About What Passed and What Will Come

A night filled with tears, laughter, excitement and sorrow, the closing ceremony rendered us speechless. We said goodbye to Seif, Hania, and Rabie, along with their meticulous Organisation Team and Student Officers, but said hello to Nada, Youssef and Malak, who we are sure are going to ace their posts. Seif, with his weird dance moves and heartfelt gestures, was the one who absorbed all of the team’s anger, and sometimes let it out on the very same team members! Although, he was always one to feel guilty after having had done so, and immediately apologised, not knowing that we could never be upset with him, what with all that he did for us as a team, to build strong friendships that we are sure, will last a lifetime. Hania, the calm deputy secretary general that was all smiles during the plenary sessions as well as the actual conference. She was everyone’s rock, and was the only one you knew you could vent to, concerning your work and whatnot, and have her comfort you efficiently. Rabie… So much to say, but no words to say it with. Rabie was the one you could also vent to, and have him join in on your frustration, like you were the fire and he was the fuel. Despite that, he was an absolute pleasure to work with, and no one could’ve put it better than Habiba el Molla, member of the Approval Pannel, when she said “MUN is like Rabie’s only daughter, and he had just given her away to marriage, the husband being the new Secretariat.” Speaking of, Nada Gabr, Youssef...

Head to Head

The topic discussed in the Big GA was “Sustainable Development in the Middle East and Northern Africa”, which started with a lobbying and merging session on Monday, November 9th 2015. The latter went as following: they all discussed their countries’ foreign policies as well as their ideologies and such, to help them decide who to co-submit with. That being said, the main submitters were USA and China, each writing a resolution of their own. The group supporting China, divided themselves into three groups to assure organisation; one group was discussing the economical aspects for the resolution, the second one was responsible for environmental issues, and the third group made a point of discussing the social aspects to take into consideration when writing a resolution. The group representing the United States of America came up with a few solutions to form the necessary clauses; one of them being increasing trades between the MENA -Middle East Northern Africa- countries to take part in the economical development, seeing as some countries have products to export that can definitely help other countries. Following the before-stated lobbying and merging session, the actual Big GA took place the following day, with the main submitters having had submitted their resolutions earlier. The first resolution submitted was that of the United States of America, which hinted on financial aid from more developed countries to those who are less developed. They also mentioned social equality, which had in thought gender equity to provide a stable and friendly society to live in. Countries like Ukraine spoke in favour for the resolution submitted by USA, while other countries like Iraq...

Fight?

On this day, the MUN Security Council was talking about Yemen and the Huthii rebels and they were talking about how the Huthis are attacking and occupying the Yemeni territory. The Agenda of the council that day was to find adequate solutions to this issue.  The Russian delegation suggested providing humanitarian aid to the Yemeni republic. The representative of the Nigerian republic raised a point of information in regards the number of countries willing to contribute in the humanitarian aid. The resolution passed with a remarkable majority. The United States representative submitted a resolution, urging all countries to collaborate and reach an agreement to help achieve political stability in Yemen. China and the Russian federation vetoed two clauses that suggested continuing the air strikes in Yemen. Another suggestion was to ban the Huthi leader and his son from traveling to be trialed by the International Criminal Court. The majority of the honorable delegates in the council agreed on this clause, and thought that this solution will contribute effectively in resolving the Yemeni situation. The council had a remarkably fruitful debate.   AHMED OMAR with the help of Rodayna...

DON’T START WAR BASED OFF FEAR BUT BASED ON ACTIONS

On the 3rd day of OISMUN, the committee of special conference was arguing on the second topic: The 6th of October 1973 Yom Kippur war, also known as the Arab-Israeli war. They were doing their best to find solutions to the Israeli invasion of Sinai and the Golan Heights. The committee were debating about the resolution that the delegation of United States of America submitted, one of the delegates requested dividing the issue into two parts, and now they have to deal with two different resolutions.  The chair took the place of the Israeli delegate to argue with the one of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The latter offended Israel so they had to apologize. The USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics believed that Israel started a war based on fear not on actions. The USSR added that Israel was invading Sinai and the Golan heights, and all that Egypt did was trying to get their land back and avoid war. Religion cannot be an excuse to send Syria and Egypt to the international court of justice. Menna Asran Jannah...

Mystery Witness

The advocates brought some witnesses to testify, and they were all valuable to the case. The Federal republic of Germany brought the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, (aged 54), thinks that Italy breaking the rules and judging Germany in their courts is illegal, and the ICJ must make sure that it is the last time this happens. She believes that Italy is taking advantage of the strong economy of Germany to exploit it and weaken its economy. The witness believes that Germany is now using Euros and must not pay the 80 million marks. Lastly, the witness has not been taken into consideration because of lack of information. The Italian Council brought Lilia Bardini to prove that there was a massacre in 1944. She was living in a small village, and is 76 years old. When she was 12, in 1944, she had brothers and sisters, but when the Germans attacked, the villagers heard huge noise (bombs, fire) and were terrified. She saw her family dying in front of her, except her older sister. 560 people were killed, including 107 children. The German military killed everyone in her village in less than a day. The Federal republic of Germany followed by bringing the aged Susana Walsen Rainer. She is a law expert, when the 2nd World War was taking place, she was in her 2nd year of college (law school). She said that Germany did not go against the Jus Cogens law. She refused to answer several questions, but Judge Mardini asked if the Germans did any aggression and Susana said yes, then Judge Mardini clarified that aggression is...

ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS

A crisis took place on November 8th 2015 in the Environment Committee. Twitter was used as the main source of news. The issue faced was the extensive amount of CO2 emission present today. The Greenpeace association is performing imperative tests revolving around CO2 emissions. Richard Sinclair announced that CO2 emissions have grown exponentially in India over the last two weeks. The delegates were allowed twenty minutes of lobbying and merging. They researched and discussed solutions. They had to write five directives, vote on them and do a Q&A for Richard Sinclair. The delegation of the Republic of India was very much involved in the debate. A directive urged to stop any industrial work that causes the production of carbon dioxide, but instead uses renewable energy. This directive passed with a clear majority. Another one plead for a twenty-four hour curfew to be issued due to the acidic rain. This directive also passed with a clear majority.  During the debate for the first directive, Richard walked in and was able to answer some questions. An important question was asked; is it affecting other nations? And if so how can we prevent it? His answer reassured the committee that it is not affecting neighbouring countries, nonetheless the problem should be dealt with immediately to prevent any further harm. In conclusion, the discussion about the crisis was difficult. Nonetheless the delegates presented well-thought out solutions. This is an actual crisis that we face on a daily basis, therefore everyone should search for a solution in their own community – not just the environment commission. Doreen...

The perfect opening ceremony

OISMUN’S Opening Ceremony was extraordinarily remarkable! Perfectly organized, the hall was decorated with flags on each side of the stage and the secretariats were sitting in the middle of the stage. Speeches were given by different important and influential personalities in this opening. The start was with Mrs. Esmat El Lamei, Oasis International school director, who presented a brilliant and encouraging speech. Then, the speech of Dr. Mona Makram Ebeid who’s working on the education in Egypt and she was such an inspirational and motivating women. Following her word, the Switzerland’s ambassador gave a speech, in which he was encouraging, inspiring and congratulating us for our hard work. In addition, the audience enjoyed watching many impressive and powerful videos during the opening ceremony. The first video presented each member of the organization team individually. The second video was an inspirational one, showing us outstanding people who changed the world with their courage. To end this amazing ceremony, the whole OISMUN team gathered on stage. Yara Nabil Haidy Tarek Laila Alaa Lara Ziad...

Crisis in the special conference!

On the 2nd day of OISMUN, the committee of special conference was working on the crisis topic. The discussion was about how Israel attacked Syria and how the latter returned the attack. Israel retired for a while because they lost a lot of troops. In this committee, the delegates were working on this topic in order to find solutions. Every delegate who had a suggestion for a solution should directly presents it to the main-submitter. The delegates then choose whether to approve the solutions or not. As a result, a lot of these were not accepted, while some got approved. Definitely, the tweets kept showing during the conference. After a while, the committee profoundly discussed the crisis. The delegation of the United States of America made a speech to present their deepest sorrow. There was a debate between the delegate of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the delegation of the Republic of Poland following the speech the United States of America made, and the discussion the president of Israeli had with the delegates. At the end, they were supposed to vote for or against the speech that USA made. When they voted, the majority was against the resolution. Mahmoud Arafa Menna...

Lights

Colorful lightings surrounded the stage, the laser show was shinning. On the wall, names and animations were projected using laser, making it a breathtaking laser show! Gastronomy Deciding on going with something simply yet has everyone’s stomachs grumbling, the Events Department settled on a delicious assortment of food such as popcorn, corn dogs, french fries, crackers and ice cream. Entertainment To begin with, the laser show was how the night started, along with a set of English songs. Then later into the night, “Abdallah Aboud”, our head of Ceremonies, fired up the show by singing both covers of songs and performing an original! Following up on that performance, were both violinist “Marcellio” and a saxophonist, who played their instruments following actual songs’ beats. All in all, it was phonemail, and the participants cannot wait until the next outing!   Laila Alaa Haidy Tarek Lara...

Order In Court

The Italian counsel and the German counsel gave their opening speeches defending themselves and criminalising their opponent. Firstly, the Italian counsel argued that Germany has committed various international crimes. Such crimes can’t just go unpunished for the sake of state immunity. Secondly, the German counsel argues that Germany’s state immunity was breached by Italy. Therefore they should be charged and held accountable for there crime. The Italian counsel believes that if a country commits such crimes, they lose the immunity right. The Italian counsel also specifies that german soldiers terrorised Italien villages and countless other atrocities such as murder, abuse, forced labor..etc. It went as far as destroying entire villages, such as Deportivo. In 1933, Germany made an agreement – pay 40 million German pounds to repair the injustice they have caused. The republic of Germany’s speech followed, they believe that Italy does not have the right to sue them in there nation due to there state immunity. However, Italy believes that they have the right to do so because they caused corruption. The advocates represented the case by presenting their claims, the defense team stipulated all of the claims.  The Italian counsel proved that Germany violated the Jus Cogens law.  Italy said that Germany has committed a lot of crimes against human rights and they must be judged as guilty, and can’t be neglected because of state immunity. These crimes are not related to the war. The Italian republic showed a picture of a statue in the Italian museum and it was basically a dead mother surrounded by her dead children, and they showed this picture to prove that Germany killed thousands of people such as mothers and their children. We conclude that Italy has a lead and that the next time there will be witnesses. Now our question is: who will be the mystery witness?...