The Westphalian DiplomatWednesday 28th March, 2012

When the first day of debates, votes and discussions was over, the fun part of MUIMUN 2012 started: At the Clubschiene all the delegates and staff members were invited to the Global Village – a place to make new friends,

learn about different cultures and party with great young people from all over the world. Sounds like big fun? Yes, it definitely was!

MUIMUN stands for bringing together people from different parts of the world and partying is always a good way to achieve this goal, as seen yesterday: There was nothing better than dancing, sharing delicious homemade food from some of the dele-gates’ countries and having a beer (or two) together to get to know each other.

The first contacts had obviously already been made during the first committee sessions, but yesterday evening helped to deepen these ‘diplomatic’ contacts and to add new people to one’s friendship list.

With no specific programme planned for the night, some people had spontane-ously decided for some great entertainment to make the evening unique and unforgett-able: The Pakistani showed us an impressive and colourful dance and a spontaneously formed dance delegation surprised us with a drum music performance. To Salsa beats, the latest hits and some ‘classics’, more famous dances – not to miss the Macarena- were shown and many songs were loudly sung along.

Also besides the dance floor, intercultural exchanges were made: people were gi-ven pretty bracelets and the Indonesian delegates gave key rings with a typical instru-ment as presents to the others. And of course, people just talked: ‘Which country are you representing? How was your first day? What’s your impression so far?’ There were many questions to ask, many experiences and thoughts to share. But what was probably most important, were the smiles on the faces. Everybody seemed to be happy and in a good mood. So – thanks to the Global Village- that’s the proof: MUIMUN is incredibly fun!

By Inga VosselerA Village of Drumming, Dancing & very distinguished Delegates

The VillageP.1

Committee Reports P.2-5

WeDi ColumnP.6

PanoramaP.8

2GA2:

‘I’m your friend, I’m Uncle Sam’

With these words the delegate of the United States of America introdu-ced himself at General As-sembly 2. But not the claim of hegemony, but rather a down-to-earth search for problem solving solutions was the main tenor at Ge-neral Assembly 2.

Yesterday the also so-called “Economic and Finance Committee” dis-cussed how to promo-te economic progress through attracting invest to post-conflict countries. In interesting debates, the different delegates dis-cussed how investment could be raised to stabilize states structures, as well as economy.

The German repre-sentative looked retro-spectively at own history and emphasized the ‘Mar-shall Plan’ as a perfect ex-ample how to rebuild a post-conflict country into a flourishing industrial nation. All in all the main

tenor of yesterday’s assem-bly was to assist ‘self-help’ by providing them with expertise. Amongst other things, some delegates also proposed to monitor governments, free them from radical or religious impacts and reestablish the rule of law. Another added that post-conflict countries have nothing to lose:’ they can get caught by terrorism easily. Thus they need an economic basis to restart independently.’

By setting the focus on economic progress by investment, the commit-tee denied the request to discuss the challenge of transparent distribution of natural resources as a step towards elimination of poverty and conflict coun-tries.

Wednesday, 28th March, 2012

By Melissa Faust

CommitteesGA6: Self Determination for

Israel & Palestine

Chaired by Bilal Ram-zan and Elena Konstanti-nidou the first session of the Sixth Committee star-ted.

After a short unmode-rated caucus the delegates seemed to vote on topic B, but - caused by confusion concerning voting rules - reconsideration was ne-cessary. The United King-dom proposed to ‚discuss NGO‘s within the frame if topic A‘ and found a great majority, only Russia and Brazil voted against. Hence ‚Redefining the Require-ments for the Recognition of New and Independent States‘ was set on the agen-da.

The Russian Federation requested to discuss defi-nition and basic require-ments of legal status first.

In this debate the repre-sentative of South Sudan stressed the significance of self-determination: ‚peo-ple should decide!‘

The United States, men-

tioning that fixed borders are ‚a main issue‘ in the process of recognizing new states, initiated a heated discussion between the de-legate of Palestine and the delegate of Israel.

Though motion for an unmoderated caucus to discuss the case of Palestine failed, both parties could not really stop arguing. France had to remind the delegates of keeping peace, furthermore Honduras and Czech Republic supported this attempt and encoura-ged Israel and Palestine to ‚keep cooperation and ex-change‘.

However, New Zealand urged all states to get back to topic and ‚focus on basic requirements to have a fra-mework for more specific cases‘.

Among other challen-ging topics the case of Pa-lestine will probably cause various controversies.

By Svenja Krings

3SC: ‘The Syrian citizens

are an inspiration‘

comed almost unanimous-ly. However, member states from the European Union opposed a suggestion made by Columbia to open EU borders to Syrian refugees, stating that the best help could only come from re-gional actors together with the financial and organisa-tional support of the UN.

Syria showed itself un-impressed by the situation of the displaced persons. ‚These people are not from Syria. They are terrorists influenced by Western pro-paganda. The cause for the refugee situation does not relate to the Syrian govern-ment‘, argued the delegate, protesting any infringe-ment on the Republic‘s national sovereignty.

The following days will show the states‘ ability to avoid another ‚diploma-tic deadlock‘ (Federal Re-public of Germany) that would make a resolution on the matter impossible.

Wednesday, 28th March, 2012

By Wiebke Nowack By Isabel Lischewski

CommitteesHRC: Who fears free access

to information?

Right after the official opening of the first ses-sion, the United States started with one of their passionate statements to convince the delegates of the importance of topic A – Public access to in-formation - as a basis for democracy.

Almost immediately the speakers list was full because several countries did not agree with the US. China argued, ‘It is not the right time to discuss this topic because the positions of the different states are to distant.‘ Pakistan and Ser-bia were convinced that to-pic B concerning the rights of returnees and IDPs was more urgent.

France, Switzerland and Korea did not accept to avoid one topic ‚just because of its difficulty’ and added that access to information is important to empower human deve-lopment. After an unmo-derated caucus, the vote

decided that topic A would be on the agenda. A con-troversial debate about the pros and cons of free infor-mation followed and espe-cially the UAE and Turkey pointed out the danger of free internet.

By saying ‘Freedom of information is a dangerous idea’, the UAE upset Swit-zerland. To oppose that statement, Switzerland’s delegate brought up the fact that transparent states have the lowest corrupti-on rates. Unfortunately the UAE did not want to com-ment this.

When the debate came to the definition of infor-mation, Pakistan tried in vain to bring up the que-stion if WikiLeaks is part of free access to informati-on. Before the coffee break most of the states took part in the debate and we can be excited about their so-lutions.

The situation in Syria is the most pressing se-curity issue of our days, as became obvious once again today during the first session of the Se-curity Council when an overwhelming majority of delegates voted to set this topic first on the agenda.

The only opposition came from member states such as China, South Af-rica and the Syrian Arab Republic itself, which war-ned the representatives not to rush into emotionally driven debates on an is-sue requiring calmness.

In the following dis-cussions, special emphasis was put by almost all states on the situation of the Sy-rian refugees flooding the neighbouring countries. The Kingdom of Moroc-co as the only represented member of the Arab League expressed the region‘s wil-lingness to tackle this ur-gent humanitarian crisis in cooperation with the UN, an initiative that was wel-

4CSW: ‘We underline the im-portance of women in society‘

After a presentati-on round and opening speeches, the voting on which topic to focus first was quickly done.

Soon after the decision was made, a heated debate on the topic ‚Support for Access to Justice for Female Victims of Violence‘ started in the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). It was a controversial to-pic and there were very different opinions to be found among the 20 mem-bers of the commission.

‚We have to eliminate all forms of discrimina-tion and violence against women‘, the Russian dele-gate demanded in addition to the statement of the Co-lombian delegate who ur-ging the UN to take action.

Therefore, the diffe-rent root causes of vio-lence against women were vividly discussed: it is a lack of education, a lack of independence and self-

confidence, but also religi-ous and cultural traditions in many states, especially in the Islamic countries.

Another interesting thought was brought in by the delegate of Rwanda who claimed that judges do not know how to deal with vi-olence and crimes against women and that they should be trained in order to chan-ge the current situation. This idea was vigorously debated as well as the que-stion if provocative clothing is a reason for violence. Ne-vertheless, Cuba stated cor-rectly: ‘It’s never the fault of the woman to be attacked!‘

The delegates might not share the same opinion, but by working together and being interested in each other‘ s ideas, they try to reach a common position: ‚So, what do you think? What’s the next step?‘

Wednesday, 28th March, 2012

By Jan Lassen

Committees

By Inga Vosseler

CSocD: Education is the key to social integration

When setting this week‘s topics, one point becomes clear very soon – the Commission for So-cial Development (Cso-cD) is divided into two blocks. On the one side stand the developing-, on the other side the indus-trial nations.

While watching the Commission discuss about the ‚Developing Strategies to improve Social Integra-tion of the youth‘, the word that seems to matter most is ‚education‘. The success of a society is usually based on well-developed com-munities and a high educa-tion of those dealing with its economy.

In times of growing glo-balization and multicultu-ral populations, ‚integra-tion‘ becomes even more important. Integrating the youth is therefore at least as important as integrating foreign immigrants – and education is the key.

Right at the beginning of the discussion, the Uni-ted States and Canada fo-cus on their history of im-migration. The delegates talk about proper educa-tion systems for everybody, saying that the social and cultural backgrounds should not matter. But pri-vate schools and expensive colleges, for example in the U.S., remind us – social background does matter. A fact which is criticized by others.

The delegate of the De-mocratic Republic of the Congo focuses on relation-ships to industrial nations: ‚We appreciate the support of industrialized nations, but we want to be part of our own development.‘ - whereas the supporters would try to influence the-se improvements in the process of development with money and other ob-lique instruments. A com-promise needs to be found.

Committees 5CEPAL: Climate Change -

Urgence & Emergence

Wednesday, 28th March, 2012

On Tuesday, March 27th at 9 a.m. the first session of the CEPAL committee took place in the Schloss of Münster. The session started right away with a request of the Federal Re-public of Brazil to change the order in which the topics are debated.

Because to most of the del-egates the threat of global warming seemed to be most urgent they decided to discuss this topic at first because everyone felt the need to a quick solution.

After getting used to the flow of a MUN-Debate the committee started right into a furious debate about the climate change, focusing mostly on their worries about the CO2- Emissions, the overuse of water and the increasing sea level.

Quickly the countries built associations with other

conference members, shar-ing the same interests and worrying about the same threats.

The delegates discussed the pros and cons of ideas like renewable energy, re-cycling, eco-tourism, car-bon-trade, the exchange of experts and reforestation.

The debate alternated between formal debate, moderated and unmoder-ate caucus. So far, the rep-resentatives have started to work on some first draft resolutions and it seems ssssslike they are about to approach the first solu-tions.

All in all it was a great start for the CEPAL com-mittee and everyone is looking forward to future debates during the next days in MUIMUN 2012.

By Lovely Delegate

The First (Wo)Men on a MUNFacts & Figures

The first simulati-ons which can be com-pared with the MUN conferences today were held even before the United Nations existed.

The National Model United Nations (NMUN) in New York and Har-vard Model United Na-tions (HMUN) can be retraced until the 1920s.

Not a long time after the League of Nations was replaced by the United Nations, other MUN con-ferences followed. After a couple of years, the MUN virus reached Europe.

At the beginning MUNs existed only at universities but later one, conferences for secon-dary or even elementary students were organized.

In Germany appro-ximately 50 MUN con-ferences with 30 to 600 delegates are hold. Eve-ry year the number of MUN events accretes.

MUIMUN started in 2007. In the first year, 160 delegates visited the city of the Westphalian Peace. This year the con-ference reached a record number of participants.

Almost 250 people are involved in and around MUIMUN. Beside this amazing figure there are a lot more things that make OUR conference truly unique, for exa-mple the scholarship program or the CEPAL committee which is held entirely in Spanish.

By Fabian Brauch

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C h a n g e T o d a y

6 WeDi-Column

MUNlight Shadows The PRevalent Observers

By Max Rößler

We have witnessed in last year’s global witch hunt for the Wiki-Leeks initiators with a feeling of vengeance. As we have seen how insightful open-access to delicate diplomatic information of - and about - the world’s leaders can be, we shall continue the spirit of free-dom of press gossip.

However, analyzing comments that go way beyond well-mannered diplomatic behavior one comes to think about - what seems to be the difference between diplomacy and a highschool’s gossip machinery?

Our special MUIMUN observing mission - all-knowing, invisible (yet

Syria has accepted a U.N.-sponsored peace plan,

international envoy Kofi Annan said on Tuesday, as troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad raided rebel forces who have taken refuge across the border in Lebanon.

Pope Benedict stepped up his calls for change and a greater role for the Catholic Church in communist-run Cuba on Tuesday but was quickly rebuffed by a senior govern-ment official who ruled out political reforms in the one-party state.

Brazilian criminal charges against ener-gy industry employees over an oil spill have made foreign workers leery of new legal risks

US Senate may vote on Russian rights billMohamed Merah, the French gunman

who killed Jewish children and French sol-diers and then died in a firefight with police this month, was hardly an unknown quantity to intelligence and law enforcement officials on both sides of the Atlantic.

Weather Forecast Münster: Today: Partly Cloudy 18C°, Thu.cloudy 12°C

Wednesday, 28th March, 2012

outrageously handsome), with radar vision and a permanent smile of ma-licious glee in their faces - has done its homework pretty well.

To advance the transparency and credibility of this year’s conference they have conducted a highly scien-tific empirical research, investigating what is really going on in the ominous MUIMUN note passing system. See-mingly unevil remarks unveil deeper insight into intentions and strategies within the semi-social interactions of negotiations.

The comparatively assessed con-tents ranging from “Yoo s’up Russ-haaa”, “Move Djibooty…” and “Say,

those new tanks of yours look migh-ty fine in sunlight” point rather va-guely to what might lay hidden in these hastily scribbled notes. Are these “international relations” the real driving force of world politics and global markets? Has the estee-med (M)UN system come to a pre-tentious platform for socializing and gossiping, where “high-level” only refers to the height of heels? What happened to those good old fashion values - human rights, accountabili-ty and commitment and such?

Acting under Chapter 7 and con-demning all good-taste violations, we actively stay seized of the gossip.

7Meet Altymay Karamanova!

Close-UpWednesday, 28th March, 2012

We are very proud to wel-come the national delegate of the Republic of Mali: Altymay Karamanova!

Altymay, you are originally from Almaty, Kazakhstan, about 5000 km away from Münster. How did you get to know about MUIMUN?

Last year, there was an edu-cational program in my uni-versity in Kazakhstan where I got to know that there are Model United Nations for students in several coun-tries. I informed myself and found this MUN in Mün-ster. I was happy to get a full scholarship to travel here. I want to add, that I have ne-ver been to Germany before and it’s a great pleasure for me to join MUIMUN. I re-ally like Münster. It’s a very beautiful city and attracts with its architecture and nature. The people are very hospitable and friendly.

So, Altymay. Why was MUIMUN attractive for you and how did you expe-rience your first dive into MUN waters?

I’m very excited to be here. I was interested in MUI-MUN because for me it’sa good possibility to get to know how the UN works. I want to meet people from all over the world and dis-cuss about actual problems.

I got a bachelor degree in financial risk management and thus I’m used to the topics, my committee, the General Assembly 2 deals with. They are very im-portant for the whole UN. Being a delegate is a real adventure because all dele-

gates are that professional and it’s a real challenge to match with them in sophi-sticated English.

In your committee you represent the Republic of Mali. Can you identify with Mali and how did you prepare yourself for MUI-MUN?

I got the seat for Mali coin-cidentally. For me it’s an unknown country and far away. It’s one of the poo-rest countries in the world and so it depends on the international community to help us, to rebuild a state under a democratic go-vernment with an efficient economy. I hope I can re-present Mali as best as pos-sible. I prepared for MUI-MUN by informing about Mali, the 2 Assembly topics and my studies background knowledge.

Thanks a lot Altymay. We hope you will make unfor-gettable impressions here in Münster. Enjoy your week!

By Melissa Faust

Diary of a

DelegateTuesday

8:15 am.Ouch. Too much champa-gne. Should have resisted peer pressure, but what is one to do against persuasive power of entire African continent?

9:01 am.Don‘t have any luck. Guy from yesterday is neighbour in com-mittee. Just raised an eyebrow on seeing me. Am just as glad to continue the acquaintance.

9:39 am.Maybe I am lucky yet. Russian Federation is very impressive … on a merely intellectual side, naturally. Voted in favour of his motion. Think he appreciated it. Note to self: wear red blouse tomorrow.

10:15 am.Coffee! And a great opportunity to establish closer relationship with Russian Federation - if it weren‘t for Neighbour cornering me and being mad because of voting for Russia. People like him are the reason international poli-tics are not moving forward.

11:23 pm.This is how international rela-tions should work! India and Pa-kistan have started … diplomatic contest – last man standing gets Kashmir. And I have henna draw-ing on arm of lyrics to favourite song. Love politics.

By Ano Nymous

Editorial

Established 2007Münster University

International Model

United Nations

Editorial StaffKatja Philipps

Isabel LischewskiFabian Brauch

Max Rößler

LayoutMax Rößler

ContributorsJan Lassen

Melissa FaustInga Vosseler

Wiebke NowackSvenja Krings

Horoscope Pictures:Great Thanks to

Melanie Schippling

V.i.S.d.P.Katja Philipps

UniPrint: 300 copies

DISCLAIMERThe Westphalian

Diplomatis an independent

newspaper. Thecontent of the articles does not necessarily

represent the opinion of the “Arbeitstelle

Forschungstransfer”.

Panorama8Today‘s

ScheduleHoroscope

LEO Be careful about choosing your al-lies. Even a cute little island republic has its own schemes to pursue.

Wednesday, 28th March

09:00-12:00 Committee Session III

12:00-13:00 Lunch

13:00-17:45 Committee IV

20:00 - Night Watchman-Tour@Domplatz

Sudoko (just in case you are present and waiting)

Evening Activity:Pub-crawling Nightwatch(wo)men

Lonely Hearts AdsYoung Jasmin-revolutionary in need of Ba-lance of Flower...Thriving economy looking for another BRIC in the wall...Newly formed Government offers jobs at brand-new newspaper editorial office. No journalistic skills (but good looks) are essen-tial. Offering free mansion, car and holiday flight. No requirements. (*except party accession)

GEMINI This day has got great potential, but don’t shoot your wad right away. Sometimes it is good to shut it and listen. There might be a surprise in store for you…?

Wednesday, 28th March, 2012

It‘s not Paris, but Münster by (mid-)night has got its own secret charms – as long as it doesn‘t rain. The Nightwatchmen are going to take you on a journey through Münster‘s past full of bishops, merchants, intrigues, religious fights, and people in cages. Even if you‘re a Mün-ster native you‘re sure to learn something new.

Afterwards we‘ll take a different approach to get to know Münster – no visit here is com-plete without a tour of our lively pub scene.

We meet 8 pm in front of the cathedral (Domplatz)!

Note by the editor:In the name of the team I would like to apologize for the delay and poor printing quality of yesterday‘s issue due to devastating and mood-crushing technical issues. You will find all WeDi‘s at muimun.org in colour. Do not abstain from checking our blog daily/hourly/all the time and it is imperative to LIKE our Facebook page!