Proposal Overview:
The proposal aims to establish international safety measures for civilian aircraft, particularly when flying over conflict zones. It seeks to fill the regulatory gap left by the repeal of General Assembly Resolution #342 "Civilian Aircraft Accord." The repeal was enacted through General Assembly Resolution #678 due to flaws in the original resolution, such as ambiguity in the extent of assistance to be provided to distressed civilian aircraft and the permissiveness of the instructions that nations could render to civilian aircraft.

Ministry Analysis:
While the proposal aims to enhance the safety of civilian aircraft, and it does reasonably aim to address a regulatory gap with an emphasis on safety (through avoiding of conflict zones, crew training, and passenger awareness). With that being said, the constant communication requirements over conflict zones is likely impractical due to technical limitations and more standard practice would be that the air traffic control whose airspace is being traversed is communicated with. Additionally, there is certain ambiguity as to what counts as the nearest neutral nation and whether or not this nation needs to also follow the same protocols. Furthermore, placing the responsibility solely on the pilot to decide whether to comply with instructions from combatants is unwise and could lead to safety risks, provisions should encourage communication with airlines and relevant authorities. Moreover the mandatory rescue capabilities defining 100 kilometres from borders or coastlines may impose significant financial and logistical burden on nations, even with the exemption in place, that is without talking about how the exemption on its own is rather vague. Last but not least, the phrase "If at all economically feasible" when planning routes around conflict zones may allow and encourage airlines to prioritize cost over safety which would lead to increased risk for passengers and crew. To sum it up, on one hand there is a need for civilian aircraft regulation, while on the other there are specific points in the resolution that should be improved and it would be better if these issues had been addressed earlier, the Ministry urges the authors to revisit these points and resubmit, as the general intent is worthwhile, but at this point the recommendation is to vote AGAINST this proposal.

This IFV Recommendation was written by Europeia