Model United Nations
Project Overview
The Model UN project was about simulating a regular United Nations conference and learning values and skills from that like organization, leadership and public speaking. I played the role of one of the two chairs, the chairs organize and run the meeting, and at the same time we graded everybody. The chairs make sure everyone stayed on track and also encouraged group collaboration. One of the cool things about this project is everybody had to play a role for it to run smoothly. The project helped teach some very key values and showed how to use teamwork to make everything fit together to make a beautiful final product.
Briefs
Israel and Palestine Brief
The Israeli-Palestine conflict began back in mid-20th century, the issue of Israel allowing the Palestinians to have statehood has caused instability and unrest. Though there have been multiple attempts for a two-state solution, the two sides have continued to disagree only causing more complications. When the palestinian people became a large part of the population the two groups had very different views causing unrest. Both sides have now witnessed fighting conducted armies, paramilitary groups, terror cells, and individuals because of the opposite views. Maintaining peace has been attempted multiple times, but agreeing to each other terms has blocked the path.
"Both sides have committed crimes," says the Jews for Justice in the Middle East, conflict was caused by both sides. On the palestinian side, they are accused for using terrorism and on the Israeli side, they took away the palestinians thousand year old state by force. If they were to divide into two states the conflicts would die down significantly. Also within the separate societies the conflict generates very different views and opinions, each side has different visions and it is therefore had to agree. The two parties that engage in negotiations for peace are the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization, they talk about the current issues and try to fix them. It seems that even with this group, there still has been no improvements. If the UN stepped in and gave them a little push there would be a greater chance of peace and an end to this ongoing conflict.
Questions to Consider
*How can the UN control the amount of terrorist attacks and violence?
*How can the UN bring peace to both sides and with total agreement?
*How can the UN best create two states while lessening tension between Israel and Palestine?
*How can the UN best ensure human rights for both sides?
Possible Solutions
*Have the UN send in military force and assistance to oversee areas where there has been violence
*Have the UN organize for Israel and Palestine to meet create and peace treaty with terms that both sides agree on
*Write a resolution binding them to both agree and therefore eliminating any disputes
*Keep an eye with peacekeepers in areas where mistreatment is common and control areas with bombing
Previous UN involvements
*The UN enforced a resolution in 1947 giving the palestinians a right to political sovereignty and recognition
*The UN has sponsored several peace negotiations between them, the latest being the 2002 Road Map for Peace
The constant violence between the two groups has only spread hatred and created issues.
The UN must take action to ensure that human rights are protected and further violence is stopped. Both sides have done wrong that must be fixed, including unnecessary force and terrorism. While the disputes continue, no second state has been made and no peace has been attained. The UN must now step in and use it's power to create peace and balance to stop any further brutality.
Bibliography
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/origin.html, Jews for Justice in the Middle East
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel,_Palestine,_and_the_United_Nations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli–Palestinian_conflict
http://www.merip.org/palestine-israel_primer/intro-pal-isr-primer.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/03/v3_ip_timeline/html/
Israel and Palestine Brief
The Israeli-Palestine conflict began back in mid-20th century, the issue of Israel allowing the Palestinians to have statehood has caused instability and unrest. Though there have been multiple attempts for a two-state solution, the two sides have continued to disagree only causing more complications. When the palestinian people became a large part of the population the two groups had very different views causing unrest. Both sides have now witnessed fighting conducted armies, paramilitary groups, terror cells, and individuals because of the opposite views. Maintaining peace has been attempted multiple times, but agreeing to each other terms has blocked the path.
"Both sides have committed crimes," says the Jews for Justice in the Middle East, conflict was caused by both sides. On the palestinian side, they are accused for using terrorism and on the Israeli side, they took away the palestinians thousand year old state by force. If they were to divide into two states the conflicts would die down significantly. Also within the separate societies the conflict generates very different views and opinions, each side has different visions and it is therefore had to agree. The two parties that engage in negotiations for peace are the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization, they talk about the current issues and try to fix them. It seems that even with this group, there still has been no improvements. If the UN stepped in and gave them a little push there would be a greater chance of peace and an end to this ongoing conflict.
Questions to Consider
*How can the UN control the amount of terrorist attacks and violence?
*How can the UN bring peace to both sides and with total agreement?
*How can the UN best create two states while lessening tension between Israel and Palestine?
*How can the UN best ensure human rights for both sides?
Possible Solutions
*Have the UN send in military force and assistance to oversee areas where there has been violence
*Have the UN organize for Israel and Palestine to meet create and peace treaty with terms that both sides agree on
*Write a resolution binding them to both agree and therefore eliminating any disputes
*Keep an eye with peacekeepers in areas where mistreatment is common and control areas with bombing
Previous UN involvements
*The UN enforced a resolution in 1947 giving the palestinians a right to political sovereignty and recognition
*The UN has sponsored several peace negotiations between them, the latest being the 2002 Road Map for Peace
The constant violence between the two groups has only spread hatred and created issues.
The UN must take action to ensure that human rights are protected and further violence is stopped. Both sides have done wrong that must be fixed, including unnecessary force and terrorism. While the disputes continue, no second state has been made and no peace has been attained. The UN must now step in and use it's power to create peace and balance to stop any further brutality.
Bibliography
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/origin.html, Jews for Justice in the Middle East
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel,_Palestine,_and_the_United_Nations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli–Palestinian_conflict
http://www.merip.org/palestine-israel_primer/intro-pal-isr-primer.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/03/v3_ip_timeline/html/
North Korea Briefing
North Korea or officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was created in 1948 after World War 2. Problems started with North Korea started with the Korean War (1950-1953) which happened when the Koreas both tried to take control of the Korean Peninsula. After some small disputes, North Korea's military invaded South Korea creating an all out civil war. Since then relations between the North Korean government and South Korea, the European Union, Canada, the United States and Japan have remained tense. One problem that has commonly come up between the Koreas is keeping peace and how to keep peace. There's been constant small back and forth problems between them mostly border skirmishes and assassination attempts. The North failed on several assassination attempts, most notably in 1968, 1974, and in 1983. None of these produced any huge problems but they only kept tension between them.
By the beginning of the 21st century North Korea was relying greatly on food aid because of a devastating famine that had mostly passed. Barack Obama's current position towards North Korea has been resisting making any deals with them for the sake of defusing tension, a policy known as a "strategic patience." On December 17, 2011 the Supreme leader of North Korea Kim Jong-il died from a heart attack. The Korean Central News Agency announced that his youngest son Kim Jong-un would be his successor. This announcement made South Korea and the United States troops on high alert, lots of politicians said with Kim Jong-il's death there was a great deal of uncertainty in North Korea's future. All this also put North Korea into a semi-alert state, with foreigners put under suspicion and asked to leave.
On March 7 2013, North Korea announced it would launch a nuclear strike against the United States calling them the " sworn enemy of the North Korean people." Then on March 8 2013, North Korea announced it was withdrawing all non-aggression pacts with South Korea. In North Korea, weapons are made in about 1,800 factory's scattered throughout the county. In 2005, North Korea admitted to having nuclear weapons but promised to close their nuclear programs. On April 25, 2009 North Korea announced that its nuclear facilities had been reactivated, and later in 2009 reports surfaced that North Korea had full nuclear capability.
Questions to Consider
*How can the U.S. stop or regulate the weapon production of North Korea?
*Should the U.S. do this and if not what other countries will?
*How can the UN get more involved with North Korea and monitor things like aid with food and resources?
*How can the UN keep peace between North and South Korea to prevent war?
Possible Solutions
*Place and authorize military personnel in North Korea to regulate the weapon production and movement
*Vote on who should take control of the operation of regulating the weapons depending on things like who has the most resources and military power
*Discuss who can help North Korea with food, water, and resources depending who is able with their own resources
*Put soldiers on the border to keep peace and stop anything like assassinations
Previous UN Involvements
*The UN passed a resolution demanding that North Korea stop invading South Korea on June 25 1950, it was the beginning of the Korean War
*On June 12 2009, the UN passed a resolution placing sanctions on North Korea, also encourages UN member states to search North Korean cargo because of an underground nuclear test
North Korea has been creating problems starting in the 1990s that involved other countries. They have threatened the U.S. and have created enemies including its neighbor South Korea.
The UN must take action because North Korea could become a problem with weapons which could cause war. They have been dangerous and the situation must be handled with care and caution. The UN must help North Korea get back on its feet and become stable again, because they have been irresponsible lately. They are spending money on weapons instead of its own people and resources. To prevent any war and save the Korean people the UN must get involved.
Bibliography: Wikipedia, "North Korea" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea#Nuclear_capabilities
Project Reflection
This project is important because it teaches leadership, public speaking and other important skills that will serve us later on in life. It teaches leadership because in order to have your point heard you must use leadership and get everybody's full attention. You use public speaking multiple times during this project, especially during the speeches that are required. Over all I think this project is key to gaining important skills and I think students in the future should do it too.
I was most proud of using advocacy during the model UN because I was a chair. As the chair I had to run the meeting by keeping everybody on track and making sure everything was good. I had to call out mistakes and read amendments this was a perfect example of using my advocacy and it also improved my public speaking.
The greatest challenge I faced during this project was multitasking and trying to keep everyone on task. As a chair I had to run the meeting and grade everyone at the same time. I was having trouble at first making sure everything was going good, but I fixed this by grading during the speeches. This challenge was a good lesson for the future which showed me how to multitask and fix problems within a limited amount of time.
I thought the most interesting speech was Turkey's for one reason; her resolution made the docket and she still spoke for someone else's resolution. I thought this showed great humility and I was very impressed.
I was most proud of using advocacy during the model UN because I was a chair. As the chair I had to run the meeting by keeping everybody on track and making sure everything was good. I had to call out mistakes and read amendments this was a perfect example of using my advocacy and it also improved my public speaking.
The greatest challenge I faced during this project was multitasking and trying to keep everyone on task. As a chair I had to run the meeting and grade everyone at the same time. I was having trouble at first making sure everything was going good, but I fixed this by grading during the speeches. This challenge was a good lesson for the future which showed me how to multitask and fix problems within a limited amount of time.
I thought the most interesting speech was Turkey's for one reason; her resolution made the docket and she still spoke for someone else's resolution. I thought this showed great humility and I was very impressed.