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Editorial UN news center headlines Crisis in Nigeria Dr. Perraki interview Committee Reports Delegate Charts Common Secrets Party time 1
EDITORIAL: Dear MUNers, The conference is nearly over but there is still lots of time for the necessary work to be done! May I remind some committees that there are TWO topics on their agenda and last night’s hangover is no excuse for not working equally as hard! Figaro night was a blast as expected. Many delegates flaunted their dance moves and we were pleased to see all delegates socializing and having a good time! Once again there were many photos taken and much “information” going around. But we should never neglect the committee work! As you answered in today’s “delegate charts” you love debating combined with social events ! Finally I would like to thank once again all those contributing to the uncommun news! And I mean basically my informants, my “right hand” and IT specialists! See you in the last edition! Sophia xxx
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New start treaty “an important milestone” toward a world free of nuclear weapons Ban Ki-Moon to attend nuclear security summit in Washington, D.C. Ban Ki-Moon dispatches special envoy to Kyrgyzstan Security Council is briefed on Chad mission and Sudan elections Security and justice are “antidotes to drugs, crime and terrorism” UNDP chief discusses results of Haiti donors conference with Austrian foreign minister Iran urged to comply with Security Council resolutions
CRISIS IN NIGERIA The agenda of this committee consisted of “the role of non state actors in ongoing conflicts”. But discussions were interrupted by an unexpected crisis that came to the Secretary General’s attention. They were informed by her Excellency Ms. ChristinaThekla Zacharia that Libyan troops were forcefully transferring religious communities inside the territory of Niger. The clashes that occurred during the transfer reached their peak when the Libyan Army actually took control of the capital of the country and forced the government and parliament to resign this morning, Friday the 9th. The Chinese government announced its disapproval of what they considered as actions of “a dictator who has severely violated the international law, multiple times”. Col.Gadaffi further established the Libyan regime in Nigeria with initiating a vast operation with the ultimate purpose of splitting the two religious communities and “bring peace and stability in the region”. The only official reaction of the other Nations is the British Prime Minister’s condemnaINTERVIEW tion of these actions but acknowledgment of the dire Everyone knows her as the heart and need of addressing the situation in Nigeria by the soul of ThessISMUN, we simply asked her UNSC. By Dimitris Konstantinidis
about her work that she loves so much! • Mrs.Perraki how do you feel about this year’s organization? Perfect!!! I believe that this year’s conference is a great success due to three factors: 1)the chairs are very experienced 2) the staff is very qualified and 3)the delegates are wellprepared, contributing that way to a fruitful debate. • How many months do the preparations take? We start in October with setting the agenda, writing the study guides and looking for sponsors. But the peak of the preparation is the month prior to the conference. • Should the delegates wait for any more surprises until the end of the Conference? It has been revealed already! We will offer a T-shirt with the logo of ThessIS and the University’s name. 2
1st Committee 2nd Committee The second day of the 1st committee’s sessions Today was a “great” started with many vacant seats (almost 12!) . An- day for the delegates opther “absence” noted the lack of the first day of the 2nd Committee, enthusiasm especially from Denmark. Maybe last as the first three drafts night’s party took its toll on the delegates’ initial arrived and were welenergy and desire to work hard. That wasn;t the comed with a lot of case for the USA, the Russian Federation, Syria, enthusiasm. “We are Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and the proud to say that you were the first committee to Netherlands. give its drafts, and they were all perfect”, His ExDuring the discussion of the draft resolution cellency, the Deputy SG, Mr. Nemanja Grgic said. concerning the demilitarization of the Arctic, However, last night was a “great” night, too. AlUSA stated that they have security interests in most everybody was present at the social event in the area and want to eliminate terrorism or pi- Charro Negro. Therefore, many delegates were racy. Iceland answered back indignantly:“Who’s late for the morning committee session, and some going to play the pirates’ role in this region? The of them preferred to come even after the coffee indigenous people? (!)” USA then gave a rather break (dear U.S.A., you didn’t bring any chocousual answer stating that his country aims to pre- late!). The delegates were so excited about last vent only future possibility of terrorism or piracy night, that they kept talking about it even today, in order to protect the “American national secu- while watching and exchanging photos (yes, durrity”. In the meantime, the Russian delegate ing the session, right delegates of Republic of Koseemed to give a more persuasive and justified rea and Romania??!!). answer saying that the Arctic is the shortest way The Committee immediately started working on to pass from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. In the Drafts. However, delegates weren’t fast the end, the draft resolution sponsored by the enough with the amendments and voting procedure, giving, thus, a hard time to the Board. So in USA was passed under warm applause. What we loved during debate was how much the end we may have been the first to hand the the chairs encouraged all delegates to take the drafts, but the last one to vote on them. During the floor. What we didn’t like was the confusion of last session discussion started on the second topic the words “absent” and “abstain” by the French “Preventing and combating corrupt practices and delegate during the voting procedure and Jor- transfer of funds of illicit origin” dan’s delegate confusion on the procedural ter- By Filippia Cheilitsi minology between point of order and point of parliamentary inquiry. Maybe there are many “points of view” in this case! Second day’s sessions closed with the beginning of the discussion of topic area B concerning nuclear weapons. By Michalis Konstantinidis ECOSOC At the beginning of the second day all delegates where eager to begin discussing the working papers. Finland started the debate by mentioning: “Yesterday ECOSOC we had a very interesting debate and it was good to hear the opinion of all countries”. The Russian Federation declared that: “the Resolution that we want is a co-operative one that will include not only the developed but also the developing countries”, but the answer of USA was: “such a Resolution is unrealistic”. Finally the two coalitions didn’t manage to find a common solution which made the procedure even more complicated. The sponsors of the two Draft Resolutions, Republic of Congo and Germany read out their proposals and were given time to explain their points of view and to answer the posed questions. During the amendments the delegate of Zambia ripped the Drafts Resolution sponsored by Germany by saying: “It’s just a schoolpaper”. France expressed at once its disappointment. The Draft Resolution that finally passed was the first one. During the third session discussions begun on the second topic area “international migration and the youth”. After such a hard day all delegates were looking forward to last night’s party!!! By Maria Katsigianni 3
SECURITY COUNCIL Second day of the Security council’s sessions and the chair congratulated the delegates by saying that he has never seen in his experience better delegates. The Council confronted another crisis in Nigeria, as Libya admitted that the invading troops were part of the Libyan army. The majority of the council members set their support to Nigeria. Later on, the African states held a meeting in order to define the position of each African country upon Nigeria’s situation and sent their proposals to the Security Council. During the meeting Libya stated that there is no intention to occupy Nigeria, and agreed with the points presented by all African countries except for the proposed sanctions. The session continued with the presence of the representatives of Libya and the Republic of Niger. Libya repeated its statement given by the African states meeting and added “The Islamic Republic of Libya invaded in order to protect the Muslims and the Christians. We decided to step in, as UN’s procedures are TIME CONSUMING!” The comment that gave this reporter a smile was the fact that a civil servants’ strike on the borders of Niger impeded its government to realize that 35.000 Libyan troops with heavy machinery passed through its soil to Nigeria! By Valia Meletiou Human Rights Council During yesterday’s Session China, Russia and the U.S.A. each presented their draft resolutions. The subject under consideration was “Human rights and access to safe drinking water and sanitation”. The three representatives approached the bench and explained the main points of their proposals. Then the Delegates discussed them and orally noted their objections. After the announcement of the friendly and the voting of the unfriendly amendments, the Chairs commenced the voting procedure. The outcome of the voting was 17 in favor of Russia, 11 in favor of the U.S.A. and 10 affirmative votes for the resolution of the Peoples’ Republic of China. It is quite encouraging that the HRC, four years after its foundation, came to a massive decision on this issue. The Delegate of Russia attributed the result, to the fact that “we prepared the Paper in common with other countries, so it was a product of the team”. She added that if she had to choose between the other two Papers, she would choose the one of U.SA’s. After the representatives applauded the selected resolution, they started making statements regarding the second topic area “Human Rights and International Solidarity”. What disturbed the focus of the House was the statement of the U.S.A. “the U.S.A is the founder of the world”. Additionally, the representatives were surprised to hear that there is a crisis in Nigeria. The Delegations of Cameroon, Angola and Zambia then had a brief private discussion on the matter. By Athina Tsakalidou 3rd Committee The 3rd day of negotiations started for the 3rd committee of the General Assembly .The delegates continued to work on the first topic area “ Elimination of racism xenophobia and intolerance’’ They firstly discussed Draft Resolution 1.1 which was submitted yesterday evening and sponsored by Chile .The session continued with Draft Resolution 1.2 which was sponsored by Germany . Finally , delegates voted for the second draft resolution which passed with 30 votes in favor , 22 against and 10 abstentions . The committee moved on to topic area B:“ The rights of indigenous people , reconsidering the declaration and moving towards a convention”. Delegates gave the exact definition of indigenous people and discussed about the declaration of their rights. The most energetic delegates were: Germany, Denmark, Syria, China, Spain, D.P.R.K ,Latvia and the U.S.A. The best dressed were: France, Canada. The most eloquent:Denmark, Germany, France, U.S.A., Syria. By Angeliki Biti 4
Council of Europe The two working papers were merged into one and Finland was the sponsor of the draft resolution that was proposed. As the honorable delegate of Finland said: “Through a peaceful procedure an efficient solution was reached in order to combat the problem of domestic violence against women and children”. The session started and shyness was today’s main feature as most of the delegates didn’t want to be added to the speakers’ list. Today was the day that the amendments were examined. Finally, all the delegates voted in favor of the paper which was adopted unanimously. The delegate of the Russian Federation stated: “The 3 Ps are salient principles of this paper: punishment, prosecution and protection”. Afterwards, the next topic area discussed was “Disappointment and lack of political participation leading to ideologically extremist behavior in youth”. The delegates made their points by stating that there has been lack of political participation for a long time. “Young people are not motivated enough to participate in their countries’ politics, there is no quality in education and the needs of the youth are neglected. These are the roots of today’s situation: inappropriate behaviors that lead to anarchy”, as the delegate of Bosnia & Herzegovina declared. The needs to be found because the youth can give a better future for all. We will have to wait until the working paper is submitted… By Chrysoula Kachramanou N.A.C Today's session was inaugurated with a reminder on behalf of Hungary that "journalists are watching you", so delegates should be careful because everything is being reported. Thank you Hungary for the compliment!! The draft communiqué , a joint effort of all delegates, was then introduced. Certain clauses became a matter of further negotiation and after voting on the amendments the delegates voted in favor of the communiqué with 23 votes and no abstentions. They then proceeded to topic area B: "Strengthening cooperation between NATO and Russia". Soon it became clear that country-members wish to further their cooperation with the Russian Federation, but their main obstacle is the lack of trust towards Russians. This was expressed in statements by Canada and others, that the more accessible their territory becomes (as a result of climate change), the bigger the danger from Russia. Several unmoderated caucuses took place and the delegates decided to divide into groups, in order to facilitate the preparation of their suggestions on issues that concern terrorism, piracy, theatre ballistic defence and Afghanistan. Although it seems that certain countries have "political advisors" from the 1st floor, the negotiations are evolving really well. Definitely the outcome will be an outstanding communiqué, so stay tuned! By Maro Lazarou
1st Committee
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Day two of t he ThessIS referendum and our interest is focused and locked on YOU delegates! We got answers though that we did not always expect…….
1. Did you like your chairs? • Today I did….. (anonymous) What about yesterday?! • They are beautiful! (Council of Europe ) I think you missed the point delegate!
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2)Debates or social events? • Debates are the best social events!
(Turkey, SC) • Debates during social events! (Canada) Debates
social events
both
3. 3)What’s your opinion? The other delegates in your committee prefer to speak or write? Are notes included in writing?! Write
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4)Do you follow the rules? • No, the rules follow me (Turkey, SC) Many “smart” answers by the delegate of Turkey. Imagine the debate in the committee! Yes
5.
Almost
No
5) Do you consider your contribution to So & so the debate vital? • Most delegates seem to have a BIG Yes idea of themselves! Lol! No
6. No Yes
6)Did you like the newspaper? • It did not have my picture in it! Anonymous
You are lucky delegate we can not find you and talk to you in person! Lol!
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‘’Presence of Figaro’s army in ThessisMUN territory’’’ Sponsor: The twin brother Signatory: Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Press and Communication, The other twin brother 1. Supports that the delegation of Germany in the 3rd Committee, the Italian one and the delegate of Indonesia in the HRC were the sexiest during the dancing session. 2. Encourages the members of the board to be aware of their braw, when the dress code cannot support the dancing way. 3. Urges the fellow delegation of Demark in the 2nd Committee to focus on only one goal. 4. Calls upon the Republic of Korea’s delegation to do not disturb the members of the staff for unofficial matter. 5. Prohibition of kissing is not in order, but kissing a delegate’s body in the middle of the territory is out of order. 6. Encourages the delegate of People’s Republic of China in the 1st to cooperate better, if he would like to be the next Sakis Rouvas. 7. Supports that becoming a sexy lady dancer is easier than the international strategies. 8. Suggests to the sweaty delegate of Nigeria to stop “’teasing’’ other delegates 9. Thanks our fellow delegate of Pakistan for the tsifteteli dancing up to the table. We wish next time; it will be better and longer. 10. Proposes to all delegates to clean up well their hair, as the adorable hat of the delegate of People’s Republic of China of the HRC was worn from more than 60 delegates. 11. Suggests to the honorable president of GA to do not leave the quorum too early next time. Sorry, but you were OUT OF ORDER. 12. Believes that the delegation of ………in the ….Committee have had the best eyes ever. Keep them forever. 13. Calls all delegates to find out the square flirtation. He may be smiling but STOP Right to Reply is out of order….. sending him notes! Point of information maybe ……
Is this a position paper? I doubt it! Even if it was written on the back of a placard! Is this a draft resolution?!
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