BERMUN TIMESFriday Edition November 22, 2013

Education globally... and locally Full feature on pages 4 and 5

The decline of meritocracyIn-depth explanation on page 2

The court has reached its verdictMore details about ICJ on page 3

Committees - what’s going on?Eight answers on pages 6 and 7

YA’s private partyTheir Opening Ceremony on page 2

VIP visit to BERMUNWho, when and where on page 8

t h e o f f i c i a l n e w s p a p e r o f t h e b e r l i n m o d e l u n i t e d n a t i o n s

Secretariat at the Opening Ceremony.

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The Key to SuccessEleanor KellyReporterMaja MelchingerText Editor

Commencing the 22nd Ber-lin Model United Nations Conference’s Opening Ceremony at the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, the President of the General As-sembly, Florentine Friedrich, addressed the issue of gaining access to education for minorities and marginalized groups. She in-troduced the topic of education as being the key to advancement, equality and a secure future. An “exceptional contribution”, accord-ing to the Secretary-General, Markus Jun-gnickel, was made via a speech by Sophia Natividad and a musical performance of the Filipino song, “Oh my Country”, in light of the recent natural disaster in the Philippines. Stressing the importance of democra-cy and education for international cooper-ation, Luise Rürup spoke on behalf of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and welcomed this

year’s delegates. The principal of the John F. Kennedy School, Kathrin Röschel, fol-lowed in kind with a welcoming speech of her own.

Markus Jungnickel brought the issue of equal education closer to the au-dience by giving a personal example from his childhood. He contrasted the academic futures of himself and his friend, Emanuel, which head in different directions accord-ing to each family’s financial abilities. Jun-gnickel took the UN’s Millenium Goal into account, which endorses global advance-ment by allowing a primary education for all. Further noting the sacrifices for education that are being made by those who are less financially fortunate, Jungnickel told the story of Zyang Yang, a boy whose father committed suicide in order to finance his son’s higher education. He concluded that the “path to equal education is long but essential.” The eagerly awaited guest speak-er, Professor Dr. Thomas Rommel, held the Lars-Day-Lecture, in which he spoke about education as a path to prosperity. He ex-plored well-known thinkers’ arguments

(please continue on page 3.)Professor Dr. Rommel.

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BERMUN TIMES

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Disclaimer:The opinions and views expressed in the BERMUN TIMES Newspaper do not necessarily reflect the opinion of BERMUN or its advertisers.

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Text Editors:Maja MelchingerLeonard von Kleist

Reporters: Dorothea DouglasMaria FilipiakClara FrickLeila HassanLuisa HemmerlingEleanor KellySimona Koch Christina Lennartz Emilia McGrealRebekka SchoellCaroline SimpsonDavid StrasiewskyRaphael Traczinski

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Youth Assembly Opening Ceremony: Motivation Workshop

On Wednesday afternoon, the Tai-pei Representative Office hosted the open-ing ceremony of the Youth Assembly (YA). The directors Melina Hardcastle, Victor Passfall, and Christian Weigelt warmly wel-comed the participants and introduced Jan Heinsohn, the German vice principal of the John F. Kennedy School, who spoke briefly on global environmental issues. Following Heinsohn’s inaugural speech, the Deputy Representative of Tai-wan to Germany, Dr. Klement Gu, briefed the assembly on Taiwan’s history and for-eign policy. However, the focus of the YA’s opening ceremony lay in Alex Schaper’s presentation of the YA’s origins. Schaper, a JFKS graduate of 2009, came to the realiza-tion that BERMUN should consist of “more than a resolution.” Along with a friend, he co-founded the YA-program in 2005, which runs parallel to the BERMUN Conference. He intended to challenge young adults to re-act to certain global issues and devise action plans. Over time, these action plans have expanded and developed throughout mul-tiple countries, which resulted in various forms of occasions, such as fundraisers and concerts. Schaper mentioned that the goal of these was to raise awareness and to promote others to contribute to the cause.

Afterwards, he discussed the con-cept of motivation, explaining its causes and importance in guiding the delegates to devise action plans. Based on his own ex-perience, motivation is highly important in accomplishing a goal as well as the first step to “creating an ecological environment for ourselves and our successors.” Thus, he integrated the YA’s topic of education and sustainability into his presentation. Factors of success include taking risks, pushing boundaries, being persistent, networking, and most importantly, “having fun.” How-ever, he also reminds them that “only when [they] take a risk, [they] can see what [they are] capable of and what [they are] not.” As Schaper encouraged the mem-bers “to be guided by [their] passions”, Victor Passfall hoped that Schaper’s speech “will have a very strong impact” and moti-vate the participants to turn their ideas into reality.

Guest speaker at the YA.

Inequality for All In his lecture during the opening ceremony, Professor Thomas Rommel drew the delegates’ attention to the dire threat inequality in education poses to economic development. He especially lamented the inability of talented students from poor families to gain access to higher education, thereby squandering their potential and damaging society as a whole. The disadvantage faced by the poor in the educational system is exempli-fied by the disparity in college attendance rates between rich and poor. According to the Russell Sage Foundation, between the 1960’s and the 1980’s the number of rich people attending college rose by 20%, while the number of poor people with college de-grees rose by only 3%. The central cause of this is the inability of financially disad-

Leo von KleistText Editor

vantaged students to pay college tuition. To solve this problem, Rommel suggests that more funding be given to universities to award scholarships to especially promising pupils in financial need. Distinguished economist Robert Reich shares this view in his new documen-tary, “Inequality for All”, in which he exam-ines the issues of economic inequality and social stratification in the modern world, largely due to the disadvantages caused by poverty in early life. Reich sees democracy itself as being endangered by this phenom-enon, stating that “Well, if you give up on politics, you’re giving up on democracy. And if you give up on democracy, you’re basically saying to the moneyed interests, the powerful people and institutions of soci-ety, take it all. That’s a self-fulfilling proph-ecy. Then we give up. Then we are 100 per-cent plutocracy.”

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Christina LennartzRebekka SchoellReporters

Friday, November 22, 2013

t h e o f f i c i a l n e w s p a p e r o f t h e b e r l i n m o d e l u n i t e d n a t i o n s

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This year’s BERMUN Con-ference goes hand in hand with a number of developments for the Press Corps. First and foremost, the reader will have noticed the color in today’s paper, setting it apart from the standard black-and-white of previous confer-ences. This was made possible thanks to a team effort of fund-raising in the last few months along with the friendly cooperation of the BERMUN Secretar-iat. Furthermore, this year’s edi-tion puts to use a bit of social media savvy to generate even more interest in the assembly’s activities. A public rela-tions office has been set up to provide a constant newsfeed, to be projected on a large screen in the foyer for the dura-tion of the conference. Pictures taken by the team’s photographers will be posted every night on our BERMUN Press Facebook page. In the process of familiarizing themselves with article ideas on this year’s topic, our team of journalists has learned about education in the same way that the delegates have. By ex-panding and spreading our knowledge through the written word, we hope to encourage discourse among our read-ership and within each committee.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has now come closer to the real In-ternational Court of Justice of the United Nations than ever before. This committee is different from any other BERMUN or-gan. Known for its small size, the ICJ is made up of only fifteen to eighteen judges, two advocate teams, each composed of two lawyers, two presidents and one registrar for recording. At the end of the conference, the judges reach a verdict and voice their assessment of the case. The ICJ is charac-terized by its determination to solve inter-national problems, but also by its independ-ence and freedom to choose its own topic. This year, instead of adopting BERMUN’s central theme, it focuses on a real case by questioning the legality of Japan’s whaling activities in the Antarctic. They have informed themselves on whal-ing, Japan’s cultural integration and ex-

ploitation of it, and arising disputes with Australia. Another implemented reform requires the two presidents and the regis-trar to participate in the debate and act as judges, along with guiding the discussions. Juggling these two responsibilities is a task the presidents and registrars of the UN also face. Furthermore, real witnesses from dif-ferent committees share their prior knowl-edge on the matter. For instance, the wit-ness of Japan added, “If we spend 6 billion yen in investigation and get 5 billion yen from selling the meat, it is clear that whal-ing is done purely for scientific research. Scientific research has been very success-ful.” Clara Walther, president of the ICJ, points out the complexity of the attrib-utes called for by this year’s topic, “All of our participants will leave the conference having gained much skill in logical and an-alytical thought, [and] in recognizing the fine nuances one sentence of law can en-tail.”

Key to Success (continued)regarding education as a means to expand human capital and intellect. Further ac-centuating the worth of equal education, regardless of social background, Rommel stated that education can provide the “ne-cessary tools to ask the right questions” and act upon them. In a personal interview with the BERMUN Press Corps, Rommel explained that “education is precisely that. To be competitive, yet not push everyone but lead in such a way that people will fol-low you willingly, and give their best.” In response to the question by

the BERMUN Press Corps regarding the importance of the discussion of this con-ference’s topic by the delegates, Rommel replied simply, “Very important”, for, ac-cording to Rommel, life-long education is “indispensable”. He emphasized the value of the knowledge attained at this confer-ence, seeing as this “is essential training that we can’t get in classrooms.” After a quick coffee break, the General Assembly presented their posi-tions in the opening speeches, which con-cluded the Opening Ceremony.

Clara FrickReporter Letter from

the EditorMax LarsonEditor-in-Chief

Baby Beluga and the Law

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Chairs of the ICJ.

Baby Beluga and the Law

BERMUN TIMES4

Education Around

USAAccording to International

Student and Scholar Services, 80% of education is funded by each state. Most

American public schools are, therefore, able to provide free meals and transportation on top of

the encouraged parental support. On the other hand, private schools are also available at a certain cost. There is no national graduation exam, only a High School Di-ploma obtained after 12 mandatory years. Curricula as well as laws regarding education depend on each local district. American universities, which require scores

from either of the national standardized tests (SAT and ACT), are ranked amongst the best

in the world and attract students from all countries.

FranceFrance is one of the

few countries that offer a high standard free eduction. The diploma

obtained at the end of high school is called the baccalauréat, which - unlike the A levels

or SATs - one either passes or fails. However, it’s possible to choose to start job training and take a CAP or BEP. With a 99% literacy rate, according to the government, and 18 million enrolled in public schools, the French government spends more on its education system (64.6 billion €) than on its mili-

tary forces (31.7 billion €). The baccalauréat is one of the most acknowledged diplomas

worldwide today.

BrazilBrazil’s rapidly

growing economy has contrib-uted to its establishment as one of the

most influential countries globally - only to be hindered by the difficulties with educating

its citizens. The educational system is divided into three levels: fundamental, middle and higher, all of which are available for free. Despite the level of over-all literacy having reached 92% by 2008, according to UOL, Brazil will not have achieved UNESCO’s goal of “Education for All” by 2015. This is primarily

due to contradictory practices: Brazil spends a similar percentage of its GDP on educa-

tion as Switzerland, yet roughly half of the budget is used for teachers’

pensions.

 

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Public Expenditure on Education as Percent-age of Total Government Expenditure/GDP

Legend:

Public expenditure on education as per-centage of GDP

Public expenditure on education as percentage of total government expend-iture

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

by Caroline Simpson

by Mary Filipiak

by Leila Hassan

Friday, November 22, 2013 5

QatarIn one word, education

in Qatar can be described as varied. The set structure standardized by the Min-

istry of Education applies to public schools, which teach both in Arabic and English. There is an ample

amount of private schools that offer different systems, such as the AP program, the IB diploma, and A-levels. The Qatari government’s emphasis on education is especially evident in the opportunities provided by Sheikha Mozah, one of the most influential women in the Middle East,

through the Qatar Foundation. This organization works to offer young men and women numer-

ous opportunities to broaden their minds through education.

PhilippinesGeographically speaking, the lo-

cation of the Philippines allows for its bi-odiversity, making it a paradise on earth, how-

ever at the same exposing it to the danger of tropical cyclones, such as the recent typhoon Haiyan. The dis-

aster has caused massive devastation and, according to BBC, with 350,000 people displaced, left without basic commodities, electricity or water, it is clear that the trage-dy has also paralyzed the local schools. Recently, the ed-ucational system was reformed, introducing elementary

school, junior high school and senior high school and taught in 19 local languages. Yet at the moment

this is of minor importance for the affected areas, which are struggling for survival.

JapanForeign influences have had a

bearing on Japan’s school system. Begin-ning with the Meiji Restoration in the 1870’s,

American and European envoys contributed to the establishment of a modern Japanese state. This

process culminated in the School Education Law of 1947, which forms the basis of modern Japan’s three-tier school structure. While Japan’s education system may not in theory differ much from its Western

counterparts, school life is strictly regimented with school uniforms mandatory for all stu-

dents and an emphasis on testing in the final year of high school.

by Mary Filipiak

by Yasmin Majali

by Max Larson

the World

Committee Reports

BERMUN TIMES6

Tackling Socio-Economic Problems

The Road toDebate

The Obstacles of SocialReintegration

The Idea BehindBERMUN

Simona KochReporter

Rebekka SchoellReporter

David StrasiewskyReporter Luisa Hemmerling

Reporter

At 8:40 in the morn-ing, Shabab Haider, president of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), opened Thursday’s session with a warm welcome, joking that “in case of a fire, don’t panic guys.” From then on, the delegates began preparing resolutions for the lat-er debate. This year, the ECOSOC focuses on the issues of education for refugees, in-tellectual property, and digital division. Dividing up into three groups, each group of delegates targeted one topic and prepared their resolutions. Facing the problem of schooling for refu-gees, the Tunisian and Indian delegates directed attention to the struggle, stating, “We need to find a way to work around the barriers”, and “the problem is

simply how to provide it.” In anticipation for the later conference, Haider expects “the debate to be very good”, and “hopes the delegates will argue their points effectively.”

mittee (HRC) discussed the re-search report topics assigned to them prior to the conference. Following the lobby-ing process, delegates aimed to create resolutions before lunch. The delegates focused on find-ing others, representing all cor-ners of the globe, who share similar ideas. These groups then brainstormed together to design a proposal and ignite discussion in succeeding debates. The delegate of Iraq stated that there are “so many different minority groups [and] it’s hard to please everyone” but aims to focus on “provid[ing] education for larger minority groups.” In order to merge ideas regarding traditional education with the integration of cultures, groups were formed based on the background of the country, visions and their expectations for the future.

On Thursday morn-ing, approximately 85 delegates from the Human Rights Com-

The main topic and cause of conflict of the Political Committee addresses the social reintegration of child soldiers. The overall opinion of delegates from Middle Eastern countries is to bring the traumatized for-mer soldiers back to their fam-ilies. However, these families are often murdered in front of the children who are then ab-ducted by the soldiers, drugged and forced to engage in armed combat. The delegate of Alba-nia believes that since Africa is

a third world country, it would be a burden for families to sup-port traumatized former soldiers and “Africa does not have the money for clinics to get the children off the drugs they are given.” Including these chil-dren into western society is an effort to detach them from the indoctrinating environment that forced them to kill other men. The opinions of the delegates in the Political Com-mittee on this topic differ great-ly and in the debate, they will agree to adequate methods for reintegrating former child sol-diers.

(“because he’s awesome”) to Bart Simpson (“I like his hair”). Despite these different personalities, Fogarasi still hopes for an agreement between the delegates; while Sapci hopes for equally balanced opinions. “I think it is important for there to be pro and contra in order to have a good argument”, Yagmur explains while the del-egates in the background start to form into groups. Even though the people in the EC are so very dif-ferent, their ability to agree on one opinion is what MUN is about.

photo by Fritz Pukall

photo courtesy of:blogspot.com

Already the many flow-er pots in the room indicate that the topic to be discussed in room G103 will be the environment. After introducing themselves, Environmental Committee (EC) Chairs Yagmur Sapci, Caroline Fogarasi, and Jakob Becker, ask their estimated 80 delegates for not only their name and national-ity, but also for a fictional charac-ter of their choice. The delegates choices range from Darth Vader

“We need to find a way to work around the barriers”, and “the problem is simply how

to provide it.”-Tunisian and Indian

delegates

Dirk Zimmermann, guest speaker.Child Soldier.

Committee Reports

Friday, November 22, 2013 7

Ideas Begin toCrystallize in the HSC

The newcomer to this year`s conference, the Historical Scurity Council (HSC), remains proactive. After quick ice breakers and some initial lobbying on Wednesday, the committee kicked off on Thursday with a guest speaker from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES). Henrik Meyer , who works in the FES Middle East divi-sion, spoke to the delegates about the causes and historical corel-lations of the 2003 Iraq conflict. In postliminary questioning, most delegates addressed economic concerns, a facet that is beginning to cristallize as one of great importance to all parties involved. Co-chair Aurelius Irving believes that “economic issues are just a bit more pertinent right now, but humanitarian aspects have been brought up as well.”

Dorothea DouglasReporter

Good Start For the Special Conference

The first official meeting of the Special Conference of BERMUN 2013 started out with several rules after which they broke apart to begin the three-hour lobbying process. During this time, the Assistant President of the Special Conference, Sophie Lugani, stated her hope “that delegates, all be-ing familiar with educational systems themselves, will be able to employ their personal experiences to form resolutions, while stay-ing in their countries’ policies.” The delegates “live and learn in various international educational frameworks. This diversity and motivation of the delegates will provide the basis for great resolu-tions on the central topic of education.” Since the topics themselves will be revolving around how education can affect peoples’ behavior instead of the usual focus on their ability to get better jobs, the delegates’ desire is to contribute to creating lively and fruitful debates.

Emilia McGrealReporter

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Striving towards Radical Change

After extensive lobbying in which delegates with similar policies merged clauses and prospective solutions, guest speaker Carolina Constantino further enlightened Security Council (SC) delegates on the structure and resulting effectiveness of the Unit-ed Nations Security Council (UNSC). She stated that “everybody wants reform, it’s just the formula that is difficult.” The UNSC has been criticized “since [its] conception” for its inefficiency. According to Constantino, this issue derives from unequal division of power with the Permanent Five’s right to veto. Max Sherwood, Assistant President of the SC, commented on the value of SC restructure in light of the Syrian conflict, another topic of debate. He remarked, “We could see more radical changes, more radical solutions quote-on-quote for the Syria conflict, and in that sense our two topics are extremely intertwined.”

Eleanor KellyReporter

Chairs of the SC in Session.

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Chairs of the HSC.

During this conference, the Disarmament Committee (DC) will debate the international regulations on cyberterrorism. Cyberterrorism has become a prominent threat throughout the world. The danger of cyberterrorism stays incognito, due to the fact that it differs from “an armed attack“, guest speaker of the DC Dirk Roland Haupt stated. Education ties into the subsidiary theme of the DC and emphasizes the importance of knowledge regarding this newly de-veloped warfare. The delegate of Ireland expresses “we are looking forward to fruitful discussion and intelligent solutions that will add to the overall mindset of this year’s conference.“

Cyberterrorism- a Future Threat?

Raphael TraczinskiReporter

Delegates ofSpecial Conference .

BERMUN TIMES

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American Statesman visits the Special ConferenceLeonard von KleistText Editor

Kornblum answers questions at the Special Conference.change and the growing identity among people. He had a vision of the world in 1963 which was not so much different from what our leaders are proposing today, and he laid the foundation for much that followed.” In an interview with the Press Corps, Kornblum deline-ated his views of Kennedy’s legacy, the importance of education, and topics concerning international relations. He emphasized the importance of education in securing freedom and international co-operation. “Education is important for two reasons. First, without education, you can’t know what kind of world you’re living in. If you’re not educated, you’re isolated. If you’re isolated, you can’t prosper. You can’t understand what’s really going on in the world. An educated person is much freer, much more able to understand the world, much more able to choose what he or she wishes to do. Education is the key to everything which follows.”

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Last week the former US Ambassador John C. Kornblum gave the BERMUN Press Corps an interview concerning the legacy of this school’s namesake, President Kennedy, who was assassinat-ed exactly 50 years ago today. Mr. Kornblum has worked tirelessly to realize Kennedy’s aspirations for global cooperation and diplo-macy, especially between the United States and Europe. Most fa-mously, he served as the American Ambassador to Germany from 1997-2001, and wrote US President Ronald Reagan’s famous ap-peal to Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.” According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, he also held several important diplomatic positions, includ-ing U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, Special Envoy for the Dayton Peace Process , U.S. Ambassador to the Or-ganization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Pro-cess), deputy U.S. Ambassador to NATO, and U.S. Minister and deputy commandant of forces in divided Berlin. As exemplified by Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech, the young resident valued strong cooperation between Europe and the United States, and Mr. Kornblum has helped to achieve the current harmonic state of trans-atlantic relations. The former ambassador served as guest speaker during Thursday’s session of the Special Committee. In his speech, he ex-plained the importance of a comprehensive education in the glo-balized modern world. He emphatically stated that “[young people] have a responsibility to understand what’s going on in the world.” He also mentioned a speech which Kennedy held in Frankfurt in which he envisioned a mutually beneficial alliance of countries, in which “he talked about a community that was open to many ideas, based not only on military cooperation, but on trade, cultural ex-

Suit and SwagChristina LennartzReporter Contrasting the dull, rainy Berlin days, the participants of the BERMUN conference decided to “suit up” in order to ad-

equately represent their na-tions. Participants donned various fall trends such as classic pencil skirts, vin-tage pieces, as well as win-ter accessories with a few sparks of neon. Most ladies decid-ed to stick to a monochro-matic black look and wore a pair of black boots, black skinny dress pants, a loose

shirt, and a black blazer adding to the conference’s slick and elegant appearance.

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Gentlemen don’t have the choice to vary their attire as much as the ladies do. Nevertheless, they always find the opportuni-ty in expressing their style by sporting a variety of colored shirts and an assortment of different ties.