3rd Practice Debate

Me, in the green t-shirt, moderating the debate as i am meant to do

 The Delegate of The Netherlands is very happy about some turn of events in the discussion, gives someone a thumbs up

The delegate of Finland, thinking either about the diplomatic strategy he is going to use, or about snow

 Rolling his eyes, the Delegate of China doesn't find his fellow delegate's argument very convincing

 With his characteristic whim and vigour, the Delegate of Egypt defends his country's stance on energy monopolization

 The Delegate of Egypt concurs with another delegate's points on the issue

The Delegates of the UK and India formulate a plan to put their agenda into motion. This small alliance will soon develop into a key player of the house and will wield enormous influence with their combined spheres of influence.

MUN 2nd Practice Debate - Eurozone Crisis

ECOSOC's practice debate topic was dealing with the Debt Crisis in the Eurozone and coming up with solutions and policies that could solve the economic downturn. The topic was "The management of the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis considering the policy approach adopted by different European Monetary Union (EMU) Members."

Overall, the quality of debate was much better than the previous debate. the delegates had researched more for this topic and the ideas put forward were very innovative and creative. However there was a certain repetition of points, harping about the effectiveness of the austerity measures and a down-voting of relevant discussion points. An idea proposed by the delegate of China to impose a temporary technocracy on the Eurozone, was not even brought into discussion because many delegates who did not understand it considered it irrelevant - even though it would have made the debate much more interesting, and even if it is not a completely democratic or feasible idea, it could have led to more solutions regarding the Eurozone. Despite a few problems like this, when the resolutions came through i saw that the delegates had been very creative and had used their research into the crisis effectively. Time constraints, and some digressions meant that both resolutions could not be discussed and amended fully, but the first resolution was passed with a simple majority. 

 Me, Discussing some professional MUN stuff with Taekyung, the Head of Logistics

 A delegate contemplates the beauty of the UN mandate

 A lull in the heated debate of my committee, ECOSOC

 Imaad, the Vice President of the ICJ, chairing passionately, with all his magnanimous authority

 With the state of the world on their shoulders, delegates often are overwhelmed by their immense responsibility. This Delegate faces this fact, mid-conference

 The Delegate of Iran, says somethings about something

The delegate of Egypt, gives a moving and passionate speech, the delegate of South Korea in the back raises his placard, obviously having a bone to pick with Egypt. He should chill out. 

1st Practice Debate - 13th Jan

The 1st Practice Debate started with a workshop for the delegates in order to familiarize them with  MUN concepts. My part was to present the conference format and structure to them.
The topic was discussing the political transition in Africa, with special reference to countries like Libya, Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia and Nigeria.
Although the debate was good, the delegates became complacent after we praised them and their resolutions were akin to a very large pile of feces.
After the discussion of the First topic, all the committed were gathered in the auditorium to discuss the dissolving of the security council. the grounds for this motion were based in the fact that the Security council has been unable to resolve the civil unrest in Syria, and the veto powers of certain countries have left the council in a deadlock on the issue. The Secretary-General (SG) and the President of the General Assembly (PGA), both proposed that the veto powers of Security Council be removed. (on a side note, this whole thing is a joke, we cannot actually dissolve the SC, even in the MUN, it was just to create some drama) The Security Council retaliated by saying that according to UN procedure, the SC cannot be summoned by the General Assembly. The GA countered by saying that this procedure need to be revised, otherwise the SC cannot be questioned for its mistakes. The President of ECOSOC, Kaveen, sided with the SC and additionally, by making accusations against the ICJ made more enemies. with the chaos and fervor increasing, the PGA ordered the GA to escort Kaveen out, suspending him from the court. Being Loyal to the President, i called for a vote of confidence. Although the vote was very close, the PGA refused to count and said that the motion had passed. The delegates of the GA got up and approached the president of ECOSOC, who then ran around the hall.

Action - Swimming

I had been swimming irregularly before - only whenever i felt like it. 

This last week i have started doing it more frequently and regularly. at the moment my plan is to go swimming from 6pm to 7pm every monday, tuesday, thursday and sunday. im hoping to improve my fitness and my skill in swimming. to begin with i'm just going to do laps in freestyle and breaststroke, and after ive set in this routine i can start learning and practicing other techniques.at the moment i have no supervisor, which is something i need to find in order to track my progress.

MUN - Working on Practice Debate Topics

With the conference appraoching, the topics for the practice debates have to be finalized. since ECOSOC has a new approach in which to make the conference more current, technical and intense, the practice debates will be important in for delegates who are new to ECOSOC. Each succesive practice debate will have to be slightly harder, and introduce more ideas. For the Conference i am planning to include the Eurozone crisis and the credit crunch. For the 1st Practice debate, we are hoping to include a very simple topic, not nessacerily economic. This is becuase the 1st day will be for the delegates to learn the format.
My Ideas for the 2nd debate is regarding the economies of the countries recovering from the Arab Spring, like Lybia, Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, whether foriegn help should be given, or whether to allow them to recover by themselves, and the strategies that should be taken.
The 3rd Debate, I think should that currency manipulation should be the focus. this is a more technical topic and should prepare the delegates well for the conference.

COMUN 2013 Update

Have to make presentations for the workshops
speak to faculty advisors on the direction we are taking ECOSOC
Many sponsorships have been found, and the priority has shifted away from finding them

Habitat Build - 6th and 7th October

The Children of the Family we were helping

The full team - (Left to Right) - Zahara, Ahmed, Avanti, Me, Sam, Sho

Me, carrying soil for the foundation. This would be one of the hundreds of trays we would eventually carry

Returning to the top of the hill for more earth

Taking a well earned rest

Taking the empty wheel-barrow up the hill to be reloaded

Laying bricks and stuff