Statement of Facts (Respondent)

I. Background
1. Republic of Alicanto (hereinafter referred to as The Applicant) and New Bennu
are two neighboring states which were colonies of Ravisia before the mid-1950s.
The former colonies joined the Ravisian Family of Allied Nations (hereinafter
referred to as Respondent) in 1960, an association of Ravisia and its former
colonies and other allies.
2. The Applicant and Ravisia have shared significant cultural and economic links
after the latter gained independence. Ravisian was declared the official language
of the Applicant country. Ravisian nationals have significant stakes in the
Applicant states economy while a majority of the Applicant states national
leaders have historically benefited from the Ravisian higher education system,
along with the Ravisian government extending special concessions to students
from the Appplicant country
3. The Applicant states population comprises of two dominant groups, the Dasu and
the Zavaabi, which make up a major of the population. The Zavaabi are the
dominant sect comprising almost 50% of the population while the Dasu comprise
approximately 30% of the population. The Dasu and the Zavaabi families show
marked disparity in their average economic status along with the Dasu being
predominant in the administration and economic spheres since independence
though the Zavaabi are in superior numbers. It is one of the significant facts which
differentiate them along with the fact that the Zavaabi have embraced a more
orthodox interpretation of the Canon, the Talonnic religious text. The separate
identity of these two sects is a debatable issue. However, records of the Applicant
state the above figures regarding the composition of the state population.

4. The state of New Bennu, a neighboring state of the Applicant, has a population
which consists of mainly Dasu and Zavaabi. Most of the border shared by the
states is on the Rocian Plateau, an area which is mostly settled by Zavaabi.
5. The border between New Bennu and the Applicant state on the Rocian Plateau has
historically been a volatile region with the Alicantan side being notorious for
smuggling, illegal arms traffickers and recently a bustling drug trade. The law
enforcement agencies of the Applicant state have repeatedly conceded their
inability to effectively police their side of the Rocian Plateau.
6. The non-governmental organization (NGO) Earth Without Frontiers, in its major
study conducted in 2000 concluded that the then Dasu dominated government,
fearing the political repercussions of taking any action in the Rocian Plateau;
deliberately turned a blind eye to the criminal activities taking place there. The
government of New Bennu, which is also Dasu dominated had proposed to fortify
its side of the border and interdict undocumented travelers for quite a number of
years.
7. The Applicant has a unicameral parliament consisting of 200 members. The 1990s
saw the emergence of an orthodox political party called The Guardians of the
Talonnic Way with one of their core aims being the incorporation of orthodox
interpretations of the Canon. The economic downturn in 1995 in the Applicant
country led to the rise of the Guardians representation in the Applicant countrys
parliament from three to sixty candidates in the period from 1996 to 2004.
II. Conflict between New Bennu and the Applicant State
8. In March 2005, New Bennuan authorities undertook a zero tolerance policy to the
criminal activities in the Rocian Plateau, in response to the rising crime levels in
the region. The New Bennuan military began to conduct aerial surveillance
operations to check cross border crimes. The Zavaabi people saw this as a
measure by the Dasu government of New Bennu to oppress them.

9. The operations of the New Bennuan military led to a violent retaliation from the
smugglers involving battles between the New Bennuan military and the smugglers
at several instances on both sides of the border. In May 2005, a New Bennuan
surveillance aircraft in the Applicant countrys airspace was shot down by a
surface-to-air missile, leading to eight casualties. The bodies of the slain
personnel were dragged through the villages sparking impromptu celebrations
among the people of the villages, followed by the first instance of the migration of
the Dasu citizens of the Applicant country across the Rocian Plateau.
10. In June 2005, expressing frustration at the unwillingness of the Applicant
countrys government to deal with the issue of the Rocian Plateau, the New
Bennuan government initiated an air bombing campaign to destroy suspected
smugglers enclaves. The campaign resulted in the deaths of 100 Alicantan
civilians.
11. The Applicant countrys government protested the unauthorized intrusion into its
airspace and denied supporting the military campaign carried out by New Bennu.
In July, the Dasu governments plan for a negotiated settlement led to widespread
public outrage and in August, the Dasu government was turned out of office and
in the emergency elections which followed, the Guardians party was voted to
power in 22 September 2005, and Gregory Simurg their leader, was sworn in as
the new Prime Minister.
III. UN Intervention
12. On 18 November 2005, Prime Minister Simurg, and his New Bennuan counterpart
requested the United Nations (hereinafter referred to as UN) to deploy a
peacekeeping force in the Rocian Plateau and its surrounding area.
13. On 8 December 2005, the UN Security Council vide Resolution 5440 authorised
the United Nations Mission Overseeing the Rocian Plateau and Hinterlands
(UNMORPH) to begin operations on 1 February 2006. Ravisia was the single

largest contributor to UNMORPH and Major-General Leila Skylark was

appointed Special Representative and Force Commander of the United Nations
peacekeeping forces by the Secretary-General and a Status of Forces Agreement
identical to the Model U.N. SOFA for UN peacekeeping Forces was concluded
with the Applicant country. The Mission established an operating headquarters in
the Rocian Plateau named Camp Tara.
14. Employing both military operations and negotiations through 2006 and 2007,
UNMORPH was successful in diffusing the border dispute without too many
casualties. Its mandate was extended through 31 July 2008 by the Security
Council.
15. In the initial phase of its deployment, UNMORPH set a radio station in Camp
Tara, staffed entirely by Ravisian members of the Mission, to communicate with
its personnel and to provide security information to the locals. The radio
broadcast, which was readily available throughout the Applicant country in its
official language, gradually expanded to include content from the UN Radio News
Service and in particular included the station aired discussion programs intended
for women and young people, dealing with such topics such as reproductive
health, access to education and womens rights. Some of the content was by
general acknowledgement inconsistent with orthodox teaching of the Talonnic
faith. The station drew protests from local orthodox religious leaders in the Rocian
Plateau, in response to which orders were issued requiring potentially offensive
programming to be preceded by warnings to the listeners, in Ravisian and other
local dialects. The content of the programmes, however, was not changed.
16. In October 2007, a human rights NGO, the International Legal Standards Alliance
(ILSA) reported a pattern of sexual exploitation by UNMORPH personnel against
young girls in the Rocian Plateau, prompting the UN to set up a Commission of
Inquiry. The Commission concluded inter alia that a number of UNMORPH

troops had regularly engaged in non-violent sexual relations while off duty in the
territory of the Applicant in the vicinity of Camp Tara. These troops referred to
these girls as prostitutes and routinely gave them money or food, that the
average age of the girls was 16 with some of them as young as 13 and that they
had engaged in sexual acts out of hunger, fear, poverty or all three, and that among
the soldiers involved in sexual relations, a substantial number were of Ravisian
nationality.
17. In December 2007, the Prime Minister of the Applicant country called for
terminating UNMORPH, stating that it had completed its mandate and it had an
adverse effect on the moral life of the citizens of his country.
18. On 18 February 2008, Major-General Skylark filed a formal report with the
Secretary-General who transmitted it to the Security Council. The report inter alia
stated that it would be feasible to terminate the mandate of UNMORPH and
withdraw all troops by 31 July 2008 and on 19 February 2008 the Security
Council passed Resolution 6590 which in relevant part called for the gradual
draw-down of troops and the termination of UNMORPH by July 31. By end of
March, only the Ravisian contingent of the UN peacekeeping forces was still
stationed at Camp Tara.
III. Internal Conflict
19. In March 2008, the local government of the Northeast Province of the Applicant
country, which was led by the same party as the central government, passed a
number of ordinances which gave effect to Talonnic law. These ordinances inter
alia made it mandatory for married women to obtain the consent of their husbands
before registering any real property in their names and also required prior
governmental approval from provincial authorities before any secular radio or
television broadcast.

20. Media outlets, including the Dasu Broadcasting Company, which catered to the
Dasu community, and Major-General Skylark refused to comply with this order,
with Major-General Skylark stating that since Camp Tara was under Security
Resolution 5440 and the SOFA, it did not need comply with the order. Subsequent
to this, the Dasu Broadcasting Company was shut down by the provincial
authorities, while no measures were taken by them to enforce the ordinance
against UNMORPH.
21. This led to tension flaring up between Dasu and Zavaabi groups throughout the
Northeast Province and rioting in Dasu neighborhoods Melatha, one of the largest
towns in the province. UNMORPH observers in the area reported that during the
night of 25 April 2008, the eve of the orthodox Talonnic New Year; 35 Dasu
protesters were killed by armed police action, while the Interior Ministry in a
press release attributed deaths to out-of-control New Years Eve celebrations.
22. The central government moved quickly to restore peace and order. The Prime
Minister of the Applicant country, in his nationally broadcast New Years Eve
message on 28 April 2008 inter alia stated his governments intention to
incorporate the orthodox teachings of the Talonnic faith into the countrys legal
and judicial system and justified the same by stating it was a religious duty on the
part of himself and his government, and that the concerns of those who did not
conform to the orthodox teachings of the Talonnic faith would no longer be
accommodated and reiterated the intention of his government to ensure order and
peace by its own efforts without the interference of foreign forces and called upon
the Secretary-General of the UN to reiterate the commitment of the Force
Commander of UNMORPH to leave the Applicant country no later than 31 July
2008.
23. The announcement was greeted with celebration in the Zavaabi parts of the
Applicant country while causing renewed unrest in the areas with mixed Dasu and

Zavaabi populations. Pamphlets featuring excerpts from the Prime Ministers

speech which were inflammatory in nature were distributed throughout the
country.
24. Through May 2008, there were sporadic riots and reports of significant violence
throughout the Applicant country, especially in the Northeast province. Although
independent confirmations were unavailable, the medical NGO Doctors of the
World told the Associated Press on 22 May that it had received reports of
hundreds of violent deaths in Melatha and elsewhere in the province.
25. The government responded to the situation by declaring martial law in the eight
largest cities in the Northeast Province and four in the Northwest Province. The
Dasu still continued to flee across the border claiming to fear imminent
persecution and by 30 June, the Dasu population had reduced by 30 %. The NGO
Doctors of the World warned of the risk to the lives of those fleeing across the
Rocian Plateau if humanitarian aid was not put in place immediately and said in a
statement that it saw the prospect of ethnic cleansing on a mass scale.
26. The Security Council on 3 July 2008, in a regularly-scheduled meeting passed
Resolution 6620 which inter alia recognized that conditions in the Applicant
country were far from normal, that Dasu citizens continued to flee in mass
numbers due to the violence in areas with Dasu populations and called upon the
Applicant country to take measures to improve the humanitarian situation in the
Rocian Plateau and to avert more widespread suffering.
27. On 4 July 2008, the Permanent Representative of Alicanto to the United Nations
submitted a memorandum to the Secretary-General and the President of the
Council which categorically rejected any claims of the governments complicity in
human rights abuses of the minority communities as false.
28. On 7 July 2008, the Prime Minister of the Applicant country was assassinated in a
bomb explosion at an airport. The police announced that they had evidence linking
Picardo Donati (hereinafter referred to as Donati), an Alicantan of Dasu

heritage, who was the head of a little known organization, the Dasu Integrity
Front. He was a known criminal and had been convicted of various crimes. The
police refused to make the evidence public, citing national security grounds and
began a nationwide hunt for him.
29. The police reports implicating Donati spawned a number of Zavaabi defense
cadres which claimed responsibility for the burning of six Dasu villages in the
Rocian Plateau. Earth Without Frontiers reported inter alia that thousands had
been killed and many more Dasu, numbering in tens of thousands from all parts of
the Applicant country had fled fearing an imminent attack, that they had evidence
of a weapons cache in the Rocian Plateau including incendiary devices, mortar
rounds, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, semi automatic rifles. Earth Without
Frontiers and other NGOs were unanimous that the weapons had been smuggled
into the Applicants territory by radical Zavaabi groups.
30. On 22 July, in a televised address to her nation, the President of the Respondent
Country stated that the administration possessed reliable intelligence from its
intelligence sources indicating the possibility of a massive human rights disaster
in the Applicant country.