Day 1 Press Release

A Grand Start to a Grand Event
By – Shruti Gupta and Shrija Priyanil
Well, the Mumbai MUN 2013 has kicked off, and what a brilliant start!
Agreed, it started late, but so do all VVIP events, yes? Our dignitaries,
caught in traffic, showed up one by one, and thus started a most
compelling MYLS 2013 session. Oh but, of course, us being the ever
omniscient press, we couldn’t help but notice that introductions to the
EB were a wee bit off, with names getting missed out and
mispronounced. Not a smart thing to do, mispronouncing an IP name.
That too on the first day! Tsk tsk. We choose to ignore it for today,
because we are just so impressed with the set up, the ambience and the
delegates!
The discussion was paneled by Mr. Darayas Malegam, Dr. J. P. Gandhi,
Mrs. Brinda Miller, and Mr. Krishna Warrier. Their opening speeches
took our breath away, compelling us to think sincerely about the topic,
which was "Individuals make a society. Societies make a nation." Mr.
Malegam’s speech was thought provoking and ingenious, as he shared
small quotes and anecdotes to put across a great big idea of leaders. One
of our favorite quotes from this dignitary was “A symphony consists of
many instruments, one of which can be the instrument of rejection. You
can choose to use it. I don’t like it, so I reject it.” Dr. Gandhi’s speech
was insightful, with him talking about this generation, its traits, and
what it takes to become a leader today. Ms. Miller enlightened us about
her experience about organising the Kala Ghoda festival and how an
artist took over the reins from an MBA, and took organising the festival
to the next level. Mr. Warrier gave us a sneak peek into an article that is
to be published in the next issue of the Reader’s Digest and formed the
crux of this opening speech.
These esteemed panelists, being experts in their own right, provided such
a variety of opinions, that one could see our delegates getting restless to
give their own inputs. This restlessness was rather well observed by
Krishna Warrier sir, who made his speech quite interactive, and allowed
delegates to come up and express their own feelings. Mr. Malegam was
an enigma in himself, with his witty retorts, and beautiful phrasing. The
moderator asked a question about whether society was to blame for the
fact that bribing is allowed, or the individual that is doing the bribing..
To which Mr. Malegam slyly replied “If the beach is hot, who do you
blame? The sand or the sun?” The entire hall was filled with thoughtful
laughter. If only the world would be as astute!
Just as the discussion had started a bit late, it continued on a bit after
the stipulated time. But since the discussion was so very engrossing and
thought provoking, nobody really seemed to mind. After a rather
invigorating session which left the delegates much to think about, the
panelists parted, leaving behind their invaluable pearls of wisdom. We
look forward to the next session to continue with the broadening and
enlightening of the minds of the delegates.
Of Political Affairs –A SPECPOL Summary
By – Meghana Rao
The first day of Mumbai MUN SPECPOL committee started out with some
very enlightening pointers on MUNning from the esteemed Executive
Board members, and a not-so-smooth shift of venue. But soon after, the
delegates were settled and the committee was in progress.
With strength of 35 delegates, the committee chose its first agenda - '
Status of Taiwan '. The GSL (General Speakers List) was opened and all
delegates seemed to be at two extremes. Either they were really shy or
were oozing confidence. The first moderated caucus was raised by the
Delegate of Turkey to discuss the One China Policy. This caucus lasted
for 20 minutes and all delegates made notable speeches and interesting
observations. Debate flowed freely and a few delegates seemed to be quite
promising. Not all delegates were well researched, but almost all seemed
to be waving their placards in the air waiting to be recognized.
After failing almost 6 motions, the committee finally settled to debate
upon the Legality of Resolution 2758. Debate on this topic was intense,
with visible inputs from Delegate of USA, Delegate of Iran and Delegate of
the Republic of China. There were heated moments and blatant disregard
being shown, for committee decorum as the Chair was forced to point
out. The next discussion seemed to be centered on the 'Political Status of
Taiwan.’ This seemed to be a modified version of the agenda itself, and
was looked upon with a mixture of amusement and confusion by both
the Chair and the delegates alike.
All in all, it was a productive session and by the end of the day, there
were two working papers on the floor. So for all you delegates out there,
all the very best and may the MUNning begin!
Political Issues (SPECPOL)
By - Meghana Rao
The delegates of the SPECPOL were entertaining to say the least with the
delegate of ROC making up words like ' unprocedural '.
The chair seemed to be frazzled by the tiny print on the placards and
finally burst out saying, 'Put your placards up like someone's punishing
you!' And finally after losing the last shred of patience the vice chair said
in an eerily cool tone, 'Delegates unless you can prove that you are
physically incapable of lifting your arm above your head, your placards
need to be UP!'
And finally, a few special SPECPOL one liners, guaranteed to make you
smirk:
' It’s surprising that Iran talks of peace- the President wants to wipe
Israel off the map' - Delegate of ROC
'China can’t act like bullies' - Delegate of Vietnam
'If ignorance is bliss, delegate of Philippines, you must be overjoyed' Delegate of ROC
'As long as he's not calling you Xieng Pien, it’s not a problem’
Chair to Delegate of ROC
-
'Leave Taiwan alone, China!' - Delegate of Iran
'The delegate of Iran said that he 'believes' Taiwan should continue under
China, so it can choose to believe that the Eiffel Tower is in London'
- Chair to Delegate of USA
‘Taiwan has lost more than a fair share of it’s... Stuff’ - Delegate of USA
'Talk about anything at all delegate! Talk about how your boyfriend
ditched you! Just talk!' – Chair
Right to Reply from Delegate of China :
'France called us greedy!'
Chair of UNESCO: Each and every one of the delegates is speaking
Co Chair of SPECPOL: (cough) B***s*** (cough)
Huge Round of Applause (ECOFIN)
By – Isha Jain
The ECOFIN committee at the Mumbai MUN, 2013, started off with the
Chair spending about an hour outlining the procedure. However, even
after his comprehensive explanation, there were 4 delegates against
setting the agenda. Finally, after a lot of face-palming and reiterating the
procedure, it was set to “Promoting Collective Actions of South Asian
Countries to Reduce Dependency for Energy Resources from the Middle
East.” A few delegates were against discussing this agenda with reasons
such as “The South Asian countries (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan etc.)
aren’t compatible.” With most of the committee enthusiastic to state their
country’s stance, the GSL filled up quickly and debate commenced.
During the GSL, delegates kept forgetting to yield time and there was this
seemingly out of place applause after every delegate spoke. There was a
lot of discussion on efficiency of vehicles, diversifying of imports, the
rocketing prices of fuels and energy bodies (The delegate of Bangladesh
brought up UN energy, which Italy claimed was non-existent but was
later corrected by the Chair)
Disgusted by the lack of focus of the delegates, the Chair lost his
patience and went on to explain the concept of a Moderated Caucus
again and denied Germany’s request to have a half an hour moderated
caucus. The first one of the day began with the topic, “Reasons for the
dependency on Middle East countries.”
By the end of the day, a working paper by China, titled, “Made in
Mumbai,” was introduced, followed by a question-answer session on the
same. With delegates inferring that the working paper was a conspiracy
by China to dominate the economy, the working paper failed. And as per
the tradition set by this year’s ECOFIN… *resounding applause*
Extra, Extra!
By – Isha Jain
ECOFIN’s MUN, began with an informal session involving the Chair
asking committee to raise their placards if they were a Beatles, Ringo
Starr or David Guetta fan. Wearing his “lucky” Superman buckle belt, he
encouraged Iran to call Israel a Zionist pig. And when a delegate asked
for the motion for entertainment to be explained, the Chair stated how
his idea of entertainment is “guys hitting on girls”. Delegate of Bahrain
found committee boring before it even began! He was spotted playing
Temple Run 2, checking his Facebook and surfing the net for memestalk about a short attention span!
Another delegate, who just couldn’t take it anymore was delegate of
Egypt who slept off halfway through session because she was, ahem,
unwell.
Occasionally, procedure was thrown out the window with usage of terms
like “right to comment”, “I just wanted to reply to his thing” and the
usual abstention from procedural vote. The Chair, of course, did his best
to curb these kinds of responses.
USA and China were at each other’s throats throughout committee.
USA’s response to whether she likes China was an immediate no with a
sour face, and she expressed her animosity by stating “China is eating
up resources and is constantly changing its stance.” Furthermore, the
delegate of Israel (who is a Malagasy from Madagascar by origin)
complained, “Middle eastern countries do not revert to accusations!”
There was also a “misunderstanding” between to rapporteur and
Delegate of Italy because of a fake (and flirty) chit sent asking the
rapporteur who she was going to the social with. Speaking of Italy, his
way of encouraging delegates to join his bloc was by saying “We give you
pasta!” Delegate, the way to a women’s heart is not through her stomach,
but you wouldn’t be needing that, would you? A lot of delegates were
seen eyeing him with “What’s cookin’ good lookin’ ?” looks.
A delegate who wishes to remain anonymous also wanted the press to
take note of the “politics played by the Chair". When asked what kind of
politics, the delegate said “He was having a chat with the delegate of
China during formal session”. China, not many delegates like you...
Committee ended with the Executive Board honouring the delegate of
USA with a garland of Bingo chips, a t-shirt and Orangina for a
commendable performance!
UNESCO: Education of the Girl Child
By – Mitali Shah
The much awaited Mumbai MUN 2013 sessions started after brunch,
with UNESCO highlighting their first agenda of discussion, Discussing
Important Educational Programmes in South Asia to Further Education
of the Girl Child.
A motion to commence was passed followed a general speakers list where
the delegates of the various countries pointed out their views regarding
the topic. The motion was commenced by Pakistan who brought to light
the social, cultural and militant factors that have affected a girl child and
her right to education. The topic was further highlighted by India who
stated that there should be campaigns and schools set up in rural areas
to promote girl child education. This led to the introduction of the motion
to pass a moderated caucus by Pakistan on the topic problems faced to
achieve higher rate of education for the girl child, the time allotted was
15mins with each speaker speaking for a minute. As initiated by
Pakistan, the delegate spoke about male dominance being an important
factor that has suppressed women from her basic rights. Poly-marriages,
girl child labor, early marriages are big hurdles as stated by Cambodia.
France sympathized Pakistan’s condition and offered help if required.
Poverty is also a pervasive factor, which is an obstacle for a woman
towards her quest for education according to the delegate of Belgium.
The moderated caucus brought about intense topics of discussion
regarding violation of a woman’s right to education. Belgium also
suggested gender budgeting in order to keep a check on gender-based
inequality happening in Pakistan for the education of the girl child. Other
counties like Nigeria and Ecuador emphasized on religion and orthodox
societies that have confined women only to work for household purposes.
The moderated caucus was then concluded with all the causes being
focused on in detail. There was a short tea break that took place for the
delegates to relax. After a break of 15mins the committee continued its
proceedings with countries further speaking according to their turn on
the general speakers list. Another moderated caucus was passed by
Algeria to bring about solutions for promoting girls education. Majorly all
countries agreed upon points like providing incentives, enforcing laws for
making education for girl child a compulsion, development and
increasing the awareness for the need of education of a girl child, making
primary education free. Bahrain stated the importance of woman
representation for educating girls. Although there were good points
noted, the discussion was mostly repeating the same points again and
again. The discussion was adjourned with no concrete resolution being
passed.
Population Explosion in UNESCO
By – Mitali Shah
As interesting as MUNS are, UNESCO was one such committee
with a population explosion as high as the amount of people trying
to fit themselves in a tiny rickshaw in Vietnam. With a classroom
full of delegates it looked more like a fish market, jibber-jabbing
their way to glory. It was rather astonishing to find the neither of
the major players, like USA were a part of the UNESCO. The
committee got a lot more interesting when the chair decided to keep
an auction for those who wished to be the major players. Way to go
Chair! Things got way more interesting when the Chair realized that
the committee consisted of 35 countries but during the voting
process they found out 32 countries voted for and 8 voted against.
Where is the math? After counting the number of votes a gazillion
times the chair preferred going with “oh, I see many hands up,
MOTION PASSED!” The discussion was rather monotonous and
long. One of the Chair members got so fascinated by the job of the
press that he provided us with all the inputs required. The director
of UNESCO supposedly awaits the MUN to get over; as he feels that
he’s absolutely jobless in the committee. The chair of SPECPOL
was one person who stayed in the committee for the longest…
wonder who he had his eyes on! With more points coming up and
the discussion getting intense the delegate of Pakistan looked rather
happy with the alliance with the delegate of the Republic of Korea.
There was an entertainment session where the Chair was forced to
dance on the Harlem shake while his fellow delegates hooted.
Decorum please! There were flowers for the delegate of France and
the Republic of Korea. Yes, some action in UNESCO. The Chair was
nice enough to encourage delegates that did not utter a word by
rewarding them with chocolates and the Press too! The delegate of
Guatemala caught everyone off guard by her comment “legalization
of prostitution “. We can see how well that promotes girl child
education. The Secretary-in-General kicked out the delegate of
Russia for posing for a picture while her fellow delegate of India
voiced his points. We have some posers in the group! And she got
punished for that too. His words were ”you insulted your fellow
delegate, so you have to write an apology letter to your fellow
delegate and write a three stanza poem in A-B-A-B format”. So
much for entertainment. The session was later adjourned with
Belgium winning the best speaker for the session award for giving
proper facts and France, the second position.
SOCHUM – A Committee At Work!
By – Ambika Malhotra
The agenda for the first session of SOCHUM was food security in
Cambodia and Laos. There were a total of 26 members present in
committee but several important nations like India, Pakistan and
Cambodia were not present. Most countries took active part in the debate
but China, USA and Saudi Arabia emerged as the key players in
SOCHUM. Countries discussed the long term as well as the short term
solutions and also the factors affecting the food security in Cambodia.
The root cause of the problem of food security was discussed in the
moderated
caucus
which
was
lack
of
political
stability,
underdevelopment, no transport facilities, illiteracy and soil erosion.
Countries like Sweden and Canada offered support to Cambodia in the
form of farming technique expertise. The committee also saw a heated
debate between the delegates of China and Saudi Arabia. The delegate of
Saudi Arabia condemned the comments made by the delegate of China
about Arab sheiks buying food from poor countries at lower rates and
asked the delegate to furnish proof before defaming the country.
Two working papers were made in the unmoderated caucus. The authors
of the first working paper were Norway and China. The working paper
was discussed in committee but it was not passed as it was very vague
and did not provide any absolute solutions. The authors of the second
working paper were USA and Saudi Arabia. The working paper was
widely debated upon and then passed by the committee. Some of the
clauses mentioned in the working paper were establishment of institutes
for research, improving agricultural produce, organic farming and
providing financial aid.
The SOCHUM Shake
By – Ambika Malhotra
The first session of SOCHUM at the Mumbai MUN started with the
explanation of the MUN procedures. The first time MUNners were all ears
whereas the experienced MUNners kept themselves busy on BBM.
The agenda discussed was food security in Cambodia and Laos but the
two countries themselves were missing in action. Though the discussion
was about food security, the committee itself was very self sufficient
(courtesy the OC who brought in chips and drinks)
The debate started with several placard problems (Columbia being
addressed as Cambodia due to an extremely small font size on the
placards!) the EB even asked the delegate of Saudi Arabia “Is your
president dead?”, as the placard was raised upside down by the delegate.
Several countries put forward their opinions on the issue but USA,
China, Saudi Arabia and Syria were the key players in the committee.
One even saw a lot of friction between China and Saudi Arabia (the latter
even called China “ultra defensive”!)
The delegates remained very serious but the same could not be said
about the EB. The chair kept fiddling with his pen and walked around
while conducting the debate instead of being seated. Bending of rules
was not a problem for the EB as a motion was passed in spite of
delegates opposing it (so much for procedures!)But the very next moment
the delegate of China was asked to give a written apology in Chinese for
not following parliamentary rules!
The intense session ended with a Motion to Entertainment in which the
delegates of USA and China showed some Bollywood moves on house
music. The perfect ending for the session was provided by the OC, by
making the committee do the “Harlem Shake “ and explained to the
delegates the way they were supposed to move their “hip muscles and
chest muscles”!!
Where did the Delegates go? (SAARC)
By – Hana Masood
The Committee for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
began with confusion. First of all, the committee was composed of a
grand total of ten delegates, out of which two delegates had been
accidentally appointed the same delegation; of Bhutan, after which one
delegate chose to represent Japan and not Sri Lanka, which just so
happens to be an important nation in the SAARC. Speaking of SAARC
nations, Afghanistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka weren’t even in committee for
the entire day. While this was being sorted out, the board along with
guest chair, the Under-Secretary-General of Crisis Affairs Harshad Rane,
briefed the delegates with procedure, but in vain.
Committee began by discussing the second agenda regarding border
disputes among the SAARC nations. As expected, the discussion began
with the delegates discussing the much debated Kashmir Valley conflict.
The final delegate of Bhutan seemed to be more interested in the
economic aspects of the issue rather than on settling the political unrest.
However he didn’t need to, because for the first time ever, the delegates
of India and Pakistan seemed to be working together and agreeing with
each other’s arguments. They even co-authored a working paper titled
“The Ministers Of” (Don’t ask how it got its name), where both the
delegates jointly seemed to want to declare Kashmir as a ‘sovereign,
independent state’ and ‘wave off export duties’ for goods from the
proposed independent Kashmir, along with the mention of ‘hard’ and
‘soft’ borders, the concept of which this press delegate did not
understand at all. The poor delegates of India and Pakistan had to go
through a gruelling question and answer session by the board of
directors, wherein the delegate of Pakistan insisted that NRIs don’t hold
Indian passports. The motions that followed did not contribute to debate
at all, and the SAARC was seeming to be very boring.
Cue the high tea, the departure of the delegate of Bhutan, the arrival of
the delegate of Maldives and an informal session between the delegates
and the board of directors that really changed things around. The second
session was charged up, with the delegates of India and Pakistan finally
realizing that they’re enemies. Pakistan called India a ‘war mongering
nation’ that was ‘encroaching borders’, after which he had to send the
delegate of India a formal written apology. But it didn’t stop there. Taking
advantage of the fact that the delegate of India had left committee to
attend to a phone call, Pakistan happily described India as ‘imperialistic’,
while ending his very dramatic speech by saying “Kashmir is like the
jugular vein of Pakistan”. But no, things didn’t just stop there. Just as
things were looking up for the delegate of Pakistan he decided to shoot
himself in the foot by saying that Kashmir should have free and fair
plebiscite, while Pakistan won’t settle for less than complete control. This
press delegate strongly urges the delegate of Pakistan to think before he
speaks.
Needless to say, the Kashmir Valley conflict was discussed for four hours
with almost no progress in committee. It was only until the end of the
day that the truth was revealed; none of the delegates had read the study
guides. Well, delegates of the SAARC, if this is the case, may God help
you. Let’s hope you’ve done your homework for today.
Boredom strikes SAARC
By – Hana Masood
Where does the press delegate begin with the SAARC? First of all,
delegate of India, calling the rest of the committee ‘stupid’ right at the
outset of the first session doesn’t make you any smarter, especially if you
raise a frivolous point of order saying ‘frivolous point of order’. Delegate
of China, I’m sure you’re the only person in committee who knew what
you meant by saying ‘circumcising borders’, because from the sound of
it, it doesn’t sound very pleasant and definitely shouldn’t be something to
be discussed in a peace-keeping body. Also, you really need to stop
doodling in committee. Although the press delegate thanks you profusely
for submitting all your chits directly to her. You will be spared from
scrutiny by the press in the next session.
The delegate of Pakistan, who bears an uncanny resemblance to
Mohammed Ali Jinnah (his profile; notice closely and you’ll know what
I’m talking about) certainly is a very interesting person with a rather
dirty mind, who ‘doesn’t need any reason to keep raising it’ (he claims to
be talking about his placard, but who knows?). We’ve heard of politics
making strange bed-fellows, but the delegates of India and Pakistan took
that a little too seriously. Everybody certainly took a sigh of relief when
their little bromance ended after the first session.
A word of advice, delegates. Please listen to the board of directors.
Getting gagged and barred from committee isn’t really what anybody
would expect from a committee of just ten people. Your committee will
definitely be boring then, and you’ll have to wait for the chair to say a
word like ‘condominium’ again so you can derive a slight sense of
entertainment.
Delegates and respected chairperson, ‘more better’ is a redundant
statement, please go back to the third grade and revise your degrees of
comparison. However, the press commends the chairperson’s green shirt
as it complemented his skin tone perfectly. On the other hand, the
delegate of Australia really needed to wear a pair of tights under her
skirt. Also, delegates of Australia and India, voted for themselves as the
hottest delegates. For the first time, the press has nothing to say.
The delegate of Bangladesh was on another tangent altogether, narrating
a story about spicy food and claiming to have signed treaties with
Mamata Banerjee to resolve border conflict. I’m sure Harshad Rane cried
last night because she called him arrogant and ugly. Not the best thing
to say to an Under-Secretary-General, don’t you think?
Delegate of Japan, we know your delegation was changed last minute,
but that doesn’t mean you regard China as one of the most powerful
countries of the SAARC. Maldives was certainly very impressive. The
press delegate is quite sorry to say this, but she doesn’t remember the
other delegations as they didn’t speak even once. Please do so, you
haven’t come to Mumbai’s best MUN for nothing.
Apart from constant yawning, the chairperson did make a couple of
powerful statements, the best one being saying “You sound like
Azerbaijan” to a strange sound made by our beloved delegate of China.
Although this committee did not discuss much, it certainly was very
entertaining. But all is not fun and games, delegates. The press urges all
of you to bring the committee forward and make it a success otherwise
too. But keep the slight lack of logic going, it makes for some fascinating
gossip!
All work and some Harlem shakes!
(UNSC)
By - Heli Shukla
Wistfully chewing on Afghan Tawa Masala chips, the Security Council
discussed issues faced by war-ravaged Afghanistan on Day One of
Mumbai MUN. Session One started after lunch with the sassy UNSC
Chair Urvi Thakkar warning the delegates to not behave, “like you’re
sitting in a garden. This is the UNSC. Behave accordingly.” And needless
to say, the UNSC behaved.
The agenda at hand was the current situation in Afghanistan. Discussion
in committee began with a promising speech by the Delegate of China
which was followed by a moderated caucus. Questions of relevance were
raised, some in support of Afghanistan and some in support of the
‘moderate Taliban’.
Throughout these discussions, the Delegate of
Cambodia kept showing his (over) enthusiasm to the committee. His
eagerness to speak in committee is what caused him to hold his placard
upside down multiple times and also earned him a punishment from the
Chair. He was barred from committee and was asked to write ‘Urvi’s
Poem’ (it’s an SC thing) ten times on a sheet of paper.
While the eager Delegate of Cambodia was punished, Delegate of the
Russian Federation made his presence felt in the committee with a
factual error. You have to be Russia to not know if NATO has indeed
been recognized by the UN. Moving on, discussions on the agenda
continued swiftly in the committee. The delegate of China made certain
gross remarks about the (weird) practices of the Taliban. Every delegate
in the room cringed for a moment. So did the Press.
Around this time, the council lost their focus on the agenda for a while.
This did not escape the eyes of the Chair and she immediately asked the
delegates to come back to the agenda and do something productive
before the end of the day. Thus, the council broke into an un-moderated
caucus for half an hour. Post the un-moderated caucus, the diligent
delegates of the SC came up with two working papers. These papers
were discussed with a round of questions to the respective authors.
MUN-otony had now set into the council. Secretary General Anansh
Prasad came into the council with a much needed motion for
entertainment. This motion involved dancing to the Harlem shake. Every
delegate in the committee danced their hearts out!
The sessions for the day came to an end after discussions on both the
working papers. All in all, it was a very productive day for the UNSC.
Press Fodder from the Delegates of
UNSC!
By – Heli Shukla
The Security Council is a serious committee (with the awesome-est
Chair) .But their discussions do not take our attention away from the
lovely delegates. Certain Delegates in the Security Council sure had their
quirks to add to the committee. We present to you, the best and worst
from the SC.
The Delegate of U.S.A.: The Press really liked his fashionable checkered
blazer and also his very tasteful badge that read, ‘Are you a resolution?
I’d like to table you’. Also, this delegate had an obsession to ‘quoteunquote’ every statement he made. We wonder why!
Delegate of Cambodia: This delegate gets a bagful of sugar from the
Press. We want him to keep his energy levels up throughout this MUN,
for speaking out of turn in committee and for writing that poem 20 times
over.
Delegates who slept through the first day: Here’s some coffee. Wake
up in tomorrow’s sessions, yes?
The Delegate of Egypt gets a special mention for being the first delegate
to receive a Mumbai MUN t-shirt from the Chair. Go Egypt!
And lastly, two minutes of silence for all the beautiful paper bags that lie
strewn around in class.
UNHRC – The King of Moderated Caucus
By – Arushi Saksena
Day 1 in the UNHRC was quite productive with the presence of all the
countries of the P5 in committee, except Russian Federation. It started
with the EB explaining the rules of procedure (as always), followed by the
delegate of the United Kingdom successfully setting the agendas in the
default order: agenda one followed by agenda two.
The first agenda of the UNHRC is ‘Human Rights Violations in Western
Myanmar’ and along expected lines, the delegate of Myanmar himself
chose to be the first speaker on the GSL. Almost immediately, the
delegate of UK raised a point of order against him and yes, it was the
age-old ‘use-of-personal-pronouns’ point of order.
In fact, the committee was then asked by the chair NOT to raise a point
of order for the same. After a few speakers on the GSL, UK proposed a
motion to set a moderated caucus on ‘freedom of speech, freedom of
religion’ to which, ‘special emphasis on freedom of press’ was added
later.
This was probably the longest moderated caucus of the day with several
motions to keep extending the total time, so that it could be further
discussed. It was also one of the most eventful moderated caucuses of
the day.
On the one hand, Cuba believed that the government has the right to
censor things, to some extent. While on the other, China felt censoring of
Press should be removed as a whole.
Myanmar then told the committee that laws for censorship have been
eased. He also stated that delegates were referring to outdated facts.
When the EB asked for points OR motions on the floor, Argentina said
“Points of Motion to start with the GSL”
Finally, after a few speakers on the GSL and many attempts to pass
several motions for moderated caucuses, the session’s second moderated
caucus about child soldiers ensued. As the caucus goes on, the delegate
of Pakistan started to question UK and USA’s minimum age for recruiting
soldiers and received nothing but ignorance from the respective
delegates. The Chair then reminded the delegate of Morocco that Yahoo!
News is not counted as a verified source. Go figure, Morocco.
After a long day of discussion, UK proposed a motion to have an
unmoderated caucus to prepare a working paper because it is
“absolutely necessary” and at last, a working paper was introduced by
UK and Thailand. Satisfyingly enough, almost all the delegates of the
committee appreciated this working paper. The delegate of USA even
declared recognition of Burma as Myanmar. Congratulations folks.
Towards the end, after the EB hinted to the committee that they were
looking for a motion to adjourn committee for the day, the delegate of UK
(who should be labeled as the king of moderated caucuses) chose to
move into a moderated caucus instead of going home. Obviously, his
motion failed and the UNHRC adjourned for the day.
Entertainment AWOL (UNHRC)
By – Arushi Saksena
If one had to sum up Day 1 in the UNHRC entertainment-wise, there's
not much to say. Where was the motion for entertainment? Where were
the scandals? The drama? The flirting? Delegates! Where was the juice?
Delegate of North Korea wearing jeans to a formal conference! How
classy.
Funnily enough, there was an unusually large amount of Internet users
within the committee. Sri Lanka using the restricted website, Wikipedia
during committee was only the beginning of these wrong-doings! Brazil,
is your Facebook timeline more interesting than child soldiers in
Myanmar? Delegate of Turkey sneakily managed to use phone Internet to
write down some additional points in her notepad. Bold move, guys.
Errors in parliamentary procedure was another hilarious aspect of
UNHRC: China asked for a right to follow-up to a point of order;
Uruguay, Columbia and Morocco’s excessive cross-talk was one too
many times tolerated by the chair until Uruguay and Columbia were
suspended from committee for five minutes; and when things couldn’t
get any more unreal, USA got point of ordered for speaking in
unparliamentarily language by calling his own President ‘Black’.
North Korea did not support democracy but was in favor of democracy in
other countries. Uganda: sounded like Myanmar is saying “I know that I
am doing something wrong and I will keep doing it, but if the UN tells me
not to, I will stop.”
As for the EB, royal case taking was aplenty:
Chair: Delegate of Bahrain did your leader just pass away?
Bahrain: What? No!
Chair: Then why is your placard upside down?
UK: Point of personal privilege. The delegate is extremely hungry!
Chair: Delegate, what do you want the executive board to do about it?
(Argentina gets a rose saying ‘Best of luck’)
Morocco: That’s it?
EB: What else do you want?
Chair: Delegate of China… delegate of Canada… delegate of blank
placard (Columbia holding his placard the other way)
Chair: Delegates in favor? UK, is that a yes?
UK: Yes.
Chair: You’ve been raising your placard since a long time.
UK: I’m desperate.
Chair: Don’t be so desperate.
The delegates of UNHRC may not be flirty, but there are some hidden
feelings stirring amongst other delegates for the delegate of China and
the delegate of Turkey (voted best-looking guy and girl in committee
respectively). Of course, when Uganda was asked who’s the best-looking
guy, his answer was a rather humble, “Me!”
All in all, even the most serious of discussions unraveled a plethora of
good memories.
DISEC in a Daze
By – Pratika Madhur
The session for the day at the DISEC committee started off, delayed by
the missing roll call sheet. The chair began by giving a few pointers to the
40 odd delegates, most of whom were first timers, with an exhaustive list
of queries. After some deliberation, the committee chose to discuss the
first agenda : Demilitarization of the South China Sea.
After failing the first three moderated caucuses, they finally settled to
discuss "the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea." This caucus
mainly consisted of large sections of the members accusing the Delegate
of PRC of dominating and monopolizing the flow of trade in the
concerned area, this being after his statements about ownership of the
sea, since they had "conquered Vietnam and assumed control."
Discussions at this point were restricted to just about 30% of those
present with the delegates of Republic of China, Lebanon, Nigeria
and USA giving notable inputs. Hence to "give some direction" to the
discussions, the Chair proposed an unmoderated caucus for 20 minutes.
The end results of this, however, seemed to just add more chaos to the
already chaotic situation here at DISEC.
The cycle of unproductive parliamentary debate started all over again
and went up to 6:30pm, when the chair finally lost her cool and
expressed her concerns over the legitimacy of discussions. Sessions were
adjourned for the day with the hopes of a more constructive debate the
next day.
In conclusion, though the commitee was largely unstructured, it did have
it's moments, given the large number of first timers, and young
MUNners. Here's wishing you all a fruitful two days ahead!
FIRST time MUNners, ALL the time
Confused (DISEC)
By – Pratika Madhur
Five minutes into DISEC session basically spelt utter confusion. I get
that it’s everybody's first time and all, but it just seemed to resemble a
grade school with no one really being able to distinguish between a point
of order and a point of inquiry! The first hour seemed to pass with pop
quizzes on MUN procedures, the Delegate of Pakistan trying to change
his country and other such senseless things. Chaps finally subsided,
with the Delegate of Japan voicing my concerns "What’s going on?"
Thank the lord.
Delegates seemed to be frazzled, confused and nervous, and the added
fact that everyone was clueless created a perfect recipe for unproductive
discussions.
Finally the chair urged them to raise the motion for the opening of the
GSL, except duh they didn't know how to. Anyway, they learnt and then
from then on it was all smooth sailing. Just kidding. No one knew what
they were doing. There was an unexplained amount of enthusiasm from
the delegates towards the various honorary people entering the
committee. Moderated caucuses were going, well really nowhere with
everyone basically ganging up against the Delegate of Republic of China.
Unmoderated caucuses went in vain, with more action in the bathroom
than the committee. Juice was being spilt around and delegates jumping
on tables. This is where Mama Chair started getting a bit worried, much
to the amusement of the paparazzi. (She was such a doll.) Things got
quite boring after this. The committee v/s delegate of PRC was getting
quite repetitive too. Honestly, I think I dozed a bit. But so did the
logistics. And the rapperteur. But then the PRC had had enough and
openly threatened to "give thus other countries a taste of their power by
deploying military vessels in the Southern Chose Sea, and various other
places." Obviously this led to more resentment amongst the other
members, with delegates saying they weren't afraid of war. Woaaah, wait.
Isn't this all about demilitarization? With nothing happening after this I
went for a walk. On returning I saw two new additions of delegates of
Vietnam and Iran, who were making things quite interesting. But then
they just walked out, as they were members of EB. A few of us got
punked!
Nonsensical discussions with little direction continued. I found myself
chatting with random people (these 8th graders are too cute) Also, a
delegate received a flower from a secret admirer, compliments on her
eyes and all!
The session ended, at around 6.45 pm with the chair giving the delegates
an inspirational speech. Or was it a much needed ultimatum? I couldn't
decide.
So all in all DISEC has been, interesting, and though it did have
promising speakers, there was little effort to work collectively. The
Delegate who asked for a motion for entertainment was threatened to be
suspended.
I do hope things get better for you. All the very best, especially to the
Delegate of PRC, please let us know if you need a flower or a chocolate.
And yes, get your behinds to work, your chair tells us she means
business and isn't going to be all that nice of a mommy today.
Global Village 2013 (Socials – Day 1)
As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. So here are a few
thousand words for your reminiscence.
Press Release Day 1 for MumbaiMUN 2013 credits go to –
Shruti Gupta
Shrija Priyanil
Ambika Malhotra
Hana Masood
Mitali Shah
Meghana Rao
Pratika Madhur
Arushi Saksena
Isha Jain
Heli Shukla
All photographs credit goes to –
Urvash Chehhra