Brasília, June 24th, 2013

United News Working conditions in Asia, a current problem By: Andresa Rodrigues

On the morning of April 24th, 2013, Bangladesh certainly received the attention of international press. The building Rana Plaza, in the locality of Saava, collapsed in a matter of minutes leaving no chance of protection to those who were searching for salvation. Although the first floor of the building remained intact, the accident left 100 dead and 2.000 wounded. Besides that, this scenario of devastation was strengthened by the large amount of debris and also by the poor medical care. According to employees who worked in Rana Plaza, their bosses being aware of the existence of cracks in the structure of the building did nothing to avoid the situation, leaving their employees with the only exit they had: protest in the streets. However, none of these manifestations had the impact needed and expected, since on the day after this manifestation supervisors forced their subordinates to return to work one hour before their official time. The tragedy occurred one hour later. It is in this environment, characterized by the lack of security rules regarding work, that can realize the importance of the issues related to working conditions, especially in Asia. Bangladesh and its textile industry, recognized as the second producer in global manufacturing and responsible for supplying Western brands with lower costs, are revealed as one

of the several examples of negligence that permeate the labor code of some countries in this regional bloc. Coincidentally, The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) of the 16th AMUN has as its main theme the difficulties on the implementation of decent working conditions in the Asian Continent. This committee seeks to denounce the recurrent violations of labor rights that persists around the world, mainly due to the production of goods such as: shoes, clothes, toys that are present in our day by day. Finally, the aim of this article is to highlight the absence of a mindset that seeks both to interpret and apply these labor laws in order to promote and encourage the rights of their workers as established by international conventions, as well as of transparency efforts in Asian countries. Arguments of comparative advantage that focus on the economic benefits in detriment of the humanity of labor can not be used to legitimized and institutionalize these illegal actions. After all, what remains is: how long will workers around the world have to go through these conditions because of their chiefs ambitions? So is up to you, directors and delegates, to answer this question and make the effort to mitigate these violations through cooperation.

McMUN

Do you remember?

United Interview

Marketing remembers our Selection Process for Assistant-Directors.

Graziela Streit tell us more about DISEC.

Carbon Neutralization

Bárbara Vilarinhos and AMUN is also about Carlos Henrique talk social sustainability. about their participation. More at page 2

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MUNLeague: Exchanging experiences, Fostering cooperation The McGill Model United Nations Assembly, more commonly referred to as McMUN, is a student initiative that happens since 1989. It takes place annually in Montreal, being one of the most notorious UN models and the most prestigious one in Canada. This year’s conference was held in January and counted with over 1400 participants from around the world and more than 500 staff members from the McGill University. McMUN 2013 hosted participants from eleven different countries. McMUN, together with AMUN and OxiMUN (The Oxford International Model United Nations) founded the MUN League, which has the main goal of improving global integration among UN models. Representing Brazil as well as AMUN, two of our staff members had the amazing opportunity to be part of it: the lovely Bárbara Vilarinhos, our Under-Secretary General for Academic Affairs, and Carlos Henrique Barbosa, Director of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Do you want to find out how this experience was for them? Take a look at our interview!

out to Instituto O Diplomata and Bancorbrás helping us with our expenses, though. Academically, we studied through sharing documents and informations about the Brazilian position on each of the committees topics, so we were all in touch with the same information. It was easier than the usual because we were all representing Brazil in the BRICS Summit. PT: What is the best description of the experience you had during McMUN? B: My experience in McMUN made me understand what MUN’s are all about. Its about preparing the people who are going to be the decision makers of the future. So we should take it seriously, because that’s the chance we have to learn and make mistakes. PT: There were students from several countries participating in 2013’s edition. How did this international atmosphere contribute to McMUN? CH: When talking about UN and International Organizations, what always comes to mind is the cultural diversity and dealing with people from different cultures and backgrounds. MUNs must bring this perspective too, and there is nothing better than having several countries in the same event. Specially if there is so many chances of meeting them, such as parties, pub crawlings and dinners. I am sure that, in the same way, it is grateful to a MUN to receive so many diverse delegations.

Press Team: McMUN is a huge event in several aspects. What were your expectations for it as delegates? Were these expectations fulfilled? Bárbara: I was very anxious about it. I was afraid that I wasn’t as prepared and experienced as the other delegates I was going to meet. In the end, it turn out very well, but I could see the difference in the preparedness of the other delegates because of the MUN culture they have and that we don’t. I could actually understand how and why we should prepare for a discussion. So it was a very enriching experience.

PT: AMUN is one of the proudly founders of the MUN League. What contributions does it bring for the delegates? B: The MUN League puts AMUN on the same level of some of the top MUNs in the world. So it gives us a lot of recognition and credibility. I hope that this will attract more foreign delegates for AMUN this year, which I think would be very challenging and enriching for our delegates and for

PT: How was the preparation process for taking part in such a prestigious event? Carlos Henrique: Kind of stressful. We ran for gathering sponsors to our delegation, so we had to have a bunch of meetings and prepare spreadsheets, and all this took a lot of time from us. It all came

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our discussions.

pathway, educational issues must be solved by the means of cooperation; hence, initiatives such as the MUN League leads to more diverse and dynamic events, awareness of possibilities abroad, besides enhancing capabilities through sharing best practices.

PT: What do you think makes this partnership so important for UN models around the globe? CH: Cooperation is the key word for solving many problems in the international sphere. In the same

Carbon neutralization: a path to the future By Paula Matheus and Renata Lourenço

AMUN is a big international event and one of its main concerns is to be a role model and to set examples for its participants. Thinking like that, AMUN developed social and environmental initiatives such as AMUN kids and Sustainable AMUN. When it comes to Sustainable AMUN, the main purpose is to lessen and neutralize the environmental impact of the event. But how is this possible? Well, that’s (not so) easy: carbon neutralization. When you use your car to go to AMUN’s venue, turn on your computer during the sessions or print the committee’s resolutions, for example, you increase the quantity of CO² in the atmosphere. Those are part of the environmental footprints we leave behind. Carbon dioxide is the main agent for the increasing global warming, and willing to compensate its emissions and help the planet, AMUN engages in this mission. In order to diminish its impact, AMUN creates a carbon neutralized event with a little help of EMBRAGeA - a junior enterprise founded by the students of Environmental Management of the University of Brasilia - who was responsible for this amazing work. They calculated the approximate amount of CO² that the UN model might produce and then calculated how many trees could compensate that. When the calculation is done and the neutralization begins, the fun and beautiful part of the process starts: trees are planted in order to take the carbon dioxide of the planet and then emit oxygen into the atmosphere. In May 2013, the first part of the planting was made by AMUN’s staff - that efficiency demonstrates the event’s engagement with this cause. Obviously, carbon neutralization is not the only way of helping the environment. Sustainable AMUN is all about creating awareness among everyone involved

by raising an environmental consciousness throughout the event, in order to foster the concern about recycling paper, sorting of wastes and healthy habits. Simple actions, like using mugs instead of plastic cups, are also encouraged. It is because of all of those attitudes AMUN is a proudly green event.

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Rhebecca Szwarcberg

Co-Director of Logistics & Sustainability

United Interview

Do you remember? Hey, AMUN Staff !

proper interventions, we submitted them [texts and images] at AMUN’s social network profiles..

Do you remember that before our journey of nine months of hard work the Selection Process (SP) happened? And that the Marketing Campaign developed was amazing? And that you were the keystones of this work?

PT: What did you expected from this campaign? F: The main intent of the campaign was to attract people that would identify themselves with AMUN’s team - those who are willing to work a lot (because we have plenty of things to do before and during AMUN`s accomplishment), but also we are willing to meet new people, push up their boundaries and have a lot of fun together.

Remember? No?! So, to remember this wonderful work, the Press Team thought it was essential to show you all how was the early work, the receptivity and the dimension of the Selection Process Campaign. We are sure that you will like to know a little more about this creation process and the amazing director, Felipe Pereira, behind this initiative!

PT: The results obtained during campaign were the ones expected? F: I would say so. At the end of the Selection Process, both academic and administrative teams received plenty of applicants. And, as far as I know, the new directors have been successful in accomplishing their duties - then, I guess we’ve reached our purpose.

Press Team: How did the idea for the Marketing campaign come up? Felipe:As most of Marketing cell’s activities, our strategy for the campaign came up from deliberations among our team. We intended to develop advertisement without a too formal tone that’s why we used images and funny texts

the project, because I’ve got so attached to the kids. At first sight, it looks like we just go to the schools, teach about basic principles of International Relations, cultural diversity, but, for real, the kids are the real teachers. I’ve learned so much with them about having a positive view of everything, about sharing and altruism.

Graziela Streit, assistant-director of the First Committee on Disarmament and International Security (DISEC), told us all about her expectations for this huge event and what DISEC is promising for all your delegates. PT: This is your first AMUN? What do you expect from the five days of the event? Grazi: No, actually this is already my third AMUN! My first AMUN was in 2011, when I was in my freshman year, participating as delegate of the CCPCJ. As soon as I got the spirit of being part of a model I just fell in love. Therefore, I really do believe that these five days we’ve got ahead of us are going to be amazing.

PT: Let’s talk about your committee. Why DISEC? Tell us more about you interest in this committee’s theme. G: Well, everybody who knows me a little bit thinks that I’m a “Middle East-freak”! So, when I heard that there was going to be a committee about the Middle East on this edition, I didn’t think twice and applied for assistant-director, and I was accepted. All my work with Middle Eastern issues involved foreign affairs and human rights, but when I started researching about International Security, it totally opened my mind for a whole new perspective.

PT: Before becoming a member of the 16th AMUN, you had been part of the project “AMUN Kids”. What did this experience teach you? G: Truthfully, AMUN Kids is, by far, one of the greatest experiences I have had during my graduation. I’ve worked three semesters in a row at

PT: Why did you choose to use gifs? F: The use of gifs and other funny images were an attempt to allure people to work at AMUN by showing them how this experience can be both enriching and gratifying. The atmosphere at the event is awesome, we have a lot of work but we don’t mind because at the same time we’re having a lot of fun. That ‘inside view’ is what we tried to pass to the directors-to-be..

PT: The theme “Prospects for the implementation of a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in the Middle East” appears as one of the biggest challenges at the level of security in the International Relations. How do you think the delegates will react to this? G: This theme couldn’t be more polemic and that’s for sure. Mostly because there are excellent arguments against and great arguments in favor of the implementation of such a zone. I believe that the delegates will have their hands full with the amount of debates and discussion, due to the fact that the Middle East is a crucial region for economic interests of the majority of the countries, mainly the P-5. So, I think that this committee is going to be very dynamic and intense.

PT: How was the process of creating the Selection Process Campaign? F:As I said, we plan and develop most of Marketing activities together. We planned our moves within a month before accomplishing them. Meanwhile, marketing members had written posts and searched gifs/made images, sending them after to the whole team for approbation. Once everyone had made the

PT: What do you want to say to the delegates that have chosen the DISEC as their committee? G: First of all I must say that they have made a great choice! Just kidding! But I’d like to say that we (all the directors) are really looking forward to meeting you and we really hope that they are enjoying this preparation time and studying everything they can about the theme, so we can have fruitful discussions and a brilliant resolution.

Marketing Team 4

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