Newsletter April 2022
Distinguished Delegates,
We hope you are enjoying the spring break! In this newsletter, we give you an overview of the events planned for the coming month and look back at our Team's recent activities.
Save the Date!
28 April - 1 May ZuMUN Conference
5 May Irchelbar Takeover MUN Team UZH
22 May General Assembly
MUN Team UZH General Assembly Announcement
Our General Assembly will take place on Sunday, 22 May 2022. We are looking forward to celebrating the past year with all of you! We will look back at all the conferences attended, the topics debated at our weekly sessions and the events we hosted this year. A new board for the academic year 2022/23 will be elected as well!
An official invitation with the agenda and a sign-up link will follow soon.
- Lorenz, President
The Rehabilitation of Child Soldiers - Topic Block Recap
On the 30th of March, we had our first weekly session on the topic of ‘’The Rehabilitation of Child Soldiers’’. This topic block followed our guest speaker event and delegates were able to use their newly gained insight to support their arguments and gain new ground during debate. We were delighted to see delegates try the approach of merging working papers, which led to debating dynamics seldom seen in our weekly sessions. With a shortened three-week schedule for our debate, we still managed to get everything out of the topic and successfully passed a resolution with broad support.
We are looking forward to returning after the spring break to the next exciting topic block!
- Melkon and August, Co-Chairs
AUCMUN Conference Recap
During the first week of April, a delegation of 10 left Zurich for Amsterdam to participate in the fifth AUCMUN conference, organised by Amsterdam University College.
The majority of the delegation had reached the Dutch capital on Wednesday, while the rest of the delegation joined Thursday morning. In these two days, the delegates had the chance to visit Amsterdam’s most popular attractions as well as visit some museums, too.
On Friday, our delegation attended the brief opening ceremony, where we were given an introduction to the university and to the conference schedule. Thereafter, our delegates started the initial debates in their respective committees. Our delegates were divided among a variety of committees - UNSC, ECOSOC, HRC, UNEP, UNESCO and UNICEF - and some of the topics tackled included the lawful treatment of prisoners, the improvement of the access to essential resources in Yemen and issues of climate refugees. After an intense first session of debates, our delegates were rewarded with an elegant delegation dinner in a restaurant in the inner city.
On Saturday, the second day of debates began. After some heated discussions, all the committees ultimately managed to pass a resolution which attempted to address some of the problems discussed. In the evening, our delegates had the chance to show off their best attire and enjoy a boat gala organised by AUCMUN together with delegates from around the world. On the last day, we had some time to visit the city once again before heading off to Zurich with the night train.
I would personally like to thank the delegates that attended AUCMUN with me, many of which were rookies who went to a conference for the first time. They were fantastic delegates from day one and it was a pleasure to spend time with them. I would also like to extend our thanks to Amsterdam University College that hosted us as a delegation at their conference and Alumni UZH who made this trip possible.
- Darya, Chief Head Delegate
UNYA Conference Recap
The UNYA Conference held from the 8th-9th of April was, according to everybody involved, a complete and utter success. Together with a newly resurrected FriMUN, UNYA put on a great Security Council/Crisis Cabinet simulation, with the issue at the centre being the Nile Crisis erupting between Egypt and Ethiopia. While the Security Council did its best even passing two resolutions in record time, the chaos emerging from the crisis cabinets appeared to be too hard to tame. So the simulation ended not with peace but with a damn exploding and a giant flood rolling over lower Sudan. Still, it was still great fun for everybody involved and plans for the second annual UNYA Conference are already in the works.
We would like to especially thank members of MUN Team UZH for participating in the conference not only as delegates but also as backroomers and chairs!
- Amin, Head of Fundraising
Guest Speaker Event Recap
On the 23rd of March, we had the pleasure of welcoming Adiba Qasim into our midst and hearing about her work and experiences as a freelance journalist. Adiba Qasim is from the Sinjar Region in Northern Iraq and a survivor of the Yazidi genocide perpetrated by ISIS and has worked with international media outlets as well as humanitarian organisations to give a voice to women and children who have survived the genocide. She currently studies international relations in Geneva where she is also a Young Leader at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.
The first part of the talk consisted of Adiba Qasim giving us an overview of her experiences. She then put a focus on her work with child soldiers that were brainwashed by ISIS and how to integrate them back into society. In the second part, we had the chance to ask questions. The people in attendance were eager to hear Adiba Qasim's valuable input and took the chance to ask her to go into more detail on the topics discussed.
We thank Adiba Qasim for her excellent talk and for answering our questions and Claudia Solanes from the RFK Human Rights Foundation Switzerland for helping us organise this event.
- Ridika, Head of Operations
Geneva Trilogue Recap
Last month, MUN Team UZH was able to participate in the Geneva Trialogue, an initiative by the University of Geneva to bring together stakeholders to be creative on learning and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Together with other Swiss MUN associations, we were part of the roundtable hosted by UNYA on the topic of "Model United Nations as an Education Tool". We shared our personal experiences at the crossroads of education and MUN, discussed how to make MUN more accessible to high school students and finally identified key issues within our topic of debate. In the process of developing strategies to move forward on the issue, inputs from roundtable participants with knowledge of how MUN works in the United States and Germany were highly appreciated. Furthermore, the insights the representatives of the UNHCR and the Student's United Nations had to offer, were extremely helpful.
The event came to an end after the twelve roundtables, covering a wide range of SDG topics, presented their final progress to all participants.
Bringing together representatives from international organisations, academia as well as the private sector, the Geneva Trialogue succeeded in creating an inspiring space that allowed for ideas to be exchanged freely.
We are especially grateful to UNYA for making it possible for Swiss MUN associations to sit together at one table to speak about what the future may hold for MUN in Switzerland.
If you would like to know more about the Geneva Trialogue 2022, check out the press release by UNITAR, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research.
Youth Summit Recap
On the 3rd of April, we had the opportunity to chair a MUN debate at the annual Youth Summit hosted by the Youth Ambassadors of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation Switzerland. The topic discussed was "Climate Change and Human Rights". The debate centred around the question of developed countries' responsibility in causing climate change and the impact on the fundamental rights to life, health, food and an adequate standard of living in developing as well as emerging countries. After lively hours of discussing clauses and amendments, the Youth Seminar ended successfully with a comprehensive resolution being passed!
We would like to thank the RFK Youth Ambassadors for inviting us to be part of the Summit!
We look forward to another month of great debates and exciting events with you!
See you soon,
Your Board
Lorenz, August, Darya, Ridika, Patrik, Eliseo, Amin and Jenny
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