THIMUN's Fashionistas

BY: JACQLYN HANNA, PRESBYTERIAN LADIES COLLEGE SYDNEY

Delegates from all over the world gather together at THIMUN-Singapore, bringing with them their individual fashion styles.
Standing in the midst of the stressed and anxious young teenagers, a sense of personality and professionalism emerges through the clothing they are wearing. The female members are seen in dresses, skirts and shirts, pants and shirts, and suits, while the male participants are all in suits with a large variety of colored ties and shirts, expressing who they are.
The past two days at THIMUN-Singapore, presents us with black as the most popular color worn by both male and female candidates. The hue black demonstrates a sense of formality and seriousness, which is how these teenagers want to be perceived.
“The fashion this year has definitely improved since last year. The girls seem to be expressing who they are more here at THIMUN-Singapore than they have at previous conferences, which I think is fantastic. The boys also seem to be courageous with their brightly colored shirts and ties,” said GA 3 Delegate of Thailand Renée Klioufis.
Although the females are in suits, they have each added their own personal touch to their outfits through their accessories. The most popular accessories seem to be large designer bags and colorfully printed scarves.
GA 2 Delegate of Liechtenstein Anton Kabischa, commented on the current fashion at this year’s THIMUN-Singapore conference, saying, “People should be combining their jackets and pants, and making sure they fit. I also like pointy shoes on both males and females. The badges do not really work well with most people’s outfits, so they should be subtler. Scarves are also really fashionable on girls.”
A popular trend amongst the male delegates is the combination of plain suit pants with patterned jackets and ties. Striped shirts are also in style.
Kahyun Park, Manas Bajaj, and Jingshen Zhao, Chair and Deputy Chairs of GA 1, stated, “We like grey, stripes, and black. Everyone seems to look acceptable. Earlier today in the Student Officers meeting, we had people wearing inappropriate clothing, so the Secretary General said not to wear anything that would make people cringe, and no converse shoes!”
The majority of females at the conference seem to have opted for flat comfortable shoes, as opposed to stilettos and other shoes that are based on looks rather than comfort.
The floral patterns, stripes and spots seen in bright colors on the female participants’ skirts and scarves, compliment the males’ ties, bringing together a sense of unity between all the members from all over the world. With bright colors coming through all the outfits, Delegate of Ireland Cristie Kennedy, said, “There are fascinating trends, and the bright colors are interesting.”
Chair of GA 2 Yoon Siang, summed up the overall fashion at this year’s THIMUN-Singapore as, “Pretty decent. Both the females and males are all dressed formally and appropriately.”

Advisory Panel on the Question of Nepal

by Emily Kim, Korea International School

With a room only a fourth the size of General Assembly and the small debating circle consisting of ten seats, one could easily stereotype the APQN forum as rather quiet. However, the enthusiastic, passionate delegates – or rather, “experts” – disaprove this assumption. Talkative participants like the zealous expert of the Communist Party of Nepal stimulated the debate, continuously presenting new amendments to the clauses.
As the forum itself is called the Advisory Panel on the Question of Nepal, APQN focuses on the issue of developing and stabilizing the small Himalayan nation. Conflict in Nepal started as Maoist rebels sought for a people’s republic in a country that had been a monarchy for over 200 years. The experts in APQN have had a hard time coming up with the perfect resolution. On top of the economic issues, there is the difficulty of reaching all the Nepali citizens living in rural, mountainous areas. Debaters are to recognize the different roots of the problem and come up with both political and humanitarian solutions.
Because the group is so small, the debaters got to know each other very quickly. By break time, everyone was busy socializing with one another, although most of the conversation revolved around MUN-related subjects. This intimacy among the participants helps create a more relaxed environment, which probably explains why the APQN room is not as tense as some of the bigger forums that have delegates eager to attack one another.
Another advantage of having a small group is that because everyone can be heard in the little discussion circle, there is no need for microphones, and thus, podiums. point of informations are simply asked in each expert’s seat, and for speeches and amendments, all they need to do is stand up and present.

ICJ –Intense, Concentrated, and Jumping with Joy

By EUNJI RHEE, INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF BEIJING

“Today [the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is] here to debate the delimitation of the maritime borders of Peru and Chile. We’ll be referring to international laws and listening to the cases that both countries bring to the court,” explained Judge Aisha Fakhroo from American School of Doha. Fakhroo added, “This case dates back to a long time ago, so we also have to consider previous cases.”
A long time is right. The dispute over the borderlines of Peru and Chile surfaced in 1879 when Peru and Bolivia engaged in a four year war against Chile over this matter. While Peru claimed that the marital border was undefined, Chile claimed that it was, in the Santiago Treaty of 1952. The controversy has grown more intense and finally in 2008, Peru decided to bring the case to The Hague. At THIMUN Singapore 2008, The ICJ committee will discuss this case for two days.
“On the first day of trial, we had an opening statement, followed by an introduction of evidence from the advocates of Peru and Chile. We evaluated the evidence by the significance it held, and then Chile called for three witnesses,” said President Jessica Hung from Overseas Family School. The ambassadors of Ecuador, the United States, and Chile stood as witnesses in favor of Chile. On the second day, the trial began with the ambassador of Peru, a witness that the advocates of Peru called for. The intense and incessant questioning from both Peru and Chile surrounding this witness exemplified the gravity of this hot debate.
The advocates of the two countries showed determination to win. “We think we are better prepared, with a multi-faceted case to back us up. We also have many more pieces of evidence,” remarked advocates of Chile, Chong Kee En and Toh Jia Jun from Hwa Chong Institution. Advocates of Peru, Jesse Chang and Hunter Putzke from the American School in Taichung, disagreed: “We believe that our case will succeed because the Santiago Treaty states that the border would be defined from the parallel to the land border in the presence of islands, which, there are none.” Although engaged in such an intense debate, the advocates are happy to be here. Chang added, “This is my first time in ICJ, and I’m glad to have this wonderful opportunity.”
Overall, events in ICJ seem promising. As Registrar Varun Arte from the International School of Beijing commented, “The forum is enriching, advocates are focused, witnesses are well prepped, and the judges are keen.”

Showing Potential of the Youths

BY: HEE SANG PARK, BEIJING WORLD YOUTH ACADEMY

Although their forum follows a very different procedure, representatives of theYouth Assembly have the same concerns and attitudes toward global issues as delegates of other forums. What sets the Youth Assembly members apart is their enthusiasm. Chair of the 1st forum of the Youth Assembly, Charles Tsai from the International School of Beijing, described the forum, as an experience which “ brings youth to solve global issues.”
The Youth Assembly works on an action paper, which is quite different from a resolution. Tsai explained it as “People who are in the same level as us establishing solutions,” and repeated the significant role in society by citing it as an example of the change a real-world organization made a few years ago just because of one action paper submitted in the Youth Assembly. He looked forward to his fellow co-workers finishing their work on time with fresh suggestions to embellish action papers and attempt to have a great impact on the plenary session this Saturday.
The Action Paper was the one task that they pursued with limited variety of readers, but people in each forum of the Youth Assembly also worked on group projects to appeal to a wider range of the population. The project aimed to relate to as many parts of the world as possible by actively using media that allows a great amount of people to access it. This year, forums of the Youth Assembly worked on assignments such as making web pages and videos.
Enthusiasm of the Youth Assembly is apparent not only when considering the projects that they have been working on, but also from interviewing delegates. Kevin Wu from Shanghai American School aims to “find out ways to increase global citizens and encourage youth to do more work for a world.” He thinks “children these days are too obsessed with their own world,” and explained that the Action Paper of Forum 1 will concern itself with how to urge youth to become more globalized citizens. Ji Hye (Amy) Park in forum 2 who is from Qingdao MTI International School also found the action paper to be very significant regarding the issue of “being aware of severity of gas emission and child labour” because she realizes that she is taking actions to support the solving of problems by making videos about them. Lastly in forum 3, when asked about his topic in Youth Assembly, Gabriel Macbeth, International School of Beijing said, “I think the problems are worth while topics that substantially affect both the world and personal lives.”

Human Rights

BY: YURA JUNG, KOREA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

As the delegate of Italy, (Krithka Chandra Mouli, Ruamrudee International School), begins to read her operative clauses, the first debate of the Human Rights Council started successfully. “This resolution is precise and effective. It also tackles the issue point by point. Moreover, it’s flexible without loopholes. Therefore, it is utmost important for the resolution to pass for the protection of indigenous people, ” said the delegate confidently.
The first resolution on Wednesday dealt with the Implementation of the Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Starting with a quiet debate, the Human Rights Council progressed to an ardent discussion with strong feelings on both sides of the issue. Arguing against the resolution, the delegate of Bangladesh, (Dennis Kim, Yongsan International School of Seoul), spoke passionately about his stance on this issue and by the time he walked back to his seat, the room was filled with points of both agreement and disagreement. At the encouragement of the chairs, even the most timid delegates overcame their nervousness and spoke out their country’s opinion pertaining the resolution. Yet, as the number of delegates making speeches or points of information dwindled, the chairs once again rectified the quiet atmosphere by calling a caucus time, where the delegates were given three minutes to discuss the resolution with other delegates.
The room was filled with varying opinions about the resolution. Those who claimed that the resolution failed to recognize a effective solution reasoned their opinions by agreeing with the speech made by the Federation of Russia, (Sarah Han, Mont’ Kiara International School), who stated that the resolution only had “recommendations, but no valid solutions to carry out.” However, there were delegates who full heartily supported the resolution such as the delegate of Canada (Jason Lee, International School of Beijing), who claimed that the resolution “brings hope to the world.” Others, who were mute about their precise opinions about the resolution made amendments to enhance the resolution- out of the three amendments made by the delegates, two amendments passed.
Yet, when the delegate of Bangladesh gave a humorous speech against the resolution, many delegates in the room seemed convinced by his simple rhetoric query, “How many of the countries do you think will follow this resolution?” The question reminded the delegates to consider the countries they are representing rather than their personal opinions.
After numerous convincing speeches by both sides about the resolution, many delegates were left capricious, not knowing which side better pertained better to their representing countries. Nonetheless, after 90 long minutes of for and against speeches, points of information, and amendments, the committee moved to the voting procedures. With 31 votes against, 5 votes for, and 18 votes abstaining, the resolution failed. Despite the well-written solutions scrutinized in the two-page resolution, it was not appropriate for many of the countries in the forum. Although a resolution was not passed about the issue of the Implementation of the Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples, many delegates became more aware of the abundant solutions to the issue.

ECOSOC

ECOSOC started its day with an intense debate on 2010 World population and the Housing Census Program. Every delegate seemed to be fully prepared and eager to stand out. The delegates of USA and Poland were the two main submitters of the first resolution debated. However, the first resolution seemed to show that United States was no longer a superpower— at least not in the U.N.
The delegate of USA started the debate with a convincing speech. However, when the chair asked for points of information, an ocean of arms shot up. The delegate of USA answered with some difficulty, citing information regarding monetary restrictions, responsibilities issues, and moral issues.
The delegate of New Zealand questioned the US delegate as to why the Security Council was responsible for holding and taking down records of financial transactions used for aid, and sending all records, claiming that the Security Council was not related to population issues. The US delegate replied by stating that the clause included relating organizations as well.
Even after the supporting speech by the delegate of Poland, points of information and amendment proposals continued. Another major issue that many nations objected to was the two clauses in the resolution concerned with the abandonment of children and rewarding people for finding kidnapped children.
The delegate of Barbados objected to the resolution, arguing that it promoted and allowed the abandonment of children due to the clause which stated that the parents had to pay a fine each time they abandoned their children. Delegates of other nations supported the objection by stating that the clause not only did not help solve the problem, but also made abandonment legal for the wealthy. The delegate of the Netherlands conceded and proposed striking out the whole clause regarding abandonment. The delegate of the United States of America tried to explain the motive of such a clause, but when the delegate of Belarus asked the US delegate if such clause promoted the code of “love and justice” the U.N. endorses, the delegate of United States of America had to step down.
The delegate of Somalia pointed out that some clauses promoted kidnapping by providing rewards if the lost child was found. Another amendment was proposed to erase such sub clauses. But even with the multiple amendments, the majority raised their hands against the resolution. Although the resolution appeared well-founded, most delegates agreed that small details had to be considered to reach a larger goal.

General Assembly 5

BY: BROOKE BULLOCK, AMERICAN SCHOOL OF DOHA

General Assembly 5 seemed fairly together on the situation concerning the Oil for Food program and methods to prevent corruption in UN organizations. A majority of the group signed on with the Delegate of Canada, Jessica Kung, as main submitter. Their goals, Kung said, are to “increase transparency, establish accountability, improve auditing processes, and create a program to report corruption.” This issue was sparked by a problem in Saddam Hussein’s regime. “[Hussein] stole 4.6 billion dollars that were supposed to go to civilian purposes,” said the Delegate of India, Adnan Gilitwala. Both delegates were eager for a solution.
The Delegate of India, Dion Loke, and the Delegate of Greece, Minji Jang of General Assembly 6 discussed their resolution with astounding zeal. They worked together on a resolution about compensation for civilian victims and their surviving heirs. “It’s the best resolution ever,” Loke boasted. With their main submitter and thirty cosigners, the Delegate of India and Greece formed a resolution covering deals with organizations and types of compensation to be given to victims. According to the Delegate of Greece they plan to “have headquarters at UNCC” which will urge “international NGO and small regional organizations cooperation.” Other resolutions were in process as students merged and signed on.