UN Women says goodbye to URJC Mun
16 de abril de 2021, Sofia Vidal
The last day of the UN Women Committee showed some final agreements as the redaction of a press note proposed by the Russian delegation was approved by the rest of the delegations. This document is intended to settle yesterday's crisis. After all the delegations reached an agreement, the document was presented and accepted by the executive board.
Later on, the day consisted in an informal session where the executive board gave a final speech thanking all the delegations that formed the committee. In addition, the awards were given. First, the verbal mention went to the delegations of North Korea, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia. Later, it was announced that the Russian delegation won the Honorable Mention, the Best Delegate Award was for the delegate of Norway and the Diplomacy Award for the delegation of South Sudan.
This experience, even if it took only 4 days, represented a great journey for all the people that were involved in it. The UN Women Committee, showed how the cooperation between very different countries can be reached for the fighting of women’s rights. Let's hope that this can also extrapolate to the real world. Meanwhile, all of us can do our part to reach equality. URJC Mun will be missed. Until next year!
Later on, the day consisted in an informal session where the executive board gave a final speech thanking all the delegations that formed the committee. In addition, the awards were given. First, the verbal mention went to the delegations of North Korea, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia. Later, it was announced that the Russian delegation won the Honorable Mention, the Best Delegate Award was for the delegate of Norway and the Diplomacy Award for the delegation of South Sudan.
This experience, even if it took only 4 days, represented a great journey for all the people that were involved in it. The UN Women Committee, showed how the cooperation between very different countries can be reached for the fighting of women’s rights. Let's hope that this can also extrapolate to the real world. Meanwhile, all of us can do our part to reach equality. URJC Mun will be missed. Until next year!
A Draft Resolution and a crisis defines the third day of the UN Women Committee
15 de abril de 2021, Sofia Vidal
If there has been a day characterized by a strong collaboration among the delegations, it has been today. With an initial explanation by the executive board in relation with the process of a working paper, the main task of the day was settled: the presentation of a draft of resolution. Before starting this elaborated task, the committee proceeded to discuss some main topics. Some of these were the women’s representation in all kinds of jobs. The delegation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia affirmed that their vision was to not only create jobs related to the oil industry, but also by 2030 have a plenty of creation of new jobs that women could apply to. Bangladesh, as another Islamic country, pointed out the importance of the respect of their values as they lead the road to women’s rights.
Before the coffee break, the delegate of North Korea proposed an unmoderated caucus for 17 minutes for searching solutions for the working papers. After this, and to finish the revision of similar points of view, the delegation of Bangladesh proposed the consultation of the whole on the topic Possible solutions to go ahead for 10 minutes. Religion and gender quota, where the last septs for the presentation of the two working papers that were in progress.
Both documents were pretty generic and respected important topics as the freedom of women to choose religion, the search for the increase of women’s participation in national and international politics and the assurance that women’s rights in developing countries would be respected.
After a voting process, the first working paper was the chosen one. This Draft Resolution was Women’s Active Response to the importance of the Right in Society (W.A.R.I.O.R.S). The sponsors were the delegations of Norway, Germany and Ireland, and being the signatories the delegations of Denmark, Finland, Kenya, France, Colombia, Mexico, and Russia. As the delegate of Norway pointed out, this draft resolution was not was not controversial, and encouraged the countries to cooperate and look at each other's requests. To add on, the delegate of Ireland affirmed that they were open to new ideas, as this was a guideline that expected all countries to feel represented.
As the day was finishing, a breaking news paralyzed the session. The delegate of the United States of America entered the room to read a note press. A sex traffic scandal that involved responsibilities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Russia, Norway, North Korea, South Sudan and some Arabic countries. The crisis provoked a press conference to clear out some doubts about the shocking news. The session ended with a tour de table as countries discussed which country was the main responsible for this polemic information. Regardless of this, the expectation is that tomorrow the delegations will finally reach an agreement for the sake of women’s rights.
Before the coffee break, the delegate of North Korea proposed an unmoderated caucus for 17 minutes for searching solutions for the working papers. After this, and to finish the revision of similar points of view, the delegation of Bangladesh proposed the consultation of the whole on the topic Possible solutions to go ahead for 10 minutes. Religion and gender quota, where the last septs for the presentation of the two working papers that were in progress.
Both documents were pretty generic and respected important topics as the freedom of women to choose religion, the search for the increase of women’s participation in national and international politics and the assurance that women’s rights in developing countries would be respected.
After a voting process, the first working paper was the chosen one. This Draft Resolution was Women’s Active Response to the importance of the Right in Society (W.A.R.I.O.R.S). The sponsors were the delegations of Norway, Germany and Ireland, and being the signatories the delegations of Denmark, Finland, Kenya, France, Colombia, Mexico, and Russia. As the delegate of Norway pointed out, this draft resolution was not was not controversial, and encouraged the countries to cooperate and look at each other's requests. To add on, the delegate of Ireland affirmed that they were open to new ideas, as this was a guideline that expected all countries to feel represented.
As the day was finishing, a breaking news paralyzed the session. The delegate of the United States of America entered the room to read a note press. A sex traffic scandal that involved responsibilities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Russia, Norway, North Korea, South Sudan and some Arabic countries. The crisis provoked a press conference to clear out some doubts about the shocking news. The session ended with a tour de table as countries discussed which country was the main responsible for this polemic information. Regardless of this, the expectation is that tomorrow the delegations will finally reach an agreement for the sake of women’s rights.
Gender equality: nearer to become a reality
14 de abril de 2021, Sofia Vidal
With the characteristic “present and voting” the second session of the UN Women Committee began. One of the first statements of the day was by the delegation of South Sudan, that recently tried to build a bridge with the rest of the countries addressing that Sudanese women participation in politics and society was low and that they were open to cooperate. After this intervention, the first motion proposed by the delegation of Finland started, being New challenges women face derived by covid 19 the topic.
The delegations of Afghanistan and Iraq expressed their point of view of how women being at home was something quite positive derivative by the covid 19 crisis, as this helped to make the situation more bearable. This position was supported by the United Mexican States. An extension of this motion was proposed by the delegation of the Russian Federation. In the next minutes, position as the one from the afghan delegation set forth the Islamic point of view, as their delegates affirmed that afghan woman enjoy being at home, as their families are the most important thing alongside religion. In response, the delegation of North Korea addressed that covid 19 had settled the working from home model. This first part of the session ended with an unmoderated caucus for 15 minutes proposed by the delegation of Ireland in the topic Strategies and solutions for developing countries, propose to seek similar points of view.
After the coffee break, the next moderated caucus had the topic of gender quota in Parliament. This subject divided the committee significantly, as the delegations of countries like Russia and North Korea declared that there was no need to force women to participate if they didn’t want to. On the other hand, Germany addressed the importance of this issue, pointing their chancellor Angela Merkel as an example of german women in politics. Finally, the delegation of North Korea clarified that they didn’t see quotas as positive or negative, just not necessary.
In the lunch break, the delegation of South Sudan granted some statements to the press to specify their position of the gender quota in Parliament, declaring: “It is very difficult to change the social image of women, we cannot put a high quality quota. We should lower it to 25% in developing countries so they have time to acknowledge the social change. However, in the future we are open to increasing this percentage”.
In the second part of the session, the Russian Federation started the consultation of the whole with the topic Seeking goals for 2026 on public participation of women. The delegate of Congo exposed that their main goal was that men and women had the same representation in politics, creating training programs for women so they got used to participating in politics. Norway added that educating women about political participation was essential.
In connection to the previous topic, North Korea proposed a moderated caucus of women’s economic emancipation and the liberation of the traditional family system. The delegate of Iraq suggested the use of technology to enter women in new jobs, and the delegation of South Sudan affirmed that women in their country could own property and land in rural areas to provide their emancipation. Lastly, Colombia assured the providence of microcredits to women to promote their economic emancipation.
However, as the session continued, the first important breakthrough of the committee was confirmed: the creation of a working paper by Norway was in progress. The delegation of Norway added that this working paper was integrated with the delegates of Denmark, France and Germany. This settles the first block alliance of the UN Women Committee created by European countries.
One of the surprises of the day was the short but important intervention of the United States of America delegation. Affirming that some countries were not being coherent fighting for women’s rights at the same time they had laws based on tradition or religion that prohibit their freedom. The delegation of Bangladesh felt as they were being called out and stated that their country was filled with beliefs that had to be respected by everybody as they respected the other ones beliefs.
The session ended with a moderate caucus with the topic Wage gap. A large wade of countries participated in this topic showing their points of view. This went from the belief that there was not such a thing as wage gape, as women were paid for the job they make, not for their gender. This was affirmed by the delegations of Bangladesh and Russia. On the other hand, the delegation of the USA assured that the wage gap existed and if countries didn’t even let their women work, for instance, there wouldn't be a wage gap as they couldn’t vote.
What the majority of the delegations didn't expect was one more working paper. This one was created by South Sudan and open to new allies. In the middle of the URJC Mun, everything suggests that this will be the beginning of another important block of alliances: the Middle East alliance. Only the resting days will let us know what countries are willing to do to assure that women’s equality becomes a reality.
The delegations of Afghanistan and Iraq expressed their point of view of how women being at home was something quite positive derivative by the covid 19 crisis, as this helped to make the situation more bearable. This position was supported by the United Mexican States. An extension of this motion was proposed by the delegation of the Russian Federation. In the next minutes, position as the one from the afghan delegation set forth the Islamic point of view, as their delegates affirmed that afghan woman enjoy being at home, as their families are the most important thing alongside religion. In response, the delegation of North Korea addressed that covid 19 had settled the working from home model. This first part of the session ended with an unmoderated caucus for 15 minutes proposed by the delegation of Ireland in the topic Strategies and solutions for developing countries, propose to seek similar points of view.
After the coffee break, the next moderated caucus had the topic of gender quota in Parliament. This subject divided the committee significantly, as the delegations of countries like Russia and North Korea declared that there was no need to force women to participate if they didn’t want to. On the other hand, Germany addressed the importance of this issue, pointing their chancellor Angela Merkel as an example of german women in politics. Finally, the delegation of North Korea clarified that they didn’t see quotas as positive or negative, just not necessary.
In the lunch break, the delegation of South Sudan granted some statements to the press to specify their position of the gender quota in Parliament, declaring: “It is very difficult to change the social image of women, we cannot put a high quality quota. We should lower it to 25% in developing countries so they have time to acknowledge the social change. However, in the future we are open to increasing this percentage”.
In the second part of the session, the Russian Federation started the consultation of the whole with the topic Seeking goals for 2026 on public participation of women. The delegate of Congo exposed that their main goal was that men and women had the same representation in politics, creating training programs for women so they got used to participating in politics. Norway added that educating women about political participation was essential.
In connection to the previous topic, North Korea proposed a moderated caucus of women’s economic emancipation and the liberation of the traditional family system. The delegate of Iraq suggested the use of technology to enter women in new jobs, and the delegation of South Sudan affirmed that women in their country could own property and land in rural areas to provide their emancipation. Lastly, Colombia assured the providence of microcredits to women to promote their economic emancipation.
However, as the session continued, the first important breakthrough of the committee was confirmed: the creation of a working paper by Norway was in progress. The delegation of Norway added that this working paper was integrated with the delegates of Denmark, France and Germany. This settles the first block alliance of the UN Women Committee created by European countries.
One of the surprises of the day was the short but important intervention of the United States of America delegation. Affirming that some countries were not being coherent fighting for women’s rights at the same time they had laws based on tradition or religion that prohibit their freedom. The delegation of Bangladesh felt as they were being called out and stated that their country was filled with beliefs that had to be respected by everybody as they respected the other ones beliefs.
The session ended with a moderate caucus with the topic Wage gap. A large wade of countries participated in this topic showing their points of view. This went from the belief that there was not such a thing as wage gape, as women were paid for the job they make, not for their gender. This was affirmed by the delegations of Bangladesh and Russia. On the other hand, the delegation of the USA assured that the wage gap existed and if countries didn’t even let their women work, for instance, there wouldn't be a wage gap as they couldn’t vote.
What the majority of the delegations didn't expect was one more working paper. This one was created by South Sudan and open to new allies. In the middle of the URJC Mun, everything suggests that this will be the beginning of another important block of alliances: the Middle East alliance. Only the resting days will let us know what countries are willing to do to assure that women’s equality becomes a reality.
UN Women: the road to women empowerment
13 de abril de 2021, Sofia Vidal
The ninth edition of Rey Juan Carlos University’s Model United Nations Conference has started. With feminism being constantly in the public eye, the UN Women Committee topics assures to generate interesting debate in the coming days.
To begin with, the executive board integrated by Dhruvi Khandelwal and Aralda Torres, played the inauguration video. Afterwards, the first half of the day was used to familiarize the different delegations and explain the rules of the simulation having a session zero. The formal session began at 15:00 p.m. As it was planned, the first topic was Broadening the scope of women’s citizenship, leadership and public participation. Starting with the delegation of North Korea, almost all the countries shared their points of view of the topic.The delegation of the Republic of Iraq, made tribute to Marina Jaber, the young lady that a few years ago promoted the women’s right of riding a bicycle in a country that considers this as inappropriate. The delegation of the Republic of South Sudan settled an open discussion as they recognised that they weren’t the best example of equality, but that they were open to recommendations of the rest of the countries to improve the situation of sudanese women. Other delegations as the ones of The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan or the Russian Federation, also admitted that they had to create new laws to guarantee women’s rights, but establishing their traditional perspective of the women’s duty of taking care of the family.
In essence, this first session denoted commitment, union and sorodity, some of the fundamental characteristics that a Comitee like UN Women should have to assure gender equality and the empowerment of women all over the world.
