United Nations Human Rights Council

Thank you so much delegates for making the BMUN 58 Conference an absolute pleasure to chair. You were all articulate, driven, and very involved, making the UNHRC Committee fiercely competitive, yet very rewarding.

In case you were not able to make it to Closing Ceremony, the following were Committee Awards:

Gavel: China

Outstanding: Liechtenstein, France, Switzerland

Commendation: Cameroon, Republic of Korea, United Kingdom, United States, Cote d’ Ivoire

If you have any further questions, feel free to email me at sana.naeem89@gmail.com. Thanks so much for an amazing Conference and I will see you all next year!

Best,
Sana

Dear Delegates,

I would just like to tell you that I am incredibly excited about the Conference which is happening in only 1 day! Upon reading the position papers, it seems that you all have put a great deal of time, effort, and research constructing your perspectives about these two compelling – and quite contentious – topics. What I would like to say for the Conference is the following:

1) Please stay on policy. Be very cautious about the statements that you espouse as a delegation because not ALL of you will be concerned about women’s rights/children’s rights, despite what myriad UN doctrines specify. Despite the eloquence of your speeches, the substance is crucial.

2) Make sure not to generalize – and have evidence for what you say. A lot of your position papers made that mistake: “jihad” does not mean holy war. If as an Arab country, especially,  you make that mistake, it’s going to impede you from sounding knowledgeable to the dias – and the rest of Committee. 

3) Diplomacy, diplomacy, diplomacy. Use your charm and eloquence to convince one another, even during times of rising tensions. We are going to be observing your behavior meticulously throughout Committee, so don’t think that because we are not on the floor during informal caucus, we don’t know the happenings between delegations.

Logistics-wise:

No computers/i-phones in commitee. The concern there is that it gives an unfair advantage to particular delegates and research should have been done before Committee.

Remember, in case you have any questions/concerns at all, please raise them up before Friday Committee…we will give you the time to do so. Tomorrow is going to commence an – educationally stimulating and hopefully fun – weekend for all of you and as Chairs, we want to ensure that we do the best we can to make that happen.

Look forward to meeting all of you.

Sana

Dear Delegates!

There’s only a week left before the Conference and I hope that you are excited on embarking on a milestone in your Model UN career. Doing Speech and Debate and Model UN for many years has made me realize the rigor – and reward – of the activity, so I really do hope that you enjoy the few days that we have in Committee together. Please feel free to comment/ask questions about anything that you feel will help you feel comfortable about the weekend – whether it’s about debate, the topics, or our perspectives on delegate decorum. Judging by the exemplary quality of your position papers, I know that we are going to have an intellectually-stimulating debate(s) and I look forward to meeting all of you. With that said, the following provides you with some logistical information about the Conference, asides from the academic aspect of it.

BMUN is happy to announce that this year’s theme for the Saturday
Night Delegate Activities will be “*Let’s CAN Hunger*” where decorations and costumes will represent favorite foods from around the world. In support of this year’s conference cause, World Food Program, the theme aims to show solidarity in the fight against world hunger. Any food related-wear is appropriate and some possible things to dress up as include fruits, salt and pepper, M&M’s, the color representing your favorite food group, food mascots, your favorite Wheatie’s champion, or even farmers from around the world –although, creativity is definitely encouraged!

This year’s activities will include the delegate dance, entitled “*You Are
What You Eat*,” and a casino with Blackjack and Roulette. There will be
raffle prizes, a free photo booth and a refreshment stand. Of course, there
will also be a dance floor and a DJ.

To address hunger in our own local community, *BMUN will also be having a
canned food drive Saturday night. Delegates who bring in canned and other
non-perishable foods will be given an extra $50 worth of BMUN casino moneyfor every item they donate. *

The activities will take place on **Saturday, March 6th**.  The doors to
Pauley Ballroom will open at *8:00 p.m. and all activities will end at 11:00
p.m.”*

Best,

Sana

Hello Delegates!

Sana, Sally, and I are so excited to meet all of you! I have one tip for you all before conference. Make sure that you are reading the news daily about both topics. If you have any questions about resources or newspapers to read feel free to  email me at kassiyukevich@gmail.com or our collective account bmun58unhrc@gmail.com.

In the spirit of that piece of advice, here is an article for you related to our first topic:  http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/761673–what-will-deal-with-taliban-mean-for-afghan-women

Some questions to consider:

1. How can the international community prevent the vast human rights abuses of the past from recurring?
2. What potential problems for women can you forsee as international forces scramble to leave Afghanistan?
3. What responsibility does the international community have to protect the women of Afghanistan from violence?

Cheers,

Kassi

Dear Delegates,

PLEASE email the position papers to the official UNHRC email address instead of my personal Berkeley one. While I utilize my calmail account for questions, the gmail one is preferred for position papers. That address is: bmun58unhrc@gmail.com

Thank you in advance.

Dear Delegates,

The Berkeley Model United Nations Conference is rapidly approaching, so we would really try to encourage you to utilize this blog to ask any questions you have about parlimentary procedure and our expectations about your performance.

I would like to preface any updates by first stating that I am sincerely looking forward to meeting all of you. I know how hard you are – and will be working on your respective countries – and am excited to see the resolutions that you will be finalizing after several days of empassioned dialogue and substantative debate.

In respect to deadlines, please look at the following:

Feb. 8 – deadline to be eligible for research awards
Feb. 22 – deadline to be eligible for committee awards (meaning all papers must be in by this date to qualify the delegate for a committee award)

When it comes to your performance throughout BMUN 58, many of you have been curious about what we are evaluating you on. To that, I have the following to say:

1) Staying on country policy is crucial. However, closely analyze the reasons behind the iminent crises that are occuring both in Afghanistan and in India. Condemning the current situation is not going to rectify the prolonged despair that the constituencies are facing, nor is it going to build a positive future for them. What can you do as delegates to really make a change?

2) Research the historical reasons that have exacerbated the current human rights abuses in these two nation-states. Blaming one agent  or entity will not provide the delegation with an adequate understanding of the problem. For example, women’s rights abuses in Afghanistan can not be incorrectly blamed on the religion of Islam; as a delegate, it’s important to critically analyze institutional reasons why these problems are promulgated.

3) When using evidence, be cautious about the biases inherent in the material. Citing any “extreme” media agency will not make either the arguments in your position paper nor your speech as effective as using an objective source(s).

Working together is going to be imperative throughout the Conference so diplomacy is key! Articulate your perspective with clarity and passion, but please ensure that your relationships with one another remain solidified.

Feel free to use this blog for any questions! I know a few of you have emailed me in the past, but I would encourage to use this forum as a resource instead. I also recently came back from Pakistan and as a double major in Near Eastern Studies, I am sincerely looking to hear your arguments develop on these two contentious topics.

Sana

Hello Delegates!! My name is Kassi Yukevich and I am one of your Vice Chairs this year. I wanted to let you all know how excited I am for the upcoming conference. I sincerely hope it will be as rewarding of an experience for all of you as it was for me when I was a delegate.

I have an update for you regarding the issue of Indian Child-Laborers. The article summarizes a plan for reducing the number of child laborers across two states in India.

Here are some questions to consider regarding the integrated development plan proposed by Save the Children.

1. Consider the many arguments used to rationalize child labor, how could these benefits be achieved in Save the Children’s plan?
2. How can household income be supplemented without child labor?
3. What is the most important aspect of an IDP: health, education, economic supplements, or something else entirely?
4. How can organizations like Save the Children incorporate government action?

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7017420018

Hi Delegates!

Sally, Kassi, and I are incredibly excited about being your chairs for UNHRC and we sincerely hope that you  have an incredibly rewarding experience the next few months: meticulously working to ensure that you have a strong grasp on the issues that we are going to be discussing during the BMUN conference. With that said, we are going to spend a significant amount of time answering your questions on this blog so we hope that you check back often, working with one another to ensure that this experience is a rewarding one.

With that said, here’s a thought-provoking article, one that provides insight to the issues that Afghan women are constantly grappling with. It’s an older article, but provides a different vantage point on the current crises that are occuring in the country: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/14/afghanistan-womens-rights-rape

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