Academy Metro MUN 2018

Academy Metro Model United Nations 2018 Another theatrics of USA’s delegate during a Press Conference in the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women! In reality, the United States of America is taking considerable efforts “We are not obligated to help others; to curb sexual violence and legalize abortion; however, the Delegate we understand we are the powerful of USA is either unaware or unwilling to reveal the information, nation and we fund everything else, but writing from the Office of International Press, Kalyan Raygalla, the in regards to this, we want to help our Chief of International Press. women”, said the Delegate of United Stated of America. The delegate made When asked to give insights of what is being done in the United States of no much progress in the committee and America in regards to global gag, the delegate refrained from sharing the haven’t contributed to the committee in information which is relevant to the question raised by the Journalist. Instead, any way, and still wants to say that they the delegate began to rant about how the forum choses to attack the USA, when want to help their women. If the intent there is no compulsion to help others. is to help, nothing is done so far. The delegate has no answer to most of the It is high time that the delegate understands and learn from the past to refrain questions raised by the Journalist. himself from ranting in-front of the International Press in an open forum. United States of America, a nation which never elected a women presidential candidate as the president seems to stay calm when it comes to imposing a rule like ‘global gag’, by showing their solidarity and reinforcing that women are not of an importance to the nation as their status is being affected, and traumatized. PAGE 1

An initiative by the International Press NEWSLETTER SOUNDS OF SILENCE a dead-end, with several delegates responding with uncomfortable smiles and apologies. The -Mirna Vedula committee found it especially surprising when the Delegate of Saudi Arabia, a country playing The second day of the Human Rights Council a largely controversial role in human rights saw substantial rise in participation among the around the world, responded with nothing but delegates. The excitement and tension rose silence. Another such instance occurred when high through committee proceeding as the Delegate of Egypt after claiming the Delegates attacked, questioned and criticized Delegate was “updated” on the prosecution of each other. Migrating from the routine General twenty individuals in Cairo for raising the pride Speaker’s List, the delegates moved into flags during a concert. The Delegate evaded the several moderated caucuses to discuss feasible question completely, choosing instead to stand in solutions to the long-standing problem that is silence while the rest of the committee looked violence against sexual minorities. The on. However, the Delegates of Brazil and Chile Delegate of Russia and the Delegate of Brazil used the press conference to their advantage and engaged in a heated argument discussing answered confidently, winning over support numerous controversial statements made by from several delegates. presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro including the infamous “I’d rather have my son die in a The committee concluded for the day by car accident than have him showing up dating discussing working papers, resolutions and some guy.” The Delegate of Brazil swiftly amendments. responded by stating that a presidential candidate was not a viable representative of Bermuda Who? what Brazil as a country stood for as he was “just a candidate”. This debate saw a large MIRNA VEDULA amount of encouragement and applause from the committee. The Delegate of Canada started off boldly by asking, “What does the United Kingdom propose to do about the growing mental health issues in young lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals ranging from the age group fourteen to nineteen.” The delegates, Executive Board and International Press alike were on the edge of their seats, bracing themselves for the heated debate that would occur. The Delegate of the United Kingdom raised his placard at the blink of an eye, stood up and retorted “Delegate of Bermuda your country has granted the right to homosexuality but withdrew it and yet again granted it! Please elaborate.” The whole committee was shocked as the Delegate of the United Kingdom had referred to the Delegate of Canada as the Delegate of Bermuda. The clamoring laughter that followed was full of life. With no intention to put an end to their tears of laughter the delegates were given a much-needed break from the intense debates that enthralled the Human Rights Council. PAGE 2

An initiative by the International Press NEWSLETTER Anonymity; boon or bane? Bhavana. Balasubramanian The agenda of this committee is to develop an For this, the chair of ECOFIN (Economic and One of the many negative implications of action plan to address the use of cryptocurrency Financial Counsel) states that “if someone has cryptocurrency is that any transaction made in anonymized transactions. Governments of your wallet, they can log in and use your with this currency cannot be traced. This means various countries have been highly skeptical of account. However, this would not be possible the currency could be misused by any this method of transactions. Due to the merely by hacking the computer. To gain infiltrator. Another negative effect of this implementation of cryptocurrency, one can access to a wallet independently, it would currency is possible mismanagement. This achieve absolute anonymity. Some benefits of require one to hack 51% of the world’s could happen when investors lose money due to receiving complete anonymity while performing computers. However, reverting back to the excess transportation of money in the black financial transactions are portability, as unlike anonymity, along with its positive effects it has market, most generally though the use of physical money this currency can be transferred several negative implications as well. Not only bitcoins. Several countries do not recognize this in large sums without setting off any alarms. that, the agenda of this committee is not being currency as legal, and hence its use is denied Identity theft is close to impossible while using sufficiently recognized during GSLs and while performing several requisite transactions. this currency as these transactions are moderated caucuses. However, with my This narrows the scope of this currencies. I independent and secured by an unhackable knowledge of cryptocurrency, I write the write the following. I write the following. I address. following. write the following. Did Pakistan really fail during the Indo-Pak War in 1971? Jamolbi Khushqadamova At the crack of dawn, all the respected positions convened to discuss the unexpected crises that heated up the committee earlier. The Joint Crisis Committee (JCC) was in a complete state of turbulence, since Pakistan has miserably failed by “sending bombers that must be filled with manifesto papers, rather than bombs” – one of the directives, which was proposed by the Chief of Air Staff. The first update of the crisis that dealt the issue of “Indian army shoots down Pakistani plane, on 25th November 1971” indeed aroused the respected positions. It has created an outrageous aura in the committee because Pakistan has undoubtedly failed what it aimed for. Additionally, the Chief of Naval Staff stated, “We must build now stronger navy base and put well-grounded ships and submarines in the East Pakistan”. Consequently, the esteemed positions were reminded again by the President that the main aim is ‘to take care and control of the East Pakistan’. Hence, all of the designated positions have gathered up, discussed altogether and came up with few solutions. Moreover, the Minister of External Affairs confessed in the committee, “It is actually our failure”. Adding up to this, the Commander in Chief of the People’s Republic of China has claimed, “Sending planes with manifesto papers instead of bombs is just stupid.” In a flash, the approach of the entire committee became so intensified and heated up that the respected positions were ready to ‘attack’. As the Commander in Chief of the People’s Republic of China has rightly stated, “The right time has come! We must assassinate the Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi.” However, simultaneously another surprise erupted in the committee, another update of the crisis, with a message of ‘Naval Battle in Western Front’. The committee has remained in the state of turbulence and agitation again, since Pakistan has failed for the second time. PAGE 3

Academy Metro Model United Nations 2018

Academy Metro Model United Nations 2018

An initiative by the International Press NEWSLETTER Peace in Middle-East, Irony? Alim Khoja. threatened by each other. The first committee session started Similarly, countries in the Middle- off with the Delegates of Russia and East work in gathering USA accusing one another. Both the progressively more weapons, Delegates were strongly opposing whenever felt threatened by each other. The Delegate of USA neighboring countries. asserts Russia of supporting hostile nations such as Syria by providing Most of the Delegates were still them with defensive ballistic unclear of the situation in the missiles. In response the Delegate of Middle-East, due to which the chair Russia said: “Until and unless USA decides to move to an unmoderated interferes in the Middle-East and caucus, where the working paper supports Israel, there can’t be scope was discussed. The decision was for peace”. taken upon by the chair in order to give Delegates clarity of the The Delegates were confused, which resolution process and further, to pushed the chair to explain the allow the Delegates to form blocks situation of the Middle-East. The which will enable them to propose chair relates the situation in Middle- solutions in accordance to the East to people gathering stones agenda with their respective allies. which they could throw at each other Formation of two blocks were seen. when needed to attack or defend. One being led by USA, Israel and This indicates that the person having Australia. While, the other by more stones is powerful. Soon, this Russia, Iran and Syria as the chaos turned into a race where people authors and sponsors respectively. gather even more stones when being Will a Solution Prevail? - Mishca Dossani The United Nations Security Council at the Aga Khan Academy Metro The Delegate of Israel claimed that, Hamas, (a Palestinian Sunni- MUN faces the challenge of discussing the significant topic of the Arab Islamist fundamentalist organization which aims to protect Palestine - Israeli conflict. In this scenario, we find that Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, and Islam in times of conflict) is a terrorist group, but to counteract on Saudi Arabia and Iran are pointing out the misdemeanours committed this point the Delegate of Palestine made a statement wherein it was by Israel. Initially one might believe that Israel would be outnumbered mentioned that “Hamas isn’t a terrorist organization, it is an idea, but at this conference due to the several Arab nations pointing fingers at it, Israel itself is a terrorist group” by saying this it has been made clear but that was not the case at today’s conference. Israel single-handedly that Palestine blatantly calls Israel a terrorist country entirely, and stood strong with the namesake support of the United States. blames Israel for all the conflicts that have occurred. To prevent further inequity, Israel decided to ignore the debate at hand and proposed The alliance of the United States with Israel is referred to as several solutions. ‘namesake’ as the Delegate of the United States openly stated, “We don’t support Israel, we just have a beneficial relationship but they still Overall the committee could not come to a consensus because the don’t take our advice, even though we pay them three billion dollars”. Arab states made a plea to have the two-state solution to be put in order By saying this the US has put its alliance with Israel at stake because but Israel believes that, that won’t be a long-standing solution. Instead, they clearly only want them for the resources. Based on this debate, the they propose the demilitarization of the Gaza strip and a three-state delegate of Palestine brought up an interesting fact wherein it was solution. The committee is in a state of chaos therefore there might be mentioned that the US was only paying off Israel to manipulate its resolution at all. decisions when it came to fighting other countries so that the US could reap benefits from the sorrows of other countries. PAGE 4

An initiative by the International Press NEWSLETTER Religion vs. Female Genital Among all the delegates, the Delegate of United Mutilation States of America who was grieving upon 20 million women going under FGM opposed the Bahar statement made by the Delegate of Iran. “Delegate of Iran, don’t blame the Prophet, talk The three days of the Commission on the about progression in your country”, the delegate Status of Women committee’s conference have stated in his speech. been a dramatic debate among the delegates. One of the statements given by the Delegate of Throughout the whole committee session, Russia made the whole discussion an impartial there has been a controversy between religion conference. She open-mindedly stated why and the practice of female genital mutilation in women need to be circumcised, “All women Islamic countries. should be circumcised so there would be no debauchery on earth so that sexuality is One of the highest values of Islamic law is the minimized, it is necessary to reduce female Prophetic command to neither inflict nor sexuality.” accept harm. However, Islamic countries like It is clear that countries shouldn’t pass a law Iran follow the Prophet’s actions irrespective banning the practice of FGM, rather they should of violation on women. propose better solutions, but all they do is simply set up awareness camps “hoping” that In one of the committee sessions, the Delegate can solve the issue. of Iran blamed Prophets and Imams for practicing genital mutilation on their daughters and wives. The delegate stated in her speech that, “Female genital mutilation was practiced during the early years of Islamic kingdom, where the Prophet’s and Imam’s wives and daughters were circumcised. That prophet whose footsteps the Muslims follow. That Prophet who is a role model to most of the Muslim countries. Thus there should be no excuse for why it shouldn’t be on.” This statement has left the committee in an utter chaos. It was more than just cutting. Bahar Abbassy I was only 6 years old, and I knew that this is bleeding, and fainting. The pain which I was going to happen. I knew that they are going to going through was equal to the pain a mother The day was unusual, the sky was full of cut me because it already happened to my endures while giving birth. For a whole month, tumultuous ragged stormy clouds. I woke up in elder sister. I was motionless and lifeless. bed with the terrible sound of lightning, late in the morning. I was shocked to see that there was She has told me that it was the hardest time of This is not only my story, this is the story of no ray of light from my teeny tiny little window. her entire life. millions of women around the world. We are Suddenly I heard another deafening crack from circumcised just because of the olden rituals and the sky. It was as powerful as it trembled my Now it was my time! traditions. It is violence which is repeatedly room. But it was not the storm I was scared of, it curving the women. was the horrendous event which was planned It was not as late as 11 am when my uncle and for me. my grandmother came to my room with a When humans are capable of making traditions, packet full of sweets. They gave me sweets and why can’t they destroy them? At least the In fact, it took me few minutes to come into my then taken me near the bushes in our yard. harmful traditions? senses, and realize what is going to happen to While I was enjoying the candy in my mouth, Despite the fear that this storm had embedded me, today. they tied my legs apart with ropes. I was in my life and the disaster that ruined my terrified at that moment. In no time my childhood, I hope tomorrow is the day where no grandmother cut me; I was screaming, female is tortured like me. I write the following. I write the following. I write the following. PAGE 5