THIRD ISSUE OF SPECIAL CONFERENCE

The issue for the third resolution, “Women in governance and business,common goals and standards, strengthening the power of women's full participation in politics”, was submitted by UNICEF , who underlined the fact that education is a fundamental aspect in equality since, if women are provided with education, they can get higher positions in whichever profession they desire to have, which consequently guarantees them a better life. Therefore, this resolution also showed effort in making sure that soon enough there should be fifty percent of men and fifty percent of women in the government.

As predicted, this resolution had a great support from some countries such as Denmark and also Germany, whose delegate stated that women are just as capable as men, and even though there has been some progress in orderto make them equal, this development is not enough and so the only effective way to tackle this issue is through education.

However, the resolution submitted by UNICEF was also struck by many delegates such as Holy See's and the delegate of Argentina, who mostly criticized the first clause, classifying it as a not reasonable one since child labour should not only not be allowed during school time but also before and after school.

Thus, the second amendment did not pass.

In addition, the open debate continued, now having the spotlight taken by the delegate of Portugal, who sadly stated that only 10 percent of women are in leading positions but they support the ideal of education as a great opportunity for women to become good leaders in the future.

This speech was followed by two points of information, one from China and the other one from Holy See.

China's delegate accused UNICEF of promoting child labour due to Clause 1a I, while the Holy See's delegate wondered why 2016 was the picked year to change this situation, to which the answer was that the meaning of this resolution wasn't picking 2016 as the 'special year' but simply showing the urgency and desire of changing this situation as soon as possible.

With that being said, the debate was closed shortly after, and the voting time began. With fifteen votes in favour, twenty seven votes against and two abstentions, the solution submitted by UNICEF did not pass.

SECOND ISSUE OF SPECIAL CONFERENCE

The resolution for the 2nd issue, “The question of promoting international cooperation in providing Human Rights for Refugees”, was presented by Germany, as an attempt to “respect Human Rights”.

A series of amendments submitted by delegations like the UNHCR, Finland and EAL all passed easily, improving the resolution and making it more effective on takcling the issue. These amendments created ways for refugees to have a better life and be more respected.

In the midst of a calm debate came the DPRK. The delegation submitted a clause that wanted to force refugees to work only on minimal wage and to lose their culture. The USA strongly contested this, pointing out the several Human Rights' violations of this measure. In the end, the amendment did not pass with an overwhelming amout of votes against.

Then, Russia expressed its disagreement with the overall resolution saying that it would not end terrorism, which, according to the delegation,would actually be the only way to end this crisis. Most countries did not agree and Russia's criticism was quickly dismissed.

 Once again, Holy See did not pass by unnoticed, giving a warning toall delegates to be aware of God's will and Satan's corruption on the clauses. This created some disruption in the conference and the USA was shocked at the speech.

After these events, Germany made a final speech encouraging delegates to vote and finally help the lives of refugees. Debate time came to an end and it was time to move on to voting procedures, where the resolution passed with an overwhelming majority of votes in favor.

FIRST ISSUE OF SPECIAL CONFERENCE

The first issue of the Special Conference, “The question of promoting inter-religious tolerance and freedom”, began with a resolution submitted by Iraq. The overall feeling was that Iraq was trying to reach a consensus among all countries, in order to stop religious discrimination and promote all religions.

From the frst points of information, it was clear that Clause 10, which stated that every citizen should have a card that identifed his or her religion,was going to be a big problem for Iraq. Countries like Japan showed skepticism about the idea proposed by the clause.

Eventually, China proposed an amendment to strike both Clause 10 and Clause 11, which stated that countries should teach all religions. After a heated debate, with Holy See mentioning that last time something like Clause 10 happened it led to the Holocaust, the amendment passed with 28 votes for and 10 against, having these two clauses been removed from the resolution.

After this, the delegates switched their focus to Clause 1. Both of its sub-clauses were removed. Firstly, an amendment presented by the USA to strike sub-clause b) passed with 33 votes for and 10 against, and then another presented by Japan to strike sub-clause a) also passed with 34 votes for and 18 against.

The most controversial moment came with an amendment to add a clause. China proposed an amendment that all countries should force every country to separate religion from government. Iraq strongly opposed this,claiming it would be against national so!ereignty. Holy See agreed with this and, as usual, also used God as a reason to respect every country's rights. This amendment did not pass, with a close 23 votes for and 26 against.

In the end, Iraq said that the debate and amendments improved the resolution and encouraged every delegate to vote in favour. With 42 votes for and 8 against, the resolution passed and for the frst time in the SPC, clapping was in order.

FIRST ISSUE OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY

“It’s in our hands to do something” that was how the delegate from Kenya started the debate on the issue “Millennium Development goals (Post 2015) The Sustainable Development goals (2030)”. “Change can bring success!”, he said.

In fact, we are responsible for the sustainability of this planet and we should think, more about the future generations, who shouldn’t be harmed by us.

Regarding this resolution, clause 6 was strongly  contested because, on the one hand, it could decrease hunger and improve education, health and the persons’ standard of living: on the other hand, it was extremely unrealistic because school lunches don’t have enough nutrients to satisfy the children’s needs.

During the debate the USA stroke clause 4 c, due to the fact that free health care should be a choice of governments.

For many, this resolution wasn’t specific enough. It was too vague, some clauses should have been better explained and there should have been more reasons to adopt this resolution. But, after some amendments, this resolution passed with 66 votes for and 45 against!

OPENING SPEECHES

The General Assembly:

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During the opening speeches the delegates expressed their concern about the several problems to be discussed in this conference, like forced child labour, millennium goals, sustainability, development goals, nuclearweapons, human rights. All of them believed that their country can make a change in the world, for example, the United Emirates wants to reduce child mortality. Spain wants to achieve the millennium goals, and Brazil wants to end forced child labour. These goals are very important, not only for the countries but also for the humanity. And it's only by making wise decisions and always thinking about the future that we can actually make a change. 

The Special Conference: 

The opening speeches were very important to highlight the issues that the delegates were most worried about. It was noticeable that the second and third issues were the main concern of many countries.

On the one hand, Germany was particularly concerned with the refugees since they have basic human rights just like everyone else; therefore, it's important to protect them from danger.

On the other hand, Russia also thinks that refugees should be allowed in their country but they took a more extremist position which was shown by the delegate's words that showed that, when in Russia, people must "Speak Russian, act Russian, be Russian."

As previously mentioned, the second issue was also a topic of great concern,expressed by many countries such as India who showed a very protective position towards women, defending that they are very important in politics and that the number of women participating in it should increase because that would help the country to grow.

In addition, the first issue was also mentioned, mainly by Spain who said that the non religious freedom is a dangerous problem that should not be ignored since it happens all over the globe, and a great deal of international conficts, such as the refugee crisis, happened because of that. 

To sum up, the opening speeches mostly showed the delegates' humanitarian sides and their desire for viable solutions to be found in order to solve these issues.

THE SPEECH OF THE KEYNOTE-SPEAKER

The 16th edition of CICMUN welcomed Rui Rocha, from Boa Safra, as its keynote speaker. He was received with a round of applause and was astonished by the organization of CICMUN. The topic that he chose to speak about was the planet’s sustainability. He said that this issue was a major problem that could be solved with the important help of MUNers.
                He showed that many developed countries in the world consumed more than what the planet can provide. For example, Europe consumes three planets to sustain itself and USA consumes five. He reinforced the importance of solving this issue by reducing the consumption of these countries and others.
                He alerted to the existence of a paradox between economy wanting to grow and ecology trying to reduce. He said that the solution to this problem was to obtain “prosperity without growing”.
                He also revealed that the countries with the biggest GDP are not the ones with the best ecological footprint being Costa Rica at the top, because despite not being the wealthiest it’s the one with the strongest policies in ecology.
                He showed the five ways that society must follow to improve welfare: connect; give; take notice; keep learning; be active. There are also four actions to create sustainability: improve the mind and body; improve freedom and autonomy; improve work and time; produce and consume healthy and sustainable food.
                To finish his speech he invited everyone present to visit his company in one of its open days. He also reinforced that it’s the change that young generations can make that will improve sustainability.          

THE LOBBYING OF CICMUN XVI

 As the lobbying occurred, the press team went to the rooms where the delegates were thinking and discussing their resolutions, asking many different types of questions, to which they nicely agreed to reply to.
            The interviewed delegates were asked questions such as “Is this delegation moving forward with any resolution?” to which the delegate confidently explained the press team that their resolution would most definitely be the solution for the issue. They were also asked questions such as “What is the issue your delegation is most concerned about?” and they told us that their delegations were very concerned about the 1st and 3rd issues of the General Assembly.
During lobbying time, it was clear that “The question of promoting inter-religious tolerance and freedom” was the most important issue for the delegates in the Special Conference.
            Most of them focus on the fact that all countries should be united in supporting the freedom of religion. The USA says that it is a fundamental aspect of the countries’ Constitution and Holy See says that every religion defends love and unity.
            On the other hand, the 2nd issue was also discussed with the UNHCR submitting a resolution to provide refugees with a safe haven through the support of all member states, both economicaly and politically.
            Also, countries like Syria seem to be more concerned about the issue of “Measures to prevent the development, stocking and trade of nuclear, bacterial and toxic weapons”, due to the fear of being attacked with weapons so powerful that they could kill millions of people.
            Others defend that this affliction should be prevented in order to give their citizens a better standard of life. People that use this type of weapons are economically powerful and by stopping this, they will have more funds to help promoting peace as well as health and communication.
                Panama among many other countries seem to be worried about “The question of the current situation on forced child labour”. Quoting what the delegate of Panama said “no one likes it” and it needs to be prevented and stopped immediately. Every child deserves to have a happy childhood and working for hours on end in a factory in exchange of nothing is the opposite of that.
                Unfortunately, in some countries it’s really hard to end that because it’s already an established thing that even the government themselves seem to overlook and sweep it under the carpet. There are many organizations trying to break that “tradition” but there’s still a lack of support from other countries to make progress.
                 The United Arabic Emirates stated that “Women in the United Arabic Emirates are treated differently. Not in an unequal manner but differently because of our religion.” This being clearly biased and untrue. They also loosely said that when multiple generations are brought up on one belief, it is hard to, all of a sudden, change not only their belief but also the one of the next generations, therefore they don’t see a lot of change happening in the future.  “Even if they defend themselves with clauses and articles, it will not change anything because women will keep getting treated as they were before and no global occurrence will change that.” The UAE delegation goes on saying that all resolutions presented to them today had no serious impact because none of them “really came through for the delegation of the United Arabic Emirates”.
                  This was a very productive afternoon where all delegates were able to have a perspective on what is happening around the world.

OPOMUN 2016 - HONORABLE MENTION FOR CIC!

The student Maria Miguel Silva won a honorable mention for her effort in the OPOMUN 2016 held on 17, 18 and 19 January and organized by CLIP - Colégio Luso-Internacional do Porto.
Representing CIC, there were a grup of seven students - Maria Miguel Silva, Claúdia Fernandes, Inês Dias, João Guedes, Pedro Rocha, Duarte Leite and João Silva, coordinated by "Chaperone", professor Maria Emília Macedo, and distributed by different comités.
We acomplished one more activity in Clube Internacional's appointment calendar. For now on, all the atentions and strenghts are channelized to CICMUN 2015 that will take place on the days 26 and 27 of April.
"BE THE CHANGE"!

Maria Emília Macedo
Coordinator of Language Course and Business Relations

CIC AWARDED IN IRLAND!

No passado dia 26 de janeiro, a professora Emília Macedo e 16 alunos do Clube Internacional deslocaram-se à Irlanda para participarem na conferência “Model United Nations”, que decorreu durante três dias, na cidade de Cork.
    Os alunos, representando os países que lhes foram atribuídos, distinguiram-se pela sua participação, empenho e trabalho colaborativo, comunicando e defendendo os seus trabalhos e pontos de vista sempre em língua inglesa, tendo conquistado os seguintes prémios:

• João Guedes - "Revelation of the year";

• Francisco Sebastião - "Most Distinguished Delegate";

• Cláudia Ribeiro - "Most Distinguished Delegate".

    Francisco Sebastião representou a França; Cláudia Ribeiro e Filipe Reis, a Irlanda; Cláudia Pereira e Ana Rodrigues, a Bolívia; Diogo Araújo, Moçambique; Catarina Xambre e Fábia Teixeira, os Emirados Árabes Unidos; Duarte Leite, o “KNC” - Concelho Nacional dos Curdos; Catarina Freire e Carolina Mineiro, a Argélia; Maria Silva e Ana Cunha, o Iraque; Patrícia Mouta, a Eritreia; e João Guedes e Miguel Trigo, a República Democrática do Congo.
    O grupo dividiu-se entre a Assembleia Geral (“General Assembly”) e a Conferência Especial (“Special Conference”). Na primeira, foram abordados temas como o Terrorismo e o Agravamento do Estado Islâmico, os Migrantes do Mediterrâneo e os refugiados e requerentes de asilo, a tensão na Península Coreana, a Exploração Espacial – Gestão e Militarização, o Direito Internacional – Extradição e a Pena de Morte.
    O aluno João Guedes do 12.º A teve a sua resolução do 1.º problema aprovada.
    Na Conferência Especial, debateu-se a Ética Médica – Prática, Pesquisa e Experimentação, as Catástrofes Naturais e a ajuda internacional, os direitos da comunidade LGBT, a Influência Religiosa e a Liberdade e, por último, a questão da liberalização das drogas.
    A resolução elaborada pelo aluno Filipe Reis no 5.º tema foi também aprovada.
    Fantástico, não acham? Eu não poderia estar mais contente com a prestação de todos! Muitos Parabéns!
    E porque a “Model United Nations” (MUN) é uma atividade que iniciámos há mais de 20 anos, e somos a única escola Portuguesa que organiza, também uma conferência MUN, deixo um apelo a todos os alunos que, eventualmente, estejam a ler esta notícia, agora, independentemente da idade, ou dos interesses:
    - se queres perceber melhor o que se passa no mundo e tudo o que agora te parece complexo; se queres melhorar o teu Inglês; se queres saber falar em público; se queres conhecer pessoas de diferentes países, fazer amizades; se queres ser agente de mudança, ativo, tolerante, um verdadeiro cidadão do mundo…, Participa no CICMUN!
    Esta é uma experiência inesquecível que vai mudar a tua vida! Inscreve-te! O CICMUN vai realizar-se no dia 26 e 27 de abril de 2016.
    “MUNers are like knights of a special order, a subculture on their own. A mix of couchsurfers, hippies and idealists, that also have some degrees and grab life by the throat, living it up to pieces to make their ideas a part of the world. They are builders that use all the resources the world has to offer in starting something new.”
The ultimate rebels!
“MUN PLANET”
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IMUN 2015

On 12th of November of 2015, a group of students from the International Club went on a trip to Lisbon in order to take part in the XXI edition of the Iberian Model United Nations. In this iniciative, promoted by the American School of Lisbon (CAISL), participated students not only from Portugal, but also from Spain, Turkey, Romania, Ireland, Egipt, Israel, Italy, amongst others, which contibuted for the multicultural caracter of the conference. CIC was represented by sixteen students, which were: Mariana Dias and Mariana Monteiro (Bielorrussia); Pedro Rocha and Ana Catarina Cunha (Botsuana); Ana Lobo and Daniela Almeida (Croatia); Francisco Sebastião and Tatiana Moreira (Hungary); João Guedes and Filipe Reis (New Zealand); Maria Miguel Silva and Rita Pereira (Tunisia); Francisca Pinto (WTO) and, as members of the conference press, Catarina Romaniz and João Malheiro. On the 12th, after the arrival of the students to Carlucci American International School of Lisbon, there was the opening ceremony and, at last, the "lobbying" (sharing and discussion of solutions for the presented problems). That way, it was made the first contact with the students from other schools and the resolutions to be debated were signed. On the 13th, already on the Cultural Center of Belém, it began the debate, which was divided in three conferences: the "General Assembly", the "Special Conference" and the "Security Council". On these conferences, it were debated themes like the democracy on the developing countries, the xenophobia, the rights of sexual workers, the inequality of wealth, the human trafic organized transnationally, areas affected by natural disasters, the refugee camps, the control of the national borders and also the threats against the national security. On the morning of the 13th, the delegates were contemplated with the presence of the legate of the United States of America in Portugal, Robert Sherman, whose answered the questions of the delegates, making the conference richer. Then, the opening speeches started and the debate about the resolutions began. On the third and last day of the conference, these debates were concluded. The day was over with the closing ceremony of the XXI IMUN, where the "Press" presented a video about the best moments of the conference. It is also noteworthy the motivation, effort and evolution of the students who participated in this activity, dignifying the International Club and the CIC (Colégio Internato dos Carvalhos).

By the International Club Press Team November of 2015.