Tingting

Al Jazeera

 

Currently Delegates are still organising their resolutions. The 13 attending Delegates continue to discuss possible resolutions to the issue of sovereignty in Hong Kong, and measures to halt the Rohingya persecution in Myanmar. In the discussion of Myanmar the chair of the discussion, Harshil Patel has stated, on record, that “ the countries of China, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, are important members of this discussion.” The discussion will be looking at resolutions to stop the persecution of the Rohingya ethnic group in Myanmar, the first wave of brutality alone causing 200,000 Rohingya to be evicted in 1970. 

In the context of the sovereignty of Hong Kong, currently information is unable to be disclosed. An unmanned source has been able to provide a general basis of the situation. The commission will be focusing on the question of the status of Hong Kong as a state and also possibly actions that will be taken in 2047 when Hong Kong’s autonomy contract will end. The discussion will of course revolve around China, and what they are willing to provide in terms of Hong Kong’s rights.

Reporters: Maya Dijakovic (BBC) and Thandeka Mangwiro (New York Times)

 

As a fantastic way to start the first day of ZIMUN, the acting chair (Megan Kadzirange and Patricia
Makura) of the General Assembly, very cleverly decided to introduce the debate with multiple fun
activities for the delegates, which they seemed to enjoy, because they got to know each other, and they
seemed to enjoy themselves before the big debate. With minor technical difficulties, the activities
continued and passed the time before a small presentation was displayed.

The presentation was called a “Conference Introduction” for delegates who were new to the concept of
ZIMUN. Following with rules and regulations, the chair also introduced multiple codewords to be used in
the debates for the following to days, including motions. The presentation was excellently displayed and
the delegates seemed to be engaged in the presentation.

After the presentation, roll call was taken, only one delegate was not present, their name was not
mentioned. The delegates were then broken up into groups to discuss problems in their countries and
write up resolutions to get approved and hopefully debated for the next 2 days. Unfortunately, considering
the abundance of newcomers, and it being the first day, not a lot of discussion was made, and many of the
delegates were often distracted by their own discussions. However, there was still progress made and
groups reviewed their own resolutions, and made a compromise to create one resolution. The group
contained the delegate of the UK, Uruguay, Romania, and the United States, and they seemed to have
made more progress than any other group. These countries would be a force to be reckoned with for the
next few days.

Esme McGuire

Reuters

Pollution is a problem in many countries, destroying the environment and causing health issues to humans and animals alike. It is also an extra hard blow to less economically developed countries, or LPEDC’s, who already have many other problems on top of that. But some countries have managed to break free and are starting to try and fix the problem, even creating new ideas along the way. For example, Kenya has started the process of banning the manufacturing and importing of plastic bags, as well as the use of them in general. The burning of plastic, which is way to manage the waste in dumps, releases toxic gases into the air, which are very harmful to humans. It can cause diseases like chronic bronchitis and asthma.  Indonesia is responsible for a large amount of pollution, especially in the ocean. They produce the second most amount of pollution in the ocean, after China. In 2010, the country produced 3.2 million tons of plastic, and about 1.29 tons of that ended up  in the ocean. Since, Indonesia has put up laws to reduce the amount of pollution. They declared that by 2018 they would be “plastic bag free,” but the process has been slow, so their goals were not met when the deadline came. They have also started making plastic bags out of starch, so that they will decompose much faster and will not harm sea creatures if they end up in the ocean.  Less economically developed countries have been trying hard to decrease the amount of pollution they are producing, to try and preserve the environment and keep their people safer, but is it enough?

Andre Smith

Al Jazeera

The delegates of the Environmental Commission will be debating four resolutions.
Two resolutions will be under the topic “Efforts in protecting the remaining wild
Rhinos” and the other two will be under “Promoting the techniques and use of
biodegradable materials in LEDC’s”. Today the delegates of the Environmental
Commission were split into four groups depending on their countries to write these
resolutions. There are two groups writing on “Efforts in protecting the remaining wild
Rhinos”; one of the groups includes the countries: Vietnam, China, and Philippines.
The other group writing on this includes: France, Botswana, Mozambique and the
WWF organization. The remaining two resolutions will be written on “Promoting the
techniques and use of biodegradable materials in LEDC’s” and the first group writing
on this includes: Kuwait, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, and Indonesia. The last group of
countries on this topic are: Sweden, The UK, Germany, Zimbabwe and Egypt. These
groups were determined by their position on the topics and their alliance with each
other. Each delegate arrived today with their position papers on their topics, to
express their opinion on their topics. The groups had about 2 hours to complete their
resolutions, and each delegate demonstrated their vast knowledge on their topics
and showed just how well researched they were. In each group all delegates got
involved and collaborated well with each other. The debates on these resolutions will
take place tomorrow.

Maya Dijakovic

BBC

Child Marriages are considered a violation of human rights, taking away children’s freedom, and being
forced to spend the rest of their lives with a complete stranger. Specifically, in developing countries, one
in four girls are married before the age of 18, and one in nine are married before the age of 15. Child
marriage also directly threatens a girl’s health and well-being. In most cases, marriage is often followed
by pregnancy, even if a girl is not yet physically or mentally ready. In developing countries, nine out of
10 births to adolescent girls occur within a marriage or a union. In these countries, complications from
pregnancy and childbirth are among the leading causes of death among adolescent girls aged 15 to 19.
With having the number #1 international ranking of highest child marriage rate in the world, 76% of
Niger’s population gets married before the age of 18. There have been recent developments of
organisations that strive to help girls who are being forced to get married. Prime examples include Girls
not Brides, Plan International UK, and Plan international because I’m a Girl. These organizations’ goals
are to protect young girls who are being forced to get married and to raise awareness of the violations of
their human rights, and to make sure this doesn’t endanger the lives of young girls.

Shaah Kamuruko

New York Times

The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization that promotes international cooperation and to create and maintain international order and stability. In 2015 when the UN was celebrating their 70th anniversary the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) was given the responsibility to plan the celebration related events and special activities which were planned to be held for a period of 16 months. Some of them included the celebrations of the International day of Peace on 21 September and many others. Things including the Intercontinental Cycling Tour, the Trees Plantation Event, the Multilingual Essay Contest, the United Nations’ Exhibition and the Second World War 70th anniversary. The 75th anniversary of the United Nations is an opportunity to reflect and to look back on the UN’s history and reminisce on its achievements over the years. It is also an opportunity to spotlight what the UN is as a whole and the good it has done for the world and improve on the bad.

New York Times has been asked to report on the discussions debated about reforming the UN for their 75th anniversary. The UN plays a big role on the world we live in today and we are honored to be given the opportunity to be a part of the 2018 UN conference

Michell Svesve

The India  Times

 

The Republic of the Union of Myanmar ,formerly known as Burma, is  a small country located on the Southeastern part of Asia and is bordered by Thailand, China, Bangladesh and Laos.

The small country has been headlining many news channels over the past  years as there have been a number of ruthless attacks and deadly violence against  the Rohingya people who have settled in the Rakhine state, which is on the western coast next to the border with Bangladesh.Myanmar is a country with a diverse religious system with more 135 ethnic minorities being recognised. Though they do recognised many ethnic groups they have failed to recognise the  Muslims who have taken refuge in the Rakhine state. The Rohingya people are regarded as stateless in Myanmar because the government officially considers the minority as illegal Bangladesh immigrants.

Owing to these attacks the Rohingya people have been forced to seek refuge in Bangladesh from 1977 and they have also ran away from the persecutions by going to other countries like India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia. The Rohingya peoples only chance of survival is to seek refuge in other Muslim tolerant countries. The slaughter of women and children within the minority group traces back to the 1940s. The main issue is  the Myanmar Government claims that unlike any other muslim groups in Myanmar the Rohingya people have just migrated into the state and therefore the country’s constitution does not include them among indigenous groups qualifying for citizenship.

The attacks on the Rohingya are inhuman and they are certainly a violation of human rights as much as they are crimes.In its defence the Myanmar government has cited the attacks as a response to Rohingya terrorist attacks and a restoration of stability in the country. A United Nations Human Rights  envoy has been assessing the situation in Myanmar and although the country seems to welcome the idea of receiving the Rohingya refugees back from Bangladesh it is still continuing its ‘ethnic cleansing’ mission.

The United Nations Human Rights envoy says it is ‘inconceivable’ that any Rohingya will be able to return to Myanmar in the near future.Saying that owing to the harsh and unbelievable cruelties the Rohingya have faced in Myanmar ,they are most likely never going to return to Myanmar again, because violence against them can always erupt again. The best solution is to have them resettled in other countries, much more tolerant to Muslims, to give the Rohingya the peace they deserve as humans.

 

Shalom Masango

Wall Street Journal

 

The nuclear race is run by a narcissist United States of America leader, Donald Trump, against, predominantly, The Fatboy Kim the Third of The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The relationships went haywire in July 2017 as North Korea’s missile threat grew, with 18 missiles fired since February 2017.

 

As North Korea exited the Six Treaties talks in 2003, alarming the rest of the globe, North Korea started to build more nuclear weapons with China’s support. Resultantly, United Nations imposed sanctions on North Korea, with the US ambassador to the UN saying, “we should not fool ourselves into thinking we have solved the problem….Not even close. The North Korean threat has not left us.” The race is intimidatory, as North Korean spokesperson said, ”It is a fatal miscalculation if the countries in the UN would even think that they can delay or hold in check the eye-opening development of the North’s nuclear forces.” Consequently, President Donald Trump vowed to unleash “fire and fury” on North Korea.

 

How will the world disarm from nuclear weapons? 15 contributing countries in the Security Council, are left to decide the fate of the world. They should consider the bigger picture as there are controversial states like Israel, which is going through the Jerusalem crisis and will not hesitate to use their nuclear weapons.

As the situation is unravelling, we should remember: “Nuclear weapons CAN BE dismantled, but CANNOT BE uninvented.”

Riya Jain

Times Of India

Family planning is the practice of controlling the number of children one has
and the intervals between their births. Today the need of the hour is to make
family planning methods more accessible to people. Family planning methods
should be within reach of  every person. Over the past having realised the
complications of unplanned pregnancies that women and families have to
suffer from, governments of many countries have taken initiatives to make
family planning methods more accessible to communities and they have
succeeded to a certain extent. What is really important is the awareness of
the people especially relating to family planning. There are so many
misconceptions and so much ignorance about the use of family planning
methods that women and even men in rural and even urban areas and
especially in certain communities stay away from the use of family planning
methods. People are not aware of it, and they don’t know that it is easily
accessible. So what they resort to in times of emergency are the operative
interventions which are complicated which can sometimes cause
complications in women. So in addition to making it accessible the need is
also to educate the people about the simplicity and advantages of using family
planning methods. So different methods are available depending on age and
need of the family. People should be educated enough  to decide and discuss
with health workers and doctors about which method would be best for them.
It is only one of the several and simpler family planning methods that are
available to society nowadays.