ROB FROM THE POOR, TO FEED THE RICH????

Ever heard of the story of Robin Hood? Outlaw and bandit who robbed from the rich to help the poor? Well if the world was ever in need of such an intervention, it’s now. The topic under discussion today was ‘Creating a framework to ensure that international aid/loans to middle and low income nations are not mismanaged, abused and victimized by corruption.’ Money doesn’t grow on trees! Fortunately the delegates of General Assembly 2 (ECOFIN) seemed to complete-ly comprehend this as they dived into debate with fierce speeches as the committee moved into Speaker’s List. The delegates of USA, UK, Algeria, Finland, Egypt, Tunisia and Qatar seemed intent on making today’s debate as captivating as possible. There was never a monotonous moment during session and the zealous attitude of the delegates is exactly what needs to be seen during conference.

-Acushla Wijesinha

“Space X Reusable Launching System”

“power abuse by private mercenaries”

“removing France’s veto power”

GA3General assemblies are the committees where a handful of delegates participate and the rest sit back and watch. But the delegates of General Assembly 3 were successful in changing the stereotype during today’s practice debates by being brave enough to speak up. A vast majori-ty of the committee participated and a sense of diplomacy was evident in the delegates where they wanted each of their fellow nations to speak up by putting forth moderated caucus top-ics that gave the opportunity for every country to speak up. The head table too commend-ed the committee on speaking up, however they do hope that the quality of debate would im-prove in future sessions. It should also be mentioned that chairs Vaseeharan and Avindu and USG Roma, were very encouraging and made it easier for each delegate to get up and speak.-Senuri Ranatunga

CARTOON OF THE DAY

Throw your hands up in the air!On the second practice debate, 1st General Assembly, the Disarmament & International Security, dis-cussed the topic of ‘Reviewing the role of paramilitary, tribal military & private military corporations.’

The committee headed by co-presidents, Pasindu Samaranayake & Rakbo Perera, and vice presi-dent Swin Ratnayake, discussed many issues during the moderate caucus sessions which were as-sociated with the private military corporations, and issues such as the creation of legislation and impact on the human rights due to power abuse by private mercenaries. The committee also fur-ther debated on the various rivalries among tribal militaries and prevent the alienation of peo-ple & their governments with regard to paramilitaries. The delegates engaged in an intense de-bate about the impact created by the military, and delegates were engaging and enthusiastic about the issues that were discussed, even though they were quite serious and political hot topics.

GA1 on the second practice debate was one to witness, since the assembly was en-ergetic and well read about their topic, and this shows how prepared the delegates of this committee will tackle the controversial issues during the days of conference to come.Sparks flew in GA2, chaired by Afra Faizel and Nidula Athulathmudali, making session abso-lutely enjoyable. Inspired by corruption in many countries in today’s day and age where per-centages of financial aid are used to line the pockets of the politicians instead of assisting those in need of it, there was intense debate and several moderated caucuses in light of it.-Amali Wijayawardhane

CSTDNever have I seen a committee that was on their toes from the start to the end. CSTD was one of the committees where I saw every delegate participate with intensity and passion. The chairs didn’t have the time to catch a breath, with placards rushing up at every possible moment, which I’m sure both Harshika and Senith were happy about. The entire committee maintained a high level of diplomacy and the fact that they had done thorough research on the “use of genetically manufactured crops and its effects in a modern context” was evident. The head table seemed extremely satisfied with the di-plomacy and the resolutions they were presented with.Lastly I do believe that both the head table and the delegates deserve to be commend-ed on the level of professionalism and diplo-macy that persisted throughout the debate.-Senuri Ranatunga

Ah these Americans!The international court of justice is the principle judicial organ of the United Nations. The topic for the second practice debate for the ICJ was “ ‘Attack’ as a term of art in international law in a cyber operations context Jus In Bello and its accordance with the requirement on a convention on cyber warfare”. Even though there were only a handful of delegates present in committee ICJ was certainly one of the most energetic committes thus far seen in SLMUN 2014. There were constant clashes between the delegates of USA and China which was one of the many gripping and interest-ing moments in committee. The amount of energy inside that the delegates have make sure that you are always on your feet hanging onto their every word. The delegates were well informed,enthusiastic and participated in the debate without hesitation. Vinura Abeysekera and Hasanal Zafrullah being the chairs of this very energetic committee were very helpful constantly helping the delegates to improve their style of debate and helping them to clarify any doubts about conference procedure.

Pride and PrejudiceOnce again, the Security Council and the Crisis Committee combined for a battle of wits and pas-sionate debate at the Second Practice debate of SLMUN 2014, this time to challenge the mem-bers of the Security Council as the mandate of the Crisis committee was adopted. The update received by the head table, comprising of Dushantha Wirasinha from the Security Council and Thilina Panduwawala and Thevuni Halangode of the Crisis Committee, read as “ A US Air force gunship AC130 went missing” The issue arose with the conflicting opinion as to whether the is-land belonged to Japan or Russia. The US requested permission from Russia to conduct a search operation for the missing aircraft however Russia had not agreed to the terms of this request.” USA proposed a joint operation for the search for this aircraft hand in hand with Japan but this proposal was also denied. Hours later Russia asserted their opinion that the Russian search party was more qualified than any other nation in locating the whereabouts of the aircraft on their territory. Was Russia, in fact, prejudiced against the other nations? Scandalous! The ques-tion then arose as to whether it was actually Russian Territory. Soon China too grew increas-ingly involved in debate to a point where the delegation even suggested that the Security Coun-cil and Crisis Committee of SLMUN 2014 were incompetent! This led to a verbal war against France where the Committees even considered the possibility of removing France’s veto power.

The committee today was at war, and unfortunately these IPC members were not able to see how this battle ended. So the big question for the day was would France ever get off their high horse and retract their statement or forgo their veto power?

- Acushla Wijesinha and Amali Wijayawardhane -

There was intense debate throughout. An inter-esting point in debate was when the ECOSOC called out to the ICJ to give a solution on “Im-plementing a legal framework of guidelines re-lating to FDIs to avoid exploitation of domestic resources by advocating transperancy and moni-toring”. Both committees, after a heated discus-sion sucessfully came up with solutions for this issue. The International Court of Justice will most certainly be a committee to remember and will undoubtedly be a huge part of SLMUN 2014.

-Nethmee Goonesekara

Stockpiling will give a hand when the economic level is standing still… The UNDP 2nd practice debate was indeed a house filled with much motivation and enthu-siasm among the delegates. It was chaired by Sandesh Rajakaruna and Tashya Forbes at the head table, who frequently uplifted the resolutions brought up by the delegates of states. Today’s debate’s topic was “Discussing the effect of Stockpiling commodities and food resources on the and developing world” where the house mainly concentrated on stockpiling of food and energy resources of developing and developed countries. They also paid attention on harmful transporta-tion means of food which has vastly resulted on ‘hunger’ in many states. One of the main top-ics discussed within the house was how Stockpiling effect a country when it’s economy level is standing still. Here the delegates were highly motivated when arriving at a conclution that with the economic status of the citizens the government could provide the stocked produces at a fair price. Safe ways of dumping harmful chemical substances, agricultural policies, eradication of poverty through stockpiling were other important topics which were discussed within the house of UNDP.-Manishi Suriyaarachchi

LET’S GO GREENThe second practice debate United Nations Environmental Programme was started off with president Dinushi Mudalige and vice President Awahnee Mendis chairing the debate along with about 25 delegates. Today with the topic of “Ameliorating the increase desertification of arable land, and its impact on ecology and economy of a state”The house mainly concentrated on the crisis occurred through desertification and means which could be put into act to overcome them. The house was very energetic and interesting which proved that the delegates enrolled themselves in a wide research not only about their respective country but also the present environmental issues implemented by various institutes. The delegates mainly put up topics such as ‘ Growing of HYV and GM crops in deserted area’ where it was a noticeable fact that the Delegate of Egypt, of a country highly suffering from desertification refused planting and con-suming genetically created food quoting its against the Religion of Islam where 90% of population is Muslim. Furthermore they discussed matters related to ‘Sustainable Agriculture’, ‘Ecological Engineering’ , ‘Water Distribution Projects’ and how they can affect in solving the cresses related to desertification.

-Manishi Suriyaarachchi

ECOSOCThe Economic and Social Council was impressive, but the high quality of debate was mainly thanks to the ‘Fantastic Four’ who were constantly partic-ipating in the on going debate. The topic adapted by the committee today was “Corporate land grab-bing in the developing world”. The head table of ECOSOC would like each of the delegates to be thorough on their research and speak up during future sessions for better hype during conference.-Senuri Ranatunga

The committee which rose from ashes-Nethmee Goonesekara

“Analyzing the effect of censorship on fundamen-tal rights,and it’s significance in terms of state security” was the topic in debate for the second practice debate of the United Nations Human Rights Commission. It is an inter-governmental body responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe and for addressing situations of human rights vi-olations and make recommendations on them. It comprises of forty seven member nations which are elected by the United Nations General As-sembly. This was a committee which had a slow start with most of the delegates not interacting much during debate. Most of the more experi-enced and senior delegates were seen to speak up more during debate rather than the new del-egates who appeared to be a bit introverted.

The chairs of the UNHRC of SLMUN 2014, Asma Reza and Darshan Kanagaraj are certainly to be admired since they tried best to make these dele-gates more involved in debate and to help them to improve their skills and debating styles. However, a significant change in the committee was seen when compared to the first practice debate as the new delegates also started speaking up and en-gaging in debate. This new found enthusiasm and energy found the delegates to respond well to the crisis situation and therefore make today’s com-mittee a successful one. With the encouragement of the chairs, the delegates of the UNHRC were seen to get more hyped up during the course of the day and the regular build up of energy shows a promising future for this committee. It will un-doubtly be a successful committee which will sure-ly be a huge part in the SLMUN 2014 experience.-Nethmee Goonesekara

Out of This World On the 2nd practice debate, The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) discussed the issue of ‘Space related compensation debt and creating a proper compensation framework for the future’.

The committee, chaired by Shanelle Wickramasing-he and Nishad Gunwardhane, discussed the Space Liability Convention, which expands on the liability rules created in the Outer Space Treaty. The committee, which has 56 member states, discussed many issues regarding to space technology, such as methods of space technology which are cost effective, namely the Space X Reusable Launching System and eliminating manned space explorations. Another issue addressed during session was the creation of independent organizations that are able to fund or invest space exploration programmes and other firms in the private sector who engage in space exploration activities. The delegates heav-ily debated on these topics, and resolutions were made considering issues discussed in these topics.

All in all, the COPUOS of SLMUN 2014 is sure to be an interesting committee with a lot of enthusiastic delegates who are very keen in debating about space related issues, and it would surely be out of this world.

-Amali Wijayawardhane

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