The Model United Nations Conference organized by Darüşşafaka Schools MUN Club was held for the fourth time. Attending were 350 students from 21 different schools around Turkey participated in the conference and they wrote some resolutions bringing solutions to world-wide problems.

In the fourth year of the organization, the Darüşşafaka Model United Nations Conference was able to continue to increase the number of participant schools as well as individual participants. The conference continues to grow each year by 50 percent compared to last year, said reports.

Darüşşafaka Model United Nations Conference organized by Darüşşafaka MUN Club for the fourth time, this year was held at Darüşşafaka Maslak Campus.

Nearly 55 student delegates participated in “The United Nations Political Committee”, discussing, debating and trying to find common solutions to problems of terrorism.

About sixty students participated in “The United Nations International Security and Disarmament Committee” and focused on international security and the negative atmosphere created by the prolification of weapons of mass destruction. This issue was taken up in the context of the official United Nations Procedure.

“The United Nations Human Rights Committee” and “The United Nations Environmental Committee” created and then voted specific resolutions and discussed the negative impacts of the theme. During the three-day intense debates in United Nations General Assembly, six draft resolutions were created in each committee. On the last day of Conference, the UNGA deliberated for four hours on one resolution from each of the committees, which were then voted on by 250 delegates. Two of the resolutions passed with the support of the majority in the General Assembly.

With regard to the special committees, the environment committee mostly discussed the damage to the environment of the testing the weapons of mass destruction and adopted the following resolutions:

• To check the military settlement to compensate the nuclear weapons storage “WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) Oversight Council” called a council created by UNOOA support and supervision.

• Countries were asked to sign an agreement allowing access to each other’s databases and security systems and prohibit the production and sales of mass destruction weapons in the countries.

• The scientists from the non-government organizations and UN countries have been asked to inform the people and the governments about the weapons of mass destruction.

• The countries testing the weapons of mass destruction were asked to build the houses with lead walls in this area in order to reduce to minimum damage in 5 km diameter.

The most discussed topics in the human rights committee were the human trafficking problem in conflict regions and the unlawful arrest of human rights activists and prisoners of war. Suggested solutions focused on mainly educating the public about their rights, bringing awareness to and enabling them to defend themselves so as to not violate the law. Moreover, it has been proposed that an independent inspection system be established to regulate both judges and the governments of member nations.

What is Model United Nations (MUN)?

MUN is a simulation where high school and university students assume the roles of United Nations representatives, governments and civil society organizations and discuss the current issues. In MUN, participants use academic knowledge and language skills. It also provides intercultural interaction and fosters the sharing of ideas. It enables students to represent different views isolating themselves from individual thoughts and so improves their perspective of the world.

About Darüşşafaka:

Darüşşafaka Society was founded in 1863 with the aim of providing equality of opportunity in education to needy, talented children who had lost their fathers. Since then, it has maintained its presence with this mission of “equality of opportunity in education.” 153-year old Society, whose role is to raise funds via donations to finance the school, amended its statutes on 14 April 2012 and opened the doors of Darüşşafaka Schools to also include students who have lost their mothers. Today, Darüşşafaka creates a better future for needy, talented students with one or no parents. Inviting students at the age of ten, the Society provides full scholarship and boarding from a student’s fifth year through to the end of high school. Given an opportunity for a world-class education, students are able to embark on a new life as self confident, thinking, inquiring, and curious individuals who feel responsible for the community.

Mahmut Can Emir / İstanbul – DHA