Global II

Sample Position Paper #1 Sample Position Paper #2 Sample Position Paper #3

Being determined to see an end to the use of children as soldiers, this Australian Conference:

The Peace Organisation of Australia calls on the Australian Government to end the recruitment of children under 18 to our armed forces. This would put Australia in line with the emerging international consensus that children should play no role in militaries.

In recent years, children have been actively engaged in fighting with armed opposition groups in Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, Turkey and Yemen.

Italy is party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) since 1975 as a non-nuclear weapons state. It is a member of both Euratom and the Nuclear Suppliers' Group. In 1998 it signed the Additional Protocol in relation to its safeguards agreements with the IAEA.

In 1964 CNEN was confirmed as the regulatory body for Italy's nuclear power, using safety criteria from UK and USA. It was later split into ENEA - responsible for research and promotion of nuclear energy, and ENEA/DISP as the independent regulatory body. This then became APAT, the Agency for Environmental Protection & Technical Services, as the regulatory body in charge of safety and licensing.  This in turn later became the nuclear department of the environmental protection institute - ISPRA. In 2008 parliament was considering legislation to set up an independent Agency for Nuclear Security (ASN) as the new regulator, with staff drawn from ISPRA and ENEA.

Italy has had four operating nuclear power reactors but shut the last two down following the Chernobyl accident. Over 10% of its electricity is now from nuclear power - all imported. The government intends to build new nuclear power plants by 2013.

Recalling Article I of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Republic of Italy commends the international community and expresses its appreciation for steps taken toward the abolition of nuclear weapons. Italy recognizes the establishment of Nuclear-Free Zones as codified in Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones–Challenges and Opportunities (1999) as confidence and peace building measures crucial for maintaining international security, and proudly notes the declaration that five of our Northern states are NWFZs. We reaffirm the Antarctic Treaty and Article IV of the Outer Space Treaty, declaring the respective regions to be Nuclear Weapons Free Zones (NWFZs). We also draw attention to the Treaty on the Prohibition of the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons and of Other Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Sea-Bed and the Ocean Floor and in the Subsoil Thereof, particularly Article I declaring the sea-bed as a NWFZ. Taking note of A/RES/58/34, Italy recognizes the importance of the creation of a NWFZ in the Middle East and cordially invites countries to take action in furtherance of this goal. We urge signatory states of the aforementioned treaties to abide by the agreements they entered into voluntarily for the stability and peace of the international community. —James Knupp, Wright State University, 2004

Child Soldiers

The camp director said that when the youths had been given drugs-most likely, amphetamines-while soldiering, they "would do just about anything that was ordered." Some, he added, were proud of having been effective killers.

Many of the boys, ranging from nine to 16 years of age, had killed people as they fought in a civil war that paused with a fragile cease-fire in 1995.