Model United Nations Assembly( MUNA) in Canberra

The General Assembly:

• Strongly condemns the ongoing systematic violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rightsof the people of Myanmar
• Strongly calls upon the Government of Myanmar to ensure full respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms and to protect the inhabitants of the country…

This is only part of Resolution 4 at the National Model United Nations Assembly held in the House of
Representatives Chamber, Old Parliament House, Canberra 14th to 16th August 2009. In all there were six resolutions:

• Towards a new international economic order;

• Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban treaty;

• Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran;

• Situation of human rights in Myanmar;

• Protection of migrants; and

Security implications of climate change.

The two winning teams from the District 9670 MUNA held in Muswellbrook in May this year participated in thisnational event. James and Tristan , from St Phillip’s Christian College, Port Stephens and Nilarni  and Alexander  from Merewether High School spent an action filled weekend in Canberra.

James and Tristan represented Israel while the Merewether team represented the United Kingdom.

Over the weekend, the program included some exciting guest speakers, one of note being the Counsellor to theTurkish Embassy, Tuna Yucel and Christopher Woodthorpe, Director of the United Nations Information Centre.

The young people were also treated to afternoon tea with the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce.

The students commented that it was a really difficult task to prepare and debate these resolutions as they weremore detailed and complicated than those at MUNA in Muswellbrook. This national event however did haveteams from all over Australia (East Doncaster, Sale, Southport, Wagga Wagga, to name a few areas), as well asteams from Rotary District 9710.

The students found the weekend and thecompetition most enjoyable. The thrill of debating in
the beautiful building of Old Parliament House andthe thought that in years gone by, people like Sir
Robert Menzies and Gough Whitlam wereprominent speakers in the same chambers, madethe journey south very worthwhile.
Our team of Nilarni and Alexander  representing the United Kingdom received the Totenhofer Peace Prize. The adjudicators determined this prize that is awarded to the teamthat makes the most significant contribution to issues concerned wit the promotion of world peace. Well done, Nilarni and Alex!

Congratulations to both teams for a great result and for their diligence over the weekend and the lead up to theNational MUNA. A big thank you also to their supervisors/counsellors for the event.

Sincere thanks is extended to the Rotary Clubs of Salamander Bay and Newcastle Enterprise for their

sponsorship of this event. 

For more information, contact Pam Wellham or Wilma Simmons, Rotary Club of Wallsend-Maryland via comments on this blog post

Photos from MUNA 2009

Photos of individuals from MUNA 2009 have not yet been published for privacy reasons. If you object to seeing a photo of yourself on this blog, please inform the MUNA coordinator or Secretary General via the comments section.

Congratulations

Congratulations to all the participants in the Model United Nations Assembly MUNA 2009. It was a very stimulating, educational and enjoyable experience. Special congratulations and best wishes must go to the teams who were :

• highly commended - UK ( Warners Bay HS) and Lebanon (Merewether HS) ,


• winners of the Peace Prize - Cuba ( Hunter Valley Grammar) and


• joint winners of the opportunity to represent Rotary District 9670 at the MUNA in Canberra - India (Merewether HS) and Iran (St Phillip's , Port Stephens).
  

Thanks to Pam Wellham and her MUNA committee, Muswellbrook mayor , Councillor Martin Rush and the Rotary Club of Muswellbrook for a really outstanding MUNA . Your commitment, hard work and dedication to the promotion of world understanding , peace and goodwill are valued and appreciated .

Wilma Simmons, Secretary General 2009

MUNA 2009 Compulsory Ice Breaker Resolution

This assembly

a) acknowledges that the burden of the current global financial crisis is distributed unevenly, hurting particularly developing countries affected by recessions in richer nations;

b) demands that the General Assembly Economic Crisis Summit (June 2009) include active participation by developing nations;

c) urges that the upcoming summit ensures it is more than a "talk fest" and aims to fix the deeper structural problems in global economy management for the benefit of all nations.

Note : This resolution will be the "ice breaker" and will be debated first, with the participation of every nation. Time allowed : one minute only.

MUNA 09 What Will I Wear?

During the week, I was asked if it was usual for MUNA delgates to wear the traditional dress of the country. Here is my answer ....
Yes it is usual for MUNA teams to “dress up” in something which depicts their country. It doesn’t have to be traditional national dress, but something which may identify you. eg. in the past, the Irish team wore green, the USA team wore dark business suits and dark glasses and carried briefcases, some of the African delegates have worn colourful kaftans, girls representing predominantly Muslim countries have always worn head scarves. Hope this gives you some idea of what may be appropriate. Just one thing I should mention – it is an OH&S requirement that all MUNA delegates wear some sort of footwear in the hotel dining room and the Council Chambers. (no barefeet).
Here are a couple of photos from MUNA 2008 which may give you an idea of what to wear - it can be extreme, or minimal , or anything in between.

Hope all is going well with your preparations - Best wishes,
Wilma ( Secretary General)

Latest List : Top 20 MUNA 2009

Here is the updated list of participating schools and allocated United Nations member country.
Singleton 1 : Brazil

Singleton 2 : Afghanistan
Hunter School PA : Japan
Merewether : Lebanon
Merewether2 : India
Warners Bay1 : United Kingdom
Warners Bay2 : Sweden
St Phillips Port Stephens : Iran
West Wallsend : Poland

West Wallsend 2: Egypt
Mudgee1 : South Korea
Mudgee2: East Timor
St Pauls, Booragul : Russia
Hunter Valley Grammar1: Cuba
Hunter Valley Grammar2 : Ireland
Muswellbrook : China
St Joseph's Aberdeen : Greece
Cobar : France
Belmont Christian College : USA
Cessnock : New Zealand

All the best with your preparations . Please do not hesitaite to contact me with any inquiries about the resolutions via the comments below.

Updated School and Country List

Welcome to two additional teams, joining MUNA 2009 - from Singleton High School . Here is the updated list.

Singleton 1 : Afghanistan

Singleton 2 : Brazil

Hunter School PA : Japan

Merewether : Lebanon

Merewether2 : India

Warners Bay1 : United Kingdom

Warners Bay2 : Sweden

St Phillips Port Stephens : Iran

West Wallsend : Poland

Mudgee1 : South Korea

Mudgee2: East Timor

Newcastle Grammar : ? Please contact Pam with details.

St Pauls, Booragul : Russia

Hunter Valley Grammar1: Cuba

Hunter Valley Grammar2 : Ireland

Muswellbrook : China

St Joseph's Aberdeen : Greece

Cobar : France

Belmont Christian College : USA

Cessnock : New Zealand

If any school has received information to the contrary, or you need to change your selection , please contact Pam Wellham or me via the comments section below.
Wilma Simmons , Secretary-General

MUNA 2009 Resolutions

RESOLUTIONS
Model United Nations Assembly

Muswellbrook 9 May 2009

Please note:
There is no guarantee that there will be time to debate all of these resolutions. The selection and order of these and any other resolutions will be debated at the discretion of the Secretary-General.
Some motions may change without notice, at times related to world events after the publication of resolutions and prior to MUNA.
The Secretary General will also consider the inclusion of a resolution presented by individual Member Nations or blocs, provided that the resolution is proposed in writing, with an identified proposer and a seconder, and presented to the Secretary-General before the beginning of the assembly

PEACE AND SECURITY

1) This assembly reaffirms the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination including the right to an independent State of Palestine.

2) This assembly urges all member nations to take legislative measures to ensure that their territories and nationals will not be used for the recruitment, assembly, financing, training and transit of mercenaries.

3) This assembly calls for the immediate cessation of any form of nuclear weapons testing in line with the Comprehensive Nuclear test ban Treaty already established, with the longer term objective of working towards the total abolition of all nuclear weapons.

4) This assembly calls for those nations participating in the Afghanistan Compact to exercise increased support though United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and cooperation with International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to develop a holistic approach to restoring political, economic and social stability to the area.

HUMANITARIAN ISSUES:
5) This assembly calls on all member nations to act positively to protect women’s rights in Iraq and to improve conditions for women and girls who are yet to feel the benefits of Iraq’s recovery.

6) This assembly welcomes the global trend towards the abolition of capital punishment and supports the conclusions and recommendations of the report on the 2007 resolution declaring a moratorium on the death penalty.

7) This assembly urges all member nations to act in the spirit of solidarity and share the burden and responsibility in addressing the third country settlement needs of African refugees.

8) This assembly reaffirms the commitments outlined in the Monterrey Consensus and calls for immediate and decisive action from all member nations to alleviate the impact of the world financial and economic turmoil on development.


ENVIRONMENT
9) This assembly recognises that all member nations are greatly concerned about the impact of global warming and the ensuing climate change and notes that these are symptoms of the much deeper problem of over population. Therefore this assembly urges member nations to commence working to develop values systems and actions which will eventually lead to a condition of sustainable population.

10) This assembly notes that many river catchment systems in the world cross territorial boundaries. It urges all government drawing water from such catchments to develop whole-of-system water management agreements which recognise, safeguard the rights to, and the quality of the water in these systems.

11) This Assembly requires all Members Nations to adopt a moratorium on all whaling including that conducted for claimed scientific purpose.

12) This assembly urges all member nations to support the research and development of genetic modification technology to boost crop yields and food quality, so that local and global food shortages can be addressed more effectively.

Please see previous blog posts for general information about MUNA, the participating schools and allocated countries to date. If you have any inquiries or concerns, please contact Pam or me via the comments below.

Schools and United Nations Countries

These are the schools registered so far for MUNA 2009 and the allocated countries...

Hunter School PA : Japan
Merewether : Lebanon
Merewether2 : India
Warners Bay1 : United Kingdom
Warners Bay2 : Sweden
St Phillips Port Stephens : Iran
West Wallsend : Poland
Mudgee1 : South Korea
Mudgee2: East Timor
Newcastle Grammar : ?
St Pauls, Booragul : Russia
Hunter Valley Grammar1: Cuba
Hunter Valley Grammar2 : Ireland
Muswellbrook : China
St Joseph's Aberdeen : Greece
Cobar : France
Belmont Christian College : USA
Cessnock : New Zealand

If any school has received information to the contrary, or you need to change your selection , please contact Pam Wellham or me via the comments section below.

Wilma Simmons , Secretary-General

MUNA District 9670

Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA) in Rotary District 9670 will be held in Muswellbrook on 8th and 9th May 2009.

What is MUNA?

MUNA stands for Model United Nations Assembly, which simulates the workings of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly by having teams of two or three senior students represent a particular U.N. country in debates on matters of world political and social concern. Rotary Model United Nations Assembly is all about building bridges of goodwill for world peace and understanding in the minds of our youth.. The main aims are

-to develop in students an awareness of the United Nations and the international situation of other countries in the world;
-to enable students to improve their public speaking and debating skills;
-to encourage them to make empathetic and informed comments on world problems;
-share their opinions and friendship with students from other schools and
-to lay the foundation for the free sharing of ideas across national boundaries which is the essence of a truly open society tolerant to differences of race, religion, and political opinion

What is MUNA's history?

MUNA as a concept arose in North America from the desire of young people to simulate the great debates of the United Nations Assembly. MUNA was first conducted as a Rotary activity by the Rotary Club of Winnipeg in Canada, and introduced to Australia by the Rotary Club of Lake Cargelligo in 1980. (Note: Chris Budden who was responsible for introducing MUNA in Lake Cargelligo was the Secretary-General of the first MUNA held in District 9670)

In 1988 Forbes Rotary Club realised the potential for Rotary to spread MUNA more widely and undertook MUNA 88 - a Rotary Bicentennial Project for Youth. The challenge issued by Forbes has been taken up by many Rotary districts so that now MUNA has spread throughout Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and world wide. The first National MUNA was held in the Australian Parliament House in August, 1997
The United Nations has given enthusiastic support for the ongoing growth of this very worthwhile project for youth.
In 1989 President Royce Abbey of Melbourne placed MUNA on the World Youth Activities Committee Agenda for Rotary International, and it was fitting that MUNA was included as part of the Rotary International Conference conducted in Melbourne in 1993.
In June, 1995 a MUNA delegation of five students representing Australia attended the Rotary/United Nations Presidential MUNA celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the U.N. Charter in San Francisco.

MUNA is now conducted in all five continents of the world and aims to operate in each of the existing 518 Rotary Districts world wide. Rotary International,with over 28,000 clubs in over 154 countries,has over 1.2 million membership committed to service and has the unique potential to bring the message of world peace and understanding to youth through MUNA. It encourages them to communicate their knowledge and idealism by the shared exhilaration of researching, understanding and debating significant social and political issues.