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Youth of Today, Leaders of Tomorrow: TDMUNC 2019

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The fourth edition of The Delhi Model United Nations Conference (TDMUNC) 2019 went on for two days, with great zeal and enthusiasm.

 

“A king is not known by his crown, he is known by his followers,’ with these words by Rajiv Chandran, the National Information Officer for India and Bhutan, UN Information Centre, Shivam Ahuja, the Secretary-General for TDMUN addressed a keen audience of young students eager to dive into debate and discourse.

 

Day 1

 

The first day of The Delhi Model United Nations conference on the 10th of August held at the Conference Centre, University of Delhi, North campus, witnessed enthusiastic young leaders discussing world politics and national issues. The conference welcomed more than seven hundred participants from across the nation and was a great learning experience for all.

 

The opening ceremony began with introductory speeches by Vinayak Pundir, Head Coordinator and Siddhant Magon, Under Secretary-General for the conference. The Secretary-General further went on to talk about the true essence of Model UN – addressal, involvement and discourse. He encouraged the participants to take part in the proceedings wholeheartedly, learn and make memories.

The occasion was graced by Chief Guest Mr Aditya Shankar Prasad, an advocate at the Supreme Court and National Co- in charge of the Law Committee of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. Also present were Mr Gaurav Arora, Managing Director, RedKnot Marketing Solutions and Mr Shakti Singh, President, Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) as the Guests of Honour.

 

Mr Gaurav Arora, in his speech, mentioned about how education and crime are inversely proportional. The lack of education leads to an increase in crime rates. He further addressed the students by saying that they all are the fuel on which the nation works.

 

The Chief Guest spoke at length about the history of the University of Delhi and its dynamic culture that taught its students the importance of inclusivity, discussion, building a vision and participation in various fields and arenas. He highlighted the transitioning of our nation over two decades into being a global leader and how the youth holds the baton of the future in its hands.

 

The committees of the conference included the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Open Forum on Environment (OFE), The All India Political Parties Meet (AIPPM) as well as the International Press.

 

The MUN was braced with enthusiasm and energy by the participants, organizers and visiting members. Vrinda, Social Sciences teacher at Bal Bhawan Public School said “I really like the opportunity they’ve given to the kids as they are representing various countries on world issues. The platform for them to learn politics and issues faced by the world is very appreciable.” Ruhin Agarwal a delegate of the OFE seconded by saying, “Even if you’re not a part of the debate, just being here (at the MUN)  is very informative. It also helps me get over my fear of public speaking. It’s a great platform for all.” In conclusion, Sabrina and Aakriti of the Hospitality Committee told DU Beat, “The day was quite tiring but everything was managed well. We’re looking for more enthusiasm and support from delegates tomorrow.”

 

Day 2

 

The second day of The Delhi Model United Nations (TDMUN) 2019 was held in the Delhi University Conference Hall and the Department of Botany with great fervour and commitment. Diligent and bright delegates engaged in discourses ranging from national to international agendas thereby, honing their skills in the process. The event saw many first-time MUNner’s as well; Bhavi Khanna, from DPS Dwarka, a first-time MUNner and a member of Office of Environment said, “I wanted to participate in MUN’s because I wanted to develop on public speaking and research skills. We have had various interactive sessions and the Executive Board is very nice and supportive”

 

Committees proceeded towards elaborate deliberations on their respective agendas. The All India Political Parties Meet undertook an extensive discussion on discrimination and corruption in the law enforcement system. Representing the portfolio of ‘Brinda Karat’, the need for making Lokpal and Lokayukta a constitutional body in order to make it incumbent was proposed. The United Nations Human Rights Council dealt with the issue of, problems and causes of human trafficking; raising pertinent pointers of cheap exploitable labour, poverty and lack of jobs. The United Nations General Assembly indulged in a substantial conference on ways to combat cybercrime, leading to a few basic conclusions of upgrading software, cyber literacy, and being aware of security breaches and identity thefts.

 

The United Nations Security Council was left in a dilemma and conflict between the Permanent and Non-Permanent Nations on the grounds of a draft resolution and a working paper.  In the later part of the day, a delegate from UNSC representing Uruguay tabled a resolution to introduce the United Nation Emergency Peace Council (UNEPC) in order to look after the affairs of UN Peacekeeping forces deployed in various parts of the world. He proposed that no country should have veto power or permanent membership in this organ.

 

“If the diplomat of a country is representing a country at a conference it doesn’t inculcate the diversified views of the people residing in that country, so for inculcating that, the idea of keeping a council which was actually proposed by the Netherlands in 2006 is a very good idea.” Laiba, a member of the Executive Board of UNSC commented.

 

A press conference was in session in the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime in relation to tackling various forms of organised crimes and related terrorism; with statements given by Delegate of China on the lines of “Which country doesn’t have corruption?”.

In the UN Organisation for Drugs and Crimes, the committee unanimously voted in favour of the Resolution proposed by Kuwait, Bosnia and Republic of Korea, that sought to put international drug trade under government controls. Arihant, from DPS RK Puram, who represented the portfolio of Kuwait found the Executive Board to be extremely cooperative and well versed with the agenda. Devanshi, a student of St Marks’ School, Meera Bagh, who held the portfolio of Palestine, found the debating level okay, and was disappointed to see more newcomers in a specialised committee. She found the Background Guide extremely helpful and the EB very well-groomed for the committee.

 

Other than the International Press working effectively in the production of the newsletter, the Office of Environment gave a platform to budding first-time MUNners under the agenda of the water crisis in India. In the Organisation for Environment, where the agenda of “Water Crises in India” was being discussed, the Chairperson, Adarsh Pratap, felt that the level of participation was not up to the mark of the gravity of the agenda. “Unexpectedly, the agenda attracted more of first-time MUNners who didn’t think too deep and kept repeating basic points. This, I feel, hindered the analytical progress of the committee.

 

So, to make the sessions productive, I allowed the usage of Hindi and divided the committee into groups pitched against each other to home the skills of diplomatic lobbying and adjusting to a flexible framework committee,” he said.

 

The moderator of AIPPM Aniket Basu shared his experience regarding the committee and said that topics in their committee had a lot of prevalent issues like the backlog of cases, judicial killings, accountability of police and lack of infrastructure for technology incorporation in the judicial system. He found the discussion fruitful, “It was a very engaging conversation with all political parties and stakeholders. The conversation culminated with everyone knowing more than what they came here with.”

 

The event culminated with a closing ceremony speech and light-hearted games which was followed by final results of various committees. The best delegate for UNSC and UNHRC went to the People’s Republic of China. Palestine grabbed the position for Organization on Drugs and Crimes. The high commendation for International Press went to Stuti while Arushi Mehra and Shantanu grabbed the Best Photographer and Best Videographer award respectively. The General Assembly committee which saw huge participation had to pick 14 verbal mentions and 7 special mentions. Russian Federation won the best delegate for UNGA.

Feature Image Credits: Gauri Ramachandran for DU Beat

Bhavya Pandey

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Priyanshi Banerjee

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Priya Chauhan

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Abhinandan Kaul

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Satviki Sanjay

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Chhavi Bahmba

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Anandi Sen

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Priyanshu

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Yaksh Handa

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Journalism has been called the “first rough draft of history”. D.U.B may be termed as the first rough draft of DU history. Freedom to Express.

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