Pauza Magazine Summer 2014 | Page 22

pcv projects Macedonian Model United Barbe - MAK 17 Nations Laura T he Macedonia Model United Nations 2014 conference was held in Kavadarci on June 7th. We had a rocky planning process, but a couple weeks before the conference we had successful conference simulations where the students practiced how the conference would go and they did a fantastic job, which gave us hope! On the day of the conference, together with our delegates, chairpersons and Secretary General, we opened the event at the House of Culture, and then we moved to the primary school where the actual conference took place. We had 14 teams made up of approximately 140 students from all around Macedonia representing countries such as Syria, South Africa, Brazil, Bulgaria, South Korea, and many others. Each student represented one of the 7 committees we had, including the Industrial Development Organization, World Health Organization, and Environmental Program. We had a wide range of issues this year ranging from Combating Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons, to The Right to Adequate Housing and Protection from Forcible Evictions, to Increasing Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries and Economies in Transition. One new addition this year was that the Security Council was given a“surprise issue”created by our Secretariat, which was comprised of the Team 22 – Pauza Magazine Leaders. The Team Leaders were very creative and came up with a multi-tier terrorist plot, and the Security Council’s job was to debate on how to approach and solve the issue. Overall, we had a great conference. The delegates were excited and ready to debate! It was really impressive to see how students take these unfamiliar issues, research them, and then debate using a perspective that is most likely different than their own, all in their second or third language.