Events of National Federations
Traditionally hundreds of students and teachers associate April with ‘Gymnasium Model United Nations’. April of 2018 was not an exception! The 7th session of International Model United Nations conference ‘GYMUN-2018’ was held on 19-22nd of April in Minsk on the basis of UNESCO Associated School “Minsk Gymnasium №12”. The participants of the conference were high school from Minsk gymnasiums and schools, students from prestigious Minsk universities along with the guests from Brest, Borisov, Slutsk, the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan and the Republic of Poland. Overall amount of participants reached the rate of 300 people.
April 19, 2018 a grand opening of the 7th annual conference ‘Gymnasium Model United Nations’ took place. The whole ceremony was dedicated to Sustainable Development Goals. UN office in Belarus made it available to hold a picture exhibition showing the projects connected with the implementation of SDGs in Belarus. GYMUN orgteam prepared a sweet surprise in the colours of SDGs and offered all the participants to take part in a ‘Stand up for SDGs’ flash mob to demonstrate solidarity with SDGs.
The first part of the opening ceremony was full of welcoming speeches delivered by Valentina Khodas, GYMUN Secretary General, Ekaterina Petrusha, Headmistress of ‘Minsk Gymnasium 12’ and numerous honoured guests Alexei Tchistodarski, UNDP Communication Analyst ‘SDGs and their implementation’, Jim Couzens, Deputy Head of the European Union Delegation ‘The role of a diplomat in establishing a dialogue among countries’, Magnus Satterberg, Deputy Head of Mission Embassy of Sweden to the Republic of Belarus ‘Transparency, gender equality and SDGs’, Natalia Ipatyeva, representative of Rossotrudnichestvo in Belarus, Helen Kashperko, member of RPO ‘Belarusian Association of UNESCO clubs’. Among distinguished guests were present the following: Victor Radziwinowski, UN Communications Officer in Belarus, Ivan Korda, the Head of Belarusian public association ‘Rus’, Vera Turlo, a teacher of FIR BSU.
During the second part of the opening the floor was given to the delegates of GYMUN 2018 who delivered their opening speeches and expressed their hope for fruitful and interesting work, shared their dreams and wishes each other to ‘Capture their own dreams’ as well as wished the world to live in peace and security, they wished that people do not live in poverty but have access to education, medical care and just lived happily. At the end of the ceremony the participants voted for the ‘Best Ambassador’.
The next two days young diplomats, representing 66 UN countries, worked in 8 committees, took part in hot debates, discussed the issues of the agenda, proposed best possible ways of solving them, and finally each committee adopted a resolution designed to settle the problem. The official language of the conference is English so the participants have a chance to improve their knowledge. Moreover the participants learn to debate and communicate, express their point of view and make lots of new friends.
An entertaining programme including National Historical Museum and the exhibition of graphics of Salvador Dali was made specially for the participants from Brest, Borisov, Slutsk, Russia, Kazakhstan and Poland.
On April 22nd the General Assembly of the ‘Gymnasium Model United Nations Conference’ and the closing ceremony took place. We were honoured to welcome Dzmitriy Subtselny, President of RPO ‘Belarusian Association of UNESCO clubs’, Vice-president of World and European Federation of Associations and UNESCO clubs who delivered an inspiring speech before the house. The Chairs of the committees presented their work, awarded ‘Best Delegates’ and ‘Best Ambassadors’ of the conference. GYMUN orgteam sang a traditional anthem and expressed the hope to see everyone next April at the 8th International conference ‘Gymnasium Model United Nations’ – 2018.
The GYMUN organization team gratefully acknowledges and wishes to thank JLLS Mobile TeleSystems, UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Belarus, UNESCO Associated school ‘Minsk Gymnasium 12’, Republican Public Organization ‘Belarusian Association of UNESCO clubs’, The Embassy of Sweden in Belarus, The EU delegation in Belarus, Rossotrudnichestvo, FIR Belarusian State University for a chance to organize GYMUN 2018. The conference is officially over and we are happy to state that one of our dreams has been CAPTURED.
