the muners make the most of their last night in barcelona ... · ans, gays, bisexuals and...

TheClarion the newspaper of the Catalonia Model United Nations

Sunday 3 May 2009

ISSUE FOUR

CÊMUN ends on a round applause

to delegates, chairs and staff

Chairs moderated a passionate debate between Eastern and Western countries during yesterdays session in the HRC

INSIDE: Chronicles of the last sessions in each committee. Family pictures included!

Laura Millan LombrañaEditorResponsibility to protect, the fi nan-cial crisis, the Kyoto protocol, the independence of Kosovo, the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transexuals, religion at schools and the Millenium Development Goals. If it had been the real General As-sembly, there are no doubts that yesterday’s session would have been considered one of the most produc-

tive in the UN history. However, this C’MUN edition was really close to reality, as C’MUN director Raül Jiménez said in his fi nal speech: “In this C’MUN 2009 we have dis-cussed about the most pressing is-sues of the moment”. Some of them like the independence of Kosovo were even discussed in advance, as such debate will be held in the ICJ on the near future.

After three days of passionate

debate, each committee could pres-ent a fi nal resolution to the GA. One by one, the chairs read the resolu-tions and delegates voted them in is probably the most spectacular ses-sion of any UN organ.

On their fi nal speeches, the au-torities present in the closing cere-mony they reminded all presents of the importance of debate and nego-tiation as a way to make the world a place worth living in.

MUNers make the most of their last night in Barcelona 4- 15

Delegations vote on the General Assambley: emotion was on the air but some couldn’t help it and got asleep

2 Sunday 3 May 2009TheClarion

TheClarionis the daily newspaper for C’MUN 2009

TheClarion welcomes contributions from all C’MUN delegates. These will be pub-lished, space permitting, the day afterreceipt. The email address for submis-sions [email protected] reserves the right to edit del-egate submissions to the paper, but is unlikely to do so.

Editor-in-ChiefLaura Millan

ReportersJuan CallejaLauren HowardDiana KudaibergenovaIsabel MontielAlexandra RubioIrina TasiasMartin Uhl

PhotographerPablo Rodríguez-Aguilera

Opinions expressed in The Clarion are not necessarily those of the newspaper, C’MUN 2009, The United Nations As-sociation of Spain or the United Nations. They are the sole work of the author cred-ited in the byline.

The GA gives green light

The speeches at the end of the closing ceremony thanked all delegates and organization for the work done. Clockwise: Laura Millan Lombraña, editor of TheClarion, UNA-Spain President Eduard Sagarra, Deputy Director of Àrea de Gestió de Centres of Fundació la Caixa Josep Ollé, Director General Àngels Mataró and C’MUN Director Raül Jiménez

Above: Chair and Co-Chair of the Security Council David Arenas (right) and Anoep Singh (left) read the fi nal resolution over the Responsibility to Pro-tect in the fi nal session of the General Assembly. At their right, Núria Pérez, Staff member, Eirene Ramos, President of the General Assembly and Patrícia Gallego, Staff member as well.

Right: Álvaro Fomperosa Co-Chair of the Alliance of Civilizations reads the fi nal resolution over religion and educa-tion.

3Sunday 3 May 2009TheClarion

to all the resolutions of CÊMUN Â09Left: Chair and Co-Chair of the Development Committee Milica Kostic and Panagiotis Psyllos read the fi nal resolution over the Millenium Development goals in the last session of the General Assembly.

Above left: Chair and Co-Chair of the World Bank Fabian Flottmann and Ioanna Bantouna.

Above right: Núria Pérez and Eirene Ramos counting the votes of the delegates in the General Assembly

Below left: Daniel Salvador, Stamatia Papadaki and Laura Mérida, judges of the ICJ read the sentence about the independence of Kosovo.

Below right: Chair and Co-Chair of the Human Rights Council Markella Papadouli and Kadija Dastager present the resolution to the GA

Right: Chair and Co-Chair of the Environmental Committee Ian De Bode and Roland Devenyi presented a resolution based on the Kyoto protocol

Laura Millan LombrañaEditor“Motion to do something else!”, “Second!”, “Second!”, “Second!” smiles spread among delegates at the end of the last session of the Security Council. The resolu-tion has passed and all delegates want to do in the last thirty min-utes as diplomats at the most “serious” council in the C’MUN is take pictures, exchange e-mails and chat with those who have been their political enemies dur-ing the simulation.

After three days of tough dis-cussions the SC fi nally passed a

The SC makes a good approach

to the responsibility to protect The Council fails to discuss concrete cases such as Darfur, Zimbabwe or Myanmar

resolution that gave a better def-fi nition of the Responsibility to Protect and defi ned measures to detect state’s failure. The propos-al of a UN Early Warning Mech-anism that would obsreve and report to the SC cases of mass atrocity crimes, work with NGO’s and propose solutions in case of crisis. The SC established six cri-teria that would justify military intervention on failing countries.

“This resolution is the conclu-sion of what has been discussed during these days” said US del-egate Amir El Meligy, one of the sponsors of the resolution. “A re-

phrasal of the R2P was made, but unfortunately no concrete cases were discussed” said Croatia del-egate Martin Niemetz at the end of the session. “I don’t see it as a last resort, I see it more as a good approach” ended Costa Rica delegate Lorenz Wascher.

Discussions, tension and even anger were probably unavoidable in a Council were such different countries and policies are being confronted. Fortunately, every-thing ended up really well and at the end of the session the chairs joined delegates in a happy fam-ily picture.


Smiling and satisfi ed members of the Security Council pose on the very last day of sessions

Sunday 3 May 2009TheClarion 5

From speculation to sustainability,

itÊs time to change the model

Juan CallejaUniversity of Madrid

The World Bank considers a priority to establish systems that ensure transparency in banking to avoid further fi nancial crisis. On its last resolution, the WB proposes a change from a model based on “excessive risk-taking and speculation” to one “founded on stability and sustainability”. Trade, fi ght against poverty, co-operation between governments, NGOs and the WB itself, micro-credits are measures that the WB propose to fi ght the crisis and to stablish a sustainable model of economical growth.

The resolution reminded that there are 53 million people in developing and underdeveloped countries that may be trapped in poverty because of the crisis.

It added that 155 million people were pushed into poverty in 2008 due to soaring food and fuel pric-es. This is the reason why del-egates decided to include some clauses refering to renewable sources of energy, to the stablish-ment of food price management sustainable policies and to the promotion of health care services in developing countries.

The fi nal resolution was a mix between the three previous and it satisfi ed the majority of the coun-tries present. The sponsor coun-tries were Argentina, China, Aus-tralia, Russia, Morocco, the UK, Brazil, Iceland, India, Japan and Côte d’Ivoire.

After the complainings of sev-eral members of the WB about the scanty participation of the US during the sessions, we in-

terviewed one of the members of the delegation Eleni Chasan. She explained to TheClarion their po-sition: “We know we must help poor and developping countries but fi rst of all we must resolve our economic crisis”.

During the three days of dis-cussion, tension fl oated in the room. But at the end, the ambi-ence became more relaxed, even among the chairs. While the del-egate of Iceland Caroline Weps did her speech, she congratulated all present countries for the work done throughout the three days but then she complained that the role of women in the global fi -nancial crisis couldn’t have been debated. At that point, one of the chairs answered with a raspberry like joke and the presents in the committee exploded in guffaws.

The World Bank considers sustainable development as a prime long-term objective

Delegates and chairs of the World Bank celebrate that a resolution to face the global fi nancial crisis has passed

Sunday 3 May 2009TheClarion6

Irina TasiasUniversitat Pompeu FabraLesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans-gendered and intersexed were rec-ognized on the resolution that the Human Rights Council passed on the last session of C’MUN 2009. Strictly following United Nations procedure, press members weren’t allowed in the room while the fi -nal resolution was being voted as some thought delegates wouldn’t be able to vote in total freedom. However, during the three days of debate we were able to see two op-posed positions in the Council.

A group leaded by Afghanistan

and counting with the support of Azerbaijan, Nigeria, India, and Senegal strongly defended the cul-tural values of Islam. NGOs like International Amnesty, Human Rights Watch or International Gays and Lesbians opposed the point of view of muslim countries and deffended the rights of lesbi-ans, gays, bisexuals and transex-uals (LGBT).

The debate became more and more interesting as time passed, mostly because of the points of view presented by delegates rep-resenting Muslim countries. Their knowledge of the position of the

Indian delegate adressed the audience in an attempt to encourage other delegates to participate, it worked after coffee break

Eastern and western countries

agree on protecting LGBT rightsThe HRC urges all countries to protect sexual minorities from discrimination

countries they were representing on the subject was extraordinary (some of them even quoted the Coran on their speeches).

The fi nal resolution is the prod-uct of hours of tough discussion and passed only after discussing a great number of ammendments. For instance, as much as 25 min-utes were spent to discuss the point concerning the promotion of LGBT rights and it fi nally failed. Finally, the resolution satisfacted both European and Muslim coun-tries. As the second one scould in-troduce their point of view under the respect of Human Rights.

The Human Rights Council discussed the rights of sexual minorities and fi nally passed a resolution were both eastern countries and NGOs and muslim countries could see themselves represented.

Sunday 3 May 2009TheClarion 7

The committee considers nuclear power as a transitional solution to GHG emissions

Laura Millan Editor

As developing countries are nowadays those more likely to send out Green House Gas and CO2 to the athmosphere, the En-vironmental Committee at this C’MUN proposes the creation of what may be callet an Integral Financial Mechanism that would support developing countries in the implementation of their plans for a mitigation of GHG emis-sions.

Having always in mind the Kyoto Protocol, this committee has worked hard to fi nd solutions

to one of the most pressing issues today: the climate change.

Delegates not only saw devel-oping countries as key actors of such delicate situation, they also recognized that a change of mod-el and the use of different energy sources could be a good way to reduce GHG emissions. Thus, the nuclear power is considered as a transitional solution. However, the fi nal resolution of the commit-tee stresses the fact that it can’t be considered as a fi nal solution for climate change.

Delegates spent some time dur-ing the session discussing upon

the responsibility of devloped countries to climate change. All presents were aware of the fact that the United States are the main GHG emissor, that China goes right after and that most eu-ropean countries follow close.

However, they focused on the idea that climate change doesn’t have borders. On the contrary, it must be seen as a global problem that requires a global solution.

Almost without noticing, del-egates had applied what has been the motto of this conference: “Global probems call for multilat-eral solutions”.

Environment wants a coordinate

response to the climate change

Environmental Committee chairs Ian De Bode and Roland Devenyi pose with the delegates that have debated and passed a resolution that gives concrete proposals to reduce the effects of pollution on the environment

Sunday 3 May 2009TheClarion

Coffee time, lobby time, TV time

8

Sunday 3 May 2009TheClarion

Snapshots of happy CÊMUN days

9


Martin UhlJournalistIn the last session of the Interna-tional Court of Justice, the dele-gates of the states and organiza-tions present had the opportunity to give a last statement to the judge on the matter of the legality of the independence off Kosovo.

As expected, two opposing po-sitions were reaffi rmed by the delegations. One group of states – composed of Serbia, China, Rus-sia, Spain as well as Bosnia Her-zegovina – opposed the indepen-dence of Kosovo insisting on the full respect of the principle of ter-ritorial integrity.

They all feared that a legaliza-tion of Kosovo’s declaration of in-dependence would create a prec-edent for secessionist groups in their own states.

Ilias Ioannis Bavaveas, the Russian delegate, openly said that

the Court would “open the box of Pandora” in that case.

On the other hand, states such as Albania, the United Kingdom, the United States, France as well as the NATO and the Kosovo au-thorities proposed a different line of arguments which was in favor of a legalization of the independence of Kosovo. Their main point was that Kosovo was an exceptional case to which the right to self-de-termination indeed overweighed the Serbia’s right to territorial in-tegrity.

In their view, Serbia commit-ted such grave human right vio-lations in Kosovo which would justify granting the Kosovo people the right to declare their indepen-dence.

By the end of the session, the board of the high judges was left with the diffi cult task to give its opinion on a question on which

the international community is deeply divided and which poses a handful of serious problems in terms of international law.

The fi nal opinion the three judg-es delivered during the session of the General Assembly covered several pages which were read out loud to the general amusement of the delegates.

Declining to deliver a clear-cut ultimate verdict on the question Kosovo’s independence, the deci-sion of the Court fully refl ected the complexity and ambiguity of the subject.

So the Kosovo question - al-though passionately discussed during the three days of the con-ference - has to wait for a fi nal le-gal settlement. However, there is no doubt that the International Court of Justice debate helped a great deal in terms of clarifying the issue.

The ICJ declines an ultimate

veredict upon Kosovo questionThe independence of Kosovo would “open the box of Pandora”, says Russian delegate

The judges read all ten pages of the veredict out loud in the the General Assambley to the amusement of delegates


The Alliance proposes a model program of World Religion History Courses

Alexandra RubioUniversitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Freedom of religion and how re-ligion should be treated at schools were the main points of the reso-lution that the Alliance of Civili-zations passed in its last C’MUN session. A majority of countries recognized that religion (or the option of having no religion) is a personal matter and that a sys-tem where states do not force re-ligion onto anyone should be des-ignated.

In order to apply such resolu-tion, the resolution of the Alliance of Civilizations proposed the cre-ation of a subcommittee which will prepare a model program of World Religion History Courses based on an informative, descrip-tive, and non-dogmatic basis. The program would train teachers and give enough resources to imple-ment it to the states curriculum of education.

Religion is a personal choice and

states shall not force it onto anyone

The AoC program would aso work on the content of such class-es and give resources to teachers and children.

Apart from the discussion about secularization and freedom of religion, the morning debate fo-cused on the Education Commis-sion. Some countries wrote a reso-lution to decide how schools must show the different religions in the school. Delegates discussed about the creation of a new subject in the schools called ‘Ethic and Moral’ or ‘History and background of differ-ent religions’.

It was easy to see these days the evolution of the different del-egations. At the beginning of this conference all countries had tough and stubborn ideas. It was diffi cult for them to fi nd common ground. However, after they pre-sented their own working papers, delegates started to cooperate with each other.

There was a point criticized by some delegations when Nigeria and Ireland made reference about China’s internal issues when they announced that China couldn’t have freedom of religion when they don’t accept the Independence of Tibet. Meanwhile, Somalia, Af-ghanistan and the Holy See pro-posed new unitary clauses about the diversity of the religions. In order to turn the conference more realistic a participation of South American countries would have been necessary.

Moreover, an intervention os delegates of Ireland and UNESCO would have been interesting if they could have arrived earlier than 30 minutes before the voting proce-dure. Although, Iran, People’s Re-public of China and Afghanistan among others voted against the resolution, the Alliance of Civiliza-tions fi nally came up with a satis-factory agreement.

The judges read all ten pages of the veredict out loud in the the General Assambley to the amusement of delegates

Development says countries debt should be forgiven if it has helped to achieve MDG

Lauren HowardUniversity of ManitobaThe fi nal day of C´MUN was jam-packed with energetic discus-sions, strong debates and mul-tiple amendments as delegates attempted to ensure the best pos-sible work was put forward.

Resolution 1.2 sponsored by the delegation of Algeria had been passed out to the delegates dur-ing the fi nal hour on Friday but was not able to stay around for long. On Saturday morning the resolution was withdrawn by the sponsoring delegates. As such, delegates and debating moved on to resolution 1.3 that had been in-troduced. 1.3 was a new, revised version of 1.1 that had been too broad to be able to attract enough strong committee support.

However, a little more than an

The MDGs: wide subject, tough

debate, learned a lot and happy end

hour later, the delegation of Alge-ria approached the Chairs to ask if 1.2 could be re-instated. Yet ulti-mately, a resolution cannot be put back once removed and in the end the delegation never formally pro-posed anything new.

Resolution 1.3 was thus the one that everyone turned their attention to, as delegates worked feverishly to compile amendments to present to the committee. The resolution was actively reworked, with multiple friendly amend-ments now a new element of it. Many were either copies or were derived from key parts of the no-longer active Resolution 1.2.

In the end, it seemed that al-though most of the delegates mak-ing up the Development Committee at this year´s C´MUN conference

were new to the Model UN it was ultimately a success. This was largely due to both the chairs, who although were tough, would accept no less than a job well done. Del-egates were corrected on their use of parliamentary language, vari-ous tactical mistakes (even such as gum chewing when presenting) and were often explained how to go about certain key procedures.

Tension between chairs and delegates was apparent, however it simply became part of the learn-ing curve and overall the commit-tee ended the day on a high note. It was indeed worth all the work as Resolution 1.3 passed with 28 yes, 3 no, and 1 abstention and was presented to the General As-sembly later in the afternoon to a strong round applause.

Delegates and Chairs in the Development Committee pose in last C’MUN session after three days of hard work



Diana KudaibergenovaUniversidad de DeustoIf you hear applauses, the best na-tional costumes (all the colors of the fl ags, hidjabs and even copies of national Presidents) and happy faces, you should know that those are C’MUN in Alliance of Civiliza-tions, chaired by the one and only Sonia Andolz.

Seems like Sonia was predes-tined to be chair and especially of exactly this AoC. “It was my fi rst time chairing last year in CMUN AoC” says admitting that this C’MUN is her last as MUN rules do not allow participants older than 30 years.

Sonia is the oldest member of this year C’MUN although no one can say she is ‘old’. On the con-trary, with her fresh spirit and cheerful mood, open-mindedness, charisma and beauty she looks “forever 21”.

“It all goes fi rst of all from char-acter” says Sonia when asked how she can always keep such a cheer-ful and great image of naturally born leader. “Also I worked a lot as volunteer and always was in touch with young people”, contin-ues.

For three years she served as student President of Universitat Pompeu Fabra and participated in work of almost every civic commu-nity centre as the representative of young people.

Later she has worked in Sen-egal, Gambia, Guinea Conakry, Palestine, Israel and Jordan in projects concerning refugees and confl icts. Currently she is study-ing in Oxford. Sonia is particularly ‘woman of the world’. She speaks six languages – Catalan, Spanish, English, German, Italian and Ara-bic.

Sonia has participated in MUNs in Harvard and Scotland.

„What helps me to escape is my

knowledge of where I belong‰We interview Sonia Andolf, the oldest member of the C’MUN, the ‘forever 21’ chair

She loves to travel and meet new people. Asking her where she re-ally belongs, she answers right away, without long consideration and with great sparkle in her eyes “Barcelona!”.

“No matter where I go I know I want to come back. Working in my sphere of refugees solutions and confl ict resolutions, armed con-fl icts, etc. it is really easy to lose yourself, to get biased and think that you are saving the world. But what really helps me to es-cape from that is my knowledge of where I belong, where my family and friends are. It helps me main-tain some personal and emotional stability” she concludes.

The perfect chair

The role of any chair is not only following the rules of procedure but also a maintenance of the at-mosphere for fruitful intellectual work and communications be-

tween delegates. Sonia believes delegates who don’t speak and don’t present just don’t exist. She is able to make present anyone.

Last year’s AoC turned out to be an ‘Éxito’ thanks to good delegates and Sonia’s creativity. “It was my second time in MUN and fi rst in chairing but it was just great!” she recalls.

Hot debates and desires of some Western countries to bomb all the others changed to friendly messages between countries-ene-mies in real life (Malaysia-China or Iran-Brazil) and motions for “coffee after yesterday’s fi esta”. There was also singing African song ‘Akuna Matata’ in national dresses and thanks to Sonia the fi rst Alliance fi nally reached the most peaceful resolution.

“It was incredible!” she said back then and again came back to CMUN to chair the AoC.

This year AoC looks pretty much alike the fi rst one. You can hear hot debates even before you enter the room. Seems like every-thing here has little touch of Sonia with her ability to be different and to unite people.

It is Sonia’s last MUN and it is great that she is saying “Good bye” in her hometown and in the C’MUN where she chaired for the fi rst time. But she does not feel as she believes that new things and discoveries are on the way.

We asked her how did she want to see herself and the world in ten years and she answered “in peace maintenance, confl ict resolution, refugee and humanitarian nego-tiations sphere, in charge of secu-rity of refugees, in sphere of pro-tection of human rights, or advisor for transitional justice and post confl ict state construction”. We wish you good luck in everything you will do or wish to do!


MUNers make the most of

Laura Millan LombrañaEditorThere’s something of what has been said on this paper that is not actually true. The C’MUN didn’t end at that closing ceremony that we have described. It didn’t end when the resolutions were being voted either. It may never end be-cause most of you will probably still be in touch with other par-ticipants by this time next year. But if I had to choose an end to the C’MUN that would be with no doubts the fantastic farewell din-ner that the ANUE organized on Saturday night.

That night was special, it was on the air. Maybe it was because I hadn’t been in Barcelona for four months and every single part of my city seemed incredibly more

The chronicle of the farewell dinner: amazing food, better views and great company

MUNers celebrate the end of the C’MUN at Attic restaurant in Les Rambles they sure won’t forget that night

intense than it used to be when I lived there. Maybe, but I think I wasn’t the only one feeling it.

That night while I was going to Attic, the restaurant where the din-ner was taking place, Barça –the Barcelona football team- scored three times in Madrid. It scored three times more during dinner. My neighborhood, the metro, Les Rambles, the whole city exploded in joy. Canaletes, the fountain at the top of Les Rambles where Barça victories are celebrated was full of euphoric people singing and drinking. While all this was hap-pening you, me and almost all C’MUN participants were enjoy-ing excellent food and better views over Les Rambles at the terrace of the restaurant.

Sharing time, food and drinks

with great company in Barcelona and knowing the whole city would party that night was one of the most thrilling feelings I have ever had. During dinner, delegates for-got strict diplomacy rules and just chatted, made jokes and took lots of pictures. In 24 hours most of them would be at the other side of the world and new friends wouldn’t probably see each other in a long time, so they felt they had to make the most of their time in Barcelo-na. And they surely did. After din-ner, all bars in Plaça Reial were full of MUNers. And at least some of them even went to Razzmatazz that night.

Details? I’m sorry, my job as a journalist fi nished the minute I ate the last piece of the delicious chocolate mousse in Attic.


their last night in Barcelona

Algeria’s delegation usually throws

sausages to Alliance of Civilisations

Chair at night

Canada has a hangover, we all have a hangover!

(Delegation of Canada)

Delegate of Zimbabwe has a huge crush on Oxfam International!

A delegate from China

has had an affair with

one from Brazil during

the conference :D

I am very pleased to see that

I’m not the only gay in the

conference! (we are at least 3!)

I’ve heard that a delegate of the US

represents his country accordingly

when it comes to character

alliances committee smels awful!

Delegation of Japan has secretly felt in

love with delegate of Romania

There is a blond guy from the SC that is so hot! (girl from environmental committee)

Argentina and Canada do orgies every night!

The delegate of the European

Union is suspected to have

the swine f lu!

South Africa and Chile made out hard on the dance floo at Razzmatazz

The conference wasn’t only about de-bates and resolutions. In TheClarion we have talked about note passing and su-per fashion high-heels. Because we believe that information is important, but so is to have fun...Now it’s gossip time! Here you have some of the non-formal things that hap-pened during C’MUN, all anonymously provided by our fellow delegates. Some of them are funny and others spicy, but they’re all for fun!

Get ready, itÊs gossip time!

Our offi cial photographer Pablo de-served to rest that night. We asked delegates to send us pictures of the farewell dinner. Thanks to Marveh Bazargani-Gilani, Haithem Al-Thubhany, Raneem Ha-noush and Fabian Flottmann.


The staff will sure party tonight!Exhausted but dashing ANUE staff poses at the very end of this C’MUN 2009

You’ve seen them running along the corridors, fi xing and organizing. You probably haven’t seen them sleeping or eating much, but that’s ok for them as long as it only lasts three days. The staff will sure party tonight and rest next week: they totally deserve it! Those are the people you should thank for your wonderful experience these days: (clockwise) Núria Pérez, Laura Mérida, Eirene Ramos, Alex Fernández, Pablo Martínez-Aguilera, Patrícia Gallego, Rosa Cornejo, Raül Jiménez and Bernat Comes

the muners make the most of their last night in barcelona ... · ans, gays, bisexuals and...

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