question the ethics of drone strikes. Is there a way to use them in an ethical way? Should there be restrictions of research & development as well as production of drones?

• published: 18 Oct 2015
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