The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs' salute to the RomeMUN2013 delegates

The World We at the RomeMUN Want 2015

What is happiness?

Minorities between mediator and State

Rome,11/03/13- On Saturday, the Security Council began discussing the working-paper. Togo, Luxembourg and France are the sponsors and Argentina , Azerbaijan, Russian Federation, Rwanda, and UK are the signatories. The main idea is to create a group of people who will have to be the mediators between the State and its minorities. Countries like the Republic of Korea and Azerbaijan requested France to be more precise about the working paper which seemed to be , in their opinion , rather abstract and elusive.

Pakistan , China and UK agreed with the idea that this kind of proposition is on too much of an intervenist level. They emphasized that territorial integrity should be respected. They think that the only way to reduce the problems surrounding minorities problems is to bestow them with their own autonomy. Also, Pakistan proposed an amendment which followed the idea that the minorities should be integrated in the administration and in the power of the country in order to be heard. The ultimate goal would be to pass from assimilation to the association.

Australia didn't agree with the working-paper because they thought about a military intervention in order to give strong power to those mediators. As we all saw, the weather today was wonderful so, an Australian delegate, who didn't feel listening, decided to leave the negociations and certainly go visit Rome.

Morocco didn't follow the plan. As we know Sharawi from « western Sahara » has been stating their right to autonomy for 50 years, a right which the government has expressly rejected . That's why they don't want any assistance from, the United Nations in this regard.

In the end the main questions were about the aftermath of that project. The draft-paper was finally accepted by the chairs. France had 2 minutes to introduce that to the floor. Now, it's time to put modifications and vote, as the delegate of Azerbaijan said : « Everybody should propose their amendments, please try not to abuse of your power, try to be constructive ».

 

Yesterday, the SC continued to discuss about self-determination. A Draft resolution has been presented and lot of emendments were added by different countries. One of them presented an emendment in order “to condemn secessionist movements that are opposed to international law and the Charter of the UN”, but it did not pass.

Then, countries voted the final resolution proposed by France, Togo, and Azerbaijan, and it was approved with 3 against, 3abstentions and 9 in favor.

Some countries such as Pakistan voted in favour because they agreed too some emedements added such as integration of minorities into administration proposed by chinese delegation.

DANNEAUX Clémence, DE LA TULLAYE Angélique , PELLOILLE Océane ( Al-Jazeera)

Education: first steps to collaboration

Rome, 11/03/13 - “By five o’clock there is going to be a resolution: no one of delegates will go out until that moment.” That was stated by the chairman on Saturday. 

Since the 8th of march, the delegates of UNESCO have been trying to propose a strong resolution to educational problem, something really “concrete”, as Australia’s delegate has repeatedly stressed.

The first draft resolution, sponsored by Australia, Pakistan, Togo, Malawi and Ethiopa, has been signed by seventeen countries, achieving the quorum.

According to these countries, financial supports is strictly necessary to ensure the continuation of the positive development. 

This must be achieved by the reduction of taxes and trade barriers and proposing favorable conditions of settlement for companies committed to build educational infrastructures.

Nevertheless interviewing the delegation of Sri Lanka, emerged how sometimes countries put on the top of their agenda the financial topic only because by means of helping the developing countries they build a strong and positive public image.

Nowadays the school is not only about studying: it is a place where improving knowledge and values too. Moreover, school is where you learn to live and to match yourself with the others.
In this kind of place ensuring equality is a Must.

This is perfectly clear also to the Republic of Chile, together with the delegations of the Republic of Argentina, the Republic of Cuba, Republic of Guatemala, Paraguay, Republic of Peru and Uruguay.

These countries, beyond the financial and infrastructural issues, have caught the attention of the assembly especially on the issues of gender discrimination and the sexual education.

In the rural regions and in the underdeveloped countries there is not a strong knowledge about sexuality and according to these delegations, to prevent abuses, rapes and violence is extremely important to organize campaigns and teaching how to respect the diversities in all their shades.

The delegation of Luxembourg’s suggestion, to have an unmoderated caucus to discuss together all the drafts come out, shows how even in the most complicated situation, the pure and clear collaboration is essential. 

 

The time of reaching a resolution has come. 

The delgates of all the countries present yesterday, 10.03.2013, in Unesco’s meeting, are going to vote.

After several discussions, the assembly decided to procede on drafts’judgment.

The drafts 1.1 and 1.2, do not reach the quorum because mostly of the countries explicitly disagree: 23 delgations for the 1.1 and 33 for the 1.2 voted NO.
Something different happens for the draft 1.3, proposed by Tunisia and United Arabian Emirates.
The delegations succeeded in cooperation and the draft has the support of almost the totality of the assembly: indeed 34 countries voted YES.

Giulia Cardamone
Diana Tasayco
(Al-Jazeera)

Loan and Recommendation options divide WB Committee

Rome,11/03/13 - On Saturday, the second meeting of the World Bank Committee was still stalling on the first agenda topic (Target 8.a). It was hard for delegations to reach an agreement on how to achieve an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system. All delegates acknowledged the need for a global partnership. 

However, two different lines emerged from the discussion. On the one hand, France pushed hard for passing a recommendation on a sustainable free trade and financial system, as well as on continued agricultural enhancement, in the long run. In advocating this, France was sponsored by the US. "We want to provide people living in least developed countries (LDCs) with long-lasting skills to achieve sustainable development. That's why we believe that a recommendation would be more effective than delivering financial aid. In a nutshell, it's better to teach people how to catch fish on their own, rather than provide them with something that will disappear in the long-run", the US delegate told RussiaToday.

On the other hand, a group of countries led by South Africa, Morocco, Kenya and Argentina has proposed the WB to deliver further loans to LDCs, as they believe that financial aid provided so far has not produced satisfactory outcomes. Financial support would be targeted at improving agriculture, industry and stimulating the use of renewables in the public sector.

Russia was also in favour of a loan, which it considers a concrete measure to tackle obstacles to development in several countries. “What we care about is providing pragmatic solutions” the Russian delegate stated. Yet, Russia decided not to join the above-mentioned group of countries proposing a loan to LDCs, as it believes that the signatories lack the financial and political weight needed to actually support them. The Russian delegation is thus cooperating with China and Saudi Arabia to fund development projects in Mongolia, the Caucasus, and Iraq.

Yesterday, the conclusive session of the WB (World Bank) Committee took place. After three days of intensive works, the possibility of a real compromise still seems quite far. Several strategies to achieve MDG 8.a have been drawn up, but they have been more influenced by local and regional interests rather than the will of meeting halfway. Despite the hesitation, the most supported line is the one led by Russian Federation and China, which focuses on a loan to improve infrastructures and transports. This loan proposal would actually involve areas in need of financial support and at the same time have the potential for economic growth.

Eleonora Amabili

Gianmarco Ventura (Russia Today)

The delegates of the WHO Committee en route to an agreement

Rome,11 March 2013 - The delegates have convened at LUISS University to further discuss and debate the issues tackled by the WHO. 

Throughout the second day of work, the delegates of WHO committee have been trying to agree about the final resolution. The draft resolution has shown the common willingness of an education program and campaigns through software, a strong prevention of HIV, medical assistance and also a global fund. Despite this, many clauses are still controversed, but the delegates during the unmoderated caucus we have witnessed, seemed to be highly motivated to find a good balance among the proposals. China, Kuwait and North Korea, for example, argued about whether to add the formula "sexual education" in the operative clauses about combating HIV and other major diseases. China was against such expressions and suggested to replace it with "family-planning measures".  

The financial aspect of the discussion has similarly divided the delegates : the representatives failed to reach an agreement about the amount of money (1% of GDP) to contribute for the creation of an international fund dedicated to the fight against HIV, and the measures and methods of investing the financial aid already provided. Nonetheless, all members agreed to gradually increase the global HIV fund instead of creating an international bank.  At the end of a fruitful  debate all the delegates contributed actively, especially the delegation of Albania: they suggested several times proposals in order to focus the attention on prostitution and sex workers with regards to HIV issue.   

The resolution paper for the first topic proposed mostly focused on solutions for the HIV issue, but after a request from Honduras' delegate, a point concerning the prevention of other diseases was also included in the discussion. 

During the conference, two emendments proposed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have been approved: one concerning the monitoring of water sources to prevent the spread of malaria and another one to continue the vaccination against tuberculosis, malaria and polio in the affected, often rural, areas. Another important aspect that emerged from the meeting is the impact of civil society - for instance the role played by the Bill and Melissa Gates Foundation, the David and Victoria Beckham and the Qatar Foundation - in sponsoring the fight against HIV.  

 Once again, the delegates debated and negotiated to reach an agreement that in the next two days will hopefully be finalized. The document will hopefully bind the participant countries in the fight against HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and other deadly illnesses that cripple wealthy but most importantly poor societies. Because, although in different ways, the issues tackled by the WHO are problems that concern us all as citizens of the world.  

Also during the last day of work, the WHO Committee underlined the importance of collaboration between countries. The most interesting points of the resolution dealt with discounting drugs' prices reducing the importation taxes and increasing those on alcohol and tobacco, in order to use this income to finance researches; this could also be achieved by focusing the WHO's attention on regional organizations like MERCOSUR and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Moreover there is a cultural problem: the population of poor areas is often not aware of the possibility to have access to medicines. 

To improve the situation, delegates proposed to create some information programs about everyone's right to medical assistance. According to the delegates, this could be achieved by fostering public-private partnerships, also possibly setting up a Food and Drug Authority to increase the control on illegal drugs entering the country. During the discussion, small disagreements – raised by the Albanian delegate – among the signatories relented the process. Despite this, the delegates managed to reach an overall agreement that will hopefully set the international community's agenda to ensure the achievement of the MDG and the eradication of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other illnesses by 2015. The negotiations have now ended and the delegates await the closing ceremony to be held tomorrow.

Article written by:

 Jessica di Paolo 

Chiara Zanchetta 

Chiara Ravazzotto 

Marta Lamalfa 

Ernest Amankwah 

Isotta Rodriguez Pereira 

Alessia Pascazio (BBC)

UNHRC - a difficult resolution

Rome, 11/03/13 - The UNHRC Committee Session of 9 March 2013 was held in Luiss Guido Carli University. It began at 9.30 with the usual Roll – Call.

Since in the previous Session they were not able to vote on a final resolution, the debate was still focused on the first topic: gender equality.

Italy soon promoted a motion to discuss for 20 minutes about the working papers of each country. “Without any funds from Europe and USA, it can’t be possible to make a program of economic recovery for the rest of the world. But we need the help of every country” - stated the Italian delegate.
“Every country is talking about abstract theories to improve the condition of women, but nobody is highlighting the importance of family in the education of the person.” - said the delegation of Denmark – “to have a mother and a father is extremely important for the growth and the development of a child's ideals.”

During one of the many moderated caucuses, delegates became impatient since everyone was asking for a practical resolution (through the discussion of the working papers) but no one was able to make it real.

The USA delegate declared that the countries of UN should work together as a single entity. Nigeria openly objected that UN countries cannot follow USA policy and they should work singularly on programs created according to the geographical areas.

Basically, it seemed like there was no possible positive conclusion to this committee session (still dealing with topic A) and the Thailand delegation explained why: “ We saw competition, not cooperation.” The only step forward was the reduction of the number of working papers (from 5 to 3). The delegates themselves appeared very pessimistic regarding the conclusion of yesterday’s debate and they admitted the complexity of this mission.

Finally on Sunday 10 March 2013, UNHRC came to a conclusion and voted the resolution promoted and sponsored by Italy, France, USA and other countries. Some delegates showed their strong disappointment about the procedure of voting. “It’s very unfair: we voted twice for the same resolution (Togo’s one, ed.). The first time it passed with simple majority, but for a mistake, we voted again and it failed. Our vote wasn’t respected.”
 
In the end, delegates started to face the topic of LGBT’s rights.

Alessia Melchiorre

Carmelo Leo

RaiNews24

General Assembly of UN agrees on the final resolution of the poverty issue

Rome, 11-10/03/2013 – The second day of session of the General Assembly took place in the beautiful scenario of Luiss Guido Carli University. The delegates continued working on the topics of poverty and hunger, presenting their positions in their speeches; unlike the day before, countries like Azerbaijan, Japan, Sweden , Slovenia and Gabon finally had the chance to speak.

Later in the morning, the General Assembly had the honor to have as guest the Italian Minister of Environment, Land and Sea Corrado Clini. The Minister presented to the Assembly the project of Millennium Development Goals focusing on sustainable development. He spoke of green global economy, that consists of the efficient and respectful use of natural and energy sources. He wishes for a “new Global Partnership” between developed and emerging economies in order to put into action a sustainable development. He agrees with the fact that countries should work together towards the improvement of technologies in the developing world: an example of this is Brazil, where European, American and local industries cooperate as partners. 

 

New world economies are emerging, countries, like China, demanding to be protagonists in world trade , but all this has to be regulated. The challenge of the next years is thus to set new rules in the World Trade Organization. 

 

Meanwhile, always with the aim of keeping an eye on current international politics, France 24 tried to investigate on the North Korean situation concerning their nuclear program. However, the delegation has chosen not to comment on the issue. 

 

On the 9^th March, Kenya saw the victory of Uhuru Kenyatta. The new president is accused by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, including murder and persecution. The delegation hopes this will not influence the position of the country within the UN, and declared to be satisfied with the days of the elections, during which no major violent protests happened. 

 

The third day of session of the General Assembly started with Italy calling for a minute of silence to commemorate the victims of a kidnapping in Nigeria. After one month of detention, Franco Lamolinara, an Italian citizen, was killed along with Chris McManus, an English citizen. 

 

After that, the morning session of the works was focused on the motions made to get to the final resolution of the Topic A: the poverty issue. The resolution saw the light at 4 pm when, after several hours of attempts to modify the draft, a large majority voted for it to become an official document.

At the end, the Chairman of the General Assembly, Cesar Briceno, congratulated the delegates for having been so cooperative. He expected it to happen despite the fact that it is not easy to get all the delegations to agree, as the GA is a very large committee compared to the others. He finally added that he wished the works on Topic B (Hunger) would be as satisfactory as those of Topic A, in spite the lack of time.

Margherita Mascagni, Ilaria Quattrone and Damiano Miraglia Raineri (France 24)

RomeMUN NEWS - 10th of March

Weekend at RomeMUN 2013: a melting pot of ideas

Rome, 11^th March – During the weekend all committees and networks were working at Luiss University, Viale Romania campus. Topics have been hotly debated, in order to issue resolutions. In the meanwhile, guests kept on arriving and intervening in the meetings. The most important one was the Italian Minister for the Environment, Corrado Clini, who gave an informative and inspiring speech to the General Assembly and the UNEP.

 

CNN International has been granted an interview with Minister Clini. He felt that it was a great opportunity to talk to RomeMUN delegates, make the youth aware of the environmental issues and the developing goals, and eventually inspire the audience to make a global impact. He also stressed that rather than limiting the environmental contribution to a specific country, for example Italy, it is more crucial to focus on a global scale.

 

The journalists too had the chance to meet some experts. They first listened to Emanuela Del Re, a professor and freelance reporter with long-term career in conflict zones. She gave some hints about this profession, for example, the fact that you cannot always rely on statistics, because governments often ideologically distort them. She focused on the various kinds of interviews: they can either be focused on a single topic, or about a personal history. In this last case, the journalist needs to be very careful and patient, in order not to be too intrusive or direct. Her speech was followed by another workshop, lead by Eric Salerno, former Middle East correspondent for the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero.

 

Concerning the UNEP committee specifically, its Chair never stopped being optimist about the advancement of resolutions. Indeed, regarding topic 7A, two drafts have been issued. Italy, France, Germany and People’s Republic of China supported one of these, while the Commonwealth of Australia, Argentine Republic and Chile produced the other one. Saturday at the end of the day the two drafts were fused in a single proposal concerning the incorporation of sustainable development in national policies and reverse the loss of environmental resources, which was approved by acclamation the morning after. Safe drinking water issues and basic sanitation were discussed afterwards. “It was a very short but intense session”, stated the Chair.

 

Ludovica Buri, Sofia Franzoso, Melania Sebastiani, Jalila Dobere, Anahit Arzoyan, Yiyang Lang and Céline Schoen, for CNN International. 

Time for party!

Don't forget to buy youyr ticket to the RomeMUn2013 second social event.

It will be fun: we are planning a Global Village  delegate dance party where we expect to see you in your national costume or with your country's flag or whatever represents your country or your region (if you're Italian).

Rome Model United Nations Chronicle- March 9th

The Arab Spring recounted at RomeMUN2013

All RomeMUn2013 delegates share a common interest in multilateral diplomacy and are eager to share their opinions on the most important issues of international importance.

Gaining experience, learning about the other countries' cultures and improving his communication skills and leadership are the reasons that led Ashraf, 21, an Egyptian in Cairo to participate in the RomeMUN. We took the opportunity to ask him some questions about the recent Arab Spring that he has experienced at first hand.

Ashraf declared himself surprised by the revolution because Egypt, he says, ”lacked both popular organisations and a solid civil society”. Only after the ouster of Mubarak, Ashraf, like most Egyptians, learned about the violence and atrocities committed by the old regime, "I was shocked by what I found and how the media had hidden everything."

Ashraf is quite concerned about the future of his country and would like to make a contribution to its revival. "Of course, it will not be a single person to make a difference, but perhaps starting with me I can instill in my peers, and not only, the hope of change." He concludes: "I am proud to be Egyptian and proud to express my point of view on the Revolution at the RomeMUN."

International Women's Day at the RomeMUN

As you already know, dear delegates, and as you must know, those of you who didn't join us this year,  RomeMUN celebrated the International Women's Day with a workshop on women's rights, chaired by Sharon Ketchum- Public Affairs officer of the Embassy of the United States of America; Eve Crowley- Deputy Director of the Gender Division , Equity and Rural Employment of FAO and Clare Bishop-Sambrook, IFAD- consultant on gender issues.

The meeting focused on the discrimination that women face in terms of access, ownership and management land rights, detailed the third Millennium Development Goal which targets gender equality and women's empowerment.

Eve Crowley told the delegates from the UNHRC committee  "giving women access to land is an investment in humanity and dignity  dignity" and  "access to land is at the very root of their histories. It is critical resource for humanity" 

The workshop was also an extremely good opportunity for showing an interesting video produced by USAID:

Women's Land Rights: A Ripple Effect

We were happy to read on the Twitter account of the U.S. Mission to the UN Agencies for Food & Agriculture (USUN Rome)  how pleased were the speakers to hear the delegates' reaction:

The workshop was part of the second day of the Rome Model United Nations conference.

Follow us on Twitter to get faster all the updates on RomeMUN2013!

Different priorities, one final goal

Rome, 08/03/2013 - Yesterday the first session of United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) took place in Sala delle Colonne of LUISS University in Rome. UNEP is a governing council and anchor institution for environmental programs founded in 1973 whose headquarters are in Nairobi.

Delegates set the agenda of the two topics, which are both about the 7^th Millennium Development Goal, “Ensuring environmental sustainability”. Therefore, they decided to discuss firstly about the principles of sustainable development into country policies and then to move to the problem of safe access to drinking water and basic sanitation.

Twenty-five countries were present at the meeting. Italy, United States and China appeared to be very involved in the discussion, while France, Germany and Central African Republic had significant remarks.

The Russian Federation argued that as long as water problems will not be solved, the international community will not be able to reach a green economy and full sustainability.

According to the Central African Republic, the goal has not yet been reached because of the huge division between northern and southern hemispheres.

The Netherlands considers agriculture and farming as effective tools for sustainable development also in growing economies.

“We would encourage education to arise awareness and create a self-sufficient society”, Italy pointed out. “We all have different priorities and use money in a different way” – claimed the United States – “and we should have a monetary fund in order to know where money goes.”

In their intervention, Italy and Albania highlighted the importance of control and respect of international law. According to China, the control system is not effective. They proposed the creation of a national authority, which should work in cooperation with UNEP, whose aim is to report exactly how the money given by every single donor is spent. “We have the general feedback but not the financial one. We would like our money to be spent in the fight against scarcity of water, desertification and pollution”.

During the first break, the Chair told the cameras that delegates still need to get some clarifications about rules and procedures, while the Director, at his third experience in that role and with various experiences as a delegate, said that the committee should be on time to cover the entire agenda.

Article written by Sofia Franzoso, Céline Schoen, Melania Sebastiani ( from the CNN International RomeMUN2013 journalists' team)

From Kabul to RomeMUN2013, with high hopes for future

Behind the 1200 participants of the Rome Model United Nations fourth edition, all of them young people who share a common interest in multilateral diplomacy and who are eager to make their voices heard on the most important issues of international importance, there are hidden experiences, dreams, ambitions and different life stories.

Among them there is Yalda, 22, from Afghanistan, studying Economics in the third year at the Kardan Institute of Higher Education in Kabul. ” I am well aware I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to get an education. In Afghanistan women are still seen as inferior beings and deprived of many fundamental rights. In the Capital, the ability to study is also extended to girls, but the problem persists in the provinces, where there are no teachers and training centers, and parents prevent their daughters from going to school.” Particularly attentive to the situation of women, Yalda defines burqa ”an example of patriarchal control, a form of subjection that is not in any way present in the spirit of the Qur'an and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.”

This young Afghan girl, immersed in the daily life of a country that has experienced three decades of instability, conflict and war, and who is still searching for its path to democracy, tells us about her life with extreme optimism: "The situation is calm now, sometimes there are explosions, but I'm sure things will be better. I also chose to participate in the project to tell something about my country and to share my views with young people from all over the world. My contribution to make Afghanistan better, despite being small, has a great value to me. If all my brothers and sisters will make their contribution, each drop will build a true river of change. I believe that Afghanistan has a great future ahead and all it takes to be a united and peaceful country."

A UN legend at RomeMUN- Staffan de Mistura

Many presentations at the Rome Model United Nations 2013 opening ceremony have charmed the audience, but Staffan de Mistura brought history to the floor.

42 years under the UN flag working in peace-building could mean a lot- work, diplomatic relations in their most delicate aspect but also anecdotes.

He recalled the beginning of his career, when  as an intern for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in the Cyprus of the early 1970s, he witnessed the death of a child, shot by a sniper. The child had wandered over the 'green line' dividing Cyprus and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. He found this incident profoundly shocking and since then he grew a desire to study humanitarian emergency relief and dedicate his life to working for the peaceful resolution of conflict.

Staffan de Mistura
foto credits: ©FAO/Giulio Napolitano



De Mistura helped solving the Embassy crisis in Tirana (Albania) when 3,200 people occupied four foreign Embassies to escape from the communist regime, washed himself with beer during the three months siege of Dubrovnik, when 4,570 people were evacuated and organized and implemented operation “San Bernardo” with a massive airdrop operation using both NATO and Warsaw Pact air assets to reach 870,000 starving Ethiopians. Practically, in the Cold War when nobody would have conceived cooperation between the two military blocks, the desire to help people in need made this possible, under the name that recalls nothing but neutrality, since the Saint Bernard (San Bernardo) dogs are the symbol of Switzerland.

A great speech followed by a short FAQ section, suggestions to the RomeMUN2013 delegates and a reminder-  every country has a say in the General Assembly of the UN, giving the powerful opportunity to the delegates- to say their opinion.

Honorable guests have the floor

What an inspiring opening ceremony! International careers, gender roles, youth commitment, passion, education, diseases due to food shortage, life experiences in developing countries: many topics were discussed yesterday during the first day of the biggest international model UN conference in Italy.

All these issues were the subjects of the guests’ speeches.

The first one has been Fernanda Guerrieri, FAO representative, guest and host of this event. She said to the cameras that it was “such a multicultural and international event”, and that she was extremely proud to welcome all the delegations in her institution.

Similarly, Filippo la Rosa, diplomatic counselor of the major of Rome Alemanno, showed his enthusiasm for Rome MUN 2013 by recalling the weeks he spent in New York and Brussels while he was getting familiar with official diplomacy through simulations like this.

This excitement was shared by Roberto Costantini, currently director of the International Relations Department of Luiss University in Rome. He defined Rome MUN 2013 as a fascinating educational tool, a valuable way to put into practice what has been learnt from the books.

Staffan Domingo de Mistura

Maybe the most appreciated and moving intervention was the one made by Staffan Domingo De Mistura, Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs. He charmed the audience with jokes as well as personal souvenirs. However - especially during the Q&A session - he reported his own working experiences in conflict zones, such as Croatia, Ethiopia, Somalia and Russia.

Referring to his speech, CNN International has asked him if the fact that the young generation has more “tools” (University courses, MUNs, etc.) to get to know about international cooperation will lead to a larger number of people involved in this field.

According to him, if more people have easy access to information they will be surely more sensitive to problems international organizations deal with.

As Dr. De Mistura said, a high level of enthusiasm and commitment has already been shown by all delegations yesterday. Will that last throughout the next days too? 

THIS POST IS WRITTEN BY THE ROMEMUN JOURNALISTS' TEAM

Caput mundi of Diplomacy

Prof. Federico Argentieri

Rome is the "caput mundi" once again, this time of diplomacy. 

This is what has been said by the participants of the "Rome International" panel. 

Giorgio Bartolomucci, president of the annual Festival of Diplomacy, has chosen Rome as the host city for this event since its beginning because of its multicultural environment and the possibility to get in touch with ambassadors. 

Professor of Contemporary History and International Politics Federigo Argentieri also confirmed that, given the fact that Rome is the only capital in the world where every international institution has a representation. 

To keep this situation ahead, he also highlighted the importance of young people's role. In particular, he said that learning from the past is the key to improve current international diplomacy.

ARTICLE WRITTEN BY THE ROMEMUN JOURNALISTS'S TEAM

FAO welcomes RomeMUN Delegates

Today the FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization) building hosted the Opening Ceremony of the 2013 RomeMUN. In the following days, delegates from all over the world will act as diplomats from different countries, supporting their policies, sharing opinions and contributing to the achievement of global MDGs.

The youth involved in the RomeMUN negotiation game is showing great interest in the main issues of this year’s conference. Walking in the hallways of the FAO building, the atmosphere you can feel is marked by the delegates’ enthusiasm and willingness to contribute to and play an active part in solving problems concerning the whole world.

“The world we want” emerged as the main topic of the meeting and many opinions have been expressed by speakers and participants. The debate ranged from preventing war in developing and least developed countries, to the reduction of the world gap between “the rich and the poor, the black and the white”, as stated by FAO Goodwill Ambassador Al Bano Carrisi. Particularly, the eradication of hunger and the struggle against spreading diseases linked to malnutrition has been addressed in depth by participants and panellists.

Delegates were impressed by the opening ceremony guests and organisation. These young and determined people are eager to cooperate for achieving a better future. Delegates found further motivation in the speech by FAO Cabinet Director Fernanda Guerrieri “If you want to go quickly, go alone, but if you want to go far away, go together”. Moreover, participants showed interest in Italian-Swedish diplomat Staffan De Mistura’s intervention. He shared his experiences in overcoming difficulties, working together with foreign diplomats. The core message that received general appreciation among delegates was that international cooperation and intercultural dialogue are key to solve current problems, even though in some cases it seems that no bridge can be built between conflicting parties.

 POST WRITTEN BY THE JOURNALISTS' TEAM

RomeMUN 2013- 1200 young people to act as world leaders

Rome (March 7, 2013)-- 1,200 young people from all over the world will assume the role of the UN member states representatives to discuss issues of international importance at the fourth edition of Rome Model United Nations (RomeMUN), opening today in the Plenary Hall of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The participants, coming from 108 different countries, will debate topics like the fight against hunger and poverty, women's rights, issues related to sustainable development and the right to basic education for all and will have the opportunity to meet leading experts of the national and international panorama: Corrado Clini, Environment Minister in the Monti cabinet, Eve Crowley, FAO Deputy Director General for Gender, Equity and Rural Employment, Stefano Vella, Director of Department of Medicine Institute of Health, Luis Jimenez-McInnis, Special Adviser to IFAD President, and Staffan de Mistura, Under-Secretary of State in the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The event is sponsored by the UN agencies in the agro-food pole in Rome: FAO, IFAD and the World Food Programme, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Representation of the European Commission in Italy, some Italian regions, and was made possible thanks to the invaluable contribution of many private entities.

The Giovani nel Mondo Association, together with other sponsors like Education First, Bonduelle, Giorgio Tesi Vivai and Hotel Villa Mercede, put at stake 100 scholarships to facilitate the participation of young people with great resumes, who otherwise would not have been able to attend the event.

This year's edition is going to evolve around the Millennium  Development Goals, the eight international development targets aimed at encouraging development by improving social and economic conditions in the world's poorest countries.

About half of the participants are from abroad (from Afghanistan to Egypt, Ghana, Brazil, Uzbekistan and Nicaragua) and are united in their desire to be the leading actors of RomeMUN, experience the simulation to the full, reach agreements and solutions to problems that the big actors of the international diplomacy struggle to solve, learn each other, make friends, share experiences and dreams.

The delegates' activity, the workshops and the debates will be described and documented by other young students who will assume the role of journalists and reproduce the work of some major international networks as CNN, BBC, RaiNews, Al Jazeera, France 24, Russia Today.

Summary of the program and conference venues:

7 March - from 9.00 to 17.30 FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla

8 March - from 9.30 to 19.00 Luiss, Center of American Studies, Hall of the Parliamentary Groups

9 March - from 9.30 to 19.00 Luiss Guido Carli, Viale Romania 32

10 March - from 9.30 to 19.00 Luiss Guido Carli, Viale Romania 32

11 March - from 9.00 to 13.30 Eataly, Piazzale XII ottobre 1492

Giovani nel Mondo Press Office

Super Mario- the RomeMUN mascot

Interview with Daniela Conte- president of Giovani nel Mondo

Daniela Conte at RomeMUN 2011

As most of you know, RomeMUN is powered by the Giovani nel Mondo non-profit association. Even if the last days were extremely busy for the RomeMUN staff, Daniela Conte, president of Giovani nel Mondo, agreed to give us a small interview.



How will this year's edition of RomeMUN be special, in comparison with the past ones? 

This year RomeMUN will gather together 1000 students from all over the world, becoming  the biggest UN Model in Europe and among the biggest ones in the world.

How has the RomeMUN impacted your life? 

Thanks to RomeMUN project I discovered first the immense potentialities that young people from all over the world have, it is impressive to see hundreds of youth who still be inspired by the UN values even if their daily lives is affected from poverty, war and uncertainty of the future. I figure out that beyond those students there is an energy strong enough to reach the solutions for the most important international issues of our time.

What were the most memorable moments for you? 

Each year for me the most memorable moment is the opening ceremony when all delegates are seated together in the same room with all their hopes in their hand, waiting for living one of the most important moments of their lives.

What’s the most important thing do you think the participants gain from this experience? 

The delegates learn a lot: effective public speaking skills, how to negotiate with many people at the same time, intercultural communications and comprehension, insight of the UN mechanisms and procedures, team working and leaderships skills. in some cases RomeMUN totally changes their point of views favoring a more global and complete idea of the world around them.

How do you think Model UN prepares people for their future?

 As I have told before, Model UN gives first an idea of what does it mean to work for an international organizations so it is an unique experience for those students interested in working for UN in the future, but more generally is a way to learn that negotiation is a way of life, not only in international affairs but in many other aspects of our daily lives.

Are there any notable alumni from the program? 

Among our notable alumni there is the prince of Luxembourg (the youngest one) but many participants have already started their career in the UN or similar organizations an we are sure that some of them will become one days the leaders of our future.

What do you hope for the future of RomeMUN? 

We do hope to reach in few years the size of 5000 delegates and also to establish a more fruitful relationships with the most relevant institutions, both public and private so having the possibility to offer an increasing numbers of scholarships for those students who are very willing to participate but have not sufficient means to cover their participation costs,