An Interesting Solution: SSUP Bloc proposes “freezing the assets” of gang members to reduce influence

DISEC in Progress

During the third committee session of the ongoing United Nations Disarmament and International Security summit focusing on the growing Haitian gang and corruption crisis, the Short-term Solutions Under Peacekeeping (SSUPS) Bloc pitched their working paper.

A humorous moment occurred when the Mexican delegate representing the SSUP Bloc read their working paper aloud and proposed one of their main solutions: freeze the assets of gang members to reduce their power.

This hilarious proposition got a few laughs from some of the delegates.

Some questions were inevitably brought up: How would bankers and any involved entities know who is a gang member? How would withdrawals be stopped in order for gang members to simply operate on cash for the time being? Why would this be implemented when the vast majority of gang members do not themselves have a significant amount of savings? And how would the assets of top players be frozen when they have the means to avoid punishment?

A quote from the bewildered delegate of Saudi Arabia: “Gang members are gang members because they’re broke. What assets do they have to be frozen?”

Unfortunately, Canada is one of the signatories of the bloc, putting a little heat on their delegates during the unmoderated caucus.

The reception of the paper was otherwise positive, with this solution being one of the only substantial critiques. The paper implements many of Canada’s ideas regarding the training of the deployment and usage of Peacekeepers, like training the Haitian police force by Peacekeeping Forces.