THE DAILY
No. 6
SAIMUNER Monday, July 2nd 2018
www.saimun.net
My experience in Rome MUN 2018 By Celine Maina
PHOTO / Courtesy
Rome Model United Nations delegates of the UNEP Committee. PHOTO / Courtesy
High schoool students at the UNINT University - the venue of the Rome MUN conference in Italy.
Some highschool delegates attending #SAIMUN18 attended Rome Model United Nations in March this year. Here’s a recounting of Celine’s experience. She is a Kenya High student.
We left the country on 29th March 2018 aboard Air Emirates for our connection flight in Dubai. We arrived in Italy late evening and retired to our hotel. The next day we woke up early to do our final touches on our presentation skills in readiness for the conference. We ran through the whole program and conduct one more time to ensure perfection.
The conference day faired on well with constant breaks. We were all tired at the end of the day’s activities. It was a journey of self discovery. We had to master all our courage and bravery to express our opinions in front of more knowledgeable people. It was an interaction with people from different institutions and countries at different edeucation levels. The rest at the conference days seemed to fly through with our extremely tight schedules. With each day came growth in confidence and maturity. It diversified our view of the world. We not only learnt how to look outside the box but also not to contain our thoughts. Despite it being challenging representing countries we knew none of, we faired greatly.
Later, in the course of the day we went to the mall to get some shopping done at the Euroma Mall which the second largest in Italy. During our stay we enjoyed the cuisine and the culture which represented diversity. The next morning we woke up really early to get to the conference on time. We obtained bus passes to manoeuvre our way through the town. We got ourselves registered into our conference rooms without delay and the discussions kicked off.
PHOTO / Courtesy
SAIMUN High school delegates enjoying a tour day out in Rome.
2 ROAD TO #SAIMUN18
THE DAILY SAIMUNER
International Day of UN Peacekeepers
By Ventura Kireki The United Nations has, since the year 1948, seen to it that there are Peace Co-operations put in place.This was necessitated by the happenings of World War II where there was a colossal loss of human life. To ensure that there would be no recurrence of this, under the United Nations Charter, the Security Council was set up and given the primary responsibility of maintenance of international peace and security. For this year, in Kenya, the peacekeeping commemoration was held at the United Nations offices at Gigiri, Nairobi. In appreciation, the 29th of May each year is set aside as a commemoration of the peacekeepers who have lost their lives while undertaking this noble cause and also to give thanks to those who have served to retirement. The Director General UNON, Ms. Sahle-Work Zwede graced the ocassion this year. Ms. Sahle-Work Zwede (Director-General) at the International Day of UN peacekeepers commemoration at Gigiri, Nairobi on 29th May 2018 70 years down the line, has anything being achieved? Well, there have been 14 peacekeeping missions in the world so far out of which half of those have been in Africa. These missions have not all been successful, that is true, however, it would be unfair not to recognize the success stories of some of these peacekeeping missions. The missions to Cambodia, Angola and Mozambique are among the notable success stories. Also ongoing are missions in South Sudan, Central Africa Republic and Mali. Furthermore, the UN looks to ensure that Africa is represented among nations that have veto power in the United Nations Security Council.This aims at giving Africa a voice too as the representatives have never had a permanent seat at the Security Council. Some of the retired peacekeepers (blue helmets) at the UN offices in Gigiri Nairobi on 29th May 2018 attending the International Day of UN peacekeepers. As many people would expect, the peacekeepers are meant to use amicable and diplomatic means
PHOTO / Courtesy
Some of the retired peacekeepers (blue helmets) at the UN offices in Gigiri Nairobi on 29th May 2018 attending the International Day of UN peacekeepers.
of maintaining peace wherever they are deployed. However, in some cases, the Security Council can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorize the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security. This is more so when the lives of the peacekeepers are threatened. The peacekeepers face a lot. The first challenge is usually leaving the comfort and love of a home and family and going to a foreign territory where the living conditions are mostly deplorable. It takes a toll on them and that is why before going there are measures taken to prepare them psychologically. In some instances, after interacting and coming into a peaceful agreement, tables turn and they face hostile attacks. The residents turn against them, forcing their use of arms to defend themselves. This sometimes ends in loss of lives and sustaining of injuries. When peacekeepers return from their missions, they are in need of psychological help. In Kenya, under Dr. Susan Gitau, there has been a program where volunteers assist in counselling sessions and simple encouragement to the peacekeepers when they return. There also exists the Soldiers of Peace International Association where the peacekeepers are members. “I came, I saw, I acted” has now replaced “I came, I saw, I conquered” among the peacekeepers. This is because not all missions are “conquered” and are successful but the fact that they did something about the situation is what matters. We salute all the peacekeepers. We are proud of all that they have done and are still doing. Anyone too can be a hero of peace in whatever capacity. Let’s create our own blue helmets.
ROAD TO #SAIMUN18
THE DAILY SAIMUNER
Here’s what happened during our first mock debate
By Michael Omondi
3
emissions. Stopping Carbon emissions will mean closing shop for most if not all of them. However, the environment has been affected as a result of pollution and carbon emissions have been a major factor. The delegates agreed in the end the carbon emissions have an adverse effect to the environment and alternative sources of energy were strongly and repeatedly mentioned such as wind and solar.
PHOTO / Courtesy
Voting in session - How do you think they voted?
On Saturday 10th March 2018, we had our first Mock Debate for the annual SAIMUN conference. The mock debate was held at Riara University, Nairobi. The turnout was what the team had anticipated and planned for which was exciting. However, it was noted that the high school students outnumbered the university students by far with participants from schools such as Mary Hill School, Sunshine School, Alliance School and Jaffrey’s School. Hopefully the university students will take this as a challenge and show up in large numbers for the next debate. There were no prior talks by different speakers as the organizing team felt that at times this tended to consume too much time so the committee sessions kicked off as soon as the delegates arrived. This was made easier by the fact that country allocations had been done prior to the debate. The sessions started as soon as delegates were given their placards and the committees that were in place included SOCHUM, UNHCR, UNEP and UNESCO. The committee chairs took it upon themselves to train the delegates on the rules of procedure and everything pertaining to a Model United Nations deliberation. The delegates proved to be very fast in grasping the rules of procedures and at the end of the training the committee chairs were very impressed. The UNEP committee discussed the agenda item: addressing pollution globally by reducing Carbon Emissions from Industries and improving hazardous waste management and disposal to reduce the national and global impact. This topic proved to be controversial because it was agreed that stopping Carbon emissions is not an easy task and because most industries emit Carbon emissions and couldn’t sustain themselves without the very activities that cause carbon
UNESCO committee discussed: the implementation of education for sustainable development and ensuring equal access to education for all women and girls. It was agreed that excluding women and girls is equivalent to playing with half of the team and educating girls and women is equivalent to educating the whole society. Giving women and girls equal opportunities was implied to be an imperative and affirmative action which should be implemented anywhere and everywhere and at all times. UNHCR was tasked with discussing: the situation in refugee camps; ensuring security and preventing radicalization. It was held by various delegates that the refugees need security in their various camps as they are prone to violence from all walks be it the locals or other belligerents. On the issue of radicalization it was agreed that it needs to be looked at objectively because even though there has been evidence proving that the aspect of radicalization is happening there has also been blanket condemnation of the same and it was agreed that the research should be more objective and scientific in making informed decisions and opinions on the same. It was also concluded that there should be policies and measures in place to prevent the reported cases of radicalization and the insecurities they face. SOCHUM discussed the role of the UN in promoting development internationally through agreed development goals including SDGs. The delegates focused mainly on Sustainable Development Goals and it was felt that all SDGs were important and none super ceded the other and therefore the UN should strive to ensure that each country achieves the SDGs. In UNEP Norway and Angola were recognized as the best delegates. Oman and Azerbaijan were best delegates for UNHCR, India and Sri Lanka for UNESCO and Norway and Ireland for SOCHUM.
Fun Page
Today’s social: Burger Night at Urban Gourmet (5:00-9:00pm) Today’s program: Monday 2nd July 2018 9.00 - 11:00am Opening Ceremony Today’s weather: 12.00 - 1.50pm Lunch 2.00 - 4.00 pm Committee session 5.00 - 9.00pm Burger Night
Nairobi
21˚C
EDITORIAL
Love is in the air...maybe? Throughout the conference all protocol members will be sending out roses to anyone that catches your eye at your request ;) You can do it anonymously or add a note and maybe ask the person to one of our socials? Good luck! We also have a gossip box at the info desk, feel free to drop in any conference gossip throughout the week ;)
SAIMUN Social Media
Sub-Saharan International Model United Nations - Saimun
@subsaharanmun
@subsaharanmun
Editors Soila Kenya Julie Ambani Linda Ngari Eunice Magwambo Writers Cecily Mwangi Kuria Kasumba Cynthia Mwenda Ayomide Alajogun Michael Omondi Photographers Ayub Mungai Klein Nettoh Carol Karanu Nathan Kiprop Isabelle Mongina Christopher Saruni