The Westphalian DiplomatFriday 30th March, 2012

Always look for the moon-walking bear

Even a very complicated issue starts with very simple questions: ‘What is a bank?’ ‘Where is the money come from?’ Linda van Goor, nati-onal expert for Banking and Financial Conglomerates in the European Commission, knows very well how to get everybody’s attention. Step by step, the workshop partici-pants were walked through the origins of the financial crisis (the terrorist attacks of 9/11), the tasks and tricks of bankers, and the tasks and tricks of su-pervisory authorities trying to be foxier than bankers. Be-sides the wise advice not to trust anybody just because he or she wears a suit and is loo-king competent (which is true for MUNs as well!), the moon-walking bear quickly became the ‘mascot’ of the workshop: always be aware of what you

are not looking for!

By Jan Lasse, Katja Philipps & Isabel LischewskiGet to work!

Media & Wars

Media inform about con-flicts and wars daily. That`s necessary, because society in the age of information is as-king for an always up-to-date

and objective reporting. However, what the con-

sumer of media is reading, seeing and listening to are just subjective descriptions of journalists and correspon-dents. Non rarely politics try to influence the reportings of the media about conflicts and crises. „The Role of the Me-dia in International Crises“ is therefore that important. In Workshop No 6 Arnd Henze, Deputy of Foreign News and Documentaries at WDR Ger-man TV, talks about his daily work and tendencies of deve-lopment. He reminds: ‚The job of journalists and reportets means skepticism.‘ To deside, how`s the bad and how`s the good guy, a distance to both parties of a conflicted must be

preserved.

Ye-Ta-Ka-Ta & Coloured Glasses

You take two groups of delegates, provide each with a deck of cards and a set of complicated rules and one with a secret language, mix them, and you get – confu-sion. With this experiment, Nina Knospe and Julia Walter of Youth for Understanding (YFU) wanted to show their workshop participants what happens when very different cultures have to interact and the difference in language hardly allows for communica-tion. Delegates described their experience in dealing with the other group as ‚strange‘, ‚lone-ly‘ and ‚confusing‘. However they also learned about the way cultural differences influ-ence our perception of other people and that if you‘re open and willing to adapt to changes in your environment, you can make fast progress in under-

standing a foreign culture.

MUNs are often accused of not providing participants with hard skills and hands-on training. You know that’s not true, but even if it was, MUIMUN would be an exception because of our ‘MUIMUN meets Experts’ forum on

the Thursday of the conference. Here, professionals in their fields provide you with methods and knowledge enough to conquer the world. In eleven different workshops delegates were presented everything from techniques to improve intercultural under-standing as well as details about the pros and cons of regulating banks. And more impor-tantly, they were once again challenged to look beyond their horizon and to confront themselves with views ‘out of the box’.

Committee Reports P.2-4

WeDi ColumnP.6

PanoramaP.8

Miscellaneous P.5

2GA2:

‘Guys! Please copy and paste’

For yesterday’s com-mittee session of the se-cond General Assembly the Haitian ‘copy and pa-ste solution’ was the best. But maybe this is not the best idea for the Westpha-lian Diplomat regarding yesterday’s article.

But back to the pa-ramount last session of General Assembly Second and their successfully passed resolution. Not un-animously – Iran and In-donesia denied acceptance - but by a high majority. Although the Russian de-legate and the delegate of the United States heated-ly debated whose draft resolution’s beginning and ending was better, the Haitian delegate calmed ‚Guys, please copy and pa-ste‘. So by this fine diplo-matic games(wo)manship, the Assembly was able to polish the draft resolution to finally pass a resolution.

Thus there were some results on how to

promote economic pro-gress through attracting investment to post-conflict countries. In order to mind the Millennium Develop-ment Goals of the United Nations, the committee approved some advice and promise of assistance.

‘The new govern-ment then can decide by themselves what they im-plement‘, one delegate added. The resolution en-courages creating an or-ganization, the UNDP Subsidiary Organization, on the one hand to boost investment in post conflict countries and on the other to monitor and oversee the allocation of investment money in a country. There-by also corruption should be prevented. Good job, folks!

By Melissa Faust

CommitteesGA6:

Developing Upgrades for NGOs

Proving to be the best, most efficiently working, most intelligent and as well best looking com-mittee of this years‘ MUI-MUN conference, the GA6 already passed the first resolution on wednesday, and started working on the second topic right af-ter that.

‘The Legal Status, In-volvement and Internatio-nal Recognition of NGOs within the UN System‘ was the next subject under dis-cussion.

Germany underlined: ‚the status of NGOs within the UN is well defined, but needs to be upgraded‘

Thereupon China im-mediately warned to ‚be aware of the consequences‘ and the questions of trans-parency and legitimization were furiously debated. Then Macedonia proposed a code of ethics: ‚any en-hancement of NGOs in UN System must follow a code of ethics‘. After that two

blocs entered unmodera-ted caucus discussing first working papers – mainly Germany & Russia on the one hand, UAE, USA and Macedonia on the other other hand. Though both parties stressed the need for action, critical points of view had to be discussed.

Furthermore the USA strongly demanded Russia to question its own im-plementation of existing guidelines before criti-cising other states of not doing so.

Later on in the so- cal-led coffee- break the dele-gates again proved their high motivation and finis-hed first working papers. India could not consent with the other states and framed its own concept.

Thus all delegates wor-ked hard, intense and with a lot of passion, it was not sure whether they would make it to pass a second re-solution.

Friday, 30th March, 2012

By Svenja Krings

3CSW: Women and politics

– a topic that needs to be discussed

sider politics a ‘dirty busi-ness’ and therefore connote being a politician as a ne-gative thing.’ Another rea-son, as most states agreed, is a lack of high education for women, especially in the Developing Countries. And even if women are interested in politics, they often do not know how to combine work and family or lack the self-confidence to participate politically. Hence Italy’s claim that women should only go into politics on their own will and its demand to use the media to create new role models, were widely sup-ported. Considered a fur-ther theme for discussion was the so-called ‘female quota’ (specific amount of women in politics regula-ted by the government).

Conclusively, there was by far enough to de-bate about for the dele-gates in their last session.

By Wiebke Nowack By Inga Voßeler

Committees

HRC: The long way to a (re)solution

The Thursday’s sessi-on of the Human Rights Council was not only spe-cial, because it was the fi-nal and deciding one, but also because it was ho-noured by Jule Möllmann, the Secretary-General hel-ping out as the director.

‘I am very much en-joying to be chair again!’, she mentioned later and proved her motivation by passional chairing together with Lisa van Hoof, the vi-ce-director.

For the delegates it was time to agree on one of the draft resolutions. In a short moderated caucus, the blocks emphasized their different points of views again, which were in oppo-sition to each other. While UAE and Saudi Arabia un-derlined that ‘the western community may not un-derstand that a resolution as the drafted one would endanger their national se-curity’, France was speaking about ‘democratic princip-

les’. Russia congratulated all delegates for their ‘great work so far’ first of all.

There was no real pro-cess and during an unmo-derated caucus Thailand’s delegate pointed out the current problem clearly: ‘The main problem right now is that there are two blocks, each favouring one of the draft resolution and none will give up their one. So it would be the best to formulate a new one out of both.’

The delegates intense-ly discussed and - encou-raged by the chair – they hardly tried to approach a compromise. ‘How can we satisfy all countries?’, USA’s delegate asked seve-ral times. This was indeed the task of this session. Was he right assuming, that the more detailed ‘draft resolu-tion 1.2 would be passed, but with a lot of difficulty’?

After beginning the meeting with an interac-tive dance, the highly mo-tivated members of the CSW started a discussion about the second main to-pic ‘Promoting Political Participation of Women’.

‘We cannot treat women as we treat men! There are huge diffe-rences concerning po-litics between them!’

This statement from Pakistani delegate led to a vivid debate whether men and women have to be tre-ated equally when it co-mes to politics. ‘Men and women shall have equal rights, but we shouldn’t deal with both genders in the same way’ demanded the Swedish delegate. But, as Colombia underlined, ‘they are equally capable!’

Another topic was the question which reasons there are for the low rate of politically active women. One answer was given by Libya: ‘Many women con-

Friday, 30th March, 2012

4CSocD:

Combating Ex-Combatants‘ Discrimination

By Jan Lassen

CommitteesCEPAL:

Aborigines and Economy

How to interact with Ex-Combatants? Af-ter passing resolution number one, the Commis-sion for Social Develop-ment (CsocD) switched colloquy. The new topic – ‘Post-Conflict Re-Inte-gration of Ex-Combatants in Countries affected by Civil War‘ – provoked less inconsistency.

The reintegration of ex-combatants is essential for guaranteeing national and global peace. Politics and states have to realize that ex-combatants often have lost their livelihood, their social network and their sense of belonging.

For reintegrate com-batants back into society it is therefore necessary, that prospective strategies in-volve both – ex-combatants and the members of the communities to which they return. As a matter of coure those reintegration pro-grams must be tailored to local politic, economic and

cultural contexts.Reaffirming that the

most important aspect of reintegration are edu-cation, employment, and therapeutic support of the former combatants is as necessary as creating ap-preciation in civil socie-ties. Possible steps there-fore are for example the exchange from weapons to goods, or giving ex-com-batants the opportunity to get back into business and economy easily.

The reintegration of ex-combatants in countries affected by civil wars is one strategy for long range peacekeeping. Questions that needs to be answered are: Who`s integrated per-fectly? Combatants must be reintegrated into society – but how does these socie-ty looks like?

By Merle Fahle and Kamna Kathuria

Friday, 30th March, 2012

The fifth session of the CEPAL committee opened on Thursday, March 29, 2012 at 9 a.m.

After having adopted a resolution to the first topic, the committee started with the second agenda topic, and the flow of the debate started from the beginning. The content of today’s mee-ting: How to include the aborigines and especially aboriginal villages into the economy?

The delegates firstly fi-gured out the main causes of the problem like the missing access to educa-tion, missing infrastruc-ture, and failures in the healthcare system. The de-legates discussed strategies to solve these problems in groups. How far would a micro credit system work and be profitable in South America? Do Portugal and Spain have a duty to help? Is agriculture still the main working sector? Will it be

in the future? The delegates proposed

different solutions. One of the topics mentioned the most was the dialog bet-ween the aboriginal and the non-aboriginal people – to raise the awareness of the rest of the population. Also the idea of micro cre-dits had a lot of supporters.

In the end the delegates even already started to write the first draft resolu-tions.

The willingness of the governments to investigate varied a lot.

The session closed at lunchtime because the de-legates were attending the workshops in the after-noon.

The team of the Westphalian Diplomat this morning feared that it would not be able to publish an article on the pub quiz since the responsible reporter was nowhere to be found.However on a stroll through the castle grounds we finally stumbled upon our unconscious journalist, obviously still very much affected by her undercover research of the pub quiz. As she cannot recall last night‘s events, all information we have is this crumbled piece of paper found inside her pocket....

Miscellaneous 5Friday, 30th March, 2012

Pub Quiz:Mysterious encounters of the weird kind

of the council by several re-presentatives and involve-ment of NGOs such as the Red Cross / Crescent was advocated. However Syria referred to the example of Libya, where a medical aid corridor turned into a military intervention, to explain its opposition to this plan. It also feared that confidential information would be obtained by the foreign medical staff. As a compromise, it suggested that existing departments of the Syrian Red Crescent be supported with supplies according to their needs. Finally, a compromise made it into the draft re-solution that combines the skills of local and internati-onal NGO actors.

Another compromise was achieved on the issue of peace negotiations. In the final resolution the Se-curity Council urges that peace talks between go-vernment and opposition be conducted by Kofi An-nan.

By Isabel Lischewski

Just a few weeks ago, a compromise on Syria see-med to be far out of reach for the Security Council due to irreconcilable dif-ferences. However today in a long-fought for diplo-matic breakthrough, the member states passed a robust resolution.

As Security Council resumed debate on Syria, delegations began to focus on the concrete measures to be included in a resoluti-on. Peace talks and huma-nitarian aid were central points.

Syria stressed that its agreement to the Six-Point-Plan of UN Special Envoy Kofi Annan was al-ready a huge step, leaving no room for further con-cessions. However, most other delegations felt that although the plan was the minimum consensus among all, it needed to be made more concrete to provide a real solution. The issue of medical aid for the victims of the conflict was put to the special attention

SC:‘Human life is too important to

wait‘

One million Syrians in need of humanitarian assi-stance – UN-backed survey

Welcoming ceasefire, UN calls for tackling causes of Libyan clashes

The United Nations mis-sion in Libya has welcomed the ceasefire brokered in the south-western city of Sabha, where fighting in recent days has resulted in some 50 dea-ths, and called on all sides to address the underlying causes of the violence.

The Obama administra-tion is struggling to assess

whether recent negotiations on Pyongyang‘s nuclear pro-gram marked real progress or just another tantalizing tango with a rogue regime deter-mined not to drop out of the nuclear club.

Dozens of Taliban fighters were killed in U.S. air strikes and a gunbattle in western Afghanistan after an insurgent attack on an Afghan army patrol, NATO and Af-ghan officials said on Friday.

Weather Today: Cold, Wet & Westphalian Breeze

Global (Real) News Flash

Credits to reuters.net & UN News

6

Pay no attention to the (wo)men behind the curtain

WeDi-ColumnBy Katja Philipps

Representing your country’s in-terests is well and good, but it is su-rely no guarantee for success. How do you succeed in pushing through YOUR resolution? How can you make sure that YOUR name will be attributed with genius and everla-sting glory? I suggest you consider the following steps:

1. Dress like a sovereign Black suit or dress is a good start

but it doesn’t distinguish you from all the other slowcoaches. To make a tru-ly formidable impression, you should

try a military uniform. Your creati-vity knows now bonds – you can try medals, epaulettes or a jacket of the Swiss Guard. For reference look up the late Muammar al-Gadhafi.

2. Get recognized Make sure everyone in your com-

mittee knows who you are – right af-ter the first session. You have several tools at your disposal: bribery, thre-ats, ingratiation. You have to decide very carefully who can be of use and who can be neglected. However, not all publicity is good publicity. You

don‘t want to be remembered as ‘the one who danced funny in global vil-lage’.

3. Build a network Even if you will be the one get-

ting all the glory in the end, you may need a few close allies to make sure everything marches to your tune (nobody stops you from denying their existence when the time co-mes). Make sure that they constant-ly fuel fear and scare among the others, that way your resolution will be the last one standing in the end.

Friday, 30th March, 2012

They are the people behind the scenes, hardly seen but always there. Wi-thout the members of the Logistics team MUIMUN wouldn’t work: Two of them, Katharina Biegl and Christian Laskowski, kind-ly answered our questions.

WeDi: What are you ac-tually doing?

Katharina: We’re re-sponsible for the technical support, equipment, ca-tering, lunch… Actually, everything that has to do with organization. We also

have to assure a smooth flow.

Christian: And most importantly, we organize the parties and events.

WeDi: How long have you prepared for the confe-rence?

Katharina: We started last year in June with boo-king rooms and looking for suitable locations.

WeDi: What do you think of being in the back-ground? Is your work ack-nowledged enough?

Katharina: I think it’s

only acknowledged when it doesn’t work, but yes, we’re ok with our role.

WeDi: Has there been any kind of disaster so far?

Katharina: No, there were only small things that didn’t work, e.g. printers or beamers. Nothing serious happened.

Christian: The Global Village was even better than expected! A very cool par-ty!

What’s so special about MUIMUN?

Katharina: The interna-tional feeling, working in a team and to see that all the work, all the long prepara-tions have really paid off in the end!

By Inga Voßeler

7Close-Up

You probably know MUIUMUN from the delegate’s perspective, but what is about the 14 chairs?

We would like to in-troduce you to Elena Kon-stantinidou from Greece – Vice director of GA 6 and todays director of GA Plen. Although being one of the youngest chairs in MUIMUNs history, she is already very experienced in MUNs.

WeDi: What do you like most about being a chair, since it was your first time?

Elena: I have many ex-periences as a delegate and was observing the chairs before. So I knew what to do. What is best about the chair is observing the he-

ated debate about what I wrote in the study guide.

WeDi: Have you missed anything being a chair in-stead of a delegate?

Elena: I was very passi-onal as a delegate, so I have missed being part of the de-bate directly, but during the unmoderated caucuses I By Svenja Krings

Friday, 30th March, 2012

liked to cooperate with the delegates.

WeDi: What have you learned from Bilal, the Di-rector of you Council?

Elena: He helped me very well, especially in or-ganizing the flow of debate. He was kind of controlling everything and managed the course of action.

WeDi: What can you, as a chair recommend the delegates for an successful committee work now?

Elena: Be cooperative, be compromising, be fo-cused. Additionally the key points are being well prepared and interested in the actual UN work and of course keep up with the world affairs.

Chairing the Spirit

Although MUIMUN is a university organisati-on, our Next Generation Programme was designed to encourage high school students to take part, thus recruiting MUIMUN‘s future.

One of them is Moritz Golombek-Wörmann from Annette-von-Droste-Hülshoff-Gymnaisum in Münster, who is currently representing the state of India in Security Council.

WeDi: Moritz, how did you get involved in MUI-MUN?

Moritz: My school was contacted by MUIMUN and we were asked if we wanted to take part. Since I am very interested in po-litics, I thought it would be a good opportunity to gain

more experience.WeDi: Are you having

fun?Moritz: Yes, definitely.

It‘s challenging to represent your delegation‘s opinion

truthfully even if it‘s not your own, but you get into it. You also learn a lot about how to reach a compromi-se.

WeDi: Now, you‘re at

high school, whereas most people here are at univer-sity. Do you think there‘s a difference in participation?

Moritz: Well, there‘s ob-viously the age gap, which means that the others have more experience. That also shows in the level of English. But I‘m already ta-king some courses as part of Junior University, so it‘s not that different.

WeDi: Do you think MUIMUN will help you at school?

Moritz: Absolutely, for example in terms of En-glish and political know-ledge. Especially, I believe that now I have a better understanding of how the UN work, and if we discuss it in class, I will know why the UN do the things they do.

Diary of a

DelegateThursday

8:00 am.Woke up and was actual-ly sad b/c tomorrow is last time I have to get up too early, drink too much coffee and sit in a room with too many crazy people for too long talking about things we don‘t really understand. These politics make me sen-

timental.

11:23 am.Oh my Secretary-General, passed my first amendment! Rush of dopamine. Now I know why these freaks run from conference to confe-

rence. Little junkies!

2:30 pm.Workshops – why right now, when finally getting close to world domination? Was just figuring out ma-ster plan to get Neighbour to vote for our resolution. Plan includes embarrassing pictures taken during Glo-

bal Village.

9:12 pm.Hmm. Suddenly becoming genius apparently doesn‘t extend to Pub Quiz que-stions. Good thing commit-tee buddies are brainiacs. Am providing mental assi-stance. Especially to Russia.

9:45 pm.So we lost, big deal. What counts is, why others were busy I convinced neighbour to join our block. Am natu-ral born lobbyist. Should be

a living in that.

3: …oh never mind. Too late am.

Sleep‘s a waste of time. Only one more day!

Too Cool for School

By Isabel Lischewski

Editorial

Established 2007Münster University

International Model

United Nations

Editorial StaffKatja Philipps

Isabel LischewskiFabian Brauch

Max Rößler

LayoutMax Rößler

ContributorsJan Lassen

Melissa FaustInga Vosseler

Wiebke NowackSvenja Krings

Horoscope Pictures:Great Thanks to

Melanie Schippling

V.i.S.d.P.Katja Philipps

UniPrint: 300 copies

DISCLAIMERThe Westphalian

Diplomatis an independent

newspaper. Thecontent of the articles does not necessarily

represent the opinion of the “Arbeitstelle

Forschungstransfer”.

Panorama8Today‘s

ScheduleLook at the stars...

Cancer Stop waiting for the big show, not everyone loves roses and drama! By the way: Look north. Sometimes it is the fir forest rather than the palm beach.

Friday09:00-12:00 Special Sessions: GA Plenary/ECOSOC Session I CEPAL/SC Committee Session VI12:00-13:00 Lunch13:00-16:30 GA Plenary/ECOSOC Session II; CEPAL/SC VII17:00-19:00 Closing Ceremony Auditorium Schloss21:00 Farewell Party - Schlossgarten Café

Sudoko (ok we tried them ourselves...)

Evening Activity:Farewell Party!

A note by the Westphalian Diplomats:Dear Readers,We took unlimited pleasure in observing, investigating and being part of this incre-dible session!Having tears in its Dachshund eyes, the Westphalian Diplomat Team raises a mo-tion for the suspension of this conference, upon condition of YOUR return next year (and an endless farewell party tonight!).Thank you.

Sagittarius Nice one! Now don’t start thinking, there is no sense in analyzing the evening over and over again. Another bright day is waiting for you and there is nothing you have to worry about.

Friday, 30th March, 2012

Sad but true – MUIMUN 2012 is almost over.

To celebrate an awesome week, summon your last reserves and come to the Schloss-

garten Café once again at 9 pm. After all, you can sleep on the way home.

It‘s gonna be legendary!

Disobedient Dachshund demands:Read Our Blog !

Colour up your WeDI at: muimun.org/media/the-westphalian-diplomate