NOT A BETTER NATION FOR THE YOUTH, BUT A BET-TER YOUTH FOR THE NATION

Mitali Suri, Akriti Aluwalia, and Anjali Agarwal bring to you the highlights from the opening ceremony.

Two hundred and fifty souls packed in a hall, exhilarated to exhibit sheer diplomacy to evolve as young leaders through three days of stimulating debate. The auspi-cious day commenced with videos depicting world peace and an introduction to the THSMUN’s Organising Committee followed by the Deputy Secretary General Tanya Mattoo and President Himalay Goel’s address. The highlight of the event was an influential personality as the Chief Guest whose words have inspired millions to excel. As Dr. Kiran Bedi made her grand entrance, the enthusiasm uplifted with the echoing melody of the applause. Her benign presence was marked by the lighting of lamp, Vishnu Sir ’s welcoming speech and a kathak dance recital. Kiran Bedi, the first woman IPS officer in the country, displayed her enthusiasm in be-ing at The Heritage School by talking about her experience at the United Nations as a police advisor. Her long list of achievements like introducing reforms in Tihar jail, paved the way for her to get a medal at the UN. To everyone present, she talked about the value of diversity, learning different languages, and understanding a va-riety of cultures. According to her, UN is a fascination and “it ’s a truly global world”. She emphasized how lucky we are to have this kind of exposure, something she was bereft of in her time. She urged all students to be patient revisiting her time where patience was something she had not exercised as a police official in India. She talked about how as an Indian, she was used to only talking. “In the UN, you listen, you listen, and you listen”. She urged everyone to never give up, and “you never know, you might just make it”. Dr. Kiran Bedi through her eloquent speech made an impact surely making her speech a lot more relatable for the students mentioning about her UN visits, her dreams, shopping souvenirs from New york, use of abbreviations,etc. Another as-pect of her speech that stayed with everyone was when she said “know everything”. She believes that a true Indian is one who does the same. Her speech was received by tumultuous applause, with the principal of the Heritage School Ms. Kaye calling it a “teacher ’s dream” being a perfect blend of advice, morals, experiences and some homework to take back. After introduction of the Sec-retariat and the knowledge partners, the DAIS, the opening ceremony ended with the Secretary General, Tamanna Agarwal declaring the THSMUN 2015 open.

presents

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GA DISEC

Photo by Tanya

Photo by Kavya

Drowned in Accusations

Tania Joshi and Manya Kapur analyze the conflicts between delegates

The United Nations General Assembly commenced by giving ample information to the delegates. Once the rules and procedures of the committee were conferred, no time was wasted to plunge into the debate, which revolved around the first agenda, the Threat of Transnational Organized Crime to International Security. The delegate of Spain laid the foundation of the agenda, by demarcating the perils of cross border crimes and how it conflicts with the tranquility of the world. The delegate of Russia held the government of Israel liable for indulging in such heinous acts itself which left the delegate of Israel tongue-tied.

Geographically smaller countries such as Djibouti were well equipped with the data and showed valid concerns regard-ing the agenda according to the Chair. On the other hand, the western bloc refused to make any further comments. A few countries were ready with controversial accusations instead of legit information. Several delegates were irked due to this valiant act and numerous delegates were praised by the executive board (EB) due to their phenomenal speeches.

In spite of irreconcilable opinions, the chair felt that the conference proceeded with ease. The vice chair appreciated the innumerable ideas that were put forth and debated upon. This left the executive board satisfied and with soaring expectations for the following days.

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UN SECURITY COUNCIL

Photo by Aanchal Tyagi

Photo by Mohit Mukhi

The Charged up CommitteeIshita Srivastava and Akanksha Bhasin analyze the outcomes of a nervous committee

The first session of the UN Security Council (SC) started with a general consensus. It was decided that the first agenda relating to the state of Central Africa was to be debated about. The topic of military troops came up soon and was first talked about by the delegate of Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK) when she talked about the disarmament of the re-gional forces and believed that true peace can only be achieved when regional forces come into action.

There was a notable clash between Rwanda and the United States of America (USA), when USA in its speech talked about more military intervention. It also brought about the

issue of its ‘help’ to Syria which each country was aware about. Delegate of Burundi decided to go against it as USA specifically has a history of harboring ulterior motives and, hence does not have Burundi’s trust. However, delegate of USA still believed that it was ‘helping out’ the countries but was soon asked by delegate of Burundi about how it helped Iraq in its crisis. Keeping in mind Iraq’s current state, USA proposed to introduce more military troops to maintain peace. Delegate of Rwanda stated this when she correctly pointed out that lives of many noble souls were lost. Delegate of USA, keeping it to the point answered that many lives were saved as well and that lives of normal people doesn’t matter so much and went on to saying that “the delegate of Rwanda would be a lovely poet”. With other supporting topics like Constitutional Reforms coming into the picture, the committee was unable to reach a consensus and led to the EB doing various exercises to bring in the energy in the debate so that any one issue could be talked about.

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delhi legislative assembly

Photo by Shruti SinghPhoto by Noor

A Preview of DLA; The Yes Man CommitteeRhea and Anjali explore the workings of Delhi Legislative Assembly.

The Heritage School’s first DLA committee began with a unanimous decision to pursue the issue of statehood, after an influential statement made by New Delhi, who used metaphors and idioms to emphasize its stance. The first opening statement was made by Shaalima Bagh who pointed out that if we consider Delhi as our mother, no-body would dare harm it. Soon, the discussions gravitated towards the conflict between Aam Admi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party. Dwarka initiat-ed this conflict by stating, ‘Statehood is the toy, and AAP, Delhi’s new born baby. The norm for Kejriwal is to put the blame on other parties for issues initiated by his party.” New Delhi retaliated by confronting BJP about its tendency to introduce such a crucial matter when elections are close. The Chair asked for motions and The ‘Pros and Cons of Statehood’ proposed by Tilak Nagar was passed. Here some confusion ensued. Rithala, being a member of BJP, supported bifurcation, a stance opposed by the others of the same party. Many comments were made, cons discussed by the BJP side. Dwarka and New Delhi’s statements sum up the discussion. Dwarka, instead of blaming the Delhi police for the high crime rates, asked to consider blaming those who actually de-serve the blame; the perpetrators. In direct contrast to Dwarka’s views came New Delhi. Moving the committee with a powerful sher, it launched arguments to and fro. It talked of bifurcation, its need, and how due to Delhi’s status it has multitude of civil bodies, that regularly clash.Next, it answered the queries regarding increased taxation if statehood was to be implemented. It said the problem did not rest with money but with execution. “There is corruption but who does this? There are so many bodies in the city. Who do we go to?” This marked the end of the first session.The EB commented that there is potential within the delegates but they need to substantiate their ideas. “For the first day, it has been good”.

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UN Office on drugs and crime

Photo by Himanya Photo by Samyak

Let The Battle Begin…

Akriti Ahluwalia and Mitali Suri ponder over how narcoterrorism impacts Global Citizenship

The delegates of UNODC deliberated on combat global hardships. The stimulating debate commenced with settling on the agenda. As the delegate of United Kingdom put forward narcoterrorism as an immediate threat to the interna-tional community and the need to nail down to a universal definition of the same; the delegate of France ,in response, wisecracked an issue that stirred up the discussion-defining terrorism prior to narcoterrorism, i.e., rooting out the foundation that fortifies the proliferating strife. In an attempt to establish Narcotic Trafficking as the financial basis of terrorist groups, the delegates stood by conflicting perspectives. Intensifying the debate further, delegate of Egypt compelled the delegate of Saudi Arabia to contemplate and state why the country believes death penalty to be a more impelling method to curb organized crime than prison term.

In light of the same, the delegate of Iran appropriately pointed out the Russian Federation’s ambiguity with regard to its statements. The delegates believe that conference has aroused them to go the extra mile and resolve contemporary conflicts. Summing up the essence of the dispute, the delegate of Interpol concluded,” The definition of narcoterrorism is Afghanistan and Mexico.”

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UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

Photo by Aditi

Men Make RoomMegha Jha and Drishti Sahay bring to you raging tide of rights

The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body, responsible for the protection and promotion of all human rights around the globe. However nations across the world tend to question the dire necessity of its services in the modern 21st century era; with the rights clearly mentioned in various constitutions. In the waking of this issue, the committee discussed matters of great importance in bringing up the equality and justice with strong dialogues and debates to overcome it. As the delegate of India strongly quoted, “Women constitute half of the world’s population, work two thirds of the world’s working hours, yet receive 10% of the global income and own less than 1% property,” the other delegations nodded in approval, occasionally adding a point or two.The inadequate representation of women in the parliament, unequal implementation of rights and resolutions expected to be passed in near future were witnessed to have a steady hold on debates. Denmark, clearing the cloud of monotony added a very valid point which is “How is the parliament supposed to improve upon women rights without having women in it.”An enthusiastic debate was observed by onlookers between the countries like France and Mexico who have been part of the women empowerment movement for a longer time than other countries. The delegates reportedly emphasized on equal reservation for women in politics to be able to witness an improvement in the field. However the delegate of USA suggested that the seats should be given to women on the basis of their capabilities and meritorious skills and was con-tradicted by Iran who suggested that only developed countries will be able to exercise it as the developing countries are yet to rise above orthodox mentalities and gain recognition for women. Allegations were made on different delegations of steering away from the decisions taken and a major gust of chaos struck. Apart from misunderstandings between the delegates, a small amount of cheerful laughter in good spirit was wit-nessed too. -7-

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