OSCAMUN AILY 1ST MARCH 2015
NEWS FROM THE COMMITTEES FAO: Intense discussion between Syria and France: the introduction of taxes on GMO companies, together with a government-controlled policy and a possible international agreement were the prevailing ideas among the delegations in the morning session. The first topic has been completed successfully and food security in emergency situations is the current issue on the floor.
UNICEF: The debate started with an
unexpected alliance between Palestine and USA. The two delegations, together with most of the others, agree on the necessity of a common resolution to fight children’s exploitation. Several actions have been proposed, evaluated and added to the possible working paper, with the help of thee pragmatic interventions of the Syrian delegation, that kept the most daring countries with their feet on the ground. Once the fisrt topic was concluded, the debate moved to the prevention of forced early marriages. India stimulates the other delegations with its hope for a succesful integration between religion and human rights.
WHO: The delegations have been working to find adecuate measures to improve women’s health by integrating gender equality and human rights. Problems such as violence, social barriers and malnutrition have been analyzed in-depth, the delegates worked on a single possible resolution in accordance with every country’s needs. After an official resolution, the debate has proceeded with the second topic.
UNEP: Preventing the trade of
endangered species is not as easy as it seems: the plague of illegal trade needs to be controlled and a strong prevention and education programme is requested by the delegations of South Africa and Tanzania. Violence on animals has not been the only item on the committee’s agenda: the impact on biodiversity of manmade and natural disasters whitnessed by the delegates of Brazil and Kenya has been widely discussed focusing on a short term resolution.
THE CRISIS OF DEMOCRACY BETWEEN DISC AND UNHRC Is western democracy living a crisis? The last century ended, in part, in a positive way,
states “The economist”, which identifies as democratic 120 states (60% on the global scale). However the new millennium started off in the midst of worrying perspectives, firstly with international war against terrorism and more recently with various riots and national raisings that, from Libia to Ucrain, have shown an unspoken of, obsolete and inadequate side of democracy. It is what Kagan defined in “Paradise and power” as postmodernism’s phenomenology, the proliferation of different and new nations, the declining of regimes and authorities consolidated with time. And so, in a world monitored by the united nations and free of the totalitarianisms apparently banished to a dark past, the issues of Israel and that of the Crimean separatists seem unsolvable: like in Beckett’s or Pinter’s theater there is no universally shared reason, rather every character has his intimate motivations. Similarly human rights issues is extremely delicate for, as wisely sustained by Zizek, their violation can become media exploitation, leading to a ideological condemnation before any actual inquiry. While in the rest of the world diplomacy is decreasing in efficiency, MUN debating seeks to reclaim dialectics as a means to reach a common purpose.
Almorò Zanessi
THE BEST FORM OF GOVERNMENT DISC session, 10 min moderated caucus, debating theme: Palestine and Israel. The representatives of USA, UK and France are for the two-state solution at the condition that the established border be respected. The delegate from USA underlines the problem of the Palestinian government being illegitimate, its leader Hamas being recognized as a terrorist. The committee discusses what form of government would be the best for the Palestinian state, touching one of the most debated issues in the history of politics, also matter of great interest for authors such as Aristhoteles, Cicerus, Machiavelli and Hobbes: which is the best form of government for a country? Does it depend on a country’s needs at a certain historical moment or does it have a universal significance? The recent historical events have proved that democracy, the social conquest which we are most proud of, can also degenerate in a non-liberal form of government like the Palestinian one: let us remember that Hamas was democratically voted. And if we think about it, is not the USA representative's opinion, favoring the installment in Palestine of a democracy without Hamas, an anti-democratic position itself? This is not a simple question to answer. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict, also discussed during the session, raised similar perplexities: it appeared clear that international politics does not, in fact, care much about ideals. While debating about the Ukrainian situation, the majority of the delegates expressed their perplexity on the president Poroshenko’s intention to let the conflict procede. Of course Poroshenko is cynically exploiting the ideological matter of sovereignty and territorial unity so that hi power should not be mined by the interests of the Russian Federation. The fact that here, at FOSCAMUN 2015, debaters also bear in mind the human aspects of politics though is certainly reassuring to us. We hope that, in the future, more politicians will do the same instead of merely considering politics an aspect of bureau.
Alessandro La Rosa
CROSSWORD ACROSS 5. council that decides on the admission of new members 9. the stretch of water that surrounds Venice 11. FAO's headquarter DOWN 1. name of the group of UN permanent members 2. typical venetian means of transport 3. the UN Italian Ambassador (surname) 4. the Italian region in which Venice is found 6. the current UN Secretary General 7. the most famous square in Venice 8. the tree whose branches can be found in the UN emblem 10. number of UN observer States
TODAY’S SCHEDULE 09:00-10:30 Session VI 10:30-11:00 Break 11:00-12:30 Session VII 12:30-14:00 Lunch 14:00-16:00 Closing Ceremony 16:00-17:00 Farewell buffet
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