MUN
The Model United Nations project, took place over a month and a half. We covered two subjects from a countries prospective; Palestinian Refugees, and Iran's Nuclear program. Once we were done researching our subject, we made a resolution on our countries perspective on the subject. After we wrote a resolution we made a speech to present during our MUN conference.
MUN Conference 1
Resolution
UNHCR
JAPAN
ISRAEL-PALESTINE REFUGEE
RESOLUTION FOR PALESTINIAN REFUGEE CRISIS
“Chase Pierson”
The General Assembly,
1. BEARING IN MIND that the largest number of Palestinian Refugee causalities occur during nighttime, traveling alone, and at military checkpoints. (Document 4)
2. REALIZING that most refugee conflict involving military personnel, terrorist groups, and militias involve weapons.
3. OBSERVNG that most Palestinian Refugees live in over populated towns with poverty, lack of water and proper medical treatment. (Plight of Palestinian Refugees)
4. KEEPING IN MIND that most Palestinian Refugees want to return to their original houses. (Document 5)
5. CONVINCED that the lack of food, water, and medical treatment, is because support groups are afraid of conflict from militias, terrorist groups, and military personnel.
1. CALLS UPON all Palestinian refugees to avoid resistance and to surrender to all military personnel when called upon to prevent further causalities.
2. RECOMMENDS that all Palestinians travel in groups to prevent being kidnapped, beaten, slain, or murdered by militias, terrorist groups, and military personal.
3. FURTHER REMINDS that all travel at night should be done in well-populated areas, and if necessary, travel with someone else.
(a) Travel in cars if going long distances.
(b) Don’t travel on rural roads.
(c) Avoid military checkpoints.
(d) Tell people where you are going.
4 REQUEST treaty with surrounding countries to allow refugees to immigrate out of Palestinian Refugee camps and into other countries.
5 URGES refugees to spread out to surrounding countries to lessen the impact of disease, drought, and lack of proper medical treatment.
6 NOTES that any refugees wishing to return to prior refugee camps may do so without any conflict what so ever.
7 CONFIRMS Japan will provide 50 million dollars in medical treatment, water, and food to Palestinian Refugee camps, for every year there isn’t a terrorist attack. If an attack does occur all funding will be cut immediately.
Country Research
Issue 1
1. "Refugee." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugee>.
Refugees that come to Japan and other countries tend to be running from an already failing country. Japan has excepted refugees based on the number of people in need of new homes.
2. "Osamu Arakaki, Refugee Law and Practice in Japan." Oxford Journals. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://hrlr.oxfordjournals.org/content/9/2/339.extract>.
“The figures are impressive. In the 25 years since ratifying the Refugee Convention, Japan received only 4,882 applications and recognised just 410 refugees.” Japan has helped a number of countries on their refugee problems
3. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/refugee/japan.html>.
The number of refugees in the world has gone up since the cold war. As of 2009 the number of refugees that Japan has helped has reached approximately 42.30 million. They have helped over 50 countries world wide .
4. "Refugee Assistance." Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://www.mofa.go.jp/POLICY/un/pamph96/refugee.html>.
The refugee problem has not ended with the end of the Cold War. The number of refugees and people in the world has continued to steadily rise. Japan has provided material and people as well as financial contributions to solve the refugee problem.
5. "Refugees in Japan." Sans Everything. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://sanseverything.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/refugees-in-japan/>.
Japan does send money to support refugees overseas. In 2006 Japan gave $75 million to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). They are constantly outdoing themselves when it comes to refugees.
Japan has spent over 200 million dollars on refugees. They are constantly improving new laws and treaties to better improve their ability to help refugees. The number of refugees helped by Japan keeps rising since the cold war in the 90s. Japan is one of the largest helpers of refugees in the world.
Issue 2
My country; Japan has stayed relatively neutral in the Palestinian Refugee issue. However, we have provided a large amount of money and resources to the UN to better distribute it to countries in need. My country; Japan has chosen this point of view to better focus its attention on economic issues that face the people of Japan rather other countries.
Speech
I would like to draw your attention to resolution 1C.
Thesis: Although many resolutions have the same ending result, I think 1C stays on the topic the most. Japan has stayed relatively neutral in the Palestinian refugee conflict but we feel that it is necessary that Palestine be given a state in the 1967 Palestinian border. This will Give the Palestinian people equal rights, and more freedom to live a better life.
In 1948 there was a conflict in which Palestine wanted more of their state in the holy land. More than 6 decades later this conflict is still going on. 1C has a resolution on which Palestinian Refugees will be given a state on the 1967 Palestinian border, which would slightly ease the problem of Palestinians wanting to return to the holy land. This resolution suggests the Israeli settlers living on the 1967 Palestinian border will be removed, with money provided by Israel, to make room for the Palestinian Refugees and their new state. This resolution states that Israel will be compensated for the loss of land which will come in the form of 5% of Palestine’s income for the next thirty years.
A two state resolution is needed to resolve this conflict, as a one state resolution would just cause more conflict. 1C further states that all military shall be removed from the new border and state which will end a large amount of conflict, caused by military personal. This resolution will not permanently end the Palestinian Refugee conflict, but it should help give refugees a better life which is desperately needed.
Japan feels that change is needed for the Palestinian Refugees, considering that this debate and war has been going on for over sixty years. That is why Japan is staying firm on Resolution 1C.
Reflection
1. What are you most proud of about this conference?
1. I am most proud of my speech. I spent a lot of time working and refining my speech. I had to transfer it from my paper to a notecard, for easier access during my presentation.
2. What did you connect with most in this project, and how did that affect your conference performance?
2. I connected most with the large variety of solutions that are trying to resolve the conflict in the way that I tried to improve them and incorporate them in my speech and class work. I felt that a large amount of them were unrealistic and unnecessary to solve the problem.
3. What was the most important thing you learned in this project? Why?
3. The most important thing I learned during this project would have to be that conflict will always occur, and all we can do to resolve it is try to incorporate different conflict solving techniques(peace keepers, proper health and medical care) to slowly decrease and possibly end the conflict.
4. If you were a teacher or observer, what would you say about your performance in conference? (Good AND Bad!)
4. I would say I did really well during my conference. I feel like I contributed a lot to the overall outcome of the conference. And I think I had a lot of information to give.
5. For our next MUN conference, what would you most want to improve in your performance? How do you plan on doing this?
5. I would say I could comment more on people’s speeches and comments to add to the overall success of the conference. I think I could make my speech longer so I sound more professional. And I could answer questions asked to me with more detail, and with better answers.
6. Did you have a resolution or amendment on the docket? Yes/No
6. Yes
7. Did any of your resolutions or amendments pass? Which ones?
a. Pass = Passed final vote. Resolution must passed to get amendments passed.
7. None of my resolutions or amendments got chosen or passed.
8. Estimate the total number of:
a. Speeches you made (during substantive debate and formal caucus)
b. Comments/questions you had
8. I made one big speech and several short statements. I also commented about 10+ times during the conference.
MUN Conference 2
Speech
If I may direct your attention to resolution 2b.
Japan has had a large number of problems involving Nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the past and in current times as well. We have learned that with nuclear power comes a great amount of responsibility, and we feel that Iran is not ready for that amount of responsibility yet. That’s why we strongly support and agree with resolution 2b.
Resolution 2b states that all nuclear power is to be transported by other means from other safe and credible nuclear weaponized states to Iran to lessen or possibly lose the risk of nuclear bombs being made or possessed.
Nuclear disasters are a large problem and concern when producing nuclear energy.
Why risk an environmental disaster for power when it can be given to you safely and at low costs? When you create nuclear energy you need 18-20% highly enriched uranium for the reactors. That uranium is being enriched in Iran, and can easily be further enriched to create 75-80% highly enriched for use in nuclear weapons. The common fear is that Iran is creating nuclear weapons; this resolution ends that fear by creating a safer alternative for power.
On march 11th 2011 a disaster occurred in Japan when an earthquake hit 3 nuclear reactors in Japans Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power plant. You might say that an earthquake is very unlikely in Iran but the fact is that over 700 people were found dead with deadly amounts of radiation in their bodies.
Not forgetting that over 10,000 people are still missing with over 3,000 of those directly related to the nuclear power plant.
That’s a lot of people, and the amount of those people still alive aren’t looking to good.
675 miles by 150 miles were directly effected by the nuclear power plant disaster.
That would be ¼ of Irans land directly effected by nuclear material.
2b gives a safe option that would lessen the chance of a nuclear disaster.
That’s why Japan firmly stays and supports resolution 2b.
MUN Reflection
Q. How has your perspective changed (on the UN, the world, or the Middle East) based on this project?
A. My perspective has stayed relatively the same throughout this entire project; Iran should not be allowed to have a nuclear program or to create nuclear energy in their own facilities. The one thing that has changed with this project is my knowledge on the subject. I had a very important role in this meeting because of the large amounts of problems involving nuclear energy/weapons.
Q. Look at what you needed to improve on from your last reflection and discuss how you improved for this conference.
A. On my last conference I didn’t talk very much, on out second conference and tried to talk more but I felt that what I wanted to say was already being said by people with the same perspective as me.
Q. If we did yet at third conference, what would you most need to improve on from this conference?
A. If we were to do another conference I would need to talk A LOT more. My grade for these conferences have not been that good, because I don’t participate as much as is expected. I am presenting my speech, but I'm not commenting on anybody else’s presentations.
Q. Give yourself a grade for the following categories and explain why that is the grade you deserve:
Overall diplomacy: B I stayed relatively diplomatic in the fact that I represented my countries perspective well.
Professionalism: A I dressed very well for this conference, and I stayed professional when talking about the subject at hand.
Engagement in the conference: C+ I presented my speech, I helped create resolutions, and I signed the ones I agreed with.
Speeches: A- I feel that I presented a very well written speech, to a large amount of people without showing how nervous I was.
Caucusing: B I helped write amendments, added to the conversations in a positive way, and I stayed on topic.
Comments: C- I struggled commenting on peoples presentations because I felt my point was already made.
MUN Conference 1
Resolution
UNHCR
JAPAN
ISRAEL-PALESTINE REFUGEE
RESOLUTION FOR PALESTINIAN REFUGEE CRISIS
“Chase Pierson”
The General Assembly,
1. BEARING IN MIND that the largest number of Palestinian Refugee causalities occur during nighttime, traveling alone, and at military checkpoints. (Document 4)
2. REALIZING that most refugee conflict involving military personnel, terrorist groups, and militias involve weapons.
3. OBSERVNG that most Palestinian Refugees live in over populated towns with poverty, lack of water and proper medical treatment. (Plight of Palestinian Refugees)
4. KEEPING IN MIND that most Palestinian Refugees want to return to their original houses. (Document 5)
5. CONVINCED that the lack of food, water, and medical treatment, is because support groups are afraid of conflict from militias, terrorist groups, and military personnel.
1. CALLS UPON all Palestinian refugees to avoid resistance and to surrender to all military personnel when called upon to prevent further causalities.
2. RECOMMENDS that all Palestinians travel in groups to prevent being kidnapped, beaten, slain, or murdered by militias, terrorist groups, and military personal.
3. FURTHER REMINDS that all travel at night should be done in well-populated areas, and if necessary, travel with someone else.
(a) Travel in cars if going long distances.
(b) Don’t travel on rural roads.
(c) Avoid military checkpoints.
(d) Tell people where you are going.
4 REQUEST treaty with surrounding countries to allow refugees to immigrate out of Palestinian Refugee camps and into other countries.
5 URGES refugees to spread out to surrounding countries to lessen the impact of disease, drought, and lack of proper medical treatment.
6 NOTES that any refugees wishing to return to prior refugee camps may do so without any conflict what so ever.
7 CONFIRMS Japan will provide 50 million dollars in medical treatment, water, and food to Palestinian Refugee camps, for every year there isn’t a terrorist attack. If an attack does occur all funding will be cut immediately.
Country Research
Issue 1
1. "Refugee." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugee>.
Refugees that come to Japan and other countries tend to be running from an already failing country. Japan has excepted refugees based on the number of people in need of new homes.
2. "Osamu Arakaki, Refugee Law and Practice in Japan." Oxford Journals. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://hrlr.oxfordjournals.org/content/9/2/339.extract>.
“The figures are impressive. In the 25 years since ratifying the Refugee Convention, Japan received only 4,882 applications and recognised just 410 refugees.” Japan has helped a number of countries on their refugee problems
3. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/refugee/japan.html>.
The number of refugees in the world has gone up since the cold war. As of 2009 the number of refugees that Japan has helped has reached approximately 42.30 million. They have helped over 50 countries world wide .
4. "Refugee Assistance." Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://www.mofa.go.jp/POLICY/un/pamph96/refugee.html>.
The refugee problem has not ended with the end of the Cold War. The number of refugees and people in the world has continued to steadily rise. Japan has provided material and people as well as financial contributions to solve the refugee problem.
5. "Refugees in Japan." Sans Everything. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://sanseverything.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/refugees-in-japan/>.
Japan does send money to support refugees overseas. In 2006 Japan gave $75 million to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). They are constantly outdoing themselves when it comes to refugees.
Japan has spent over 200 million dollars on refugees. They are constantly improving new laws and treaties to better improve their ability to help refugees. The number of refugees helped by Japan keeps rising since the cold war in the 90s. Japan is one of the largest helpers of refugees in the world.
Issue 2
My country; Japan has stayed relatively neutral in the Palestinian Refugee issue. However, we have provided a large amount of money and resources to the UN to better distribute it to countries in need. My country; Japan has chosen this point of view to better focus its attention on economic issues that face the people of Japan rather other countries.
Speech
I would like to draw your attention to resolution 1C.
Thesis: Although many resolutions have the same ending result, I think 1C stays on the topic the most. Japan has stayed relatively neutral in the Palestinian refugee conflict but we feel that it is necessary that Palestine be given a state in the 1967 Palestinian border. This will Give the Palestinian people equal rights, and more freedom to live a better life.
In 1948 there was a conflict in which Palestine wanted more of their state in the holy land. More than 6 decades later this conflict is still going on. 1C has a resolution on which Palestinian Refugees will be given a state on the 1967 Palestinian border, which would slightly ease the problem of Palestinians wanting to return to the holy land. This resolution suggests the Israeli settlers living on the 1967 Palestinian border will be removed, with money provided by Israel, to make room for the Palestinian Refugees and their new state. This resolution states that Israel will be compensated for the loss of land which will come in the form of 5% of Palestine’s income for the next thirty years.
A two state resolution is needed to resolve this conflict, as a one state resolution would just cause more conflict. 1C further states that all military shall be removed from the new border and state which will end a large amount of conflict, caused by military personal. This resolution will not permanently end the Palestinian Refugee conflict, but it should help give refugees a better life which is desperately needed.
Japan feels that change is needed for the Palestinian Refugees, considering that this debate and war has been going on for over sixty years. That is why Japan is staying firm on Resolution 1C.
Reflection
1. What are you most proud of about this conference?
1. I am most proud of my speech. I spent a lot of time working and refining my speech. I had to transfer it from my paper to a notecard, for easier access during my presentation.
2. What did you connect with most in this project, and how did that affect your conference performance?
2. I connected most with the large variety of solutions that are trying to resolve the conflict in the way that I tried to improve them and incorporate them in my speech and class work. I felt that a large amount of them were unrealistic and unnecessary to solve the problem.
3. What was the most important thing you learned in this project? Why?
3. The most important thing I learned during this project would have to be that conflict will always occur, and all we can do to resolve it is try to incorporate different conflict solving techniques(peace keepers, proper health and medical care) to slowly decrease and possibly end the conflict.
4. If you were a teacher or observer, what would you say about your performance in conference? (Good AND Bad!)
4. I would say I did really well during my conference. I feel like I contributed a lot to the overall outcome of the conference. And I think I had a lot of information to give.
5. For our next MUN conference, what would you most want to improve in your performance? How do you plan on doing this?
5. I would say I could comment more on people’s speeches and comments to add to the overall success of the conference. I think I could make my speech longer so I sound more professional. And I could answer questions asked to me with more detail, and with better answers.
6. Did you have a resolution or amendment on the docket? Yes/No
6. Yes
7. Did any of your resolutions or amendments pass? Which ones?
a. Pass = Passed final vote. Resolution must passed to get amendments passed.
7. None of my resolutions or amendments got chosen or passed.
8. Estimate the total number of:
a. Speeches you made (during substantive debate and formal caucus)
b. Comments/questions you had
8. I made one big speech and several short statements. I also commented about 10+ times during the conference.
MUN Conference 2
Speech
If I may direct your attention to resolution 2b.
Japan has had a large number of problems involving Nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the past and in current times as well. We have learned that with nuclear power comes a great amount of responsibility, and we feel that Iran is not ready for that amount of responsibility yet. That’s why we strongly support and agree with resolution 2b.
Resolution 2b states that all nuclear power is to be transported by other means from other safe and credible nuclear weaponized states to Iran to lessen or possibly lose the risk of nuclear bombs being made or possessed.
Nuclear disasters are a large problem and concern when producing nuclear energy.
Why risk an environmental disaster for power when it can be given to you safely and at low costs? When you create nuclear energy you need 18-20% highly enriched uranium for the reactors. That uranium is being enriched in Iran, and can easily be further enriched to create 75-80% highly enriched for use in nuclear weapons. The common fear is that Iran is creating nuclear weapons; this resolution ends that fear by creating a safer alternative for power.
On march 11th 2011 a disaster occurred in Japan when an earthquake hit 3 nuclear reactors in Japans Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power plant. You might say that an earthquake is very unlikely in Iran but the fact is that over 700 people were found dead with deadly amounts of radiation in their bodies.
Not forgetting that over 10,000 people are still missing with over 3,000 of those directly related to the nuclear power plant.
That’s a lot of people, and the amount of those people still alive aren’t looking to good.
675 miles by 150 miles were directly effected by the nuclear power plant disaster.
That would be ¼ of Irans land directly effected by nuclear material.
2b gives a safe option that would lessen the chance of a nuclear disaster.
That’s why Japan firmly stays and supports resolution 2b.
MUN Reflection
Q. How has your perspective changed (on the UN, the world, or the Middle East) based on this project?
A. My perspective has stayed relatively the same throughout this entire project; Iran should not be allowed to have a nuclear program or to create nuclear energy in their own facilities. The one thing that has changed with this project is my knowledge on the subject. I had a very important role in this meeting because of the large amounts of problems involving nuclear energy/weapons.
Q. Look at what you needed to improve on from your last reflection and discuss how you improved for this conference.
A. On my last conference I didn’t talk very much, on out second conference and tried to talk more but I felt that what I wanted to say was already being said by people with the same perspective as me.
Q. If we did yet at third conference, what would you most need to improve on from this conference?
A. If we were to do another conference I would need to talk A LOT more. My grade for these conferences have not been that good, because I don’t participate as much as is expected. I am presenting my speech, but I'm not commenting on anybody else’s presentations.
Q. Give yourself a grade for the following categories and explain why that is the grade you deserve:
Overall diplomacy: B I stayed relatively diplomatic in the fact that I represented my countries perspective well.
Professionalism: A I dressed very well for this conference, and I stayed professional when talking about the subject at hand.
Engagement in the conference: C+ I presented my speech, I helped create resolutions, and I signed the ones I agreed with.
Speeches: A- I feel that I presented a very well written speech, to a large amount of people without showing how nervous I was.
Caucusing: B I helped write amendments, added to the conversations in a positive way, and I stayed on topic.
Comments: C- I struggled commenting on peoples presentations because I felt my point was already made.