Noah Fishman

This morning, the United Nations Historical Security Council of 1961 voted to adopt Draft Resolution HSC1: A Resolution to Provide Humanitarian Aid to the Congolese People, which focuses on peacekeeping, fundraising and overseeing the Republic of the Congo without bias or influence.

“The delegation of the United Kingdom strongly supports every clause with the exception of the third clause,” said Representative Casey Hakim of the United Kingdom. “As a member of NATO, we find this language to be somewhat insulting both to us and to our friends in the Warsaw Pact.”

The Representative of the United Kingdom stated that they would abstain from voting due to the multilateral oversight committee, but they would not veto the resolution as they understand the pressing need for humanitarian assistance for the Congolese people. The Representative of France spoke up to emphasize this clause being present in an effort to turn over a new leaf alongside the USSR to start a new era without developed countries influencing lower-income countries. 

“By keeping that (Clause Three), it does seem like it could be slightly inappropriate, it is a recognition that the NATO nations have had strong influence over the past 20 years and it has not gone the greatest,” said Representative Dustin Ramsey of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. “We genuinely are trying to turn away from the idea of dominating blocks. The United Nations is here to serve humankind and not nations.” 

France then invited other nations to voice their concerns, but only Ceylon agreed with the USSR. Ceylon then continued, calling out the United States for their silence among their ally, the United Kingdom’s, complaints.

“We do not have any real problems with this resolution, we will not veto this resolution,” said Representative Jack Asmus of the United States. “We do need to move forward with the vote because this is a resolution which is comprehensive and has been achieved by a consensus.”

Representative Rothschild of France then continued, acknowledging bias within ECOSOC and the great powers to respond to the United Kingdom.

“We can’t sit here and look in the eyes of the Congolese people when we have caused irreparable damage. When we say that ECOSOC is truly an unbiased  committee, that cannot be further from the case,” said Representative Rothschild. “We ourselves have influenced this war, and we have to take responsibility for that, we must cede our places on this committee.”

Following this appeal, the committee ultimately did not add the word “temporary” before the mention of a Multilateral Oversight Committee. The vote went forward, and the resolution was adopted with 9/0/2 with Turkey and the United Kingdom abstaining from the vote.